Easy stereogram creation
A stereogram is a two dimensional image that has a three dimensional image hidden in it. The image gives the illusion of depth when the viewer focuses their eyes behind the Image. The Magic Eye series of images is an excellent example of this, and played a big role in making stereograms popular.
The image above is a screen-shot of Stereogram Creator, an open source utility I found for creating stereograms. The method of creating these images is not difficult. The stereograms are created using a depth map image (left), and a texture map (right).
A depth map is a 256 color grayscale image in which the software uses as a guide to create the depth in the final image. The lighter shades of gray tend to pop out of the image; whereas, the darker shades reside in the back. Stereogram Creator comes with 20 depth maps, and allows you to import your own. Simple depth maps can be created by putting white text over a black background, and the result (when viewed) will be the illusion that the text is popping out of the image in 3d.
The texture map is the image which the depth is applied to. The image can be virtually anything, although images with more detail seem to produce a better output. Stereogram Creator also comes with many patterns to use for textures.
Can you see the Blorge logo within the image?
Viewing these images can be difficult, and may require some practice. To see the hidden image, you must look past the image as if you were staring through a window. This comes easy to some, but for others requires much practice.
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