Autostereogram
single-image stereogram designed to create the visual illusion of a three-dimensional scene
An autostereogram is a two-dimensional (2D) image that can create the optical illusion of a three-dimensional (3D) scene. Autostereograms use only one image to accomplish the effect while normal stereograms require two. The 3D scene in an autostereogram is often unrecognizable until it is viewed properly, unlike typical stereograms. Viewing any kind of stereogram properly may cause the viewer to experience vergence–accommodation conflict.
The optical illusion of an autostereogram is one of depth perception and involves stereopsis: depth perception arising from the different perspective each eye has of a three-dimensional scene, called binocular parallax.
Individuals with disordered binocular vision and who cannot perceive depth may require a wiggle stereogram to achieve a similar effect.
The simplest type of autostereogram consists of a horizontally repeating pattern, with small changes throughout, that looks like wallpaper. When viewed with proper vergence, the repeating patterns appear to float above or below the background. The well-known Magic Eye books feature another type of autostereogram called a random-dot autostereogram (see § Random-dot, below), similar to the first example, above. In this type of autostereogram, every pixel in the image is computed from a pattern strip and a depth map.
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This entry incorporates text from “Autostereogram” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.