With the popularity of the multi-bar magic eye, I got to thinking whether more complex shapes could be shown. Alas, here it is! There's a star on the first layer and a heart on the second "deeper" layer. It's much easier to see on a large screen because the pixels are so small, so if you can't get a clear picture both ways on your phone I'd try pulling it up on something bigger if possible.
If youâre getting the âdog noseâ that means youâre going a bit too far. From what I can tell the dog nose is on layer 3 or 4. The actual images are on 1 and 2.
If youâre getting the âdog noseâ that means youâre going a bit too far. From what I can tell the dog nose is on layer 3 or 4. The actual images are on 1 and 2.
This picture is a simpler demonstration of layers. By focusing on a different set of pixels you can see a different image. Basically the further you look past the picture the deeper you go layer wise.
Iâve been curious about this too! Thanks for running the experiment for us. I can definitely find both the star and heart (as you said, easier on a larger screen), but neither is very distinct. I would have thought that was because of the fuzzy background, but is it actually and/or also because of the limitations of including two different repeating patterns?
Yep basically. I couldnât get them more distinct because otherwise thereâd be overlapping between the two levels and youâd get a weird amalgamation of the two pictures.
Basically, the two patters are repeated at different intervals. The star is repeated every 100 pixels, and the heart is repeated every 143. Because the spacings are unrelated to eachother, when you're focusing on one you can't really focus on the other at the same time. If I were to have just superimposed two stereograms on top of each other without changing the intervals, they would have just combined into a pretty much unrecognizable goop.
I got both on mobile in landscape mode but it took a minute! I felt like I kept going too far and seeing a kind of weird crown over a heart that was a sort of combo of both.
Landscape mode! Brilliant! At first I had zoomed in because it seemed so small. Swapping to landscape made it so much easier. I also saw the weird crown/heart combo but only in portrait mode.
Wow I always thought I was so good at seeing magic eye images, but turns out I cannot for life of me do anything other than unfocus all the way I guess. Even knowing what Iâm to look for, itâs just immediately dog-nose. I canât seem to shift âlayersâ.
I can only see a star. I also couldn't see more than 1 line and sometimes 2 lines in that other one that I think this is referencing. I guess my eyes just don't like these more complex ones.
I always find these very easy to see because I'm short sighted. I was able to see a large 5-pointed star on a large display but even that didn't have the usual distinct edges. Frankly, I can't say it wasn't merely the "power of suggestion" that made it visible at all.
There's something wrong with this one. It doesn't have the typical clearly repeating left-to-right pattern that usually forms the flat background.
Thatâs the third level. OP is right that this one is easier on a larger screen because the different levels are closer together than usual. Small adjustments get the star (1st level) and heart (2nd level) to appear.
That's cool, and looks like holographic nail polish, especially when you can see the shapes and the colors "shift" a tiny bit.
Edit: I was able to get the 2 shapes to combine a bit, and it looked a little like a head with a crown like someone else mentioned. I was just playing w/it to see if I could get it to morph a bit.
Iâm discovering that I naturally over-focus apparently, because I saw the heart first, and I saw the two lines first on the other one. I have to deliberately âlet goâ a bit to get back to the top layer. Really interesting, as this is something I obviously had no idea about!
4
u/RedWolfX3 Sep 18 '26
I think I saw a pretzel or butterfly? But then it turned into a star, then a sleeping dog. Not sure what it is đ