Under The Microscope

MAGIC EYE, by N.E. Thing Enterprises; Viking, 1993; 32 pp; $24.95

Be Warned: This book is immensely frustrating and can lead to fierce arguments amongst even the friendliest of people. My first encounter with these hidden stereoscopic images was when an NZSM reader sent me one and challenged me to "spot Santa". It took quite some time, mostly in wresting it from other members of the household keen to try their eye.

Things might have been easier had I had this book, as the introduction provides some handy tips on ways in which to appropriately focus -- or unfocus -- your eyes to pick out the hidden three-dimensional image.

Those tips can be vital; my intrepid assistant editor confessed to taking four or five hours of staring over the space of several months before his "magic eye" opened. He has since reported that it's closed up again; trying to see these elusive images does take practice. (My enthusiastic NZSM reader suggested that a couple of gins could help in achieving the desired state of mind.)

You may be familiar with the stereoscopic techniques used in Victorian toys and the classic photographic Viewmasters (remember those?). The techniques used in the Magic Eye take things a step further, teaming computer graphics with the psychology of depth perception to produce complex hidden images within apparently simple repetitive patterns. There have been huge debates on the electronic mail networks concerning what to do and how it all works, but you don't need to understand it to get the picture, as it were.

And it's certainly worth the attempt. There's a certain feeling of triumphant achievement when you get that first intimation of a wavering form before your eyes, not to mention a degree of desperation in trying to maintain the sighting.

I would have liked to have learnt more about how the images were put together and just what techniques are involved. I presume that the "patent-pending image-rendering system" is still being protected by its developers while they take advantage of the craze for Magic Eye postcards, wrapping paper, posters and the like. There are plans to issue a second set of images, so perhaps that will let us further into the world of "deep vision".

If you want an interesting diversion which could last you quite a while, or if you want to inject life into an otherwise boring party, get this book out. It's certainly more challenging and interesting than watching television.

Vicki Hyde, NZSM