''Magic Eye'' is a series of books that feature
autostereogram
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 a ...
s.
After creating its first images in 1991, creator Tom Baccei worked with Tenyo, a Japanese company that sells magic supplies.
Tenyo published its first book in late 1991 titled ''Miru Miru Mega Yokunaru Magic Eye'' ("Your Eyesight Gets Better & Better in a Very Short Rate of Time: Magic Eye"), sending sales representatives out to street corners to demonstrate how to see the hidden image. Within a few weeks the first Japanese book became a best seller, as did the second, rushed out shortly after.
The first North American ''Magic Eye'' book was ''Magic Eye: A New Way of Looking at the World''.
Magic Eye stereograms have been used by
orthoptists
Vision therapy (VT), or behavioral optometry, is an umbrella term for alternative medicine treatments using eye exercises, based around the pseudoscientific claim that vision problems are the true underlying cause of learning disabilities, par ...
and
vision therapists in the treatment of some
binocular vision
In biology, binocular vision is a type of vision in which an animal has two eyes capable of facing the same direction to perceive a single three-dimensional image of its surroundings. Binocular vision does not typically refer to vision where an ...
and
accommodative disorders.
References
External links
*
US Patent 5,371,627 Random dot stereogram and method for making the same
{{Portal bar, 1990s
1990s fads and trends
Optical illusions