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Stereogram too hard? What to do?


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I have a stereogram puzzle that gets found fairly often. No complaints.

If you do some Google searching you can find web sites that will decode the images for you.

Here's a site that will make a stereogram for you: http://www.eyetricks.com/stereograms/onlin...ereocreator.htm

 

I did 9key's sterogram puzzles, but I cannot read the stereograms! I've tried and tried and they just elude me. I had to use a decoder program.

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I can't do stereograms. Not sure why. I've stood side by side with friends, staring at stereogram posters for what felt like days, as they point out all the kewl stuff they see, but all I see is me getting a headache. :D A local puzzle master has one that uses a stereogram, and after lots of begging from me, he sent me a "dumbed down" version of the same image. Instead of using gobs of characters, the easy version only used a few. Maybe that's something you could do? Have an easy version handy to E-mail to folks like myself?

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I have no idea why the gallery links back to the main page... Anyone knows how to resolve this problem?

 

That's what I was talking about in my first post. The thumbnails in the gallery lead back to the main page. But I found out subsequently that it does that on all the pages I visit.

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That "Testing" one that Prime posted sure has a lot of depth. The first time I saw it I only saw the horizontal part of the letters and no vertical parts. Then I looked away and came back and the whole letters were there. I've never seen one quite like that.

I keep snapping a focus on the depth version. Multiple layers and bits and pieces at various depths. Must be the wrong focal depth (is there another word for that?). I'll have to try another depth.

 

In the past I've been able to 'double focus' these things and see a 2nd image. That would be a real puzzle.

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I had the same problem with the link taking me back to the main page, so I saved them to my computer and opened them there. They are really easy to see. I had a bit harder time seeing the brown, which I tried first. Then I brought up the blue and saw it almost immediately. I think that's a great puzzle cache! Is the software you used for this available for free online or something you have to buy? I would love to do one like that in my area.

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Is the software you used for this available for free online or something you have to buy? I would love to do one like that in my area.

No, the software Bigle 3D is totally free. Thing is, it is in French. I am sure you will be able to find another freeware in English! Have fun with stereograms and happy caching!

 

Hmm. I can see it...that would be some FTF trip!!

Do you mind if I used that for a cache around here? (British Columbia, Canada)????

 

Hey, the idea is not mine by any means, I know there are older caches that use this system, so I merely borrowed it. You don't need my permission to do it as well! Go ahead and hide your cache! And I hope your fellow local cachers will be a little more receptive than mine :yikes:

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I have no idea why the gallery links back to the main page... Anyone knows how to resolve this problem?

 

Hi There... First off, I have finally succeeded in seeing your images both of them... I'm happier with the

results of the blue one... I will say that it makes much more sense than the first character of the brown...

Same goes for the 2nd character on the lower line... but that could be either... I suggest NOT doing any more to them...

 

I have never been able to read these things before... not for lack of trying... I can easily do cross eyed

stereo pairs... however... I do have low acuity on my left eye coupled with one heck of an astigmatism

and it tends to mess things up... note that both problems were on the left side for me...

 

It was worth the training time for me even without the cache... I'll wait for the verifier to see my results.

Thanks for the fun figuring out a method to see these without a decoder...

 

In payment... :D I have also been figuring out the link back to cache page... only an opinion mind you...

 

In general this does not happen with images posted by finds, and notes of other kinds, the USER side if you will... Did you post your pictures to the cache page directly? On other pages, the ones that kick back all seem to belong to the Cache Owner... and have a listing on the page lower down... they appear on the gallery, but display from the Page listing... NOT sure if that is what is happening, but it appears to be on the ones I've looked at... just an opinion... I think that if you posted a note to your log, then posted the pictures to the log, you might avoid the kick back... not sure of what happens to your cache page pics, but as long as they show up... either way works for me now I know what is probably happening.

 

Thanks for the fun, I like mysteries...

Doug

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe stereo vision is required for seeing what's in these stereograms. I know that I don't have stereo vision, so I have never bothered to spend too much time with these. There are some stereogram mysteries quite near. I have nothing against this kind of caches. Everybody can't solve all mysteries and find all caches anyway. Or maybe I'll use a decoder although that's bit like cheating... :D

 

I have vision in my both eyes, but the pictures of the two eyes do not combine to one 3D-picture. Right eye is so dominant that I don't (usually) see a double picture though. Left eye's image contains just things that are not visible to the right eye. But basically, just cover one eye and you'll see almost like me.

 

Actually I don't know what it feels like to see the world in 3D. Still I think that I understand 3D very well. For example, I have no problem in perceiving what objects in 2D mechanical drawings look like in 3D. But everything that requires two eyes is nonsense for me, like pictures or movies that require those red-blue or red-green goggles.

Edited by Jusu
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Nope. Still cannot read it. But my eyes do not focus. Oh, well. But, that's what we have friends for!

 

That's your problem, you should not try to focus. You don't stare at the stereogram, you kind of relax your eyes and stare through it as if you are looking past it. It becomes a blur, then voila! It all suddenly comes into focus. Usually takes me a few minutes of staring before it happens.

 

Nope. Just does not work for someone with cataract surgery. My plastic implants do not focus. They do not blur. They are set for 4 feet and beyond for the implants, and 24" for the bifocals. (24" being the distance to the computer screen. Hard time talking my ophthalmologist into that one!) The good news is that I went from 20/1200 to 20/20. The bad news is that I cannot decypher this sort of mystery cache. I can live with this! :D We were looking at one of these in Maine. My brother had a lens inplant for a carpentry accident. He cannot decypher these either. (Or maybe it's something hereditary?) He got a friend to solve it for us. :) We looked at the one in South Mountain. Neither of us can decypher that one either. (Fortunately, the CO took pity on me, and supplied me with the coords.)

I can see things at 4' and beyond, and I can see things at 24". I cannot make anything out of this puzzle. Oh, well. But after fifty-some-odd years of complete blindness with out my glasses, I can now read the alarm clock without glasses!!!! Seems a small price to pay.

 

I could be very, very wrong about this as I have no experience with your surgery, but...

 

I think that if you can see 4' and beyond you should be able to see this. When people say "focus" when they talk about these things they aren't talking about the kind of focusing that a single lens does but the way that two eye balls move on the vertical plane to point in the same direction of an object. If you are able to look at an object in the distance and not see double then I think you should be able to see one of these.

 

Normally when you look at a close up object your eyes point like this: / \

When you look at a farther away object they point more like this: | |

 

If you still have stereoscopic vision, if you can see both close up and far away without having a doubling of vision then I think you should be able to get your eyes pointed in the right direction to see one of these.

 

Or I could be very wrong.

 

EDIT: When people talk about "blurring your eyes" what they are referring to is the tendency for eyes that are aligned in the "far looking" position (| |) to also focus the individual lenses at a far away object. Because that's the way that things normally work. To see these you have to focus your lenses for a close object but align your eyes for a far away object.

 

Hope I didn't over-explain this one.

Edited by Castle Mischief
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With some patience you can train yourself to see these quickly.

 

I recall being at a mall many years ago and saw a strange looking poster at on of the shops. Someone was standing in front of it and remarked "It's a lion's face". I tried to see what they did for several minutes but I figured they were pulling my leg. Fast forward many years... I spot a Magic Eye book at a bookstore so I sit down read suggested methods and give it a try. It took around 15 minutes but I finally saw the image. Next page took about 5 minutes and the rest of the images took around 30 to 45 seconds. I was lucky enough to pick up a large Magic Eye book and have been able to see all images in under 30 seconds.

 

I agree that the blue image is easier to see than the brown image and applaude the use of a coordinates checker.

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I am really good at these but it took practice. You have to relax your eyes. Completely forget that you are looking at the stereogram. Think of it like a window you are looking through to see something in the distance. You basically have to daydream while you are staring in the distance.

 

I remember walking into a store that sold these and the whole store popped for me at once. It was very cool!

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Yes, I know this is a 3 year old thread, but it's the best place to post this.

 

Every few weeks I get email from someone who has found this thread, and wants a copy of the program I mentioned in this thread.3793574[/snapback] The program was just a proof-of-concept demo written 9 years ago and but was freely distributed by the author. AFAIK, he never took it any further, and I don't think the original site exists any more.

 

I've made the program available from my server, exactly as the original author packaged it. There is no program installer. It's self-contained, and runs on any windows system. It comes with 2 example images. Just unzip the files to any folder. Run the StereoDecoder.exe program. Instructions are on the program window.

 

StereoDemo01.zip

 

One note: the is no "stop" button. When you start the process, it begins to decode and refine the image. You should be able to read the image after a few seconds (if you set the parameters right), but the program will continue to process the image until you cancel the program. Like I said, it's a proof-of-concept demo, and the GUI is not polished. But it does work well.

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Nope. Still cannot read it. But my eyes do not focus. Oh, well. But, that's what we have friends for!

 

That's your problem, you should not try to focus. You don't stare at the stereogram, you kind of relax your eyes and stare through it as if you are looking past it. It becomes a blur, then voila! It all suddenly comes into focus. Usually takes me a few minutes of staring before it happens.

 

Nope. Just does not work for someone with cataract surgery. My plastic implants do not focus. They do not blur. They are set for 4 feet and beyond for the implants, and 24" for the bifocals. (24" being the distance to the computer screen. Hard time talking my ophthalmologist into that one!) The good news is that I went from 20/1200 to 20/20. The bad news is that I cannot decypher this sort of mystery cache. I can live with this! :D We were looking at one of these in Maine. My brother had a lens inplant for a carpentry accident. He cannot decypher these either. (Or maybe it's something hereditary?) He got a friend to solve it for us. :angry: We looked at the one in South Mountain. Neither of us can decypher that one either. (Fortunately, the CO took pity on me, and supplied me with the coords.)

I can see things at 4' and beyond, and I can see things at 24". I cannot make anything out of this puzzle. Oh, well. But after fifty-some-odd years of complete blindness with out my glasses, I can now read the alarm clock without glasses!!!! Seems a small price to pay.

 

I am blind in one eye (severe, congenital and inoperable cataract).

 

Can't do these at all! No proper 3D vision. No depth perception, or only such as is "learned".

 

I can't park straight either.

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I have a few questions regarding a cache we've placed almost a month ago. The cache is a mystery-type one, with the missing numbers of the coordinate being displayed in a stereogram picture. I know the idea is not new, but I liked the concept.

Here is the cache in question : GC1JHY3

 

Normally, caches in my area get found within a week max. This cache still hasn't been found. Ive received a personal e-mail from a local geocacher complaining about not being able to read the picture. I answered that to me it was visible and provided him with a few tips to help him, like take off glasses or lenses, and print the picture.

 

Now I'm wondering. Can anyone else read it? What about you guys? Is the stereogram too hard to read?

Please let me know. I know of at least one other cache of this type in my country (in the German-speaking part) that has been placed in August and has received more than 30 visits by now...

 

Caches in my region are generally not difficult, puzzles mostly include easy calculations with zip codes or whatever so I wanted to make something more challenging. Am I risking to get a bad reputation for making "elite" caches? Should I go out right now and place an easy 1/1 to get myself forgiven?

 

What about the star rating? I listed a 3.5 difficulty / 1 terrain. Theoretically, anyone who has two eyes should be able - with a bit of training - to read stereograms, but you still need some experience. Does that make it a 5-star?

Regarding the terrain, it is perfectly suitable to get to the place in a wheelchair, but the cache itself is placed like 160 cm above ground, making it thus difficult to actually grab it from a wheelchair. Should I reconsider the terrain and make it a 1.5?

 

Thanks in advance for your opinions about my cache problem! :rolleyes:

 

It took me about ten seconds to focus (or de-focus :blink: ) on each image.

Some people can't do this at all, no matter how they try or practice...it's genetic.

I would say the Difficulty is about right, but if a solo person in a wheelchair can't reach the container then it's a Terrain 1.5

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Yes, I know this is a 3 year old thread, but it's the best place to post this.

 

Every few weeks I get email from someone who has found this thread, and wants a copy of the program I mentioned in this thread.3793574[/snapback] The program was just a proof-of-concept demo written 9 years ago and but was freely distributed by the author. AFAIK, he never took it any further, and I don't think the original site exists any more.

 

I've made the program available from my server, exactly as the original author packaged it. There is no program installer. It's self-contained, and runs on any windows system. It comes with 2 example images. Just unzip the files to any folder. Run the StereoDecoder.exe program. Instructions are on the program window.

 

StereoDemo01.zip

 

One note: the is no "stop" button. When you start the process, it begins to decode and refine the image. You should be able to read the image after a few seconds (if you set the parameters right), but the program will continue to process the image until you cancel the program. Like I said, it's a proof-of-concept demo, and the GUI is not polished. But it does work well.

 

THANK YOU! I am usually able to solve these with no problems but a local one has been causing me fits due to the text being rotated 45 degrees. This program did the trick!

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