If you go to an Art or Design school. Seeing and producing illusions like this is one of the assignments that they usually will give you in a 2D design class.
As it has been described above, if you can concentrate (if school, we learn how to look at them by squinting as we would when discerning simple shape or color—or, if you have ever learned how to look at one of those weird 3D images made out of what looks to be paint splatter) on the two squares, then you will be able to see that they are indeed the same shade (not color, color is used to describe something else)
Ah, that worked for me. For people wondering how to do the technique to see “Magic Eye ” images, you focus your eyes so that the image doubles and and overlaps the image. That causes a stereoscopic illusion when done on any things that overlap. You could practice it here. Focus your eyes so that the the first abc overlaps the second abc—now you have three abc’s in your vision, the 1st and 3rd abc are being seen out of one eye and the abc in the middle appears to be almost 3d.
a...b...c......................a...b...c
In this case, I could see that A and B are the same color by tilting my head and then focusing so I saw a double image of A overlapping B.
Exactly… We spent a total of 6 weeks in Art School design class learning how to do this specific trick with a variety of images. From color, to line length (you know those “which line is longer” tricks that make you think one line is longer when they are usually the same length), to line thickness, to shading and tinting aliasing.
We spent those weeks consuming a lot of aspirin and Tylenol.
We were taught that if you put your nose right in the center of the image, and then let your focus go, and pull back from the image, that at a certain distance from the image (as your focus is still at ∞) various structures of the image will begin to resolve. So contrasts, similarities, and shades will all resolve at different focal lengths from the image.
It was rare that any one person would be able to pick up immediately upon all the effects perceptible in an image. I was able to pick up on certain shades of the color green that are used in contrast to red, but it took me a long time to get the shading of black-white (as in this optical illusion—and it is but one of many).
When we were tested on this, we would not be told what was similar, or where optical tricks were used, and we would have to pick them out of an image (and this was long before the internet, so we couldn’t just go online to do a search for optical illusions to find images to study that had their illusions spelled out for us). So, it is a skill that can be learned. For me, eventually I had to learn how to focus upon each square with a different eye, while squinting, and letting the focus go back and forth between my right and left eye. eventually, I get the images resolved as a single shade as I go back and forth between my eyes.
That worked! Cool!
If you go to an Art or Design school. Seeing and producing illusions like this is one of the assignments that they usually will give you in a 2D design class.
As it has been described above, if you can concentrate (if school, we learn how to look at them by squinting as we would when discerning simple shape or color—or, if you have ever learned how to look at one of those weird 3D images made out of what looks to be paint splatter) on the two squares, then you will be able to see that they are indeed the same shade (not color, color is used to describe something else)
Ah, that worked for me. For people wondering how to do the technique to see “Magic Eye ” images, you focus your eyes so that the image doubles and and overlaps the image. That causes a stereoscopic illusion when done on any things that overlap. You could practice it here. Focus your eyes so that the the first abc overlaps the second abc—now you have three abc’s in your vision, the 1st and 3rd abc are being seen out of one eye and the abc in the middle appears to be almost 3d.
a...b...c......................a...b...c
In this case, I could see that A and B are the same color by tilting my head and then focusing so I saw a double image of A overlapping B.
Exactly… We spent a total of 6 weeks in Art School design class learning how to do this specific trick with a variety of images. From color, to line length (you know those “which line is longer” tricks that make you think one line is longer when they are usually the same length), to line thickness, to shading and tinting aliasing.
We spent those weeks consuming a lot of aspirin and Tylenol.
Interesting, when I try this technique the shades seem even more distinct.
It takes some practice.
We were taught that if you put your nose right in the center of the image, and then let your focus go, and pull back from the image, that at a certain distance from the image (as your focus is still at ∞) various structures of the image will begin to resolve. So contrasts, similarities, and shades will all resolve at different focal lengths from the image.
It was rare that any one person would be able to pick up immediately upon all the effects perceptible in an image. I was able to pick up on certain shades of the color green that are used in contrast to red, but it took me a long time to get the shading of black-white (as in this optical illusion—and it is but one of many).
When we were tested on this, we would not be told what was similar, or where optical tricks were used, and we would have to pick them out of an image (and this was long before the internet, so we couldn’t just go online to do a search for optical illusions to find images to study that had their illusions spelled out for us). So, it is a skill that can be learned. For me, eventually I had to learn how to focus upon each square with a different eye, while squinting, and letting the focus go back and forth between my right and left eye. eventually, I get the images resolved as a single shade as I go back and forth between my eyes.