Randon Dot Sterograms
15 messages in this thread
Altered States, the amazing folks from the UK who brought you Randon Dot
Sterograms(1) and Theta wave amplifiers are seeking Amiga users who would like
to be involved in the creation of Sterograms for fun and profit.
If you would like more info on this hot new offer and you are situated in the
Los Angeles area…, please reply via mail, leave you phone number and the type
of system you have.
What's this about theta wave amplifiers? Do you mean for the Amiga, or are you
talking about the various hardware that's out there?
What I was refering to is the theta wave efect that is produced by viewing a
Random Dot Sterogram. The effect is similair to the brain wave pattern that
present during deep medition or long term REM sleep.
When you view a random dot sterogram you have to allow your eyes to
disassociate themselves from each other, the eyes then recieve visual
information independntly, and the sterogram, which is encoded to contain relief
similiar to a hologram is then reassembled in the brian to form a 3D rendering
that appears float in front of you. The theta wave "effect" arises when the
two hemispheres of the brain are in a different state of synchronization – the
theta wave is the binding element between them. Theta wave experinces bring a
strong feeling of inner peace and creativity.
It is our beleif that 20 minutes (or even less) of theta activity regularly
would have a very positive effect on people.
Now that is an interesting set of theory. What kind of studies have been
done on this (of interest to me who has a folder of RDS that I constantly
pass around to other people). Is there any association to the complexity
of the RDS or to the type of pattern involved? I have been thinking about
writing a RDS program to generate wallpaper for my backdrop screen. Has
anyone already done this?
Tony Alderson did at least one RDS in stereo 3D and I think he distributed it
freely. You need LCD shutter glasses for that one. I've seen it. And that was
a WHILE ago.
RDS in Stereo 3D? That seems like it defeats the purpose. The whole idea
of the RDS was to get 3D without any special tricks…
I've seen an RDS program called "sirds" (for "single-image RDS"…), I'm not
sure whether it's online or not and I'm not sure where I put mine. The thing
had the annoying feature of being written in AMOS, and I could never get it to
save either, so it's not on my hard drive.
I'd love to write a program that "renders" 3D models as SIRDS. Have you seen
these posters that they're selling recently at malls and bookstores? I'd love
to see how they're generated, it must be a program, but the paisley random dots
aren't sharp enough to look like PostScript to me.
Nope, I haven't seen any RDS posters.
do you have any scientific evidence that 'theta arises when the two hemispheres
of the brain are in a different state of 'synchronization' (sic)' – or your
second claim that 'the theta wave is the binding element between them' ??
Seems you appear to know more than is possible to know – a very interesting
situation! What does that word salad really mean? What positive effect do you
seek by experiencing 20 minutes of theta activity regularly that you can't get
by a good laugh at the craziness of the universe? This sounds like the old TM
gibberish about alpha waves. It was amusing to read later studies which were
unable to distinguish between EEG activity during TM and during ordinary sleep!
daniel, EEGs have always been a pretty lame way to examine neural activity.
It's like describing time with a clock…..
But really: check out sterograms, and give us some feedback. This is a new
area of experience, naturally some wierd ideas are going to be flying around
for awhile…
I wasn't aware that random-dot stereograms induced a theta state. Thanks for
the information.
I have a question concerning these Stereograms. I have seen these in
the malls (if I interpret your description correctly), and I have
attempted to view them, without success. I really tried to relax,
but I could not see them. What is the "trick" behind allowing your
eyes to disassociate themselves?
Thanks,
Dan Barber
Dan, the easiest way I use to view these nifty optical tricks is to place the
SIRD behind a piece of glass,i.e. in a picture frame, and then focus on my
reflection (such as a light colored shirt I may be wearing). The divergence
(actually a parallax adjustment), occurs in about 5 seconds for me now.
However, the first time you view these oddities, it may take a while longer.
The main thing is to RELAX….. Don't try too hard, you become tense, and will
find it difficult to see. But when you do- WOW! How did they do that? ;^)
Good Luck, it works for everyone I know!
I wasn't actually able to see one of those SIRD pictures "correctly" until
I viewed one that was framed with glass over the top. Great tip!
Do you know that if you do exactly the opposite (let your eyes cross), you
can view Sterogram pictures (two pics, side by side, with one picture
taken from a slightly different angle) in 3D without special glasses?
The first time I heard someone tell me that I thought they were crazy, but
it really works!
You have to stand about two or three feet away from the picture and cross
your eyes. You'll see the two pictures turn into three. Focus on the
center picture (which is just the left and right picture over the top of
each other). Now, once you have it stablized, concentrate and blink a
couple of times, being careful to keep the center picture stablized, and
ta da! You'll see it in 3D. This only works for stereograms, and some
work better than others. The best example I've seen is on a poster that
comes with the book "Image Lab". The effect is amazing.
Steve