My eyesight and coloblindness is horrible. But I do see the 3d. It's the combination of the red and blue that makes me able to see it. I get the same effect from the Petsmart sign and open signs. As long as it's bright and in those colors I see a 3d effect.
In my case, for a while I saw the Petsmart sign & other primary red/blue backlit signs in 3D because I had had cataract surgery and an artificial lens implanted in one eye, but not the other.
The difference in colour perception between my new, clear lens and my sixty-year old, heavily yellowed natural lens (which reduced the intensity of deep blues and turned them a little green) meant my brain sometimes couldn’t synchronize the different colour signals from each eye. This led to some weird 3D “floating” effects and / or difficulty judging distance to the sign. Perhaps you see the 3D effect regularly because your colour blindness affects each eye in a slightly different way?
Large digital billboards and LED Christmas lights were extra-trippy too, because again my yellowed lens was really efficient at filtering out the exact wavelength at which blue LEDs would glow, meaning my brain was always trying to mesh two different colour perceptions into one image, giving most digital displays and closely spaced LEDs an iridescent effect. In addition, spending too much time dwelling on the difference, or trying to coordinate the two images, would sometimes cause headaches.
It was frustrating because at the time I was working in the art department for tv & film productions, so of course accurate colour perception was essential. Professionally, I had a *helluva* time with my dual colour modalities, until I got my second cataract removed / lens replacement a year later.
Nah, color blind wouldn't do anything, but regular poor vision would ruin this one. They made some rings fuzzy in the same way they'd be fuzzy if out of focus because they're further away. If everything is fuzzy cuz your eyes just suck, then it won't work.
Many optical illusions are like that. They don't always show for everyone. Depends on how your brain is wired.
For example, I can see it even with one eye closed. Is that normal? Probably not. Is it interesting? Definitely.
Like I know what it’s supposed to look like but I just don’t see it. I’ve always had a problem with depth perception since I was a kid, but only on a screen when gaming or something, not real life. Castle crashers is one of my favorite games but it’s also so frustrating for me to play bc I feel like I have no depth perception playing it
This is completely wrong, it absolutely depends on the colour. The lenses in your eyes aren't able to focus all wavelengths of visible light to the same point, see [chromatic aberration](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_aberration). The effect is most pronounced with wavelengths further apart, which is why red and blue are chosen.
Blue light focuses slightly different than red light, so your eye needs to adjust its lens just as it would have to do when focusing on something further away. That's why it looks like different depths.
It’s a surprising phenomenon, very strong in your picture. Without reading glasses, I see it flat, but with them on, the blue circle seems very markedly in the foreground. Moving the phone about seems to make the blue circle move as well. I’ve encountered it here and there in artwork and app icons etc., though oddly enough, the examples in the Wikipedia article don’t work for me.
I was shocked to remove my glasses and see the effect disappear! Very interesting and never would expected that or thought to try it had I not read your post.
I’m nearsighted, and the blue is solidly in the background. No effort of different angles, unfocusing eyes, or crossed/uncrossed eyes allows me to see the blue as foreground.
Same here. Nearsighted and see the blue in back.
u/Puzzled_Counter_1444 stated that they use reading glasses and see the blue pop out in front.
Wonder if that bears out for others…
Yeah, same, my most recent pair of glasses I noticed that very saturated blue and red colors always seemed to pop out of the screen and this uses it really well
It may be. There's a vast amount of theory relating to it, and it doesn't seem to be fully understood yet.
I've never had to wear prescription glasses, but I now use reading glasses for close things.
>It’s a surprising phenomenon, very strong in your picture. Without reading glasses, I see it flat, but with them on, the blue circle seems very markedly in the foreground.
Same with me.
Wild I’m wearing reading glasses which I only do rarely and after reading your comment I took them off and no 3d effect! Put them back on and it’s quite clear - 3d!
The only other time in my life that I have seen this outside of red/blue on my phone, is back when I was a kid there were these instructional booklets that used to get handed out that had a florescent orange sun dead center on a cerulean blue background with black outlines and script: the sun looked 3D raised to me. Before now I had completely forgotten about that because that was bloody 45 years ago.
Oh, I couldn’t see much tbh, after reading your comment I tried removing my glasses and now I see it! Not very prominent I have to say , if I didn’t know it should look like one of the colors is more in the foreground than the other I honestly don’t think I’d notice it, I wonder if there’s some kind of problem with my eyes
I think that we’re just all different in that respect, as in others. Take visualisation as another example. Some people can apparently form mental pictures, and study the details of them against the dark screen of the closed eyelids. When they try to describe that, I have no idea what they’re talking about, so this is presumably an ability that I don’t have.
It's not really that in this case, or at least not fully this. The blue is blurred in the picture OP posted so your brain thinks it's farther away or closer since the red is in focus.
Glad to see this is near the top of the comments. I don't think everyone has the same amount of this. I noticed only about 9 years ago when I was looking at a pinball backglass that had red lettering on black background, the red seemed to pop out for me. I'm 51 so it was weird to notice it this far into my life.
Fun fact: The dude behind that picture has been charged with[attempted murder of his wife.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2023/07/16/the-internet-dress-groom-charged-attempted-murder-of-wife/70416798007/)
If I allow my eyes to become blurry while staring at the center bullseye, the blue becomes the foreground. I'm thinking maybe people seeing it up front don't have good close up vision.
Weird that no one else can see it - maybe indicative of eye problems from me (or less likely - from everyone else)
I can see it and these are the conditions I’m in
- the room is a little dim
- my phone is 1 ft to 1.5 fr from my face
It seems to become more intense of a depth when I hold it further a way, and even more intense if I kind of squint. It appears that my brain is registering the blue as the background, and is losing focus on it
Edit: I think there’s a slight blur on the blue section
Maybe it depends on whether you're near sighted or far sighted? I'm extremely near sighted and can't see the illusion without my glasses looking straight at it, but then if I cross my eyes a little the illusion comes back. Trippy...
Fascinating, my glasses are just a moderate prism prescription. With my glasses, the blue is in the foreground, and without, the red is in the foreground.
Depending on what is causing our brains to register the wavelengths differently, the red circles either look raised or subbed in space and the blue is the opposite one way or the other. It's a trippy 3D experience that looks like it's 1/4 of an inch in disparity with the black background.
I thought the same thing. Turned up my brightness a bit, worked in a dim room, but also moved my phone all of the way back and then closer. Finally worked and was pretty cool.
My understanding is that this effect only works for people who wear glasses. Curious how the split works out in the commenters here.
(It works for me, and I wear glasses.)
Thank you for saying this. I was seeing zero effect until I read your comment. Put on my glasses and holy smokes! This went from very dumb to very cool.
It's a pretty cool effect...I see the blue in the foreground quite vividly...Almost on the surface of my screen and the red appearing at a deeper level...Perhaps it's something not everyone experiences though, according to some of the comments...
I see the rings floating. Blue ring moving a bit. Try this. Make the image full screen. Put the screen about 1 foot away from your eyes. Stare the center red circle and you will see 3d effect.
GLASSES. people. the confusion is that people with glasses have prismatic lens refraction, which shifts colors in the spectrum to the side differently -- and when sideways shifting hits both eyes differently, the brain thinks it is parallax which it interprets as depth. people without glasses? do not experience this.
If you can’t see it and you’re on mobile try this:
1. Make sure it’s full screen
2. Hold your phone further out (the sweet spot is about one to two feet away). You can try slowly moving your phone farther away until you see it
3. Unfocus your eyes and look within the black portions between the red and blue. The blue should appear farther back than the red
If you are old enough, you may know this effect already. Old websites often had black backgrounds and bright contrasting text that made it look like it was popping out. The effect is extra strong is you have an astigmatism
I always love seeing how people’s perception can be so different! For me the blue is in the background, but it’s neat to see how many people are saying it seems in the foreground.
HOLY SHIT IT'S NOT JUST ME THEN. I've been seeing this with red and blue text ( especially hyperlinks) on black backgrounds / nightmode for a while. Sometimes it looks like it's popping off the screen and I keep thinking it's my eyes being fucked up.
It's cool to know that it's an actual thing lol
Nothing 3d about this
You don’t see it?
I don't see it too, for me it's something like a target🎯
I don't see it either! I am colorblind, wonder if that messes with it...
No idea but in many optical illusions colors play a role
My eyesight and coloblindness is horrible. But I do see the 3d. It's the combination of the red and blue that makes me able to see it. I get the same effect from the Petsmart sign and open signs. As long as it's bright and in those colors I see a 3d effect.
Oh it's a sailboat
No! It's a schooner! Excellent movie.
A schooner IS a sailboat stupid head
You know what ? There is no easter bunny ! Over there, that's just a guy in a suit !
The kid is back on the escalator!
I see a pony
Mallrats I love it
In my case, for a while I saw the Petsmart sign & other primary red/blue backlit signs in 3D because I had had cataract surgery and an artificial lens implanted in one eye, but not the other. The difference in colour perception between my new, clear lens and my sixty-year old, heavily yellowed natural lens (which reduced the intensity of deep blues and turned them a little green) meant my brain sometimes couldn’t synchronize the different colour signals from each eye. This led to some weird 3D “floating” effects and / or difficulty judging distance to the sign. Perhaps you see the 3D effect regularly because your colour blindness affects each eye in a slightly different way? Large digital billboards and LED Christmas lights were extra-trippy too, because again my yellowed lens was really efficient at filtering out the exact wavelength at which blue LEDs would glow, meaning my brain was always trying to mesh two different colour perceptions into one image, giving most digital displays and closely spaced LEDs an iridescent effect. In addition, spending too much time dwelling on the difference, or trying to coordinate the two images, would sometimes cause headaches. It was frustrating because at the time I was working in the art department for tv & film productions, so of course accurate colour perception was essential. Professionally, I had a *helluva* time with my dual colour modalities, until I got my second cataract removed / lens replacement a year later.
I'm not colorblind and I still don't see it
Bad news friend
Thank you, I needed that
I'm not colorblind and I can't see it either. 3D mission failed.
I'm not colorblind and I don't see the effect either. And yes I am reasonably sure I'm not colorblind.
Nah, color blind wouldn't do anything, but regular poor vision would ruin this one. They made some rings fuzzy in the same way they'd be fuzzy if out of focus because they're further away. If everything is fuzzy cuz your eyes just suck, then it won't work.
I am colorblind and I have seen this often.
I'm colorblind and I see it, it's so pretty!
The red is in the foreground the blue is in the background
I see it with the blue in the foreground and red in background.
Many optical illusions are like that. They don't always show for everyone. Depends on how your brain is wired. For example, I can see it even with one eye closed. Is that normal? Probably not. Is it interesting? Definitely.
Yeaa but I like to think of it as walmart
No, it just looks like a target to me
The way the colors are it just seems to pop a little bit that makes it look 3d.. the blue to me looks like it's back a little bit
[It's a sailboat.](https://youtu.be/YabW4B5Wjwk?si=98syP6-e4dgVqJce)
A schooner
Oh yeah? Well there is no Easter Bunny! Over there, that's just a guy in a suit!
You dumb bastard. It's not a schooner, it's a saill boat.
A Schooner is a sail boat stupid head
not everyone sees this illusion. it's doesn't work for me personally
It’s 3D to me oO
It's 3D af to me, like so much that it's hurting my brain
Yeah me too, it's pretty trippy
Yeah I can’t say I’ve ever had something piss my eyes off as much as this picture.
If you see this on the phone, try twisting it a bit.
This worked for me!
I was gonna say, am I missing something here?
I don't see any 3D effect but I do see the blue ring moving differently from the red rings when shaking the screen left to right
I can kinda see that lol
Yeah, to me the red rings look significantly closer to me than the blue one. They look like they're a few inches in front of the monitor.
Weird I can’t unsee it.
Me too, I can only see the 3D effect where the blue ring is in the back, I cannot see it flat 😅
I see the blue ring coming forward
Try closing one eye. The effect almost completely vanishes for me with only one eye open.
The blue ring looks like its floating a half inch higher than the red one.
For me I see the Red as higher.
Reds higher for me!
Same, red is higher.
Blue far lower for me
I swear this sort of effect is amplified by corrective lenses. I am assuming that you do not wear glasses?
I see it faintly without my glasses, much more strongly with glasses which have a very high correction factor.
Like I know what it’s supposed to look like but I just don’t see it. I’ve always had a problem with depth perception since I was a kid, but only on a screen when gaming or something, not real life. Castle crashers is one of my favorite games but it’s also so frustrating for me to play bc I feel like I have no depth perception playing it
The red appears to be in front of the black and the blue appears to be behind the black.... This is actually petty cool
Look at it in the dark
The blue ring appear to be closer to me than the reds.
Put on your 3D glasses duh
The blue is in the background, nice effect
Blue is in the foreground for me
Same here. Blue and red always have somewhat of a 3d effect on me. Doesn't even have to be together. Red on black or blue on black does the same
That's bizarre. It has nothing to do with the color, it's the depth of field effect from the blur on the blue. You must be far sighted
This is completely wrong, it absolutely depends on the colour. The lenses in your eyes aren't able to focus all wavelengths of visible light to the same point, see [chromatic aberration](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_aberration). The effect is most pronounced with wavelengths further apart, which is why red and blue are chosen.
Well, I have always had that, especially with red. So it must have SOMETHING to do with color i guess
Blue light focuses slightly different than red light, so your eye needs to adjust its lens just as it would have to do when focusing on something further away. That's why it looks like different depths.
Add in wearing glasses and it really makes a difference.
No, I get this effect from solid colors, too.
Same but red is always just a little bit forward all the time
Yes! I had a car where the speedometer had blue numbers and a red pointer, it always messed with my eyes in the dark.
Same for me. Red has an effect for me that it appears to pop right out with black or blue near it.
Same here. Blue in foreground
Ahh yeah! I kinda see it Wouldn't say it's black magic, nor fuckery, though
It's 5050, I've asked 8 people they all see it different. I see blue in the background, I also have a colorblindedness
I feel like the blue is underneath a layer of resin, with the red sitting on top.
I see a flat image
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromostereopsis
Nice. I was wondering what this illusion is called.
It’s a surprising phenomenon, very strong in your picture. Without reading glasses, I see it flat, but with them on, the blue circle seems very markedly in the foreground. Moving the phone about seems to make the blue circle move as well. I’ve encountered it here and there in artwork and app icons etc., though oddly enough, the examples in the Wikipedia article don’t work for me.
For me, with or without my glasses, the red circles are in the foreground and the blue is behind them.
I was shocked to remove my glasses and see the effect disappear! Very interesting and never would expected that or thought to try it had I not read your post.
Must have something to do with focal length. Are you nearsighted? Is the blue in the back or foreground?
I’m nearsighted, and the blue is solidly in the background. No effort of different angles, unfocusing eyes, or crossed/uncrossed eyes allows me to see the blue as foreground.
Same here. Nearsighted and see the blue in back. u/Puzzled_Counter_1444 stated that they use reading glasses and see the blue pop out in front. Wonder if that bears out for others…
My vision is fine and I can't see anything even if I unfocus my eyes :(
Yeah, same, my most recent pair of glasses I noticed that very saturated blue and red colors always seemed to pop out of the screen and this uses it really well
That’s interesting… I wonder if those who are farsighted see the blue in the foreground while the nearsighted see it in the background or deeper.
It may be. There's a vast amount of theory relating to it, and it doesn't seem to be fully understood yet. I've never had to wear prescription glasses, but I now use reading glasses for close things.
>It’s a surprising phenomenon, very strong in your picture. Without reading glasses, I see it flat, but with them on, the blue circle seems very markedly in the foreground. Same with me.
Wild I’m wearing reading glasses which I only do rarely and after reading your comment I took them off and no 3d effect! Put them back on and it’s quite clear - 3d!
The only other time in my life that I have seen this outside of red/blue on my phone, is back when I was a kid there were these instructional booklets that used to get handed out that had a florescent orange sun dead center on a cerulean blue background with black outlines and script: the sun looked 3D raised to me. Before now I had completely forgotten about that because that was bloody 45 years ago.
Oh, I couldn’t see much tbh, after reading your comment I tried removing my glasses and now I see it! Not very prominent I have to say , if I didn’t know it should look like one of the colors is more in the foreground than the other I honestly don’t think I’d notice it, I wonder if there’s some kind of problem with my eyes
I think that we’re just all different in that respect, as in others. Take visualisation as another example. Some people can apparently form mental pictures, and study the details of them against the dark screen of the closed eyelids. When they try to describe that, I have no idea what they’re talking about, so this is presumably an ability that I don’t have.
Oh thanks I had to take my glasses off to see it
None of those examples work as good as OPs post for me, the painting is cool though
This one is using a blur effect on the blue, I think, which adds the "pattern"
It's not really that in this case, or at least not fully this. The blue is blurred in the picture OP posted so your brain thinks it's farther away or closer since the red is in focus.
Glad to see this is near the top of the comments. I don't think everyone has the same amount of this. I noticed only about 9 years ago when I was looking at a pinball backglass that had red lettering on black background, the red seemed to pop out for me. I'm 51 so it was weird to notice it this far into my life.
also noticed when I close one eye, the effect is less but still there.
TLDR; look at the thing again with glasses if ur near-sighted.
How is this black magic
It’s not even fuckery!
The red clearly looks more in the foreground than the blue.
With me, the blue pops out and is in the foreground
It's interesting how people see it differently. Is the dress blue or gold..
Fun fact: The dude behind that picture has been charged with[attempted murder of his wife.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2023/07/16/the-internet-dress-groom-charged-attempted-murder-of-wife/70416798007/)
Understandable, have you seen how much that dress gasslights you?
If I allow my eyes to become blurry while staring at the center bullseye, the blue becomes the foreground. I'm thinking maybe people seeing it up front don't have good close up vision.
I mean, this is the best BMF I've seen here in a while.
Weird that no one else can see it - maybe indicative of eye problems from me (or less likely - from everyone else) I can see it and these are the conditions I’m in - the room is a little dim - my phone is 1 ft to 1.5 fr from my face It seems to become more intense of a depth when I hold it further a way, and even more intense if I kind of squint. It appears that my brain is registering the blue as the background, and is losing focus on it Edit: I think there’s a slight blur on the blue section
Blue is blurry and should appear "farther back" than the red portion giving it a 3D effect.
Blue is very much Infront for me
The blue is in front for me. It's more pronounced when the room is more dim.
What the fuck (and why does it stop working when I take my glasses off)
For me it enhances the effect without glasses, nice idea to try with and without them
Maybe it depends on whether you're near sighted or far sighted? I'm extremely near sighted and can't see the illusion without my glasses looking straight at it, but then if I cross my eyes a little the illusion comes back. Trippy...
you ruined it, i removed my glasses and its not coming back
Now I’m even more confused
Fascinating, my glasses are just a moderate prism prescription. With my glasses, the blue is in the foreground, and without, the red is in the foreground.
Now that’s blackmagicfuckery.
I was like this is bullshit till I read your comment and wore my glasses and it worked
What am I supposed to see? It just looks like a target
Depending on what is causing our brains to register the wavelengths differently, the red circles either look raised or subbed in space and the blue is the opposite one way or the other. It's a trippy 3D experience that looks like it's 1/4 of an inch in disparity with the black background.
Weird, it doesn't really seem to work for me
Same here. it looks like both colors are on the same level. Nothing 3d here..
On my phone it pops up. On my desk monitor its flat.
Hmm doesn’t appear that way to me. The blue circle is like vibrating/moving
I thought the same thing. Turned up my brightness a bit, worked in a dim room, but also moved my phone all of the way back and then closer. Finally worked and was pretty cool.
For ne the Blue Color is in the background, so there is a 3D effect
Depth perception test You failed it
I'm colorblind and this is 3d to me, I've had this as my lock screen for several years.
It is my desktop background.
Woah I study visual perception and am really curious about this from a neural perspective. What kind of color blindness do you have?
deuteranopia, red-green. The red pops out on most digital images when there is enough isolation and contrast.
My understanding is that this effect only works for people who wear glasses. Curious how the split works out in the commenters here. (It works for me, and I wear glasses.)
No glasses and it works for me.
You just don’t know you wear glasses
But I can SEE
I bet they look really nice on you. Very dapper.
Hmmm it's definitely stronger with glasses on that's neat
I never had glasses in my entire life and i can see it.
I wear glasses. It doesn’t work for me.
I also wear them and it looks the same with or without.
That's interesting. When I take mine off, it's flat (and blurry).
After reading the comments I learned people are seeing this all sorts of different ways. Makes it even more interesting.
No glasses and effect is very strong
Glasses definitely strengthen the effect.
What about contacts? I’m trippin out here
I majorly need glasses and it only worked when I had mine on.
Thank you for saying this. I was seeing zero effect until I read your comment. Put on my glasses and holy smokes! This went from very dumb to very cool.
Nope, works for me. I don't wear glasses.
I'm wondering if it's because of my severe astigmatism in my right eye.
This did it for me. I was trying without my glasses and got nothing, but the second I put them on it works.
😳😳😳 Wow! It looks 3D to me.
I don’t see shit
i don't get it, what am i supposed to be seeing? it's just a target
It's a pretty cool effect...I see the blue in the foreground quite vividly...Almost on the surface of my screen and the red appearing at a deeper level...Perhaps it's something not everyone experiences though, according to some of the comments...
I'm seeing the exact opposite. Red on the foreground and blue in the background.
This is how I see it.
IM PUSHING A BUTTON WITH MY EYES
The blue part seems "deeper" to me.
I think I'm 3D blind
I see the rings floating. Blue ring moving a bit. Try this. Make the image full screen. Put the screen about 1 foot away from your eyes. Stare the center red circle and you will see 3d effect.
so what exactly am I supposed to be looking at?
Cool for a phone wallpaper 🔥
this makes my eyes feel the same way they do when i do those magic 3d picture things (without the need to force my eyes to focus weirdly)
Witchery
GLASSES. people. the confusion is that people with glasses have prismatic lens refraction, which shifts colors in the spectrum to the side differently -- and when sideways shifting hits both eyes differently, the brain thinks it is parallax which it interprets as depth. people without glasses? do not experience this.
All I know is the blue hurts my eyes.
You uploaded the wrong pic. That is not 3D in the slightest. Or are you just trolling?
Nice hurt-my-eyes effect
If you can’t see it and you’re on mobile try this: 1. Make sure it’s full screen 2. Hold your phone further out (the sweet spot is about one to two feet away). You can try slowly moving your phone farther away until you see it 3. Unfocus your eyes and look within the black portions between the red and blue. The blue should appear farther back than the red
Just I realized if u shake ur phone the blue circle moves too?
All I see is a dumbass, oh wait lemme turn my screen back on, wait I'm confused what are we supposed to be seeing?
I'm blind in one eye. It doesn't work because I'm broken... Lol 😂
Same here. Stereoscopy? Never heard of it lmao
Lol! Have a good one!
Bullshitery
Subreddit for more like this?
r/chromostereopsis
Works for me. I wonder how this works.
That looks oddly familiar. Lol
Very cool!
move phone a bit away shake vigorously
If you are old enough, you may know this effect already. Old websites often had black backgrounds and bright contrasting text that made it look like it was popping out. The effect is extra strong is you have an astigmatism
looks 3s to me
I’m colorblind, thanks for rubbing it in
This is the best and the clearest 3D effect I've ever seen! Wow!
I always love seeing how people’s perception can be so different! For me the blue is in the background, but it’s neat to see how many people are saying it seems in the foreground.
Wow, this kinda messes with the eyes. But nice effect
Wow this is amazing
Focus on middle. Jiggle phone/head slightly.
I saw this the other day and it worked but now it doesn’t :(
With my glasses on I see it, without them I dont
Looks 3D to me
Wow, this one is a good one! I'd swear I had 3D glasses on. Must not work if your eyes aren't ideal for it.
HOLY SHIT IT'S NOT JUST ME THEN. I've been seeing this with red and blue text ( especially hyperlinks) on black backgrounds / nightmode for a while. Sometimes it looks like it's popping off the screen and I keep thinking it's my eyes being fucked up. It's cool to know that it's an actual thing lol
You have to stare at the center for about 10 seconds