Adventures in 3-D

OKAY ! This one's too cool. Here's all you do -- cursor down below these words and bring the three dots to the top of your screen. Keep your eyes about 15 - 20 inches from your screen. Get all peaceful and centered and look at the three dots. Cross your eyes and let them uncross slowly. As you get more relaxed, this will be easier and easier to control. When your eyes are crossed slightly, so that you see five dots instead of just three, your mind will turn this into a 3-D image. The trick here is to let your eyes cross while still holding the image in focus. Being peaceful and quiet helps this a lot. Let your gaze drift downward away from the dots. You'll notice that the big leaves are floating about two to four inches on top of the little leaves. Or are they? Keep the 3-D image in focus and slowly back away from your screen. As you get farther away the big leaves will seem to get even farther from the little leaves. Use your DOWN ARROW to cursor down for more effect.

WHAT'S GOING ON:
Beakman Place of comic strip fame explains that the repeating pattern of the big leaves is different from the pattern of the little leaves. when you cross your eyes, you're duplicating both patterns. But now they don't match anymore. The only way your brain can make sense of the new image is to move the little leaves backward. Then it makes sense. It also turns this web page into an adventure in 3-D.

Beakman's Home Page

This 3-D concept was presented in the Sunday Comics section of many U.S. newspapers on 9/13/98 in the strip by Jok Church titled "You Can with Beakman and Jax"