Stereogram tools (betas)

[Ego Eram Reputo]

When developing the techniques to create Stereograms (stereogram tutorial), I came up with a number of plugin tools to make the work easier.

I'm wondering if these should be released to the general forum?

ShiftIt.dll The first tool I developed. It simply moves a layer/selection by a number of pixels. Directions are Left/Right and Up/Down. This tool was useful at first (especially when I needed to repeat the shift multiple times and could do so with Ctrl+F 😉 ), but became largely obsolete after I developed the next two. PDN has to have some way of doing this that I missed right?

Echo.dll Tiles from the top left corner in selectable width/height strips. Made to ease the creation of stereogram backgrounds. In the end I was doing this so often I made a Scriptlab script to hack out backgrounds in the twinkling on an eye! Running this plugin replaces steps 3-9 in the tutorial. Although I didn't use the vertical tiling when creating backgrounds, it seemed appropriate to include this facility in the plugin. [edit] run it on an entire layer, not a selection [/edit].

 

Backfill.dll The heart of the stereogram technique is the backfilling. This plugin takes the cutout element and makes both the initial right shift (step 17) and also does the backfilling (steps 18-26) in one go.

 

 

You'll find these three plugins in the (temporary) folder Effects>>Stereogram for evaluation purposes. I'm almost certain to release "Backfill", and tempted to release "Echo". Does "ShiftIt" merit release? Your opinions are welcomed.

Stereogram Tools.zip

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Oma has pointed out that the Panelling plugin parallels what I did with ShiftIt. I shall discard ShiftIt in favour of the superior Panelling plugin. I would still value opinions on the other two tools.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Modified build of S-Tools posted. Echo now has larger maximum (also droped ShiftIt as per above post.)

[Eli]

Hello Mr EER, after 25 years or so, I have finally been able to see a hidden image inside a stereogram . So I decided to create one. Thanks for these tools. I am trying to create one of my own. This is my first try. The hidden ofject is the name of a country. I hope you can see it.  

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Spain! Great job.

 

It took me a moment to find it - usually I look for the elements to be side by side. You certainly saved yourself some work doing it vertically

 

Is it just me, or is there a little vertical artifact in the center?

 

I usually recommend using a 'less busy' background. It makes the elements stand out much better.

 

[barbieq25]

I can see the artifact in the middle but not the letters I do like the colours & shapes though!

[Eli]

Hi! EER and barieq25, The only thing I added is the word SPAIN from top to bottom.

 

SSSSS

PPPPP

AAAAA

I I I I I

NNNN

 

I can not see any artifact in the middle. Maybe I did too much texturing.

 

This one is easier to see. I used some shapes and moved them around.

Spoiler

 

[barbieq25]

Ah I see the SPAIN now   I see a bit of a blip thing in the very centre of the ASpain one.

 

Oooh the second one is so nice. Love those shapes & colours!

[Seerose]

Dear @Eli!  That's just so awesome!   I could read very carefully. Thank you for sharing.   

 

 

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Nicely done Eli. The doubled rows of stars are a challenge! Once you realize what to look for they become easier to see.

[Eli]

Thanks @barbieq25, @Seerose, @Ego Eram Reputo. I would like to place a larger shape in the middle but I do not know how to proceed.

Spoiler

 

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Treat any already moved elements as part of the background (merge them - you need a single layer BG). Start your new object using the merged background - just like you were starting over.

 

BTW objects placed last/later should have a greater right-shift to make them appear closer to the viewer. The exception to his is when you're using the strip method to backshift an object wider than your phase. In this case give the strip the same right-shift.

[Seerose]

 Dear @Eli! Can you maybe write a tutorial? 

[Eli]

3 hours ago, Seerose said:

Can you maybe write a tutorial?

That is funny Seerose. I am still trying to understand EER's Last comment.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

1 hour ago, Eli said:

I am still trying to understand EER's Last comment.

 

Have you read through the tutorial thread? There is a lot of explanation there

 

[Eli]

7 hours ago, Ego Eram Reputo said:

Have you read through the tutorial thread? There is a lot of explanation there

Thanks EER.  I will give it a try. If I understood I have to chop the larger image into smaller ones (ABC) and treat each piece as a letter.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

That's right. Make sure the strips are less than the Phase (the period of the repeating background).

[Seerose]

Dear @Eli!  I don't see the layer on your image. Because the other layer I can't see how you handled it. It's possible you're doing this new?

Thank you so much.