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How can I create these optical illusions called “Autostereograms”? [closed]

… was closed as off-topic. However, I believe it's a perfectly valid question.

  • It asks how to create such an image yourself, therefore not simply asking for "Best software to do XYZ", but an actual explanation.

  • It hasn't generated lots of bad answers, so no indication of not being constructive. Okay, it's probably not generating the kind of awesome answers I imagined. I think it's still possible to do better than that though (other than just posting links found on Google).

  • It was favorited three times, and upvoted nine times — yeah, I know, not an indicator of quality — but it shows that it's a useful and interesting question that obviously hasn't been answered so far.

The two close votes (not constructive, not a real question) from @ChrisF and @DiogoRocha were cast when the question still was at its first revision. This revision was bad, but I'd say the post was fixed after the second revision.

Therefore, please consider to reopen.

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  • Agreed wholeheartedly (glad to see this did get reopened but it's still getting close votes so I felt the need to chime in)
    – Shinrai
    Commented Apr 11, 2012 at 16:54
  • Note how your two first bullet points are no longer valid, please reform or reconsider... Commented Apr 11, 2012 at 23:43
  • @TomWijsman I'll leave this for the community to decide. You even changed the question so it meets the first point, but yeah, the answers are not overwhelming.
    – slhck
    Commented Apr 12, 2012 at 7:32

1 Answer 1

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It's currently open, but when it was closed as off topic, it was all cleaned up and presented in a clear and readable fashion. But with no first attempt and an explicit call for tutorials which lingered in the revision at first close state.

It was also about how to design artwork which may be more suited to a site on graphic design than Super User.

It deals with understanding and/or achieving a technique in whipping up a sailboat hidden in the fractals but completely lacks any prior attempt or notion that they even tried to have a go at something.

It's the same as asking:

I like the maze screensaver in Windows 95. How do I create that?

I haven't actually done anything or opened up any kind of program or done a scintilla of reading, but it looks cool and I want to make my own version. Step me through the entire process from go to whoa.

So on that note, the question hits three options: off topic, not a real question and not constructive.

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  • It has to be noted that the OP hadn't even know the name of what they were looking for (which would have been off topic anyway), but given the current state, I think it's still an interesting question for the community (as indicated by the votes). It does in fact not show a lot of research effort – but this applies to many questions that we still answer, even if it's just for the sake of generating content that's useful for future visitors.
    – slhck
    Commented Apr 11, 2012 at 20:26
  • So, I understand if it's not a perfect fit for the site, but I'd just let the community handle it.
    – slhck
    Commented Apr 11, 2012 at 20:27
  • 1
    Well, the community did decide to close it, another portion wanted it back open, another still is looking to close it again. This sounds like a swinging question. Generating content to draw is one thing, but plenty of people are well in their right to vote to close questions they rightly see as zero effort slugs
    – random Mod
    Commented Apr 11, 2012 at 20:32
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    Indeed, one user might want to write up a well written answer to a single question that could actually be done by the OP himself while another rather wants to answer 5 problems instead, the former don't care whether the question is a task or not while the latter really want to know the problem. I feel like the network is focused more on the latter (mentioned by blog, faq, ...), but the former is welcome if and only if when there is someone that wants to do his work. Until now I've only seen comments / answers written in under a minute mostly copy-catting Google results, polling... Commented Apr 11, 2012 at 23:40

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