Autostereogram

An autostereogram creates the visual illusion of a three-dimensional scene from a single two-dimensional image [1]. The package austere3d (AUtoSTEREogram) creates such images based on two input files (a seamless wallpaper and a depth map):

Dependencies:

The package austere3d needs the python modules matplotlib, numpy, PIL, scipy, tkFileDialog, Tkinter, tkMessageBox, and ttk.

Installation:

First, install the package with pip:

pip3 install austere3d

Next, find the location where the installed files are:

pip3 show -f austere3d

The location could be something like $HOME/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/austere3d. Copy the whole austere3d directory to a place where you have read and write access.

Usage:

This package provides three possibilities to create autostereograms: a command line tool, a GUI, and a GIMP plugin.

Command line version:

Run the command

austere.py

to create an autostereogram from the wallpaper quilt.png and the depthmap cube.png. The output will be saved in the output subdirectory.

Change the definitions of wallpaperfile and depthmapfile in the python script to create other pictures. In addition, the values of d_invert, d_factor and symmetry can be used to change the created images.

GUI:

Run the command

austere-gui.py

to start the GUI. Select one of the wallpaper images from the wallpaper directory and one of the depthmap images from the depthmap directory.

GIMP plugin:

Copy the file austere-plugin.py into your GIMP plug-ins directory (e.g., $HOME/.gimp-2.8/plug-ins).

Start GIMP. Open a wallpaper image (must be RGB mode without transparency, i.e., no alpha channel). Open a depthmap image (must be Grayscale mode). Then select the new item Autostereogram... in the Filters/Render menu.

The GIMP plug-in is slower than the command line version or the GUI.

Implementation:

The algorithm used by austere3d is based on an article in the German edition of Scientific American from 1995 [2].

See depthmap/README for more information about depth maps.

See wallpaper/README for more information about seamless wallpapers.

References:

[1] Wikipedia. Autostereogram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autostereogram

[2] M. Simeth and R. Sander. Mathematische Unterhaltungen: Der kleine Hobbit und das Autostereogramm. Spektrum der Wissenschaft, Jan., 10-15 (1995) http://www.spektrum.de/magazin/der-kleine-hobbit-und-das-autostereogramm/822061