Symmetric Vision

Symmetric Vision
Other namesRaimonds Jermaks; StingrayZ
EducationVidzeme University of Applied Sciences
OccupationPsychedelic digital artist
Years active2014–present
Known forPsychedelic replications
Websitesymmetric-vision.xyz
youtube.com/@SymmetricVision

Symmetric Vision, also known by his real name Raimonds Jermaks, is a Latvian visual effects (VFX) artist who creates psychedelic replications. Replications are realistic recreations of the visual and/or auditory effects of hallucinogens such as psychedelic drugs like LSD and DMT. Symmetric Vision creates replications professionally and is regarded as the most prominent artist in this field. He has worked in the area of replications since 2014 and publishes his psychedelic digital art on his website, on social media sites like YouTube and Reddit, and in the past on PsychonautWiki. Symmetric Vision won the Qualia Research Institute (QRI)'s Psychedelic Cryptography contest in 2023. He has also been involved in visual effects work in scientific research, for instance development of a virtual reality system called Viscereality intended to augment altered states of consciousness.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kiel, Tom (24 July 2018). "Gifjes die akelig goed laten zien hoe een psychedelische trip eruitziet" [GIFs that show uncannily well what a psychedelic trip looks like] (in Dutch). VICE. Retrieved 16 August 2026. Het is moeilijk om uit te leggen hoe de effecten van psychedelica zoals lsd, paddo's en dmt er precies uitzien – zeker aan iemand die het nog nooit heeft meegemaakt. Die hallucinaties zijn simpelweg niet te filmen. Toch is dat precies wat de Letse grafisch ontwerper Raimonds Jermaks probeert te doen, en eerlijk is eerlijk, hij komt heel dicht in de buurt. [...] Hij maakt deze video's voor Psychonautwiki, een online encyclopedie van alle mogelijke effecten die je van psychedelica kunt krijgen. Het bestaat zo'n vijf jaar, en wordt gerund door enkele tientallen mensen over de hele wereld. Ze leggen uit wat tripmiddelen precies doen, en concretiseren ook hoe dat er zoal uitziet. In woord, maar dus ook in beeld. [...] Ik skypete met Jermaks om hem te vragen hoe hij op het idee kwam voor deze visualisaties, hoe hij ze maakt en of alle psychedelische effecten even makkelijk zijn na te bootsen.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Taylor Sterling (18 September 2025). "#22: Mapping the Ineffable: Josie Kins on Documenting Psychedelic States". Tripsitter Podcast (Podcast). Tripsitter. But that community blew up, and there were immediately several prominent replicators. The biggest ones, like the OG replicator, he's so good, is Symmetric Vision, who used to go by StingrayZ, or Zed, on Reddit. Sorry, I sometimes stop and call him that, but he's Symmetric Vision these days and he, he's absolutely incredible. Uh, there are, there are several other replicators over the years. Uh, Loka is a another big one that I have to have to mention. But uh yeah we all know each other we all work together and we're all pretty good friends. And uh there's a small handful of people that have made an actual career out of replications as a result of that community, which I'm very happy about.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Blacker, David J. (1 June 2024). "Introduction: Psychedelia's Third Wave". Deeper Learning with Psychedelics: Philosophical Pathways through Altered States. State University of New York Press. doi:10.1515/9781438498140. ISBN 978-1-4384-9814-0. [...] And social media platforms are replete with psychedelic resources. Notable among these are emerging digital artists who have skillfully replicated the visual and auditory sensations associated with DMT and other psychedelic experiences: see for example the astonishingly accurate trip simulations on the YouTube channel Symmetric Vision (www.youtube.com/@SymmetricVision). [...]
  4. 1 2 "Symmetric Vision". Symmetric Vision. Retrieved 16 August 2026. [...] "Inducing Flashbacks since 2014" [...]
  5. 1 2 Winslow, Henry (1 March 2026). "🫠 Psychonaut POV: [5-min read] Q&A with Josie Kins, Phenomenologist & Engineer". Tricycle Day. Retrieved 27 March 2026. [Kins:] Text is helpful for describing the behavior of the visual experience, but to actually show what it looks like, you need to replicate it. The concept of "replications" existed long before I put a term to it. [...] [Kins:] There are now people who've made actual careers out of psychedelic replications, like Loka Vision and Symmetric Vision, and their work is pretty incredible. For open-eye stuff, it's typically standard video editing. For high-level stuff like breakthrough geometry, these artists use 3D modeling and animation. And increasingly, I've been using generative AI to replicate high-level states, because it can do things that simply aren't practical otherwise.
  6. ↑ Josie Kins (15 July 2017). "Replications". Effect Index. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  7. ↑ Reed, Graham (23 April 2019). "Hallucinations and the Psychedelic Visual Experience". Psychedelic Science Review. There is a wealth of gathered scientific research available on PsychonautWiki and EffectIndex regarding visual phenomena. EffectIndex, in charge of Reddit's /r/replications, exists to serve as a collection of artistic recreations of the hallucinogenic experience. As an example, one of the most scientifically validated visual effect due to psychedelic intoxication is after-images (Figure 3).18-22 [...] Artists are now replicating hallucinogenic experiences. However, it is important to remember that visuals alone cannot fully characterize a psychedelic experience.
  8. ↑ Nair, Joshua (2 September 2025). "Simulation shows reality of ketamine as woman shared what 'ket bladder' is". ladbible. Retrieved 16 August 2026. A YouTube video from Symmetric Vision shows the perspective of someone looking at some plants when they start to k-hole, resulting in everything becoming warped and changing colour.
  9. ↑ Ferreira, Becky (7 June 2023). "These 'Psychedelic Cryptography' Videos Have Hidden Messages Designed to Be Seen While Tripping". VICE. Retrieved 16 August 2026. A new competition focused on "Psychedelic Cryptography" has awarded cash prizes to artists who made videos encoded with hidden messages that can be most easily deciphered by a person who is tripping on psychedelic substances, such as LSD, ayahuasca, or psilocybin mushrooms. [...] Qualia Research Institute (QRI), a California-based nonprofit group that researches consciousness with backing from tech investors and experts, announced the winners of its Psychedelic Cryptography (PsyCrypto) contest last week. [...] Artist Raimonds Jermaks clinched the first and second place prizes in the contest for videos entitled "Can You See Us?" and " We Are Here. Let's Talk."
  10. ↑ Čížek, Jakub (13 June 2023). "Bizarní psychologický experiment. V těchto videích je uložená informace, kterou uvidí jen lidé na tripu" (in Czech). VTM.cz. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  11. ↑ Heinrich (20 June 2023). "These Competition Videos Have Hidden Messages Designed To Be Seen While Tripping [Video]". 2oceansvibe News. Retrieved 16 August 2026. A recently launched "Psychedelic Cryptography" competition awards cash prizes to artists who make videos encoded with hidden messages that can only be deciphered by someone tripping on psychedelic substances, such as LSD, ayahuasca, or psilocybin mushrooms. [...] The brainchild of Qualia Research Institute (QRI), a California-based nonprofit group that researches consciousness with backing from tech investors and experts, announced the winners of its Psychedelic Cryptography (PsyCrypto) contest last week. [...] First and second place went to artist Raimonds Jermaks whose videos entitled "Can You See Us?" and "We Are Here. Let's Talk" blew the judges away.
  12. ↑ "Psychedelic Cryptography Contest Winners Announced". PsychedelicNewsWire (PNW). 13 June 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  13. ↑ Gómez-Emilsson, Andrés (1 June 2023). "Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness Contest: Replication (Immerse)". Qualia Research Institute. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  14. ↑ Fejer, George; Holzapfel, Till; Gómez-Emilsson, Andrés; Hirvonen, Taru; Jermaks, Raimonds; Blum, Johannes; Lobser, David; Lalidis Mateo, Anestis; Glowacki, David; Gaebler, Michael; Lenggenhager, Bigna (2025). Viscereality: A Bio-responsive VR System for Breath-Based Interactions and Coupled Oscillator Dynamics to Augment Altered States of Consciousness. MCI-WS11: 18th Workshop “Be-greifbare Interaktion”. Chemnitz. 31. August - 03. September 2025. doi:10.18420/MUC2025-MCI-WS11-174. Retrieved 16 August 2026. Raimonds Jermaks symmetricvision@symmetricvision.xyz [...] Raimonds Jermaks ([symmetric-vision.xyz]) and David Lobser ([dlobser.com]) contributed essential refinements to the project's geometry and particle textures, enhancing both visual quality and system performance.
  15. ↑ Fejer, George; Holzapfel, Till; Hirvonen, Taru; Lalidis Mateo, Anestis; Blum, Johannes; Gaebler, Michael; Lenggenhager, Bigna (2026). Breathing Space: Spatial Mapping of Breath and Cardiac Biofeedback for Affective State Representation and Coherence Training in Viscereality. ACM. p. 79–86. doi:10.1145/3780045.3780061. ISBN 979-8-4007-1948-6. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  16. ↑ Mueller FD, Palmer WC, Sterzer P, Wang N, Franzen L, Silverstein S, Powers A, Papassotiropoulos A, Cannon TD, de Quervain D (24 January 2026), The Perception of Visual Distortions in Virtual Reality and Their Association with Psychosis-Relevant Traits, doi:10.31234/osf.io/pfy6u_v1, retrieved 16 August 2026, [...] We thank Raimonds Jermaks (Symmetric Vision) and Arthur Pointeau for their contributions to implementing the visual distortions. [...]