The basic requirements to recover plane layers of constant interval velocity, arbitrary dip and strike from common depth point (CDP) recordings are the following four quantities related to the primary event of each reflector at the common midpoint of a CDP profile: a) Two‐way normal time b) Normal moveout velocity within one arbitrary CDP profile c) Time slope of normally reflected rays within the profile d) Time slope of normally reflected rays in some other direction. The solution of the inverse problem is obtained directly. The moveout velocity is expressed in terms of seismic parameters along the normal incidence path in three dimensions and the direction of the profile within the free surface. A formula connecting dip and strike of the emerging normal ray with the measured time gradients is given and discussed. The method includes, as a special case, the Dix formulas for plane parallel layers.