F8 2016: Facebook Surround 360 3-D 360-Degree Camera System

Facebook developed a 3-D 360-degree camera system with an eye toward the 360-degree videos it recently introduced to the social network.

Facebook developed a 3-D 360-degree camera system with an eye toward the 360-degree videos it recently introduced to the social network.

Facebook Surround 360 will not be branded or sold by Facebook. Rather, the social network is open-sourcing the technology, with plans to post the design specifications and stitching code on GitHub this summer.

The system seamlessly combines the video from 17 cameras—14 wide-angle cameras bolted to a horizontal ring, with one fish-eye camera on top and two more on the bottom—helping slash production effort and time.

Facebook unveiled Facebook Surround 360 at its F8 global developers’ conference in San Francisco Tuesday, and the social network said in a blog post by director of engineering Brian Cabral:

We’re open-sourcing the camera to accelerate the growth of the 3-D-360 ecosystem—developers can leverage the designs and code, and content creators can use the camera in their productions.

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