Over the past few days, you may have noticed an influx of 3D photos in your Facebook feed. That's because this feature was previously limited to dual-camera iPhone devices, but on April 16, Oculus introduced new features allow users to create 3D photos and upload them into their feed from a computer. Here's how you can create your own.
In this video, Unmesh Dinda from PiXimperfect demonstrates how he turns a composited image into a 3D photo. While his example is focused on a composite photo, any type of photo can be used as long as you create a depth map image along with your photo.The depth map image is how the 3D feature works: areas in white will be closer, while areas in black will be simulated farther away, allowing for the 3D effect to work. Your depth map image has to be the same file name as the original image with the inclusion of "_depth."
If you like to follow a documented process on how to create your own 3D photo, you can check out this blog post from Oculus. The other new features include the option to have 3D photos in your Facebook Stories and that 3D photo creation is now available on Andriod phones, though currently limited to some Samsung models.
Have you transformed any of your photos in 3D photos? What are your thoughts on this? Is it just a gimmick right now or something that we will continue to see more of? I would really love the ability to upload three photos, one for the background specifically, so when you are moving the photo, you are not seeing a blurred mess behind whatever is "popping" out.
