3D photos on Facebook - How to do, post and share these stunning images using your account
3D photos on Facebook - How to do, post and share these stunning images using your account
Facebook has rolled out it's new 3D photo feature and here's everything you need to know about taking and creating these stunning images
Social media giant Facebook have introduced 3D photographs which appear to move or tilt on a mobile device.
Using the latest in AR (augmented reality) technology , the effect makes pictures seem more alive and immersive, with interactive changes in perspective as you move them.
The photos appear like a normal picture post on a users newsfeed until you scroll past them, touch or click them, or tilt your phone.
They then respond as if the photo is actually a window into a tiny diorama - sort of like a frozen snippet of time.
How does it work?
It's made possible due to the fact that most modern devices have dual cameras - sort of like a pair of eyes.
It works by using both of these cameras at the same time to take the same photo.
It works by using both of these cameras at the same time to take the same photo.
The device then calculates the depth between the two shots resulting in an image which reflects the distance between all of the objects in the photo - offering a deeper perspective.
This photo of Steve the snail shows how a static photo can be transformed into 3D using the technology:
It's not perfect by any means - the stitching of the images using the depth map is sort of a digital version of papier mache and if it's a face forward head shot of a person, it cannot grab the information about the back of the head.
Which devices are compatible?
At the moment only users with dual-camera phones will be able to create 3D images. As part of the initial roll out, the feature is restricted solely to the iPhone 7+, 8+, X, XS, and XS Max.
However, Facebook has said that it will be down sourcing the feature and "adding support for more devices in the future."
How to post a 3D photo to Facebook
How to upload a Facebook 3D photo
The feature creates a 3D photo from an existing image on your camera roll. This needs to be a photo taken in Portrait Mode on your iPhone.
- Open Facebook on your iPhone and create a new post
- The create 3D photo wil be at the top of the post options below the text box
- Tap 3D Photo
- Select the photo you'd like to post in 3D
- Preview the 3D photo and then tap Next
- Add a caption if desired and then tap Share
Which photos work best?
Facebook explains that certain types of photo translate to 3D better than others.
It recommends that users take photos with 'layers,' meaning that there are people or objects at different distances from the camera.
It also recommends making sure that photographed objects have strong contrasting colours, so that differences in perspective show up more easily.
After experimenting, we found that it doesn't translate well for images of landscapes - or objects further away than around 5ft.
Choose an image that already has a fair multiple layers of depth and lots of contrast to make the most of the feature.
Distinct colors will make the layers separate better, and transparent or shiny objects like glass or plastic can throw off the AI.
It works pretty well if it's a still object:
And it works for people and faces too - although it struggles a little with the head area:
Groups of objects or people work particularly well, especially if they are all different distances away:
Who can see it in 3D?
Once posted, the 3D photo can be viewed by anyone with a smartphone - and not just iPhone users.
It can also be viewing in 3D by people using the Oculus Go or Oculus Rift VR headsets.
And it looks like you can also view the 3D images outside of the Facebook app, so long as the images are embedded.
The Life of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama
The Life of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/happy-buddha-56a0c4fa5f9b58eba4b3aa25.jpg)
The life of Siddhartha Gautama, the person we call the Buddha, is shrouded in legend and myth. Although most historians believe there was such a person, we know very little about the actual historical person. The "standard" biography, relayed in this article, appears to have evolved over time. It was largely completed by the "Buddhacarita," an epic poem written by Aśvaghoṣa in the second century A.D.
Siddhartha Gautama's Birth and Family
The future Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was born in the fifth or sixth century B.C. in Lumbini (in modern-day Nepal). Siddhartha is a Sanskrit name meaning "one who has accomplished a goal," and Gautama is a family name.
His father, King Suddhodana, was the leader of a large clan called the Shakya (or Sakya). It's not clear from the earliest texts whether he was a hereditary king or more of a tribal chief. It is also possible that he was elected to this status.
Suddhodana married two sisters, Maya and Pajapati Gotami. They are said to have been princesses of another clan, the Koliya, from what is northern India today. Maya was the mother of Siddhartha, and he was her only child. She died shortly after his birth. Pajapati, who later became the first Buddhist nun, raised Siddhartha as her own.
By all accounts, Prince Siddhartha and his family were of the Kshatriya caste of warriors and nobles. Among Siddhartha's more well-known relatives was his cousin Ananda, the son of his father's brother. Ananda would later become the Buddha's disciple and personal attendant. He would have been considerably younger than Siddhartha, however, and they didn't know each other as children.
The Prophecy and a Young Marriage
When Prince Siddhartha was a few days old, it is said, a holy man prophesied over the prince. By some accounts, nine Brahman holy men made the prophecy. It was foretold that the boy would be either a great ruler or a great spiritual teacher. King Suddhodana preferred the first outcome and prepared his son accordingly.
He raised the boy in great luxury and shielded him from knowledge of religion and human suffering. At the age of 16, he was married to his cousin, Yasodhara, who was also 16. This was no doubt a marriage arranged by the families, as was customary at the time.
Yasodhara was the daughter of a Koliya chief, and her mother was a sister to King Suddhodana. She was also a sister of Devadatta, who became a disciple of the Buddha and then, by some accounts, a dangerous rival.
The Four Passing Sights
The prince reached the age of 29 with little experience of the world outside the walls of his opulent palaces. He was oblivious to the realities of sickness, old age, and death.
One day, overcome with curiosity, Prince Siddhartha asked a charioteer to take him on a series of rides through the countryside. On these journeys he was shocked by the sight of an aged man, then a sick man, and then a corpse. The stark realities of old age, disease, and death seized and sickened the prince.
Finally, he saw a wandering ascetic. The charioteer explained that the ascetic was one who had renounced the world and sought release from the fear of death and suffering.
These life-changing encounters would become known in Buddhism as the Four Passing Sights.
Siddhartha's Renunciation
For a time the prince returned to palace life, but he took no pleasure in it. Even the news that his wife Yasodhara had given birth to a son did not please him. The child was called Rahula, which means "fetter."
One night the prince wandered the palace alone. The luxuries that had once pleased him now seemed grotesque. Musicians and dancing girls had fallen asleep and were sprawled about, snoring and sputtering. Prince Siddhartha reflected on the old age, disease, and death that would overtake them all and turn their bodies to dust.
He realized then that he could no longer be content living the life of a prince. That very night he left the palace, shaved his head, and changed from his royal clothes into a beggar's robe. Renouncing all the luxury he had known, he began his quest for enlightenment.
The Search Begins
Siddhartha started by seeking out renowned teachers. They taught him about the many religious philosophies of his day as well as how to meditate. After he had learned all they had to teach, his doubts and questions remained. He and five disciples left to find enlightenment by themselves.
The six companions attempted to find release from suffering through physical discipline: enduring pain, holding their breath, and fasting nearly to starvation. Yet Siddhartha was still unsatisfied.
It occurred to him that in renouncing pleasure he had grasped the opposite of pleasure, which was pain and self-mortification. Now Siddhartha considered a Middle Way between those two extremes.
He remembered an experience from his childhood when his mind had settled into a state of deep peace. He saw that the path of liberation was through the discipline of mind, and he realized that, instead of starvation, he needed nourishment to build up his strength for the effort. When he accepted a bowl of rice milk from a young girl, his companions assumed he had given up the quest, and they abandoned him.
The Enlightenment of the Buddha
Siddhartha sat beneath a sacred fig tree (Ficus religiosa), known ever after as the Bodhi Tree (bodhi means "awakened"). It was there that he settled into meditation.
The struggle within Siddhartha's mind came to be mythologized as a great battle with Mara. The demon's name means "destruction" and represents the passions that snare and delude us. Mara brought vast armies of monsters to attack Siddhartha, who sat still and untouched. Mara's most beautiful daughter tried to seduce Siddhartha, but this effort also failed.
Finally, Mara claimed that the seat of enlightenment rightfully belonged to him. Mara's spiritual accomplishments were greater than Siddhartha's, the demon said. Mara's monstrous soldiers cried out together, "I am his witness!" Mara challenged Siddhartha, "Who will speak for you?"
Then Siddhartha reached out his right hand to touch the earth, and the earth itself roared, "I bear you witness!" Mara disappeared. As the morning star rose in the sky, Siddhartha Gautama realized enlightenment and became a buddha, which is defined as "a person who has achieved full enlightenment."
The Buddha as a Teacher
At first, the Buddha was reluctant to teach because what he had realized could not be communicated in words. Only through discipline and clarity of mind would delusions fall away and could one experience the Great Reality. Listeners without that direct experience would be stuck in conceptualizations and would surely misunderstand everything he said. Still, compassion persuaded him to make the attempt to transmit what he had realized.
After his enlightenment, he went to the Deer Park in Isipatana, located in what is now the province of Uttar Pradesh, India. There he found the five companions who had abandoned him and preached his first sermon to them.
This sermon has been preserved as the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta and centers on the Four Noble Truths. Instead of teaching doctrines about enlightenment, the Buddha chose to prescribe a path of practice through which people can realize enlightenment for themselves.
The Buddha devoted himself to teaching and attracted hundreds of followers. Eventually, he became reconciled with his father, King Suddhodana. His wife, the devoted Yasodhara, became a nun and disciple. Rahula, his son, became a novice monk at the age of seven and spent the rest of his life with his father.
The Last Words of the Buddha
The Buddha traveled tirelessly through all areas of northern India and Nepal. He taught a diverse group of followers, all of whom were seeking the truth he had to offer.
At the age of 80, the Buddha entered Parinirvana, leaving his physical body behind. In his passing, he abandoned the endless cycle of death and rebirth.
Before his last breath, he spoke final words to his followers:
"Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All compounded things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation."
The Buddha's body was cremated. His remains were placed in stupas—domed structures common in Buddhism—in many places, including China, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.
The Buddha Has Inspired Millions
Some 2,500 years later, the Buddha's teachings remain significant for many people throughout the world. Buddhism continues to attract new followers and is one of the fastest-growing religions, though many do not refer to it as a religion but as a spiritual path or a philosophy. An estimated 350 to 550 million people practice Buddhism today.
Origins of Theravada Buddhism
Origins of Theravada Buddhism
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/GettyImages-588750425-565618253df78c6ddf25747b.jpg)
Buddhist monks view an ancient temple with stupas (pagodas) at Bagan, Mandalay Region, Burma (Myanmar).
Theravada is the dominant school of Buddhism in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Sri Lanka, and it has more than 100 million followers worldwide. The form of Buddhism that developed elsewhere in Asia is called Mahayana.
Theravada means "doctrine (or teaching) of the elders." The school claims to be the oldest existing school of Buddhism. Theravada monastic orders see themselves as the direct heirs of the original sangha established by the historical Buddha. Is this true? How did Theravada originate?
Early Sectarian Divisions
Although much about early Buddhist history isn't clearly understood today, it appears sectarian divisions began to crop up shortly after the death and parinirvana of the Buddha. Buddhist councils were called to debate and settle doctrinal disputes.
In spite of these efforts to keep everyone on the same doctrinal page, however, by about a century or so after the death of the Buddha, two significant factions had emerged. This split, which occurred in the 2nd or 3rd century BCE, is sometimes called the Great Schism.
These two major factions were called Mahasanghika ("of the great sangha") and Sthavira ("the elders"), sometimes also called Sthaviriya or Sthaviravadin ("doctrine of the elders"). Today's Theravadins are the not-entirely-direct descendants of the latter school, and Mahasanghika is considered a forerunner of Mahayana Buddhism, which would emerge in about the 2nd century CE.
In standard histories Mahasanghika is thought to have broken away from the main sangha, represented by the Sthavira. But current historical scholarship says it may have been the Sthavira school that broke away from the main sangha, represented by the Mahasanghika, not the other way around.
The reasons for this sectarian division are not completely clear today. According to Buddhist legend, the split occurred when a monk named Mahadeva proposed five doctrines about the qualities of an arhat to which the assembly at the Second Buddhist Council (or the Third Buddhist Council according to some sources) could not agree. Some historians suspect Mahadeva is fictional, however.
A more plausible cause is a dispute over the Vinaya-pitaka, rules of the monastic orders. Sthavira monks appear to have added new rules to the Vinaya; Mahasanghika monks objected. No doubt other issues were in contention as well.
Sthavira
Sthavivra soon divided into at least three sub-schools, one of which was called Vibhajjavada, the "doctrine of analysis." This school emphasized critical analysis and reason rather than blind faith. Vibhajjavada would further split into at least two schools -- more in some sources -- one of which was Theravada.
The patronage of the Emperor Ashoka helped to establish Buddhism as one of the major religions of Asia. The monk Mahinda, thought to be a son of Ashoka, took Vibhajjavada Buddhism into Sri Lanka ca. 246 BCE, where it was propagated by monks of the Mahavihara monastery. This branch of Vibhajjavada came to be called Tamraparniya, "the Sri Lankan lineage." Other branches of Vibhajjavada Buddhism died out, but Tamraparniya survived and came to be called Theravada, "teachings of the elders of the order."
Theravada is the only school of Sthavira that survives to this day.
The Pali Canon
One of the early achievements of Theravada was the preservation of the Tripitaka -- a large collection of texts that includes the sermons of the Buddha -- into writing. In the 1st century BCE, monks of Sri Lanka wrote out the entire canon on palm leaves. It was written in the Pali language, a close relative of Sanskrit, and so this collection came to be called the Pali Canon.
The Tripitika was also being preserved in Sanskrit and other languages, but we have only fragments of those versions. What has come to be called the "Chinese" Tripitika was pieced together mostly from early Chinese translations of the now-lost Sanskrit, and there are some texts that are preserved only in the Pali.
However, since the oldest extant copy of the Pali Canon is only about 500 years old, we have no way to know if the Canon we have now is precisely the same as the one written in the 1st century BCE.
The Spread of Theravada
From Sri Lanka, spread throughout southeast Asia. See the articles linked below to learn how Theravada was established in each country.
