In an announcement made on Tuesday, social network Facebook said that it has open-sourced the design of its Surround 360 camera. As a result of the move, the hardware and software designs of the camera have now been released to the public on Github.

The Surround 360 camera was first unveiled by Facebook at its F8 developer conference held in April. It is Facebook's 17-camera array which has the capability to capture video in 360 degrees.

With the hardware and software designs of the Surround 360 camera having been open-sourced by Facebook, anyone can go over to the camera's Github repository to check out the PDF in which all the components required for making the camera have been outlined, along with the instructions to fit the components together.

According to Facebook, the only Surround 360 camera components which are not available for off-the-shelf purchase are the cone-shaped shells which enclose the camera's top and bottom. However, as per Facebook, the schematics can be taken to a machinist for replication.

Highlighting the fact that the Surround 360 camera - which costs approximately $30,000 to build - has been designed to be modified and tinkered with, Brian Cabral -- a Facebook engineering director, and Surround 360 development head -- said: "There will be people who will try different configurations, trying to make it smaller, cheaper, lighter. Some people will go up, marking it bigger in resolution. That's not only okay, but encouraged."