Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Software for Time-Lapse. Please recommend

A

alexxk

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 29, 2010
425
118
Hello all,

I want to get into Timelapse and I would like to know what's the best software to use it once you have all your stills.

I know you can create timelapse with Adobe After Effects, Premiere and even Lightroom or Final Cut Pro X but are these the best or is there another one specifically to accomplish this?

Which ones would you recommend that is both easy to use or at least not too hard and at the same time powerful enough to create professional looking timelapse?

Thanks...
 
A

alexxk

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 29, 2010
425
118
jamesjingyi said:
Quicktime Pro seems good... Check here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO6yKd4lSPM
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. The problem with this is that it's way to simplistic. There is no title, there's no effects in transition from 1 scene to another and no music, etc...

I need a software that I can accomplish all this but it doesn't require me to go to school to actually learn the software... hehhe..

Here is an example of an awesome timelapse. Yes... I know this is VERY professional and probably took a long time to do it, but I want to at least get something similar in time..

http://vimeo.com/23237102
 
TimTheEnchanter

TimTheEnchanter

macrumors 6502a
Oct 24, 2004
732
1
Minneapolis, MN
Check out LRTimelapse. Really helps with de-flickering and light transitions. It has a "confusing-at-first" workflow, but once you've done one or two it makes total sense. I use it with both Lightroom and Photoshop CS6 which has some good video capabilities and export options.
 
A

alexxk

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 29, 2010
425
118
TimTheEnchanter said:
Check out LRTimelapse. Really helps with de-flickering and light transitions. It has a "confusing-at-first" workflow, but once you've done one or two it makes total sense. I use it with both Lightroom and Photoshop CS6 which has some good video capabilities and export options.
Click to expand...


Thanks.. will look at it as well. I'm trying using After Effects but I cannot get the right length of my timelapse which should be 6 sec...

Once I import the images and create a new composition.. it asks me for a "still Duration" if I put 0:00:00:01 I get a 4 seconds and if I put a 2 I get a 9 seconds..

I have 145 stills and I want to get 24 FPS which I did set up in After Effects and I cannot get the correct 6 second..

Driving me nuts...
 
Last edited:
TimTheEnchanter

TimTheEnchanter

macrumors 6502a
Oct 24, 2004
732
1
Minneapolis, MN
I'm pretty new to timelapse too. A friend got me going who knows way more. He explained that you have 3 rates to consider; capture rate (frame rate in camera), input or consumption rate which determines the speed of actual images being shown per minute, then you have the output rate to export your video. It's a bit of trial and error to get them to work right.... if your head doesn't explode first. A few scotch or bourbons help a lot!
 
X

xStep

macrumors 68020
Jan 28, 2003
2,031
143
Less lost in L.A.
As mentioned, you could use QuickTime Pro to create initial sequences and then something else for the other processses. I only suggest this because QTPro is so easy for that part of the process. iMovie could handle the other processes, unless you need very high end precision.
 
A

alexxk

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 29, 2010
425
118
xStep said:
As mentioned, you could use QuickTime Pro to create initial sequences and then something else for the other processses. I only suggest this because QTPro is so easy for that part of the process. iMovie could handle the other processes, unless you need very high end precision.
Click to expand...


I actually thought of that... but creating the movie itself with quicktime pro and then moving on to another app to add effects, music, intro, credits won't it degrade the quality of video every time we export??

EDIT - You know what??? I just tried and it turned out great. I actually used lightroom to create the timelapse video at 30FPS and used imovie to add title and music to it. Very good quality at 1080p

Thanks for all the replies..
 
Last edited:
A

andychelt

macrumors member
Oct 7, 2011
52
3
Just as an after thought, I've been using a free program called time lapse assembler which works pretty well for creating the initial movie, then you can move on to iMovie etc for titles/transitions.
 
L

LumbermanSVO

macrumors 65816
Mar 15, 2007
1,234
622
Denton, TX
TimTheEnchanter said:
Check out LRTimelapse. Really helps with de-flickering and light transitions. It has a "confusing-at-first" workflow, but once you've done one or two it makes total sense. I use it with both Lightroom and Photoshop CS6 which has some good video capabilities and export options.
Click to expand...

I use this app with LR4 to do the initial image editing and cropping. I then use QuickTime Pro to assemble the referenced video file and just save the video file, but do NOT export it. I then throw this reference video file into iMovie to assemble clips, add music, titles and so on, then I export it to the final output. Maybe FCX is better than QTP/iMovie, I dunno haven't tried it yet.
 
TimTheEnchanter

TimTheEnchanter

macrumors 6502a
Oct 24, 2004
732
1
Minneapolis, MN
LumbermanSVO said:
I use this app with LR4 to do the initial image editing and cropping. I then use QuickTime Pro to assemble the referenced video file and just save the video file, but do NOT export it. I then throw this reference video file into iMovie to assemble clips, add music, titles and so on, then I export it to the final output. Maybe FCX is better than QTP/iMovie, I dunno haven't tried it yet.
Click to expand...

Good to know a different workflow using LRTimelapse. I don't know if I want to go as far as FCX, I haven't gotten to a point where I'm putting together multiple clips. Thanks for the input!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom