Timelapse Recording


A time lapse recording is essentially a movie that runs faster then reality. It is therefore especially useful to illustrate slow movements. This tutorial will guide you to creating a time lapse movie in iStopMotion. While following along you will get acquainted with some basic tools of iStopMotion.

After installing the license key according to the instructions, iStopMotion becomes fully functional.

1. Create a new iStopMotion project


<<<MISSING>>>
Upon opening, iStopMotion creates a new movie and presents a dialog, requesting a file name and a preset for the movie. (If this does not occur, it has been disabled. You can create a new document by selecting File > New at any time.)

2. Choose an image source.


In order to record frames in iStopMotion you need to choose the device (video camera, webcam, still camera) to be used for capturing. A live preview of that device will be shown in the preview area. In case the content of the preview area is not what you expected you need to select the right camera:
<<<MISSING>>>

<<<MISSING>>> As most still cameras are not able to transfer a live preview, you will only see an image from a still camera after creating a preview manually. Create a preview by clicking the left record button in the toolbar. If your camera supports live preview you have to turn it on with the Life button next to the overlay slider. To find out if your camera supports live view, please check the list of supported cameras on the iStopMotion support website.

3. Position your camera and objects


4. Calculate the time interval between two frames to be captured


In order to calculate an appropriate time interval you first need to consider the following parameters:
To determine which interval is needed, all you have to do is a quick calculation:
  Total number = length of the movie (in seconds) × frame rate of the movie
  Interval (in seconds) = event duration (in seconds) ÷ total amount of frames

This for example means:
  Total number = 120 seconds × 12 frames per second = 1140 frames
  Interval = 28,800 s (8 hours) ÷ 1440 frames = 20 seconds per frame

5. Enable Time Lapse and enter the time interval in iStopMotion


<<<MISSING>>> To enter the time interval, open the “Recording” sidebar. In there you will find the “Time Lapse” module. Make sure the switch next to Time Lapse is set to on (I). Enter the calculated interval into the “Capture every” field and set the time unit in the popup menu to “Seconds”.

Using still cameras usually requires values of several seconds as transferring high resolution images over a USB connection can take rather long.

6. Start the time lapse recording


<<<MISSING>>>

Older video cameras with a tape usually fall into some sort of sleep mode in case they are not being used for a longer period of time. While this function is useful when filming it can be annoying when working with a computer as it will stop any time lapse recording. Usually the following two precautions help preventing sleep mode in video cameras:

  1. Remove any video tape from the camera.
  2. Connect the video camera to a power outlet.

7. Stop the recording.

<<<MISSING>>>

You can stop recording at any time by once again pressing the capture button in the toolar. The movie can now be played.

To switch out of Time Lapse mode toggle the switch next to “Time Lapse“ to off (0).

Further processing of your movie

When you are done capturing frames, you can export your movie to it's final state or for post-processing in another application, such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro.

Select File > Export menu and choose a setting. To distribute the movie via email, MPEG-4 (at 320 by 240 pixels), would be quite suitable. If you prefer to edit it in another application first, you should export your movie in full size with as little compression as possible.

To edit your scene in iMovie just select File > Send to iMovie. iStopMotion will convert your movie in a format suitable for iMovie and launch iMovie automatically.

Related Topics:  A first animation, Recording sidebar, Toolbar