Making time lapse movies from photos

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

info@itchysquirrel.com writes:

> I have a series of photos that were taken from roughly same place each
> day using a digital camera. I am looking for a way to stitch them
> together into a time-lapse movie. Can anyone recommend any software for

Another way to do it would be to save them as an animated GIF. Many of the
'movies' you see on popup ads are animated gifs. (Some sites still have
those little envelopes with a pen moving as an icon for email -- animated
GIFs.)
--
Phil Stripling | email to the replyto address is presumed
The Civilized Explorer | spam and read later. email from this URL
http://www.cieux.com/ | http://www.civex.com/ is read daily.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

<info@itchysquirrel.com> wrote in message
news:1103659546.806248.34010@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>I have a series of photos that were taken from roughly same place each
> day using a digital camera. I am looking for a way to stitch them
> together into a time-lapse movie. Can anyone recommend any software for
> doing this? Ideally the software would...
>
> (i) help me to get the photos aligned.
> (ii) convert them into an avi file
> Any clues would be appreciated.
>
> Itchy
>

Adobe Premiere

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

try Paint Shop Pro Animation Shop (part of PSP), not sure about the
alignment bit though.

<info@itchysquirrel.com> wrote in message
news:1103659546.806248.34010@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>I have a series of photos that were taken from roughly same place each
> day using a digital camera. I am looking for a way to stitch them
> together into a time-lapse movie. Can anyone recommend any software for
> doing this? Ideally the software would...
>
> (i) help me to get the photos aligned.
> (ii) convert them into an avi file
> Any clues would be appreciated.
>
> Itchy
>

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"dylan" <spam@none.com> wrote in message
news:cq9vqh$ug9$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...
> try Paint Shop Pro Animation Shop (part of PSP), not sure about the
> alignment bit though.
>
> <info@itchysquirrel.com> wrote in message
> news:1103659546.806248.34010@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>>I have a series of photos that were taken from roughly same place each
>> day using a digital camera. I am looking for a way to stitch them
>> together into a time-lapse movie. Can anyone recommend any software for
>> doing this? Ideally the software would...
>>
>> (i) help me to get the photos aligned.
>> (ii) convert them into an avi file
>> Any clues would be appreciated.
>>
>> Itchy
>>
>
>

Post in rec.video.desktop

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

I answered a question in here, thanks.

"Pete D" <no@email.com> wrote in message
news:Ht%xd.83376$K7.6821@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>
> "dylan" <spam@none.com> wrote in message
> news:cq9vqh$ug9$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...
>> try Paint Shop Pro Animation Shop (part of PSP), not sure about the
>> alignment bit though.
>>
>> <info@itchysquirrel.com> wrote in message
>> news:1103659546.806248.34010@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>>>I have a series of photos that were taken from roughly same place each
>>> day using a digital camera. I am looking for a way to stitch them
>>> together into a time-lapse movie. Can anyone recommend any software for
>>> doing this? Ideally the software would...
>>>
>>> (i) help me to get the photos aligned.
>>> (ii) convert them into an avi file
>>> Any clues would be appreciated.
>>>
>>> Itchy
>>>
>>
>>
>
> Post in rec.video.desktop
>

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"dylan" <spam@none.com> wrote in message
news:cqa1av$p1i$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk...
>I answered a question in here, thanks.

Sorry, and your point to this post was??? Sure I should have answered him
directly, sorry I missed, I am sure you will get over it in time. There is
other software that will do what he wants and the guys over at
rec.video.desktop will offer help just like you did here.

Cheers and have a happy holiday season.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Cheers, point taken.

"Pete D" <no@email.com> wrote in message
news:L50yd.83388$K7.36692@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>
> "dylan" <spam@none.com> wrote in message
> news:cqa1av$p1i$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk...
>>I answered a question in here, thanks.
>
> Sorry, and your point to this post was??? Sure I should have answered him
> directly, sorry I missed, I am sure you will get over it in time. There is
> other software that will do what he wants and the guys over at
> rec.video.desktop will offer help just like you did here.
>
> Cheers and have a happy holiday season.
>

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Personally I would use Media Studio Pro or Vegas Video but I doubt that he
would want to spend that much.

"dylan" <spam@none.com> wrote in message
news:cqa6rb$48t$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Cheers, point taken.
>
> "Pete D" <no@email.com> wrote in message
> news:L50yd.83388$K7.36692@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>>
>> "dylan" <spam@none.com> wrote in message
>> news:cqa1av$p1i$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk...
>>>I answered a question in here, thanks.
>>
>> Sorry, and your point to this post was??? Sure I should have answered him
>> directly, sorry I missed, I am sure you will get over it in time. There
>> is other software that will do what he wants and the guys over at
>> rec.video.desktop will offer help just like you did here.
>>
>> Cheers and have a happy holiday season.
>>
>
>

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

info@itchysquirrel.com wrote:
> I have a series of photos that were taken from roughly same place each
> day using a digital camera. I am looking for a way to stitch them
> together into a time-lapse movie. Can anyone recommend any software for
> doing this? Ideally the software would...
>
> (i) help me to get the photos aligned.
> (ii) convert them into an avi file
> Any clues would be appreciated.
>
> Itchy
>

If you want to build a time lapse animation viewable in a web browser I
can recommend the free Animator-9 (http://www.vvcool.com/animator9/)
It does amimated jpg as well as gif.

Angus

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

info@itchysquirrel.com wrote:

> I have a series of photos that were taken from roughly same place each
> day using a digital camera. I am looking for a way to stitch them
> together into a time-lapse movie. Can anyone recommend any software for
> doing this? Ideally the software would...
>
> (i) help me to get the photos aligned.
> (ii) convert them into an avi file
> Any clues would be appreciated.

Cheap and easy.... Quicktime Pro

Jerry

>
> Itchy

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

<info@itchysquirrel.com> wrote in message
news:1103659546.806248.34010@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> I have a series of photos that were taken from roughly same place each
> day using a digital camera. I am looking for a way to stitch them
> together into a time-lapse movie. Can anyone recommend any software for
> doing this? Ideally the software would...
>
> (i) help me to get the photos aligned.
> (ii) convert them into an avi file
> Any clues would be appreciated.
>
> Itchy

Haha, here's another thing that Pro Show Gold rocks at!

Drag all your photos into the pro show time-line. Set them all to 0.1
seconds (or whatever frame rate you like) and click the Video button. POW!
So easy.

Remember guys, try setting a camera up on a tripod and then use the
INTERVALOMETER to record a time lapse sequence. It's great fun

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Hi all,

Thank you for your replies. I see that the following options have been
recommended.

* Adobe premiere
* Animated gifs
* Media studio pro and vegas video
* Pro show gold
* Free animator 9
* Quicktime pro

Before I download any of these, could anyone confirm which of them fit
my two criteria - (i) assistance with alignment and (ii) converting
into a video file (needn't be avi, come to think of it)?

In particular, I'd like hints as to how to align the photos. Ideally
the photos would have been taken in exactly the same place each day,
but that wasn't an option. At the moment, the only way I can think of
doing it is to do it manually using Photoshop layers.

Thanks!

Itchy

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

MS Moviemaker is free with WinXP (you will want to download the latest
update) It's not all-powerful but pretty easy to use. It'll crash after
a couple hundred or so frames. Easy to add sound track though.

Probably photoshop layers are your best bet. I'd be curious if there is
a better option. I've got some old hand held time lapse film I always
intended to straighten out.

I tried a series recently that was panning & zooming, trying to smooth
it out by drawing guidelines in a CAD program & doing the rotating from
there & it turned out awful so I think this is going to be very
difficult tedious work.

It should help to also capture faded transitions between each frame, I
managed to slow down some cloud time lapse with a slide show program
this way once & it worked well but that was done on a tripod.


info@itchysquirrel.com wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Thank you for your replies. I see that the following options have been
> recommended.
>
> * Adobe premiere
> * Animated gifs
> * Media studio pro and vegas video
> * Pro show gold
> * Free animator 9
> * Quicktime pro
>
> Before I download any of these, could anyone confirm which of them fit
> my two criteria - (i) assistance with alignment and (ii) converting
> into a video file (needn't be avi, come to think of it)?
>
> In particular, I'd like hints as to how to align the photos. Ideally
> the photos would have been taken in exactly the same place each day,
> but that wasn't an option. At the moment, the only way I can think of
> doing it is to do it manually using Photoshop layers.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Itchy
>

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"paul" <paul@not.net> wrote in message
news:u9Cdnd0KEdwsz1PcRVn-hg@speakeasy.net...
> MS Moviemaker is free with WinXP (you will want to download the latest
> update) It's not all-powerful but pretty easy to use. It'll crash after
> a couple hundred or so frames. Easy to add sound track though.
>
> Probably photoshop layers are your best bet. I'd be curious if there is
> a better option. I've got some old hand held time lapse film I always
> intended to straighten out.
>
> I tried a series recently that was panning & zooming, trying to smooth
> it out by drawing guidelines in a CAD program & doing the rotating from
> there & it turned out awful so I think this is going to be very
> difficult tedious work.
>
> It should help to also capture faded transitions between each frame, I
> managed to slow down some cloud time lapse with a slide show program
> this way once & it worked well but that was done on a tripod.
>
>
> info@itchysquirrel.com wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Thank you for your replies. I see that the following options have been
> > recommended.
> >
> > * Adobe premiere
> > * Animated gifs
> > * Media studio pro and vegas video
> > * Pro show gold
> > * Free animator 9
> > * Quicktime pro
> >
> > Before I download any of these, could anyone confirm which of them fit
> > my two criteria - (i) assistance with alignment and (ii) converting
> > into a video file (needn't be avi, come to think of it)?
> >
> > In particular, I'd like hints as to how to align the photos. Ideally
> > the photos would have been taken in exactly the same place each day,
> > but that wasn't an option.

No program can make up for differences in perspective (as in location
differences within the sequence). There is nothing more important to be
sure of when doing stop-motion, or time lapse than identical shot
origin/perspective.

Beyond this issue, the programs you list will work.
Personally, I am finding it a huge relief to realise that Pro Show Gold will
work for this, as it clearly offers more control than any others I have yet
tried...at least in conjuction with ease of use.

Do yourself a favor in the future, though, and take any and all measures to
secure consistent perspective...because so software can replace this most
vital element.

-Mark

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Hi Mark,

I understand your point about the perspective needing to be constant.
Fortunately all of the photos were taken from the exact same spot.
However, the "direction" in which the camera was pointing was slightly
different in all cases - just enough so that the shots do not exactly
line up with each other.

Do you agree with Mark that Photoshop layers would be the easiest (but
still very time-consuming) way of aligning the photos? Or would one of
the other options - such as Pro Show Gold - help me to do it
Thanks,

Itchy

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

<info@itchysquirrel.com> wrote in message
news:1104409553.071165.308670@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Hi Mark,
>
> I understand your point about the perspective needing to be constant.
> Fortunately all of the photos were taken from the exact same spot.
> However, the "direction" in which the camera was pointing was slightly
> different in all cases - just enough so that the shots do not exactly
> line up with each other.
>
> Do you agree with Mark that Photoshop layers would be the easiest (but
> still very time-consuming) way of aligning the photos? Or would one of
> the other options - such as Pro Show Gold - help me to do it
> Thanks,

Probably layers, since that will allow you to place them directly on top of
each other/yet see through to other shots for alignment. Proshow gold is
great for the sequence rendering, but won't allow as much precision with
alignment. Once you have them aligned, and cropped to that alignment, then
drop them in Pro Show Gold, and you'll be in business. Just drop the
transition times to 0.0 to avoide delays in the progression.