Timelapse with After Effects at DVinfo.net

Dave Timperley · December 12th, 2009, 02:08 AM

I've noticed a few posts about timelapse suddenly.
My preferred program for processing timelapse is Adobe After Effects.

I import a sequence of frames and drop them onto a time line.
Then I turn on frame-blending to smooth out the motion.
Sometimes a clip looks better if I stretch it x2 or x3.

AE also allows panning and zooming within the sequence of frames.

Some examples I've created with After Effects...

YouTube - Autumn timelapse 09: City (part two)

YouTube - Autumn timelapse 09: Storms (part one)

YouTube - Vivid festival Light walk time-lapse: Sydney 09

AE will also suck in a sequence of RAW files ;-)

Amos Rafaeli · December 13th, 2009, 02:34 AM

Hi
They are very nice.
Did you had any flicker problem? and if so how did you solve it?

Amos

Chuck Spaulding · December 13th, 2009, 04:01 AM

Regarding the flicker, check this out: Timescapes - Digital Timelapse Discussion View topic - Flicker

Jon Fairhurst · December 13th, 2009, 02:58 PM

That's a good discussion.

The simple answer for avoiding flicker is to use manual mode. If you are using a small aperture, hold the DOF button and untwist the lens to keep the aperture fixed. Best practice includes covering the eyepiece for long exposures.

Other good ideas are to use Live View (it drains the battery quicker, but holds up the mirror) and to use the "silent shooting" mode to cut the shutter cycling in half.

Dave Timperley · December 13th, 2009, 03:52 PM

Thanks :-)

Yep, as has been stated. Manual mode is the go.
If you need to use auto anything like for sunsets, turn off auto white balance before anything else.
I've had more trouble with the WB then the auto exposure controls.
If you capture in RAW you don't need WB anyway.

Jon Fairhurst · December 13th, 2009, 10:02 PM

Another trick for sunsets it to bracket your shots with different exposures. Save the frames as three different timelapses. Stack them on three timelines and blend as desired.

This is where a small program to sort the images would be helpful. Manually moving every third image would be monotonous!

Paul Cronin · December 15th, 2009, 08:40 AM

Looking at adding a 7d to my kit and have a question with the timelaps. Sorry if this has been answered already but I could not find it.

Is there a selection in the menu that lets you choose, example "1 frame per sec"? How do you set the timing of each picture?

Jerry Porter · December 15th, 2009, 04:25 PM

You need a remote timer to make it work. Do a search for Canon timelapse remote timers you will come up with several options.

Paul Cronin · December 15th, 2009, 04:35 PM

Thanks Jerry that is very helpful.

Keith Moreau · December 15th, 2009, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

Another trick for sunsets it to bracket your shots with different exposures. Save the frames as three different timelapses. Stack them on three timelines and blend as desired.

This is where a small program to sort the images would be helpful. Manually moving every third image would be monotonous!

Jon, do you have such a Mac app or script to do this? I do bracket a lot but wind up doing HDRs, however on occasion I do have need to move the groups to separate folders for processing. If not I can probably create an applescript to do this.

Jon Fairhurst · December 15th, 2009, 08:25 PM

No. I run a PC and don't have software for this. It wouldn't be hard to code though...

Chuck Spaulding · December 16th, 2009, 11:22 AM

Keith what application do you use to create your HDR's?

Keith Moreau · December 16th, 2009, 03:04 PM

Chuck,

I use Photomatix from HDR photo software & plugin for Lightroom, Aperture & Photoshop - Tone Mapping, Exposure Fusion & HDR Imaging for photography. It's some of the best software you can get that does batch processing of sets of HDRs. It has quirks and I'd like it to use more processors on my 8-core to do it's thing more quickly but I find the support from the company to be stellar. I also use Photoshop CS4 sometimes for HDRs but it's a bit arcane / too simple sometimes. I might also process the resultant HDRs in Adobe After Effects, there are some plugins that fine-tune timelapse type images.

It can take a while to process 18MP images from the 7D, previously I was using lower res cameras for HDRs.

BTW Photomatix works on both Macs and Windows.

One thing to be careful of with using the 7D for timelapse is that you can eventually wear out the shutter on the camera, there is a limited life on those things, so don't just do timelapse willy-nilly or you soon reach your shutter's end of life, and I don't know how much it is to repair a 7D. Also you want to lock the mirror up so that part doesn't wear out either. If you're doing a lot of long timelapses you might want to do it with a still camera that doesn't have a mechanical shutter, I have a bunch of older Nikons Coolpix along with some excellent timelapse controllers from Harbortronic that if I leave them in the wild and they get stolen or destroyed it's not like I'm out $2500.

Paul Cronin · December 16th, 2009, 03:24 PM

Interesting point Keith the shutter will ware out. Not good since I am looking at a 7d for a lot of long timelaps.

Keith Moreau · December 16th, 2009, 03:33 PM

Yeah, Paul, another thing is HD = a pretty low MP (megapixel) count, like about 2-2.5MP, so you can do HD timelapses with a pretty modest digital camera, as long as it has either a remote interface that a timelapse controller can use or built in timelapse (though this is pretty rare). To do HDRs you'll it's beneficial to have very wide 'brackets' on the 2 or 3 exposures you blend together for each frame. The 7D has some of the widest bracketing (+3, 0, -3EV) of any camera, which is excellent for HDRS.

Unless you want to do pan and scan within a timelapse and need the 18MP image, go with smaller res to avoid long processing times for your NLE or other post processing of the stills.

December 12th, 2009, 02:08 AM	#1
Dave Timperley New Boot Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Australia Posts: 17	Timelapse with After Effects I've noticed a few posts about timelapse suddenly. My preferred program for processing timelapse is Adobe After Effects. I import a sequence of frames and drop them onto a time line. Then I turn on frame-blending to smooth out the motion. Sometimes a clip looks better if I stretch it x2 or x3. AE also allows panning and zooming within the sequence of frames. Some examples I've created with After Effects... YouTube - Autumn timelapse 09: City (part two) YouTube - Autumn timelapse 09: Storms (part one) YouTube - Vivid festival Light walk time-lapse: Sydney 09 AE will also suck in a sequence of RAW files ;-)

December 13th, 2009, 02:34 AM	#2
Amos Rafaeli New Boot Join Date: May 2009 Location: Hulda Israel Posts: 12	Timelapse Hi They are very nice. Did you had any flicker problem? and if so how did you solve it? Amos

December 13th, 2009, 02:58 PM	#4
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	That's a good discussion. The simple answer for avoiding flicker is to use manual mode. If you are using a small aperture, hold the DOF button and untwist the lens to keep the aperture fixed. Best practice includes covering the eyepiece for long exposures. Other good ideas are to use Live View (it drains the battery quicker, but holds up the mirror) and to use the "silent shooting" mode to cut the shutter cycling in half. __________________ Jon Fairhurst

December 13th, 2009, 10:02 PM	#6
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	Another trick for sunsets it to bracket your shots with different exposures. Save the frames as three different timelapses. Stack them on three timelines and blend as desired. This is where a small program to sort the images would be helpful. Manually moving every third image would be monotonous! __________________ Jon Fairhurst

December 15th, 2009, 08:40 AM	#7
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	Looking at adding a 7d to my kit and have a question with the timelaps. Sorry if this has been answered already but I could not find it. Is there a selection in the menu that lets you choose, example "1 frame per sec"? How do you set the timing of each picture? __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com

December 13th, 2009, 04:01 AM	#3
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,104	Regarding the flicker, check this out: Timescapes - Digital Timelapse Discussion View topic - Flicker

December 13th, 2009, 03:52 PM	#5
Dave Timperley New Boot Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Australia Posts: 17	Thanks :-) Yep, as has been stated. Manual mode is the go. If you need to use auto anything like for sunsets, turn off auto white balance before anything else. I've had more trouble with the WB then the auto exposure controls. If you capture in RAW you don't need WB anyway.

December 15th, 2009, 04:25 PM	#8
Jerry Porter Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Satellite Beach, Fl Posts: 784	You need a remote timer to make it work. Do a search for Canon timelapse remote timers you will come up with several options.

December 15th, 2009, 04:35 PM	#9
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	Thanks Jerry that is very helpful. __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com

December 15th, 2009, 08:25 PM	#11
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	No. I run a PC and don't have software for this. It wouldn't be hard to code though... __________________ Jon Fairhurst

December 16th, 2009, 11:22 AM	#12
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,104	Keith what application do you use to create your HDR's?

December 16th, 2009, 03:04 PM	#13
Keith Moreau Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Brisbane, California Posts: 530	Chuck, I use Photomatix from HDR photo software & plugin for Lightroom, Aperture & Photoshop - Tone Mapping, Exposure Fusion & HDR Imaging for photography. It's some of the best software you can get that does batch processing of sets of HDRs. It has quirks and I'd like it to use more processors on my 8-core to do it's thing more quickly but I find the support from the company to be stellar. I also use Photoshop CS4 sometimes for HDRs but it's a bit arcane / too simple sometimes. I might also process the resultant HDRs in Adobe After Effects, there are some plugins that fine-tune timelapse type images. It can take a while to process 18MP images from the 7D, previously I was using lower res cameras for HDRs. BTW Photomatix works on both Macs and Windows. One thing to be careful of with using the 7D for timelapse is that you can eventually wear out the shutter on the camera, there is a limited life on those things, so don't just do timelapse willy-nilly or you soon reach your shutter's end of life, and I don't know how much it is to repair a 7D. Also you want to lock the mirror up so that part doesn't wear out either. If you're doing a lot of long timelapses you might want to do it with a still camera that doesn't have a mechanical shutter, I have a bunch of older Nikons Coolpix along with some excellent timelapse controllers from Harbortronic that if I leave them in the wild and they get stolen or destroyed it's not like I'm out $2500.

December 16th, 2009, 03:24 PM	#14
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	Interesting point Keith the shutter will ware out. Not good since I am looking at a 7d for a lot of long timelaps. __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com

December 16th, 2009, 03:33 PM	#15
Keith Moreau Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Brisbane, California Posts: 530	Yeah, Paul, another thing is HD = a pretty low MP (megapixel) count, like about 2-2.5MP, so you can do HD timelapses with a pretty modest digital camera, as long as it has either a remote interface that a timelapse controller can use or built in timelapse (though this is pretty rare). To do HDRs you'll it's beneficial to have very wide 'brackets' on the 2 or 3 exposures you blend together for each frame. The 7D has some of the widest bracketing (+3, 0, -3EV) of any camera, which is excellent for HDRS. Unless you want to do pan and scan within a timelapse and need the 18MP image, go with smaller res to avoid long processing times for your NLE or other post processing of the stills.