faking slow shutterspeed for timelapses

[Federico Romanello]

here's my trouble: i'd like to film timelapses (like cars in a street or busy people in a hall), but of course to have a cool look i should use a very slow shutterspeed, slower then minidv camcorder. is there some good way to fake the slow shutterspeed? i use aftereffects, i tried a lot of ways (like echo and some motion blur plugin) but i didn't got good results

[Glenn Chan]

You need to use a speed function and tell it to do frame blending or to interpolate frames. You do not need to fake a slow shutterspeed.

I believe Premier Pro can do this, but I don't have it in front of me. Most NLEs should be able to do it. As should After Effects.

[Ignacio Rodriguez]

I have done just what you say in FCP. I acquired using time lapse in the camera at 1/60 in blocks of about 5 frames every 5 minutes or so. Then I speeded it up in FCP and used motion blur to give it... well... motion blur. And I applied some non-linear functions to make it more "film like". Since it was motion blurred there was less noise in the shadows, thus it's as if there was more lattitude. Looks really cool. Sorry no way I can upload it though. Hope this helps.

[Federico Romanello]

<<<-- Originally posted by Glenn Chan : You need to use a speed function and tell it to do frame blending or to interpolate frames. You do not need to fake a slow shutterspeed.

I believe Premier Pro can do this, but I don't have it in front of me. Most NLEs should be able to do it. As should After Effects. -->>>
i guess you're right, anyway premiere and aftereffects can't achieve the results i want. if i speed up the clip the interpolation is not enough

<<<-- Originally posted by Ignacio Rodriguez : I have done just what you say in FCP. I acquired using time lapse in the camera at 1/60 in blocks of about 5 frames every 5 minutes or so. Then I speeded it up in FCP and used motion blur to give it... well... motion blur. And I applied some non-linear functions to make it more "film like". Since it was motion blurred there was less noise in the shadows, thus it's as if there was more lattitude. Looks really cool. Sorry no way I can upload it though. Hope this helps. -->>>

i don't know how good is motion blur in fcp, but i assure you the one for ae is not enough for what i want. thanks anyway for the tips, that's the way i'll go if i can't find any better

[Ignacio Rodriguez]

Motin blur in FCP is very sophisticated, you can set the percentage and the amount of samples, the more the samples, the better it looks and the longer it takes to process. The less samples involved, the faster it get's done and the cheaper it looks.