Timelapse question
 

Hi everyone,

Here's what I want to do :

I want to make a Timelapse video of the moon I filmed yesterday night and use it as stock footage, I want the moon to cross the screen in around 4 secondes and maybe use it in the Title or ending credits. the original footage of the moon is around 15 minutes (it takes 15 minutes for the moon to completly cross the screen)

In Vegas I used the event velocity to speed it up to 300% and then I stretched the end of the clip in my timeline while holding the CTRL key and that speed it up also but overall it's not fast enough (it comes out to 1:11min), I have to specify that this is all in HD, What are my other options?

I guess rendering to the HD 1:11min clip then re-inserting it in the timeline and speeding it up again, but it already tried that and I loose all the details inside the moon.

Is there really no other options??

Here's two options for you:

1. Save the VEG file, start a new project, add that VEG file to the timeline (a nested VEG), and then speed up that event again. Then render out the result.

2. Render out the sped up version. Add that new render to the timeline and speed it up again.

Yea,

What Edward said. But be sure to render out in a lossless format, so that when you reinsert the image, you don't lose any quality.

Has anyone tried this for getting better "super slow motion" effects?

Garrett

MUCH MUCH harder. Timelapse works ok because you get to throw data away. Slow-mo requires that you interpolate between footage you have so you have to actually manufacture data that's not there.

Completely different thing, and it's why we pay a premium for cameras that can overcrank.

Why not take a high quality still of the moon, and DVE effect it across the frame? Much easier, faster and cleaner. You can use AE or similar to set an arc path, vs. linear path.

I tought about doing that Oren but the footage I filmed yesterday has clouds mooving in front of the moon which gives it that more realistic feel to it. (or sometimes trees)

Anyways I neaded to know how to do this effect because I plan on using it in other situations, like filming a city in movement then adding this effect or using it to make a caracter go back in time a couple of hours to change a decision he made or whatever...

Image Sequence
 

Personally, I would export the file as an image sequence, say every 10 frames or so, and then just import those frames back into Vegas.

I went that route I went for these few timelapses:

Mt Rainier Timelapse on Vimeo

Timelapse Sunrise at Mt Rainier on Vimeo

Timelapse Sunset at Mt Rainier on Vimeo

Anyway. That's what I'd do.

Steven

For your solution 1 how many times can a .veg be inserted into a .veg? Can this be done more than once? I'm trying to speed up something over the course of a week.

Steven.... beautiful time lapses. Can you elaborate a little on how you accomplished those? Thanks

Chris

Very lovely time lapse!!!


I to would like to hear a little more detail on how you managed it.

Might be a lot easier than my method of running the camera through a laptop, and using scenalyzer to set your time frame and then record it to the hard drive and tape!!

Timelapse Tut.
 

Thanks for the comments guys. Here's basically how I did it in Vegas.

- Capture all footage.
- Go to tools > scripting > render image sequence
- Choose what type of file you want to save your frames as (either a PNG or JPG)
- Choose where you want to save your frames, and name them (Vegas will automatically assign names as 000.png, 001.png, 002.png, etc...)
- Choose the 'interleave' (how many frames you want in your sequence per second of footage). For my videos, I chose to skip every 6 frames.
- Render the image sequence.
- Import back into Vegas and CC to your liking!

Hope this helps!

Steven

I am using Vegas 8.1 and I do not see where I can make that final choice in your list. Am I missing something?

Chris

Chris, you would change the "Step Time" to tell it how many frames to skip between images.

Yes, thanks for clearing the up, Edward. I wasn't on my machine at the time, so I was just going from memory.

Thanks for clearing that up.

SB

So on step time, where it defaults to 00:00:00:01 I should change the 1 to a 6? (This feels like a dumb Q, but it is the one on my mind so please bear with me.)

the default 01 will give you one image for every frame. If you want every 6th frame, change the 01 to 06. If you want one frame every second, change it to 00:00:01:00. One frame per minute and you'd change it to 00:01:00:00.

Excuse me guys,where's the step time option?Now i don't have the pc where Vegas is installed!thx and i wish you guys merry xMAS and a happy new Vegas year!

Thanks Ed... Your answer was very helpful. I feel almost like a time lapse guru now <g>. I cannot wait to try this out.

I enjoyed the time lapses Steven posted and he used every 6 frames... Now, although I can certainly do it trial and error, but are there other "preferred" settings that you, he or others like or use for the look created other than every 6 frames?

6 frames worked for one of those shots. I filmed the mountain for about 15-20 minutes, and I wanted the timelapse to be around 15 seconds long, so I did a little math.

Use any number you want, is basically what I'm trying to say.

SB

Where can i set 6 etc?

Marcus, I think the answer is in the posts above. Sit in front of your computer and open Vegas and follow along and I think the answer will show itself to you. If not come back and we'll help you.

Steven.... help me with remedial math. Every 6 frames means that instead of 30 (29.70) fps you end up with like 5 fps, right? That suggests to my mind that at 5 fps you cut your time by 5/6's or roughly 84%... no?

84% of 15 minutes by my math is roughly 2 minutes. But, to get as you stated 15 seconds of running time, it would appear that to get 15 seconds out of 15 minutes you would need one frame out of 60, not one out of 6?

Help me, please. Again I apologize for my apparent stupidity.

ps. I just realized soemthing, I have been recently shooting in 30 FPS mode on my Z-1... so if I was shooting 60i, that partially answers my question, but not completely. I think I woul dneed to set the 1 in the step to 59?

Chris thx, but i ve just asked cause i don't have SV8 here with me,cause out on vacation now....
Sorry 4 bothering you guys

Marcus, when you go to Tools - Scripting - Render Image Sequence, it's one of the options on the dialog that appears.

Time Manipulation Heaven
 

Mr. Blake,

I don' know if you are willing to invest more than time in fixing your problem, but if you are willing to crank out some cash you might find yourself with time lapse ultimate power.

Let me mention a software package to you that should meet just about any time lapse issue you may have. Check out by simple google search a software package dubbed, "Twixtor Pro."

This is a wonderful application. It can be a plug-in or stand alone product. Runs about $559; if memory serves. However, what you can do with it is well worth the investment in time spent all the way around.

Be sure to check out the music video that was shot freeform and then the footage was timed to match the temporal cadence of the music. Just a small sample of what is possible. And the software is so easy to use.

Let me know what you think. Good luck to you. I hope I have been of some help to you.

My math
 

Chris, don't go by my numbers, I can't do math for the life of me.

Just play around with it, and don't make things too technical!

SB

David, is this application supported by Sony Vegas?? or do you have to use it stand alone?

It works, I tried it yesterday and crunched an hour clip down to 15 seconds. Vegas got a little wobbly at that point, I was trying to use the sped up VEG file on the timeline and continue edting clips, and the program kept freezing saying it was not responding, so I began to render the little clip and it took 4.5 hours, so I'm thinking that even though it's crunched to 15 seconds, it must still have the hour worth of info crunched into the clip.
The best advice was to add the 300% envelope, then press control and place the cursor at the right edge and crunch the clip even farther

Good evening,

This has been a coolthread and I learned a few nice things.

the Method Bill used works alright, have done it numerous times, and vegas does it better than other softwares in my book.

Twixtor is an awesome program and anyone working in time, slow or fast or composites of time will find what it can do to be almost a revelation.

they used to have some very good examples on their site. It is worth going to have a look!!!
the pro version about 600 dollars and the standard about 300.

Also for the slo motion a method no one has really mentioned is as follows:

place the video in one camera, play it on slo motion (most do this through the remote) and capture it to a second camera.

I have seen a few pieces of falcons flying quite fast and slowed down this way and it was pretty darn good. I personally have not done this but my friend has, I was pretty impressed.

Excuse me guys,i ve just applyed the trick of the 6 frames(thank you STEVE), but now after the script i have thousands of PNG of the pictures i put on the folder...Now shoul i drag n drop theese thousands on the timeline?

Thx

yes. but before you do, make sure you change the preferences so that new media put on the timeline only get 1 frame and that there is no crossfade time. Then you can literally select them all and drag and drop them on the timeline.

I used that approach as well as the "speed it up, render out uncompressed, reimport, speed it up again" to make this video of clouds in a thunderstorm in Boise. I left in some audio in strategic places as well as added a little punch to the blue sky. But other than that, it only took me a few hours to do. Source footage was over an hour.

Hi Jason iliked your TL! I think there will be another way to import thousands of pictures on the timeline.
Is it recomended to use png or jpg?
Thx and have a nice weekend overseas

Marcus, whenever I'm importing a large number of images, I prefer to use the still image sequence option.
Make sure all your images are properly sequentially numbered and in the same folder.
Click Import, browse to the folder, click on the first image and then click "Open still image sequence" box at the bottom of this window.
To the right of this box you'll see a range box that should show you the correct number range.
Click Open and adjust any necessary parameters in the box that comes up.
Click OK when you're done and the sequence is added to Project Media as a completed file that, when added to the timeline, will play from start to end.

I prefer to use PNG images as it's a lossless format and, if I need to do any corrections to it in Photoshop, it won't degrade in quality.

Mike,thanks a lot buddy;i ve just finished to do it....So you guys think this is the better way to do it right?
thx a lot, u have been very helpful

Marcus, I do it the way I mentioned whenever I get an animation that I need to turn into a video clip.
I find that it's very quick and easy.

I ve rendered it:it appears slow even if i put 300% envelope and i streched hitting ctrl and dragged to left at the end of the clip.Maybe i should rerender in HDV 1080 50i (with the double of velocity)?Will i get loss of quality?

thx

Hello,

I have a problem with the image sequence script: how do I get the pictures to be in 720p (1280x720) resolution rather than in the default (640x480) one?

Thanks for your patience.

Cheers,
Luka