View Full Version : Creating time lapse...


Jerry Neal
October 1st, 2007, 11:38 PM
I have a clip of clouds and I would like to create a time-lapse effect. However, when I drag the velocity all the way to the top of the clip (300%), it is still too slow. How do I get an even faster speed? Do I need to render and then speed up the clip again? If so, what format do I render to? This project is in HDV 1080 60i.

Thanks for your replies.

Michael Mann
October 2nd, 2007, 12:44 AM
Jerry, you can combine the 300% speed up (using velocity) with an additional 400% speed up (by setting playback rate to minimum of 0.250 in clip properties). Doing so you get speed factor 12 in a single step. If this isn't enough yet, just do like you proposed in a further step.
Tip: For playback on computer monitor render to an 60 fps progressive format (with fields interpolated) and the time lapse effect will get even better.

Here are some Vegas created time lapse demos of mine:
http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?t=2066

Edward Troxel
October 2nd, 2007, 09:48 AM
I believe you'd want to set the playback rate to "4" to speed it up. ".25" will slow it down.

An easier way to adjust the playback rate is to hold down the CTRL key and resize the event. Smaller will be faster, larger will be slower.

Michael Mann
October 2nd, 2007, 10:43 AM
Right, I meant playback rate 4.
An easier way to adjust the playback rate is to hold down the CTRL key and resize the event. Smaller will be faster, larger will be slower.
I didn't know that. Thanks for the tip.

Bill Ravens
October 2nd, 2007, 11:01 AM
u can also nest the veg files if the native speedup isn't enuff.

Joey Atilano
October 2nd, 2007, 03:41 PM
I do the control /drag left till it stops then insert a velocity envelope of 150%-300%. So far I have not needed to go faster.

Here is one from this weekend that I shot in Zion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtQYqz5n3VU

Why do these sped up clips take forever to render?

Dave Jaques
October 2nd, 2007, 09:31 PM
Jerry
This is the way I do timelapse - it works well.
1. Set your camera on a tripod and record the clouds for say 1 hour

2. Capture the footage and import into the Vegas timeline

3. Go to tools/scripts, and run the standard script that generates a time sequence. You'll need to firstly set the interval time to a value that will determine the number of still frames generated. eg. for a PAL system the frame period is 40mS, so to speed up a 60 minute video to say 30 seconds, you'll need an interval time of 120 x the normal frame period (120 x 40mS for PAL = 4800ms or 4.8 seconds. i.e. the script will generate a single frame once every 4.8 seconds. So you'll end up with 750 jpg images.

4. start a new project, and import all the images. (make sure you have the image duration set to one frame period (e.g. 40ms for PAL) and the overlap set to 0 in preferences/editing

...hope this is of use....

Andy Gordon
October 2nd, 2007, 10:55 PM
They take longer cos it is blending the frames together. If you click switches disable resample it won't frame blend and will render faster.



Why do these sped up clips take forever to render?