Turning still photos into a time lapse video?

Question

Level 2

240 points

Turning still photos into a time lapse video?

Greetings FCP X users,

I have the latest version of FCP X and Aperture. Over the last several months, and for the next couple of years, I'm taking a still photo shot in one (and of one) location in our town. My final goal is to stitch those photos together into a short time-lapse video, showing the progress of a huge project in our town.

Here's my issue:

I'm taking these photos with my iPhone with the grid turned on. Located "near" the upper right cross hairs is a landmark in each photo in hopes of getting at least a nearly identically positioned photo each time. Obviously without using a tripod and getting the same exact shot every single time, each photo is positioned in an "ever so slightly" different position.

Here's my goal:

My goal is to make each photo's position look nearly identical to the others so that the final time lapse video is not too jerky. I've downloaded and installed Digital Heaven's Grid plug-in so that I can see yet another set of grid lines during production in FCP X, but I'm not so sure how to maneuver each photo during production in hopes of making each photo positioned just like all others photos in the video.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, Gramps.

Posted on Aug 1, 2014 9:36 AM

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Answer 1

Grampa Doodie Author

Level 2

240 points

Aug 1, 2014 10:12 AM in response to Russ H

Thanks for the quick reply Russ. I'll try the Transform tool out tonight. It's probably quite obvious that I'm still a beginner with FCP X. I also should have mentioned that I have tried using a tripod, but each week's photo still does line up with others as nicely as I'd like.

Thanks again, Gramps.

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Answer 2

Grampa Doodie Author

Level 2

240 points

Aug 1, 2014 11:39 AM in response to Russ H

Russ,

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge. I superimposed the Grid lines onto all of my stills and then adjusted their positions according to your tip. A few photos had to be repositioned a bit dramatically, but the outcome is certainly acceptable. 🙂

Now I'd like to make all stills fairly short. I have no problems making them all 1 second, however, is there a simple way to make them even shorter in length? Once I shorten them to a fraction of a second, I believe I'm well on my way to creating a very nice time-lapse video thanks to you!!

Thanks, Gramps.

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Answer 3

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Aug 1, 2014 2:38 PM in response to Grampa Doodie

You can select multiple clips in the timeline and then hit Control-D. In the time field of the dashboard, type in the number fr the desired clip length and hit return. For example, if you want each clip to be one frame in duration, type in 1 and hit the return key,

Here is a short video on time-lapse. It's by no means the only workflow for this but hopefully it will be helpful.

Russ

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Answer 4

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Aug 1, 2014 9:50 AM in response to Grampa Doodie

You can use the Transform tool to fine tune the images' position.

Also, consider getting one of these.

Russ

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Answer 5

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Aug 1, 2014 10:17 AM in response to Grampa Doodie

Select the clip in the timeline. Hit the Transform button in lower left of Viewer window. Click and drag or int he Inspector, adjust the position parameter.

Russ

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