CREATE A TIME LAPSE VIDEO WITH AVID STUDIO

by Ashley
(Australia)

Question: I am fairly new to using Avid Studio and I am trying to create a time lapse video using a series of still photos taken on a Canon 60D. Are you able to assist with help on the easiest way to complete this?

Thanks in advance,

Ashley, Melbourne Australia.

Answer: Thank you for your question.

Time lapse videos are a fun way to show things which happen over an extended period of time in just a few minutes or seconds. Many time lapse videos focus on things such as a sun rise, a sunset, fruit spoiling, a flower blooming, or a flower dying.

There are a few important things you must take into consideration prior to making your time lapse video so I will go through each step to make sure you get the best results.

Three factors determine how long your video will be:

The real time/duration of the event being captured, the amount of time between the photos that were taken, and the frame rate of the video.

To create a time lapse video you basically reduce the interval for each shot and merge them into a 24 or 30 fps video. If you are making a time lapse of a sunset (12 hours) and you take a photo every 1 minute, you will have 720 photos (60 X 12). With a 24 fps compression, you’ll have a video of sun rise to sun set in 30 seconds (720 / 24).

First multiply the video format by the length of how long you want the video to be. Here is an example of a three minute video using 24 FPS:

24fps x 180 seconds (3 minutes) = 4,320.

Divide the total length of your photos (in seconds) by that figure (4,320).

24 hours is 86,400 seconds, so 86,400/4,320 = 20 seconds.

So the interval between each photo should be 20 seconds.

So for a 3 minute time lapse video (which is kind of long) of a 24 hour event you would take a photo every 20 seconds. If you make a time lapse video of a flower as it blooms you can use longer intervals like several hours, or one photo a day.

Once you have taken your photos create a folder on your hard drive and name it so that it can be easily located in Avid Studio. Open Avid Studio and it will import the folder and the pictures.

Go to the Movie tab. Locate the folder with the pictures and open it in a tab above the video preview area.

Left click the first picture in the upper left hand corner. Hold down the "Shift" button. Scroll down to the last picture in the folder. Left click the last picture and hold down the mouse button. Drag all of the pictures into the timeline. All of the pictures should be highlighted. Right click any of the pictures and click on "Adjust Duration". Change the duration to how long you want each picture to be on the screen.

Now make sure the frame rate is set to 24 FPS (if you used the example above. Click the "Timeline Resolution" button (it is a picture of two gears in the upper-left corner of the timeline). Go down to the "Frame Rate" section and use the drop down arrow to change the frame rate.

Preview the video. If you are not satisfied with the duration of the photos you can change them. Left click underneath the bottom right corner of the last picture in the movie and hold the mouse button down. Drag the white outline all the way back to the middle of the first picture in the movie. Right click inside of the white box you created and choose change duration again. Choose another duration which you feel fits the project.
Produce your video and voila!

There you have it. You now have a time lapse video that you can show off to your friends and family. Good luck and have fun making your time lapse video!

If anyone else has an alternative solution for Ashley please add your comments.