time-lapse
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NASA captures red sprite, puts it in a jar
Lightning doesn't always shoot downwards. Just occasionally, a thunderstorm will be accompanied by a red sprite: a huge, momentary electrical explosion that occurs around 50 miles high and fires thin tendrils many miles further up into the atmosphere. Sprites have been caught on camera before, but a fresh photo taken by arty astronauts on the ISS helps to show off their true scale. Captured accidentally during a timelapse recording, it reveals the bright lights of Myanmar and Malaysia down below, with a white flash of lightning inside a storm cloud and, directly above that, the six mile-wide crimson streak of the rare beast itself. Such a thing would never consent to being bottled up and examined, but somehow observers at the University of Alaska did manage to film one close-up at 1000 frames per second back in 1999 -- for now, their handiwork embedded after the break is as intimate as we can get.
Earthlapse is a window on the Earth from space
Earthlapse is a beautiful US$0.99 app for iOS that gives you an International Space Station view of the earth moving below. There are 8 time lapse scenes of weather, docking spacecraft and aurora in high resolution that is almost lifelike. You can control the speed of the movie, superimpose current weather for your location, show the current time, and information about each scene. The app was developed by the folks who did the striking Magic Window app with compelling landscape scenes, and now we get to see our landscapes from space instead of on the ground. I think this app is best on an iPad, and when your iPad is not in use it makes it a pretty effective piece of art for your desk or a nightstand. The app supports a selection of ambient music, but I actually like the effect better when I am free to contemplate the scene in a quiet room. The app supports the full Retina display on the iPhone. For some knotty technical reasons, the developer says the GUI is full Retina resolution on the iPad, but the images are not. Nevertheless, the images are terrific. As was done with Magic Window, I'd love to see more scenes become available, but the app is quite nice as it is. It's just been released and is worth a look. I think you'll like it. The app is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. %Gallery-155731%
Insert Coin: Etcher, the fully functional Etch A Sketch iPad case
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. Visions of the iPad as a modern-day Etch A Sketch have so far been primarily decorative: they've been more about remembering youth than recreating it. That's why Ari Krupnik & Associates' officially-sanctioned Etcher iPad case project on Kickstarter stands out. Those knobs? They work, and they're Made for iPad certified. And, as the Etcher is a product of the digital era, your creations in the custom-written app can be saved and shared to Facebook, Flickr or even YouTube as a time lapse video. Shaking the Etcher will still erase your image -- it just doesn't have to disappear forever this time. Your pledge level determines not only what variety of Etcher case you get, but how much control you get over the project. Committing $45 is all it takes for the nostalgic red, but if you spend $60, $75 or $100, you'll have the additional options for blue or a special backer-only color. Those at the $100 level get to vote on what color they and the $75 pledge-makers will see. A $175 outlay will provide early access to the software development kit as well as a say in what open-source license the code will use. Moving up to $210 or $360 will give you that control as well as an accordant five or 10 Etcher cases. If you like what you see, you have just over a month to contribute and make the iPad drawing add-on a reality.
Insert Coin: Genie turns any camera into a world-class time lapse rig
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. New Zealand-based designer Chris Thomson and filmmaker Ben Ryan found that motion-control time lapse gear too expensive, too complicated and too bulky. So they set about building the Genie, a box that moves your camera around under its own power. Designed to be cheap(er than the competition) and user-friendly, the device will let you choose from a variety of presets or build your own to turn and position the camera. It will also draw itself along a guide rope, either on a dolly track or cable-cam for stunning landscape photography. It's reached $42,542 of its $150,000 goal and if successful, each unit will cost $1,000.
Triggertrap: nine ways to activate your DSLR with an iOS device, choose one
When we first heard about the Kickstarter-funded Triggertrap, it was a nice but nichey lab instrument of a device that could fire your DSLR with diverse stimuli, like lights or ringing phones. It wasn't the first photo-tripping idea we'd seen, but at least it could be had for a fair sum ($75.00) and be used out of the box. But now, by connecting that tech to an app and charging $19.98 for both the software and hardware, Triggertrap might open up remote snapping to a lot more folks. Running off any iPhone, iPad or iPod using iOS 5, the app uses a dongle which can be connected by cable or infrared to most DSLRs or advanced compacts. From there, you'll be able to use all of your iDevice's sensors as triggers, from motion through to facial recognition and even GPS. The app doesn't just fire the shutter, either -- it also gives you control over the focus and flash. And if you don't have a separate camera, the iPhone's built-in cam can be used instead -- which would save you from buying the $9.99 dongle, if you have the necessary accoutrements. So if you've been wondering how to get those hard-to-shoot images, or have more nefarious ideas, check the videos after the break.
As Time Goes By HD for iPad is half-baked
Every so often we get a request to review some software that sounds intriguing and we try it and like it. This is not one of those times. I've been playing with As Time Goes By, an app that has what is advertised as 'compatible with new iPad resolution'. The app has full screen time lapse loops of several cities like New York, London, Berlin, and one scenic spot, the Grand Canyon. The app also offers an optional display of local time and weather information. Let's get down to it. While the time lapse movies are compatible with the new iPad retina display, that doesn't mean they are high resolution. In fact, I'd say they are not the full resolution of the iPad 2. Worse, the loops are too short. The Grand Canyon loop, for example, is about 7 seconds. That gets boring fast, and there is no way to slow the frame rate down. The local temperature displayed is in centigrade, which is fine for most of the world, but not so great for US residents who don't want to do the calculation. Local time for each location is displayed, but not the local time for your iPad, so you can't compare. The app is only US $0.99, but I think it has too many missing features to be of much interest. Apps like Magic Window have far better resolution, better photography, more weather information and even Airplay support. The photography in Magic Window is first rate, while the As Time Goes By photography is pretty average. I applaud ideas like those contained in this app, but they are half baked and not executed with thought about what users might want. I'd give this app a pass, unless the developers respond and make the app much, much better. As Time Goes By is a 78 MB download and requires iOS 4.2 or later. %Gallery-152945%
See a Qbo robot built from scratch in a minute-and-a-half (time-lapse video)
Ever wondered just how fast a Qbo robot can be built from scratch? Perhaps not, but TheCorpora is happy to show you anyway. The answer is just under three hours (by a skilled engineer, of course), but the company has managed to whittle that down to a minute-and-a-half thanks to the magic of time-lapse video. Head on past the break to see it for yourself -- and, if you haven't already, catch up with some of the tricks the bot is able to do once it's fully assembled.
Insert Coin: Timelapse+ is the intervalometer you've been waiting for (video)
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. That timelapse masterpiece you've been planning just got a whole lot less daunting thanks to Elijah Parker over at Kickstarter. Go through a few niceties, like handing over at least $99 and helping him reach his $20,000 funding target, and you'll take proud ownership of a Timelapse+ (previously called the Timelapse Pro) -- a photographer's intervalometer that does a lot to deserve its name. It'll come with a choice of adapters to match the standard cable release on your DSLR (or even SLR, if that's how you roll), and once hooked up it'll let you configure everything from delayed starts to incremental exposures and even multiple exposures per interval for a much-needed dose of HDR. The firmware will be open source to leave scope for user mods, and there'll also be the option of a Bluetooth interface for wireless controls -- although that'll require an extra $40 and a smidgen of FCC approval. The video after the break reveals more, and the source link has more+.
The most impressive Skyrim trailer wasn't made by Bethesda
It was made by YouTube user "Wren the Reaper," and it features dozens of hours of footage, timelapsed and cut together for maximum efficacy. To say this is an impressive glimpse into the world of Skyrim would be selling Mr. The Reaper rather short, so we'll just let the video do the talking.
StarCraft 2 Mega Block Battlecruiser assembled in time-lapse
Check out this one minute and forty second time-lapse of a Mega Blocks StarCraft 2 Battlecruiser picked up at Blizzcon 2011, being put together over six and half hours. In the end, we're treated to the sound that lets us know it's ready for action.
Ice Cream Sandwich revamps Android camera and gallery features
It's been a long time coming, but with the introduction of Ice Cream Sandwich, Android finally takes a significant leap forward in terms of camera and gallery features. The camera interface is completely new -- it's faster and easier to use with instant access from the lock screen. Shots are taken immediately thanks to zero shutter lag and continuous autofocus with automatic face detection. Touch-to-focus with exposure lock is now supported, and the UI adds a proper digital zoom slider. The camera app also includes a new sweep panorama feature. The gallery app is also significantly improved, with Instagram-like "hipster filters" and a built-in photo editor that lets you crop and rotate pictures at arbitrary angles. Any tweaks you make are saved in a separate file, keeping the original shot intact. Images can now be sorted by location (using geotagging), and by person (if manually tagged). Video also receives a serious boost in functionality with 1080p capture, continuous autofocus, and the ability to zoom while recording. Additionally, it's now possible to create time lapse videos right from your phone. It's too early to tell if all these features will trickle down to legacy devices or remain exclusive to the Galaxy Nexus, but we'll find out soon enough.
Carnegie Mellon's GigaPan Time Machine brings time-lapse to panoramas
We've already seen GigaPan technology used for plenty of impressive panoramas, but some researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have now gone one step further with their so-called "GigaPan Time Machine" project. Thanks to the magic of HTML5 and some time-consuming (but automated) photography, you can now "simultaneously explore space and time" right in your web browser -- that is, zoom in and around a large-format panorama that also happens to be a time-lapse video. If you don't feel like exploring yourself, you can also jump straight to some highlights -- like the like the construction of the Hulk statue at the CMU Carnival pictured above. Ht up the source link below to try it out -- just make sure you're in either Chrome and Safari, as they're the only compatible browsers at this time.
Plato shown holding an iPad in a creative clay sculpture (video)
When technology meets art, the possibilities are endless. We have seen the iPad used as a canvas to paint portraits, most recently of Woz, and multiple iPads used to create a giant Lara Croft-emblazoned iPhone. This latest iPad-themed artistic experiment takes a traditional sculpture of Plato and places an anachronistic iPad into his hands. No longer contemplating the pressing social issues of his time, the great thinker can now ponder the meaning of FaceTime and whether he really wants it on his iPad, the influence of the App Store, and the validity of the reality distortion field. After the break, you will find a time-lapse video detailing the sculpting process which starts with a simple wire frame armature and ends with an iPad-toting Greek philosopher. It is definitely worth the four minutes it takes to watch it from beginning to end. Thanks to Adam who created this work of art and sent it in!
Homemade 16TB NAS dwarfs the competition with insane build quality (video)
From the man that brought you the OS Xbox Pro and the Cinematograph HD comes... a cockpit canopy filled with hard drives? Not quite. Meet the Black Dwarf, a custom network-attached-storage device from the mind of video editor Will Urbina, packing 16TB of RAID 5 magnetic media and a 1.66GHz Atom N270 CPU into a completely hand-built Lexan, aluminum and steel enclosure. Urbina says the Dwarf writes at 88MB per second and reads at a fantastic 266MB per second, making the shuttlecraft-shaped 12.7TB array nearly as speedy as an SSD but with massive capacity and some redundancy to boot. As usual, the DIY guru shot a professional time-lapse video of his entire build process, and this one's not to be missed -- it showcases some pretty spiffy camerawork as well as the man's welding skills. See sparks fly after the break.
Time-lapse tips for your Mac and iPhone
I've been messing around with more video lately, and considering doing some time-lapse work, so this post over at Macworld came at the exact right time for me. Heather Kelly walks you through some options, from expensive to free and complicated to simple, for creating time-lapse pictures and videos on your Mac and iPhone. Some of them we've already heard and written about, including iStopMotion 2 and the great open source Gawker, but there are a few new names in here for me as well. The $2.99 iTimeLapse Pro [iTunes link] and free GorillaCam [iTunes link] apps, both of which let you make some pretty amazing footage straight from your iPhone, are also mentioned. Putting together interesting time-lapse photography is a great skill to have no matter what you're doing -- it can be used to show off your work online or just give you a look at visual trends in whatever space you tend to be studying. It's great that we've got lots and lots of different apps, on both Mac and the iPhone, that help make it easy to assemble this stuff.
Video: 15 days in GTA IV's Liberty City
Time lapse videos were all the rage back in -- actually, we don't think they were ever rage caliber stuff, but in the case of this GTA IV video that shows 15 days go by Liberty City, it's at least reached "oh, that's neat!" territory. The video comes courtesy of DigitalFoundry (you can watch it over at Eurogamer) and reminds us just how much life there is in the virtual sand box, as cars drive along to their respective destinations, pedestrians shuffle about doing their own thing and, in the case of that one lady around the 32-second mark, loaf around the riverside all day and night. We just hope she's not doing what we think she's doing. It'd be such an unbecoming thing of the purest city in all of gaming, amirite?
Watch one frame of Gratuitous Space Battles being rendered
Indie games developer Positech Games caught our attention again with more footage of its upcoming tower defense title Gratuitous Space Battles. In the latest video, Positech shows off the process of rendering a single frame in one of the game's marquee deep space standoffs. If you're a fan of tower defense titles -- or some kind of time-lapse photo enthusiast -- check out the clip after the break.[Thanks, Cliff]
EVE Online patch day time-lapse video makes us laugh
Have you ever wondered what sort of craziness goes on inside a developer's offices during a major patch day? We've always had a sneaking suspicion that certain hi-jinks occur, but this time-lapse video of the EVE Online Q&A department during the day of the Empyrean Age expansion's release reveals all. You'll get to see developers working their fingers to the bone and making silly faces for the camera for an entire 24-hour period. What else could you ask for in time-lapse video?We hope that CCP does some more of these things for everyone's enjoyment -- but mostly for our own. You can never get enough guy-making-silly-faces moments in life, that's for sure.[via CrazyKinux]
GDC08: A time-lapse farewell
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/GDC_2008_as_seen_in_time_lapse_photography'; GDC 2008, we were just beginning to get to know you. After a week of hectic posting, you're already gone. While we're still catching up with final posts from the show, we bid San Francisco farewell with this time-lapse video. Because nothing captures the bittersweet end of a tradeshow like time-lapse. Shots include the crowd filling into the Fable 2 and Portal sessions, respectively. Plus, you'll see attendees swarm through the lunch area and might catch a glimpse of your favorite bloggers. For the full effect -- especially if you're trying to spot people in the crowds -- be sure to watch the HD original in full-screen.Music: "After the Curtain" by Beirut
DIY time lapse intervalometer saves dough, improves creativity
We know you've had plenty of time to recreate that shutter release hack, and if you found yourself impressed with the results, you're bound to adore this one. Eagleapex has struck again with yet another swank camera mod, this time giving DSLR owners an easy (and affordable) method for handling time lapse photography. Granted, this creation isn't the simplest to build, and there's still a few notable limitations that keep it from supreme greatness -- namely the inaccurate interval setting and the occasionally problematic short output pulse -- but neither of those quirks are ones that pros can't remedy when concocting their own. Check out a video of the results after the jump, and don't ever say that watching ice melt is a bore.
