Best Formula for Timelapse footage

I have heard everything from rolling on say some clouds for set amount of time with the camera locked down on a tripod and then speeding the footage up to like 2000% in FCP. I have heard some people achieve a smooth time lapse by using a still camera to capture the images. For those that have done smooth timelapses please share your thoughts and suggestions. There is a show I watch on A&E called "The First 48" that uses a ton of smooth timelapse footage during the show. I want my footage to look like that.

Hello DVX100Shooter,
the most important factor for me is the location - make sure you film somewhere, where nobody will step into the accidentally
It all depends very much on what you want to shoot. If your timeframe for filming is not longer than 15 min you can easily get away with simply importing the clip and speeding it up in FCP - it does look smooth enough.
For shots up to an hour, I would recommend a different capture software that actually captures your footage at a rate of, say, 1 frame/sec. I like to use BTV Pro for that (http://www.bensoftware.com/) and the results are very good. I then import the resulting clip into FCE and adjust the speed/duration to my needs. This has the obvious advantage that your HDD is not being filled up with hours of video, in order to create a few clips.
Another capture software is iStopmotion - it kept crashing on me, but others have reported excellent results.
If you want to produce the kind of amazing clips, you see sometimes in documentaries (e.g. from sunrise to sunset in 10 sec.), you'll have to employ different methods of shooting, as you will have to get all the footage on one tape (changing tapes will interupt - unless you're very fast :-)). A major problem can be power supply, when shooting outdoors .... you'll need good planning and logistics here.
Professional camcorders can capture real time lapse, whereas consumer and prosumer models only do so-called "interval" filming (e.g. they shoot 1 sec every 30 sec). This will result in a very stuttering video.
I have read somewhere on discussions that Adobe Premiere has a function that lets you control the camera, so you can capture single frames at reguar intervals. That would be an excellent tool for extended timelapse capture - granted you keep the power up and running.
I've heard good things about building timelapse shots out of single photos taken with a still camera, but have to say I have no experience with that.
hope this helps
mish

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So my question is: When bouncing a project out of Logic, what is the best method for getting the smallest file size, but retaining the best audio quality? And once it's out of Logic and it is an mp3 or other type of audio file, is there a best format for compressing it further, and still maintaining the relative quality?
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MUYconfundido wrote:
I am in the process of embedding 3 mp3's into a PDF to submit as a portfolio. The PDF also has text, and two scores included, and with the 3 embedded mp3's it can't be more than 10mb.
So my question is: When bouncing a project out of Logic, what is the best method for getting the smallest file size, but retaining the best audio quality?
The highest bitrate that falls within your limits. You'll have to calculate how big your MP3's can be, then choose the bitrate that keeps the size within your limit. The formula is simple: bitrate is the number of kilobits per second, so a 46 second stereo file at 96 kbps would be 96 x 46 = 4416 kbits / 8* = 552 kBytes or 0.552 MB. (*8 bits = 1 Byte)
So if you know the length of your tracks you can calculate what bitrate you need to keep it within 10 MB total.
I consider 128 kbps the lowest bearable bitrate for popsongs and other modern drumkit based music. Deterioration of sound quality is often directly related to the quality of the initial mix and the type of instruments used in it. Piano(-like) tones tend to sound watery pretty quickly at lower bitrates, as do crash and ride cymbals. But don't take my word for it, try it out.
And once it's out of Logic and it is an mp3 or other type of audio file, is there a best format for compressing it further, and still maintaining the relative quality?
You can only ZIP the whole thing after that, but that is just for transport. You'll have to unzip it again to use it. And no, you cannot compress an MP3 any further and still play it.
I bounced out the three projects into wav's. Now I am using Switch for Mac to compress them down to smaller Mp3's.
That is silly, you could have done that in Logic, which has one of the best MP3 encoders built in. And how good encoders are will especially come out at bitrates around or below 128, which you might be looking at.
I basically need them to be about 3 mb each.
So, one more scrap of info we need here: how long are those three pieces, exactly? I'll calculate the bitrate for you - but please bounce 'm directly out of Logic as MP3's. They will very probably sound better than your WAV-conversions made with Switch.
!http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4084/4996323899_071398b89a.jpg!
Two of the recordings sound OK at that size, but they are just MIDI(one project is piano and string quartet, the other is just piano- all software instruments. The recording that combines MIDI and Audio and has more tracks (three audio tracks and 10 Midi/software instrument tracks)and sounds completely horrible if I get it under 5 mb as an mp3. The problem is that I need all three to equal around 9mb, but still sound good enough to submit as a portfolio for consideration into a Master's program.
Length of the piece? And does the .Wav bounce you have sound OK?

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