Make a long-term timelapse of your project

What it is

A long-term timelapse grabs pictures from your camera on a schedule. Then it puts them together into one video. You can watch, download and share it at any time while the project runs, or after it ends.

Right now, long-term timelapse is turned on for you by Silarius. To start one, contact Silarius support: get free remote setup help or email us. Tell us the five choices below.

The five choices to make

• Camera: which camera to use.
• Time of day: all 24 hours, or sunrise to sunset.
• Days: every day, or Monday to Friday only.
• Resolution: how sharp the pictures are, for example 4K.
• Seconds per day: how many seconds of the final video each day becomes. You can pick 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10.

How many seconds per day?

Use this simple math:

Seconds per day = (how many minutes long you want the video x 60) / (how many days you will record)

Then round to the nearest of 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10.

Example: your project lasts 300 days. You want a 10-minute video. 10 x 60 = 600. 600 / 300 = 2 seconds per day.

The video plays 24 pictures each second. So 2 seconds per day means 48 pictures from each day. They are spread evenly over your recording hours. With 24-hour recording, that is one picture every 30 minutes.

Three ways to set up the camera for 4K

• One 4K stream, always on: best quality for both live video and the timelapse. But it uses more internet upload and more cloud storage, because 4K video is sent all the time.
• Two copies of the same camera: one copy sends a smaller stream for everyday watching. The second copy is set to 4K and then turned off. The timelapse still uses the 4K picture. This saves internet and keeps all features working.
• One copy, set to 4K and turned off: no live video and no full recording, so it uses very little internet. The timelapse still gets made. Other features won't work, because there is no live stream.

Slow internet at the site?

You can still get a sharp timelapse. When the timelapse camera is turned off, the system only grabs one picture every few minutes. That is a light load.

But a turned-off camera can't warn you if it stops working. You would need to check it yourself now and then.

A good fix is a second copy of the camera on a different, smaller stream. For example 720p at about 350 Kbps (kilobits per second). If fast motion doesn't matter, drop it to 5 pictures per second for about 150 to 200 Kbps. This copy gives you live video and lets you set up an alert if the camera goes offline.

Tips for a great result

• Use a good camera that can stay for the whole project. Swapping cameras changes how the video looks, and you can lose footage.
• Pick one fixed spot that sees every stage. Moving the camera makes the scene jump.
• Don't point the camera at the sun or bright lights.
• Make sure your internet can handle the picture size you pick.
• Save the camera's correct address in Silarius Cloud Admin. The system uses it to work out sunrise and sunset.