I LOVE the time-lapse videos you made. I was thinking about doing the same sort of thing once I get started, but I don't know how to make the mechanics work -- what kind of camera to use, turning it to video, etc. If you have any tips, I'd love to hear it.
I have a full desktop PC on my main workbench (with a 32" HDTV for a monitor
) running Windows 7. A laptop would work just as well. Not sure about other operating systems, as I use Windows Live Movie Maker... which comes pre-loaded on Windows 7.
The webcam is a Microsoft LifeCam HD-5000, but any webcam that the PC recognizes will work.
I also have a
30' USB extension cable from monoprice.com ($9, LOVE MONOPRICE!!!)
The program I use to capture pictures from my webcam is called Booru (
http://lumai.se/bc.html). The extent of the configuration is telling the app which webcam to use, how often to take a picture, and where to store the pictures. Mine is set to take a pic every 5 seconds. There are other apps that do the same thing, but I haven't investigated them.
My process is this:
1. Put the webcam somewhere it can get a good view of the work area. Mine is normally clamped to a shelf somewhere.
2. Open Booru (it starts recording as soon as it opens)
3. Build an airplane.
4. When finished building the airplane, quit the Booru app.
5. I move the captured pictures to another folder, but only because I'm going to keep them all. If you're only interested in the video, you can ignore this step... and delete the pics when you're done.
6. Open Windows Live Movie Maker
7. In WLMM, click "All Pictures or Videos"
8. Browse to your pictures folder, right click > select all, then click "open".
9. In WLMM, hit the edit button.
10. There is now a field to choose how long to display each pic. I use .05 seconds.
11. Hit "Save Video" You now have a WMV Video file.
It looks like a lot all typed up, but it takes me about 20 seconds from start to finish (except the "build an airplane" step)