pattern_type: we set this to glob to tell ffmpeg to use all the images that match the pattern in the following parameter.framerate: the number of images to render per second in the video.The final parameter is the filename of the output video.

ffmpeg -framerate 30 -pattern_type glob -i 'folder-with-photos/*.JPG' -s:v 1440x1080 -c:v libx264 -crf 17 -pix_fmt yuv420p my-timelapse.mp4 Let’s run a quick command to convert them into a video.

I’ll also assume your sequence of images is ready in a single folder and are named such that they’re displayed in the order that they should be rendered. I’m going to assume you have FFmpeg set up (if not, here’s some info on how to install it) and know how to run it on terminal. But when things start to get more intricate it can be painful to work without the immediate feedback a video editing application gives you - for example when you’re trying making timing changes to sync up to your audio track, or zooming/panning.įirst step - a quick and dirty time-lapse But once I discovered how powerful the open-source command-line program FFmpeg is, I decided to give it a try.īefore I dive in, I should say that putting together a video on the command-line is quick, and efficient and gives you a lot of fine-grained control when you’re doing simple things (a straight time-lapse, joining together videos with simple transitions, cropping, adding an audio track in). Free software was limited and didn’t have much control, and I’m not quite ready to invest money into more professional software yet. Trying to find the right application to put the video together quickly got frustrating. I bought a cheap, second hand GoPro Hero 3+ Silver and a portable tripod to get started, and took them along on a trip to Manning Park. So it seemed like a good opportunity to experiment with time-lapse myself. I’ve been going camping a lot this summer, and I’m discovering just how spectacular British Columbia is. Time-lapse has fascinated me since I watched Terje Sørgjerd’s videos many, many years ago.

Ffmpeg cut video from time to time