Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Restoring an Icon - GBTimelapse Involved in Unique Project

Enjoy a front-row seat to the restoration of the USS Constitution, the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat and America’s Ship of State.  GBTimelapse user Greg Cooper was retained by the USS Constitution Museum to document the three-year restoration project. 



Constitution Cam
The Constitution Cam displays photographs from a unique vantage – outside a third floor window of the USS Constitution Museum. The image will automatically refresh every few minutes.
http://usscm.org/restoration/constitution-cam/

About the Restoration Project Using Time-Lapse Photography
Read about the project and the use of time-lapse photography and GBTimelapse in Greg's documentation in his own words below...

The USS Constitution Museum retained me to document the three-year restoration of the USS Constitution which is taking place in Dry Dock 1 at the Charlestown Navy Yard. I chose to document this historic event using time-lapse photography in order to generate a time-lapse movie of the event. The equipment includes a Canon DSLR camera and a mini computer running Windows operating system with an internet connection in an all-weather housing. The higher end Cannon DSLR cameras do not have a built-in intervalometer to capture images at a predetermined time and requires an external shutter release with a built-in intervalometer. Basic intervalometer devices can control the interval at which images are captured, for example, once every five minutes. However, they cannot control the times of day when images are captured, for example, only between 6am and 10 pm. There is little to no activity at the dry dock during the evening hours. Images captured during this time would be unnecessary and require extra data transfer, storage and management. I needed a tool that could control both the interval and the time of day that pictures are captured. I found Granite Bay Software to be the best solution. I run Granite Bay software on the mini computer to remotely control not only the interval and timer period of image capture but also to modify the script that controls other camera settings. With Granite Bay Software, I can also transfer images using its built-in ftp protocol to an offsite server. That server has custom viewing software that I developed and which allows the visitor to view images from specific dates and times. In addition, the website dynamically builds a video clip of the restoration progress each night for client viewing. The museum continually showcases the most recent image on their blog during the restoration process and provides a direct link to the viewing software website. The capabilities of Granite Bay Software enables me to provide these services to my client.

About the USS Constitution
The 2015 restoration marks the first time that USS Constitution has been dry docked in the 21st century. Dry Dock 1, in the Charlestown Navy Yard, is the second oldest operational dry dock in the United States and Constitution was the first warship to enter that dock on June 24, 1833. The work of this restoration will include replacing the lower hull planking and caulking; removing the 1995 copper sheathing and replacing it with 3,400 sheets of new copper that will protect the ship’s hull below the waterline; replacement of select deck beams; and on-going preservation and repair of the ship’s rigging, upper masts, and yards. The cost of the restoration is expected to be $12-15 million and will be paid for by the U.S. Navy.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

GBDeflicker4 is now available!

GBDeflicker4 is now available!  AND...it is compatible with Adobe CC 2015 and 2017!
GBDeflicker4 is a major release version from Granite Bay Software with increased speed and support for 32-bit color!

As many of you know, the GBD3 (GBDeflicker3) plugin is designed for Adobe CS6, CC and CC 2014.  GBD3 was designed correctly for CC and CC 2014, but the new Adobe CC 2015 is so different internally, they aren't compatible.  Good news...we have a solution!  We have released GBDeflicker4, a totally compatible plugin for Adobe CC 2015.

GBDeflicker users have a few options:
  1. Upgrade! - If you purchased GBD3 or a prior version on or after January 1, 2016, you are eligible for a free upgrade to GBD4.  If you purchased GBD3 or a prior version before January 1, 2015, you are eligible for discounted  upgrade price.
  2. Continue to Use Your Current GBDeflicker - GBD3 will still work with Adobe CS6, CC and CC 2014 and GBD2 will still work with CS5, CS5.5 and CS6 (64-bit). 
After Effects for CC 2015 has been redesigned with the Adobe release of CC 2015, so releases of GBD3 prior to April, 2015 will crash when run on CC 2015. GBD3 will warn the user, but it will crash if the user attempts to run GBD3 on CC 2015.

GBDeflicker4 - Upgrade Today!

GBD Version  Released OS Versions  Adobe Compatibility
-------------------  -------------  ------------------  --------------------------------------
GBDeflicker4  6/2015     64 bit OS      CC 2015 and CC 2017
GBDeflicker3  1/2014      64 bit OS      CC 2014, CC, and CS6
GBDeflicker2  3/2011      64 bit OS      CS6, CS5.5, and CS5
GBDeflicker1  3/2007     32 bit OS      CS4 and CS3

Thursday, January 29, 2015

GBDeflicker - Analyze faster with new version 3.1.1

GBDeflicker version 3.1.1 is now available and focuses on improving the analyze process using several speed enhancements.

Before you can render, GBDeflicker3 scans through your clip analyzing the amount of flicker. After you analyze, it removes the flicker when you render. We've made several improvements to GBDeflicker3 to speed up the analyze process.

We've also changed the effects "don't deflicker" option so that you can restrict the analyze process to only those parts of your video that have flicker. This too can greatly speed it up by not analyzing the parts of your video that have no flicker.





How to Start Using GBDeflicker 3.1.1

If you already own GBDeflicker3, just download and install this new update free of charge. If you own GBDeflicker2, now is a good time to upgrade at a reduced price.

GBTimelapse as a Slave to NMX or any Moco Device

GBTimelapse has extended its functionality with motion control systems to synchronize with virtually any motion control device that has a camera shutter release jack.

GBTimelapse previously had a list of supported motion control systems that included the Dynamic Perception MX2 and MX3 and the eMotimo TB3.  Now, GBTimelapse will work with virtually any motion control system that has a camera shutter trigger.

Typically, the camera jack connects to the camera shutter by a special cable. Instead of connecting the jack to a camera, you can now connect it to a Phidget 2/2/2 USB device attached to  a laptop computer  running GBTimelapse. When GBTimelapse is in the Slave/Phidget mode, it will wait and capture an image when the Phidget detects a motion control (moco) camera shutter release signal.

The image below shows GBTimelapse connected as a slave to a Dynamic Perception NMX motion controller. For clarity this image just shows the basic parts, not the motion control gear itself.  This set-up can be used in the identical way with any other system that has a camera shutter trigger.


The GBTimelapse laptop computer requires one Phidget 2/2/2 interface wired for a connection to its digital input by a mono jack. All you need is the Phidget and a female mono jack – the cable comes with the Phidget.

Just solder the yellow (digital input 0) wire and a black (ground) wire to the mono jack terminals.


You can get the Phidget 2/2/2 Interface here…

http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?product_id=1011

And the 2.5mm Female Mono Jack from Digi-Key (part number CP-2520-ND) here…

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/MR-2501/CP-2520-ND/724799 

Follow the easy 6-step configuration below to get started!

Configuring GBTimelapse for Slave/Phidget Mode

Step 1Connect the moco device camera output to the Phidget using a mono or stereo 2.5mm male/male cable.

Step 2 - Enable Master/Slave and Phidget options in the GBTimelapse Tools/Options Feature tab.


Step 3 - Set the Phidget options to capture an image when digital input 0 is triggered.


Step 4 - Set GBTimelapse to run in Slave/Phidget mode.



Step 5 - Begin the time-lapse and GBTimelapse will wait for signals from the moco device.

Step 6 - Start the Moco device program. When the device sends a camera shutter signal GBTimelapse will control the camera and capture an image. GBTimelapse will follow its program and preform its AutoRamping controls adjusting Av, Tv, ISO as it normally does for flicker free “holy grail” time-lapse at sunset or sunrise.

Good luck!

Thursday, January 08, 2015

GBDeflicker - Analyze RAW images faster using a proxy

Do you shoot your time-lapse sequences in RAW?  If so, you definitely know how long RAW images take to load into Adobe After Effects. This process takes time because the RAW images are large and must be "debayered" (filter that converts RAW image data into an RGB image) before they can be displayed.

For example, a 400 frame RAW sequence takes about 12 minutes just to preview on my dual quad-core Windows machine. Similarly, it takes GBDeflicker about 12 minutes to analyze the RAW sequence before it can be de-flickered.

If you create a proxy file for your RAW sequence you can dramatically decrease the GBDeflicker analyze time. For my example of a 400 frame sequence, using the proxy reduced the analyze time from 12 minutes to only 50 seconds.  That is less than 10% of the time!

Please watch this short video to see how to use a proxy file for your RAW image time-lapse.