Timelapses

Overview

indi-allsky utilizes ffmpeg to convert a sequence of images into a timelapse video.

Key settings

• Framerate - The number of frames per second to be utilized for the timelapse video. A smaller number will make the video longer, but it will be choppier. A larger number will be more smooth, but shorten the video.
• Bitrate - The target data bit rate for the output. A larger number will result in more data and more detail at the expense of a larger file size. 5000k is a good number for HD videos. 10000k might be better for 4K.
• Scaling - Scales the output of the video resulting in a lower resolution and smaller file size. Scaling the video also reduces the memory requirements to generate the video
• Codec - The encoder for the video. x264 is the default and usually the best option
• Skip frames - Skips frames at the beginning of the timelapse. The exposures are usually wrong when there is a transition between day and night resulting in over or under-exposed images. This setting give the opportunity to remove those frames from the video.

Memory

Memory requirements are primarily driven by the resolution of the timelapse generated by the FFMPEG utility. A higher resolution camera can be used on lower memory system by scaling the output resolution of the FFMPEG process.

Output Resolution	Recommended Memory	Minimum Memory	FFMPEG Process Memory
1280 x 960 (1.2MP)	2GB	1GB with 1GB swap	0.4GB
1920 x 1080 (2MP)	2GB	1GB with 1GB swap	0.6GB
3840 x 2160 (8MP)	4GB	2GB with 1GB swap	1.7GB
3008 x 3008 (9MP)	4GB	2GB with 1GB swap	1.8GB
4056 x 3040 (12MP)	4GB		2.5GB
6224 x 4168 (26MP)	8GB		5.0GB
9152 x 6944 (64MP)	16GB		12.0GB