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Time Lapse with Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi Time Lapse Snowfall

This project creates time lapse videos with a Raspberry Pi Zero W and a Logitech USB Webcam. I created the above YouTube video of a recent snowfall we had here in Richmond, Va. Check out this video and more on the Rhythm and Binary YouTube Channel.

This project also has instructions on how to use the Raspberry Pi Camera Module to do the same time lapse.

There is a blog post that walks through most of this project at https://rhythmandbinary.com/post/2021-02-01-creating-a-time-lapse-video-with-a-raspberry-pi.

There is also an accompanying video on the Rhythm and Binary YouTube Channel that covers this project

Raspberry Pi Time Lapse

Required Materials

Project Setup with Shell Scripts

  1. Setup the Raspberry Pi Zero W to have SSH and be headless
  1. Install fswebcam on the Raspberry Pi
sudo apt install fswebcam
  1. Install mencoder on the Raspberry Pi
sudo apt install mencoder
  1. Create Shell script to use fswebcam (see TAKE_PICTURE.sh)
#!/bin/bash

DATE=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H%M")

fswebcam -r 1280x720 --no-banner /home/pi/webcam/$DATE.jpg
  1. Create cronjob to take a picture every minute (run crontab -e on the pi)

  1. Turn on shell script for however long you want to save your time lapse

  2. Go into the folder that you've stored your pictures and create a map with ls *.jpg > stills.txt

  3. Run mencoder inside the folder where you've saved your files to create a video from the still images

mencoder -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:aspect=16/9:vbitrate=8000000 -vf scale=1920:1080 -o timelapse.avi -mf type=jpeg:fps=24 mf://@stills.txt
  1. Copy the video file over to your primary computer (in my case it was a MacBook)
scp -r pi@<pi_address>:/home/pi/webcam /Users/<your_username>/webcam
  1. Install ffmpeg to convert AVI file over to MP4 (I used a MacBook so I installed it with homebrew)
brew install ffmpeg
  1. Convert AVI file over to MP4 with ffmpeg
ffmpeg -i timelapse.avi timelapse.mp4

Project Setup with PiCamera Library

  1. Setup the Raspberry Pi Zero W to have SSH and be headless

  1. Purchase the Raspberry Pi Camera Module and Raspberry Pi Zero W Camera Module Cable

  2. Connect the Raspberry Pi Camera Module to the Raspberry Pi

  3. Setup the PiCamera library to run on your Raspberry Pi with installation instructions

  4. Write your first python script that runs the camera (use this to make sure it is working), see first_picture.py

  5. Write your second python script that uses the "capture continuous" method to continually take pictures. see time_lapse.py

  6. Create a service that will run your python script in the /home/pi folder on your Raspberry Pi, see timeLapse.service

  7. Copy your service over to the Raspberry Pi's etc folder with

sudo cp timeLapse.service /etc/systemd/system/timeLapse.service
  1. Start your service with
sudo systemctl start timeLapse.service

  1. Verify that pictures are being written out to the /home/pi/webcam folder

  2. Wait for however long you want to do the time lapse

  3. When you're ready to stop taking the pictures, stop the service with

sudo systemctl stop timeLapse.service

  1. Use the helper script COPY_FILES_BUILD_LOCAL.sh to copy the images over to your MacBook and then use ffmpeg to convert the images into a video

  2. Check out the generated MP4 files and enjoy!

Helpful Scripts

I scripted out steps 7-8 above with CREATE_VIDEO.sh. This creates a fast and slow version. The fast version is 24 frames per second. The slow version is 4 frames per second.

I scripted out steps 9-11 above with COPY_LOCAL.sh. This creates a folder inside the Pictures folder on a MacBook. The output files are then stored in a directory named for the date and time of the download.

If you wanted to see the source files that the Raspberry Pi used to create the video, use the COPY_PICTURES.sh script to put them on your MacBook.

If you want to use the Raspberry Pi Camera Module and PiCamera Library, use the COPY_FILES_BUILD_LOCAL.sh script to copy the generated images over to your MacBook.

mencoder

This project uses mencoder to convert JPEG files into an AVI formatted video. When using mencoder everything is configurable. I found if I used a slower frame rate, I seemed to get a nicer time lapse. You can modify this with the fps setting as you see here:

# faster with 24 fps rate
mencoder -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:aspect=16/9:vbitrate=8000000 -vf scale=1920:1080 -o /home/pi/saved/$DATE.avi -mf type=jpeg:fps=24 mf://@stills.txt

# slower with 4 fps rate
mencoder -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:aspect=16/9:vbitrate=8000000 -vf scale=1920:1080 -o /home/pi/saved/$DATE.avi -mf type=jpeg:fps=4 mf://@stills.txt

I have two examples where you can see the difference.

I included both the AVI and MP4 files for reference.

Helpful Information