Today, Microsoft released a new tool that makes it easy to create dreamy hyperlapses from pre-recorded video files on your Windows PC or directly from your Android or Windows phone.
It’s as easy as importing your video directly, trimming the length and adjusting a few settings such as frame rate, resolution and file type. The app then processes your video and spits out the silky smooth results in a few minutes.
To test, I walked around Amsterdam with my Fujifilm X-T1, which isn’t equipped with an optical image stabilizer that helps with smoothing. The result, embedded below, is incredible for a film I made in a matter of fifteen minutes.
Microsoft says that the idea for Hyperlapse was dreamed up in the mountains by a rock climber that used a GoPro to film his climbs, but ultimately found the raw footage less interesting than in the real world.
A Microsoft Research team came up with an algorithm which “creates an approximate 3D model of the landscape being filmed, then identifies the dominant path that the camera took through it.” From there, it stitches together frames to create smooth videos.
The Windows app, which is available for free, supports a number of cameras with a focus on the GoPro lineup. Using other models – including DSLRs – will work, but Hyperlapse only runs in basic mode which offers only limited options to tweak the settings.
➤ Hyperlapse Pro [Windows] / Hyperlapse Mobile [Android / Windows Phone]
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