Extract the downloaded zip file and move the resulting timelapse+studio.lrplugin folder to a location on your computer you can remember (like the documents folder)
Open Lightroom and go to File -> Plug-in Manager...
In the Plug-in Manager, click the "Add" button on the lower-left and select the timelapse+studio.lrplugin from the location determined in step 2
Close the Plug-in Manager, then go to File -> Plug-in Extras and select "1: Group Photos by Time-lapse". On the first use, this will open the activation dialog where you can start the free trial or register.
Registration
On first use the plugin will open the registration dialog. From here you can select to start the trial or activate it with your app.view.tl account or a purchased registration key. If you've already started the free trial, the registration dialog
will not be shown again until the trial expires.
There are two methods of registration, either by purchasing a registration key or by verifying VIEW Intervalometer ownership via app.view.tl. The two methods are described below.
Register using a purchased key
If you do not own a Timelapse+ VIEW Intervalometer, you'll need to purchase a key via the "Buy Now" button above. Then, when prompted to register the plugin within Lightroom, select the "Register with purchased key" option, then enter the email address
and registration key that was purchased. It's best to copy and past the registration key to ensure it's entered properly.
Once registered with a key, it will remain active permanently. Registration keys may be used for up to 3 of your own systems, but sharing is not permitted.
Register as Timelapse+ VIEW Intervalometer user
Owners of the VIEW Intervalometer by Timelapse+ have the option register the plugin without a purchased key. When prompted to register the plugin within Lightroom, select the "Register with app.view.tl" option, then enter the email address and password for your app.view.tl account. You'll need to have already associated your VIEW device with your app.view.tl account for verification. Instructions for this can be found at docs.view.tl, as well on the VIEW in Information -> Registration & App.
Group photos by time-lapse
This is typically the first step in the workflow. After importing your images, this feature can be used to separate them into collections by time-lapse sequence. It works with the images currently in the Library grid. You can select multiple folders or even your entire library if you're doing it for the first time. You might find some missing time-lapse sequences! (Note: if the current view is filtered, the filter will be disabled temporarily to search all images in the selected folders.)
Click the "File" menu (upper-left corner of Lightroom)
Select "Plug-in Extras",
Then "#1: Group photos by time-lapse". (It will then search the current images for time-lapse sequences and show the list of what it found. At this point you can toggle the checkboxes on each sequence to disable/enable creating a collection for it. If a sequence already has a collection, it will automatically be unchecked.)
Press "Create Collections" to create the collections for each time-lapse sequence, under a collection group called "Time-lapse". It will automatically switch the current view to the first collection created. Or, press "Cancel" and leave everything unchanged.
Auto create keyframes
Once you have a sequence of time-lapse images in the current view, the next step is to create keyframes. The keyframes are the images you edit, and the plugin takes care of applying those edits to the rest of the sequence. Keyframes are identified by "1-starred" images in Lightroom.
While you can mark the keyframes yourself, the plugin makes it easy by identifying transition points to ensure the entire sequence is properly edited. This is especially important for holy-grail sequences where the white balance will vary significantly. For simple sequences, it will likely only put a keyframe on the first and last frames.
To run this tool:
Click the "File" menu (upper-left corner of Lightroom)
Then "Plug-in Extras",
Then "#2: Auto create keyframes".
It will then analyze the current sequence for exposure transition and show the list keyframes it suggests.
Press "Create Keyframes" to create the keyframes shown in the dialog. It will then automatically filter the view to just show the keyframes switch the Develop panel in Lightroom. Or, press "Cancel" and leave everything unchanged.
Note: If you want more keyframes, just add a 1-star to an image
Blend settings between keyframes
The blend feature is where the real power of the Timelapse+ STUDIO plugin is at. This interpolates the develop settings between each keyframe, making for smooth transitions and animations. It also automatically smooths out any camera settings changes for flicker-free exposure ramping.
Local adjustments such as brushes, gradients, masks and even the clone tool are smoothly blended between keyframes. If a local adjustment is present on a single keyframe but not on the adjacent keyframes, it will be copied to the adjacent keyframes with the corrections set to zero, then interpolated between, resulting in it fading in/out, with the full strength of the correction peaking at the original keyframe where it was created.
Local adjustments and the crop can also be animated. If you use the Previous button, Synchronize, or copy/paste local adjustments, they will be recognized as being connected, so any changes, including changes to the position, will be interpolated between keyframes. For example, if you start with the first keyframe, add a gradient, then copy that gradient to the second keyframe and change it's position or anything else about it, those changes will be animated between the first and second keyframe. This can be useful if you want local corrections in a certain area that's moving across the frame in a motion control sequence.
Click the "File" menu (upper-left corner of Lightroom),
then "Plug-in Extras", then "#3: Blend settings between keyframes". It's ok if the current view in Lightroom is still filtered for just the keyframes -- it will change it to show all the images. It will then analyze the current sequence and display the settings across the keyframes.
Press "Blend Keyframes" to interpolate the keyframes across the entire sequence. Any changes to the develop settings for images that are not keyframes will be overwritten (but still in the history). Once this is complete, the sequence is ready to be exported.
Preview time-lapse
As a final step, the plugin allows you to get a feel for the end result before you spend the time exporting and rendering it. Unfortunately, due to limitations in the plugin API, it's hard to get this to play back smoothly until Lightroom has updated the previews for all of the images in the sequences. This can take some time in longer sequences. To ensure smooth playback, first select all images, go to the "Library" menu, then "Previews" -> "Build Standard-Sized Previews" and wait for it to complete.
Click the "File" menu (upper-left corner of Lightroom)
then "Plug-in Extras"
Then "#4: Preview time-lapse.
Note: To adjust the speed of playback by changing the number of frames to skip.
Exporting & Rendering
The Timelapse+ STUDIO plugin does not export or render the images, so you're on your own from here, but there are several options out there.
Render using Lightroom
If you add some slideshow templates, you can render the image sequence to a video entirely within Lightroom. Unfortunately, this method is limited to 1080p. You can find instructions for this method here.
Render using LRTimelapse
LRTimelapse can render high-quality videos and is well integrated with Lightroom. Check out the "Export and Render" section of the LRTimelapse workflow page.
Exporting the images for rendering with an external tool
For most other tools, you'll need to first export the image sequence from Lightroom. In the Library panel, select all the images, then click Export. Set the size of the exported images to your desired final output size. For faster processing, use
JPEG with about 85% quality. Or, for the best results, use TIFF.
Once you have the folder of exported images, here is a short (non-exhaustive) list of some programs that can render them to video:
The Timelapse+ STUDIO plugin does not export or render the images, so you're on your own from here, but there are several options out there.
Render using Lightroom
If you add some slideshow templates, you can render the image sequence to a video entirely within Lightroom. Unfortunately, this method is limited to 1080p. You can find instructions for this method here.
Render using LRTimelapse
LRTimelapse can render high-quality videos and is well integrated with Lightroom. Check out the "Export and Render" section of the LRTimelapse workflow page.
Exporting the images for rendering with an external tool
For most other tools, you'll need to first export the image sequence from Lightroom. In the Library panel, select all the images, then click Export. Set the size of the exported images to your desired final output size. For faster processing, use
JPEG with about 85% quality. Or, for the best results, use TIFF.
Once you have the folder of exported images, here is a short (non-exhaustive) list of some programs that can render them to video:
