**Creating Stunning 3D Printing Time-Lapses: A Step-by-Step Guide**

As a 3D printing enthusiast, I've always been fascinated by the idea of capturing my print jobs in a time-lapse video. However, with so many options and settings to consider, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. In this article, I'll share my experience with creating stunning 3D printing time-lapses using a Raspberry Pi power ditch, SCADA working webcam stream through the OctoPrint software, and a DSLR camera.

**The First Attempt: Using a Raspberry Pi Camera**

My first attempt at creating a time-lapse involved using a Raspberry Pi camera. I downloaded the camera stand designed by Ethel Berg from Feeny Whirs and 3D printed all three parts in under three hours. After assembling the stand with an M3 screw and nuts, I placed the camera inside its secured its lids with a little bit of scotch tape and finally hot glue dated to sturdier pedestal.

To get a decent-looking stream image, I started adjusting the OctoLab settings and eventually decided on these which eventually spat out decent-looking time-lapses. However, when uploading the g-code of my three by fitting locally to the OctoPrint software and hitting print, the 3D printer did its usual heating up and levelling procedure. As soon as the actual print started, I noticed that the OctoLab software was working properly since it was moving the head and pads to a fixed position after every printed layer.

**The First Print: A Slightly Longer Than Expected**

After waiting for around 2 hours and 45 minutes, which was only slightly longer than what the slicer software calculated, obviously due to the time necessary for the fixed time-lapse position, the print was finally complete. The OctoLab software sped out a finished video file that I could download. However, this time-lapse looked blurry and only featured a resolution of 640 by 480.

**The Reason: Forgotten Resolution Settings**

The reason for the poor quality was that I forgot to set the resolution of the Raspberry Pi camera to 1920x1080 pixel in the Octa-Pi dot txt file as well as adjusting the focus of the camera. With those fixes, the streamed image looked way better, and thus I didn't have a test round with the OctoLab software which ultimately created a time-lapse which was not half bad.

**The Second Attempt: Using a DSLR Camera**

However, I was still looking for better image quality, and thus turned to my old DSLR camera, the Canon EOS 700D. By utilizing a 2.5 millimeter audio jack cable connecting one side of it to the external trigger ports of the camera and shorting the other sides sleeve and tip contacts, the camera takes a picture if the manual focus is selected.

**An External Trigger: A Switch**

To solve this problem, I salvaged a small switch from a microwave, cut off the 2.5 millimeter puck so that the two required wireless direct to the anomaly open contacts of the switch, and thus got an external trigger for the camera. Luckily, my 3D printer had a screw on its right side close to the z-axis which I removed and replaced with a longer M3 screw to secure the switch to the printer.

**Adding Hot Glue: A Simple Solution**

However, in the fixed time-lapse position, the print head does not activate the switch. To solve this, we can simply add a bit of hot glue to the switch, and just like that, the head reaches our switch now without a problem.

**The Final Print: A Success**

As soon as I added a tripod to the camera, positioned it properly next to my 3D printer, connected the external trigger switch, and started the 3D print with OctaLab's activators, the camera did its job without a problem. As soon as the print was complete, I removed its SD cards and imported all of the pictures into Adobe Premiere Pro software which functions nicely when it comes to creating time-lapses.

**The Result: A Stunning Time-Lapse**

Due to the high resolution of the pictures, it is also easily possible to add some movements. As a comparison, here's the time-lapse from the Raspberry Pi camera and here's the DSLR camera time-lapse which in my opinion truly looks stunning.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, creating stunning 3D printing time-lapses requires patience, experimentation, and attention to detail. By following these steps and using a DSLR camera, I was able to create a time-lapse that truly showcases the beauty of my print job. I hope this article has inspired you to try your hand at creating stunning 3D printing time-lapses.

**References**

* Thingiverse: Gold Pencil Holder (Designed by Phil Nelson)

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enfor upcoming projects I had to design this 3-way corner fitting for PVC pipes so I exported it as an STL file sliced it with these slices of pair of my 3d printer and finally used my well-working Prusa i3 Mark through you to obviously print ads but coming from a videography point of view isn't it kind of boring to see different time points of the printing process and finally having me remove the printed parts I think it is way more appealing to record either a very long video or tons of pictures with a fixed time interval between them and then speeding this footage up to create a sort of time-lapse effects only problem is that neva the 3d printed object nor the printer hats stays in place which makes this time-lapse horrible to look at to solve this problem I will show you in this video how to use octo print with octo lapse and install a small modification onto my 3d printer to create intriguing looking time lapses which look like the 3d print grows on its own over time let's get started first off let's think about the theory of such time lapses whenever the printer finishes one layer of the 3d prints we want the hot end and pads to move in a specific place which always needs to be the same and wait there are four seconds during that time we take a picture with a camera and afterwards the printer continues printing the next layer before repeating this process we do this for all layers of the 3d print and then use editing software to turn our still images into smaller time-lapse video now to do the picture-taking process they exist two popular options the first one is to inject a special g-codes into the slicing software and then using a camera with a remote trigger to take a picture after every layer change this method was actually recommended to me by Joseph Prusa over Twitter and the attached tutorial guides offered all information about how to activate the remote trigger feature and create a suitable electronic circuit for it as well as where to hook up the virus to the 3d printer and what kind of code we would have to inject after every layer change I'm pretty sure this method works perfectly fine but I wanted to try the octo print and octo Labs methods in case you don't know yet octoprint is a remote control and monitoring software that you can install on for example a raspberry pi but feel free to learn more about it through the video forage that I created back in 2016 anyway after grabbing myself a Raspberry Pi 3 M model beer that I had lying around I removed its micro SD cards plugged it into my computer and downloaded the latest octopi release afterwards I used a chart to burn the downloaded image file onto the SD cards edited the octopi WPAS applicants text file with notepad plus plus so that the PI connects to my Wi-Fi network removed the SD cards plugged it back into my PI connected my 3d through its USB ports wits and finally power to purify foods through mic USB cable after then connecting to the Raspberry Pi through my browser I did a pretty self-explanatory first time setup and finally got to the octoprint user interface in less than five minutes here we can connect to the printer control its functions start prints and all of that good stuff but what we're mainly after is octo labs which is a plugin that creates stabilized time lapses of your 3d prints which also comes with tons of awesome features that you can have a look at on their websites to implement its I opened the octo print settings navigated to plugin manager searched for octo labs and simply installed it that's it after restarting the octo print software we got an extra octo labs tab where we can fine-tune this plugin but what I noticed right at the start was that I got no webcam connected yet that is why I got myself this Raspberry Pi camera module version 2 whose flat flex ribbon cable was built too short for the intended application so after replacing it with a born meter one I hooked up the other side of the cable to the Raspberry Pi power ditch and the SCADA working webcam stream through the octo print software but placing it in a permanent position next to the printer was still impossible that is why I downloaded this camera stand designed by Ethel Berg from Feeny whirs and 3d printed all of its three parts in less than three hours after assembling the stand with an m3 screw and nuts I placed the camera inside its secured its lids a little bit of scotch tape and finally hot glue dates to sturdier pedestal then all I had to do was to position the camera properly to get a decent looking stream image at this point I started adjusting the Aqualab settings and finally decided on these which eventually spat out decent-looking time-lapses but feel free to experiments because there are tons of options to fight week but anyway as soon as I uploaded the g-code of my three by fitting locally to the octoprint software and hitting print the 3d printer did its usual heating up and levelling procedure but as soon as the actual print starts I noticed that the octo lab software was working properly since it was moving the head and pads to a fixed position after every printed layer and after waiting for around 2 hours and 45 minutes which was only slightly longer than what the slicer software calculated obviously due to the time necessary for the fixed time lapse position the print was finally complete and the octo lab software sped out a finished video file that I could download and let's just say we're not done yet because this time-lapse looks blurry and only features a resolution of 640 by 480 the reason is that I forgot to set the resolution of the Raspberry Pi camera to 1920 year by 1080 pixel in the octa-pie dot txt file as well as adjusting the focus of the camera with those fixes the streamed image looked way better and thus I didn't have a test round with the octo lab software which ultimately created a time lapse which was not half bats nice but I was still looking for better image quality and thus turned to my old DSLR camera the Canon EOS 700d by utilizing a 2.5 millimeter audio jack cable connecting one side of it to the external trigger ports of the camera and shorting the other sides sleeve and tip contacts the camera takes a picture if the manual focus is selected so by using this small switch which I salvaged from a microwave I cut off the 2.5 Moumita puck so that the two required wireless direct to the anomaly open contacts of the switch and thus got an external trigger for the camera and luckily my 3d printer got a screw on it's right side close to the z-axis which I removed and replaced with a longer m3 screw to secure the switch to the printer only problem was that in the fixed time-lapse position the print head does not activate the switch jets to solve this we can go with my favorite solution by simply adding a bit of hot glue to the switch and just like that the head reaches our switch now without a problem so I added a tripod to the camera positioned its properly next to my 3d printer connected the external trigger switch and started the 3d print with octal apps activators and as you can see the camera did job without a problem as soon as the print was complete I removed its SD cards and imported all of the pictures into the Adobe Premiere Pro software which functions nicely when it comes to creating time lapses and due to the high resolution of the pictures it is also easily possible to add some movements so as a comparison here's the time-lapse from the Raspberry Pi camera and here's the DSLR camera time-lapse which in my opinion truly looks stunning last but definitely not least I searched for more interesting to look at 3d print on Thingiverse and found this gold pencil hold on designed by Phil Nelson whose time-lapse setup was a bit hard to prepare since you never precisely know how big the object will be but in the end the picture-taking process worked out smoothly and as you can see this is how you can create some really awesome 3d printing time lapses I hope you enjoyed this video if so don't forget to Like share and subscribe stay creative and I will see you next timefor upcoming projects I had to design this 3-way corner fitting for PVC pipes so I exported it as an STL file sliced it with these slices of pair of my 3d printer and finally used my well-working Prusa i3 Mark through you to obviously print ads but coming from a videography point of view isn't it kind of boring to see different time points of the printing process and finally having me remove the printed parts I think it is way more appealing to record either a very long video or tons of pictures with a fixed time interval between them and then speeding this footage up to create a sort of time-lapse effects only problem is that neva the 3d printed object nor the printer hats stays in place which makes this time-lapse horrible to look at to solve this problem I will show you in this video how to use octo print with octo lapse and install a small modification onto my 3d printer to create intriguing looking time lapses which look like the 3d print grows on its own over time let's get started first off let's think about the theory of such time lapses whenever the printer finishes one layer of the 3d prints we want the hot end and pads to move in a specific place which always needs to be the same and wait there are four seconds during that time we take a picture with a camera and afterwards the printer continues printing the next layer before repeating this process we do this for all layers of the 3d print and then use editing software to turn our still images into smaller time-lapse video now to do the picture-taking process they exist two popular options the first one is to inject a special g-codes into the slicing software and then using a camera with a remote trigger to take a picture after every layer change this method was actually recommended to me by Joseph Prusa over Twitter and the attached tutorial guides offered all information about how to activate the remote trigger feature and create a suitable electronic circuit for it as well as where to hook up the virus to the 3d printer and what kind of code we would have to inject after every layer change I'm pretty sure this method works perfectly fine but I wanted to try the octo print and octo Labs methods in case you don't know yet octoprint is a remote control and monitoring software that you can install on for example a raspberry pi but feel free to learn more about it through the video forage that I created back in 2016 anyway after grabbing myself a Raspberry Pi 3 M model beer that I had lying around I removed its micro SD cards plugged it into my computer and downloaded the latest octopi release afterwards I used a chart to burn the downloaded image file onto the SD cards edited the octopi WPAS applicants text file with notepad plus plus so that the PI connects to my Wi-Fi network removed the SD cards plugged it back into my PI connected my 3d through its USB ports wits and finally power to purify foods through mic USB cable after then connecting to the Raspberry Pi through my browser I did a pretty self-explanatory first time setup and finally got to the octoprint user interface in less than five minutes here we can connect to the printer control its functions start prints and all of that good stuff but what we're mainly after is octo labs which is a plugin that creates stabilized time lapses of your 3d prints which also comes with tons of awesome features that you can have a look at on their websites to implement its I opened the octo print settings navigated to plugin manager searched for octo labs and simply installed it that's it after restarting the octo print software we got an extra octo labs tab where we can fine-tune this plugin but what I noticed right at the start was that I got no webcam connected yet that is why I got myself this Raspberry Pi camera module version 2 whose flat flex ribbon cable was built too short for the intended application so after replacing it with a born meter one I hooked up the other side of the cable to the Raspberry Pi power ditch and the SCADA working webcam stream through the octo print software but placing it in a permanent position next to the printer was still impossible that is why I downloaded this camera stand designed by Ethel Berg from Feeny whirs and 3d printed all of its three parts in less than three hours after assembling the stand with an m3 screw and nuts I placed the camera inside its secured its lids a little bit of scotch tape and finally hot glue dates to sturdier pedestal then all I had to do was to position the camera properly to get a decent looking stream image at this point I started adjusting the Aqualab settings and finally decided on these which eventually spat out decent-looking time-lapses but feel free to experiments because there are tons of options to fight week but anyway as soon as I uploaded the g-code of my three by fitting locally to the octoprint software and hitting print the 3d printer did its usual heating up and levelling procedure but as soon as the actual print starts I noticed that the octo lab software was working properly since it was moving the head and pads to a fixed position after every printed layer and after waiting for around 2 hours and 45 minutes which was only slightly longer than what the slicer software calculated obviously due to the time necessary for the fixed time lapse position the print was finally complete and the octo lab software sped out a finished video file that I could download and let's just say we're not done yet because this time-lapse looks blurry and only features a resolution of 640 by 480 the reason is that I forgot to set the resolution of the Raspberry Pi camera to 1920 year by 1080 pixel in the octa-pie dot txt file as well as adjusting the focus of the camera with those fixes the streamed image looked way better and thus I didn't have a test round with the octo lab software which ultimately created a time lapse which was not half bats nice but I was still looking for better image quality and thus turned to my old DSLR camera the Canon EOS 700d by utilizing a 2.5 millimeter audio jack cable connecting one side of it to the external trigger ports of the camera and shorting the other sides sleeve and tip contacts the camera takes a picture if the manual focus is selected so by using this small switch which I salvaged from a microwave I cut off the 2.5 Moumita puck so that the two required wireless direct to the anomaly open contacts of the switch and thus got an external trigger for the camera and luckily my 3d printer got a screw on it's right side close to the z-axis which I removed and replaced with a longer m3 screw to secure the switch to the printer only problem was that in the fixed time-lapse position the print head does not activate the switch jets to solve this we can go with my favorite solution by simply adding a bit of hot glue to the switch and just like that the head reaches our switch now without a problem so I added a tripod to the camera positioned its properly next to my 3d printer connected the external trigger switch and started the 3d print with octal apps activators and as you can see the camera did job without a problem as soon as the print was complete I removed its SD cards and imported all of the pictures into the Adobe Premiere Pro software which functions nicely when it comes to creating time lapses and due to the high resolution of the pictures it is also easily possible to add some movements so as a comparison here's the time-lapse from the Raspberry Pi camera and here's the DSLR camera time-lapse which in my opinion truly looks stunning last but definitely not least I searched for more interesting to look at 3d print on Thingiverse and found this gold pencil hold on designed by Phil Nelson whose time-lapse setup was a bit hard to prepare since you never precisely know how big the object will be but in the end the picture-taking process worked out smoothly and as you can see this is how you can create some really awesome 3d printing time lapses I hope you enjoyed this video if so don't forget to Like share and subscribe stay creative and I will see you next time