TimeLapseLab

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The Engineer’s Journal | TimelapseLab: Your construction site in a minute

A new marketing tool. The video that immortalizes the times of a building construction, thanks to the images taken daily by a device equipped with a camera positioned on-site. Today it is possible to document the progress of a construction site, the works that last months or even years, thanks to a video that can be reviewed with colleagues, presented to new customers or delivered to the client to leave something tangible and accessible to anyone in a way simple. All this is possible using a time-lapse system that allows you to condense very long times into a video of a few minutes. Time-lapse is a modern video production technique: unlike traditional “cinematographic” shooting, it is generated starting from single photographic images mounted in succession as if they were still frames. The images taken are of the highest quality and are saved remotely in order to allow access at any time without having to intervene in the field (no internal SD memory card to check or change).

With the time-lapse devices, shooting stations are guaranteed that are constantly monitored in order to guarantee the perfect functioning of the equipment and to make, if necessary, technical changes on the shooting point. All in total autonomy and independence, thanks to the mobile connection (up to 4G). An important feature is the ability to remotely change parameters, such as shutter speed, to adapt to shooting conditions. For very large construction sites, multiple workstations will be used to ensure complete coverage of the entire area (PHOTO 1).

The system has already been tested in large companies, industrial plants, construction sites, areas with limited access, and requires considerable preparation and speed of intervention / installation. It is possible to document events lasting for years such as building constructions or progressive interior decoration. The system arrives at the construction site ready and tested, it only needs to be connected to the power supply and the camera framing calibrated (PHOTO 2).

It is highly customizable, adaptable to any type of need (it is not prefabricated) and is possibly also equipped with an alarm to prevent unauthorized access to the box. A mobile time-lapse device has recently been developed, which can also be moved daily within the construction site to have more points of view and better focus on certain types of work. The functions are the same as the fixed device, but implemented with a dual power supply, both from the mains and from the battery pack – two, to allow the first battery to be recharged while the second is being used (PHOTO 3).

The system requires photographs to be taken every 10-15 minutes, the last of the daily sequence is made available to the client in confidential mode, only via password.

Reliability guarantee
The cameras supplied in the device have modified firmware to perform the required functions automatically, without the addition of external automatisms and do not have frame loss problems (therefore they do not require any on-site checks or maintenance). In time-lapse systems, reliability is essential, but it is one of the most difficult elements to obtain. In fact, there are several artisanal systems with unreliable cameras. The equipment is subjected to various critical issues for years, due to the climate (rain, snow) or dust, vibrations, voltage fluctuations, etc. The stability and persistence of the service, the immediate availability of images even in bad situations, are a guarantee of reliability. The workflow and technology used make it possible to constantly monitor image acquisition, avoiding unpleasant surprises and guaranteeing 100% service. The system works with power supply from the mains, but can be equipped with a reserve accumulator that guarantees its own autonomy. The images are uploaded to a centralized server and there are automatic daily and weekly backups with disaster recovery. However, a real risk can be, for example, that of assembling a system for the duration of 12 months and at the end of the service – or a few weeks from the end – realizing that something did not work (low cost technologies or artisanal installations): shooting different from the initial one, or fogged optics and so on, so the work was lost.

Very high quality with 4k videos
All video footage is made with professional equipment to offer a final product of the highest quality. The video is optimized with a montage in which a soundtrack, the Client’s trademarks, the progressive shooting date, captions with any technical indications, an introduction,

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Monitor your construction site wherever you are with Timelapselab

Mail:  info@timelapselab.com
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