Timelapse Videos
I sincerely hope this is something being worked on. It seems like all the preliminary work was done. The mk4 has a usb c port, the prusa connect page has a camera option. We really should be able to plug a camera into it and set up proper high quality timelapse videos for prints without having to 3rd party it now using a raspberry pi that disables printer features and doesn't work very well with the mk4.
RE: Timelapse Videos
I don't understand what kind of time-lapse videos are for. The printer is supposed to be a machine that produces the relevant part or model. And that can be done even without these videos. At most, have a camera to monitor the printer and nothing more. And I don't even understand having video and surveillance of the printer via PrusaConnect, when the printer can be located on the other side of the world. If someone produces and prints models just to brag about their production on YouTube or somewhere else, they should take care of themselves and not burden the developers. Please note that this is my private opinion, which I stand behind.
RE: Timelapse Videos
On other hand it will be nice to have simple surveillance solution. If we can just take USB camera, attach it to MK4 and we can check actual state printing process on mobile phone and stop printer if there is any obvious flaw like spaghetti monstrum. Storing snapshots for every layer on USB or SD card as bunch of images will be enough and simple IMHO. Not jus t for fun but even for future check of potential flaw in print.
RE: Timelapse Videos
As my MK4 still sits in the box for x-mas (tomorrow yeah!) I'm not yet familiar with all features. Just now I realised there is available solution trough an old spare smartphone and Prusa Connect. I'll try. I actually mostly like to have cancellation option when print fails.
RE: Timelapse Videos
Remote surveillance to check on the printer is not an issue. I have a wyze camera for that and a smart plug the printer is on so I can turn it off remotely if needed. I want the ability to create timelapse videos to share on social media and with people that buy my prints on occasion.
RE: Timelapse Videos
In this case, what I wrote above applies. If someone wants to make time-lapse videos just to show off on social media, then they should handle it themselves and not burden the developers!
RE:
You can use an ESP32-CAM to do this for about £5/$5/€5, integrates well into Prusa connect. Details in my model as below, or use any of the other models for the camera :
https://www.printables.com/model/668369-esp32-cam-case-and-mount-for-mk4
Camera here:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004487664059.html
On other hand it will be nice to have simple surveillance solution. If we can just take USB camera, attach it to MK4 and we can check actual state printing process on mobile phone and stop printer if there is any obvious flaw like spaghetti monstrum. Storing snapshots for every layer on USB or SD card as bunch of images will be enough and simple IMHO. Not jus t for fun but even for future check of potential flaw in print.
RE: Timelapse Videos
Just because it's a feature you're not interested in, doesn't mean the developers shouldn't do it.
In this case, what I wrote above applies. If someone wants to make time-lapse videos just to show off on social media, then they should handle it themselves and not burden the developers!
RE: Timelapse Videos
On the contrary, I think that the developers have far more important things than your request, which is of interest to far fewer people than you think. For example, to solve the problem of seams on round surfaces and more and more problems with printing.
RE:
@miroslav-h4 said: I don't understand what kind of time-lapse videos are for.
Likewise. I tried this with Octoprint on my Mk3 about 5 years ago. The first two or three were fascinating - but worse than useless. If you let the recipient of the print see it they instantly assume the process is near instant and problem free so make unreasonable assumptions and consequent demands. There's no point in flooding social media with more pointless videos so - er, what will you do with them?
I dismantled the Pi and camera and found an alternative use for them. I don't know if I still have the videos, probably not.
Cheerio,
RE: Timelapse Videos
This is the general discussion section of the forums. Perhaps you should be posting your problems in the Hardware, firmware and software help section of the forum.
On the contrary, I think that the developers have far more important things than your request, which is of interest to far fewer people than you think. For example, to solve the problem of seams on round surfaces and more and more problems with printing.
RE: Timelapse Videos
This is an old discussion, but I was wondering if my solution will work for people. Instead of creating a special camera relationship I have been streaming my webcam so that I can check on the prints from other parts of the house or while I'm out. I save the stream and run it through a Python program to pull out the relevant frames and so far this is the best I've done:
With this program I can turn most videos into a time lapse, but if I put in a "park" g-code every layer then I can get the head to be in the same place for every frame (that video still has the head a little twitchy, but I think I've fixed it in my current test). This video is shorter but the head is nearly perfectly stationary:
If anyone is interested, let me know. A few more iterations and I'll be ready to publish what I have to GitHub for anyone to use.
RE: Timelapse Videos
Nice, that's a lot closer to what I'm wanting. I used octoprint / octolapse for years on my mk3 printer.
RE: Timelapse Videos
Shamus,
Check out my latest video, it's a lot tighter.
Scott
Nice, that's a lot closer to what I'm wanting. I used octoprint / octolapse for years on my mk3 printer.
RE: Timelapse Videos
That came out looking fantastic. Barring the devs adding it to the code so we don't need this, I'll be happy to use what you've made when you're done. I'll even be able to read it a bit as I've been learning Python for the last couple of years for school.
Shamus,
Check out my latest video, it's a lot tighter.
Scott
Nice, that's a lot closer to what I'm wanting. I used octoprint / octolapse for years on my mk3 printer.
RE: Timelapse Videos
That came out looking fantastic. Barring the devs adding it to the code so we don't need this, I'll be happy to use what you've made when you're done. I'll even be able to read it a bit as I've been learning Python for the last couple of years for school.
If you mean them adding parking to PrusaSlicer, I don't see that happening. They've completely broken the ability to run a script as part of the slicer process, so expecting them to implement a reasonable parking feature seems unlikely. I want to do a couple more tests and I need to clean up the code a bit before I release it. Shouldn't be a long wait.
RE: Timelapse Videos
Duh, I just re-read your OP and I realize you meant that you were talking about the printer giving a signal to trigger a camera. I think it's unlikely, but I'd love to be proved wrong.
That came out looking fantastic. Barring the devs adding it to the code so we don't need this, I'll be happy to use what you've made when you're done. I'll even be able to read it a bit as I've been learning Python for the last couple of years for school.
If you mean them adding parking to PrusaSlicer, I don't see that happening. They've completely broken the ability to run a script as part of the slicer process, so expecting them to implement a reasonable parking feature seems unlikely. I want to do a couple more tests and I need to clean up the code a bit before I release it. Shouldn't be a long wait.
RE: Timelapse Videos
I am interested in the code. I started programming timelapse with Python. My approach is to take pictures continuously with Opencv and always compare which pictures are most similar in defined time periods. First successes are good. Still need a little more time. I will go public as well
RE: Timelapse Videos
Me too. I haven't looked at the code for the board, but it has a usb port. If they required a camera with memory storage on it, then it could tell the camera to snap and store a picture, then update the prusa connect page to compile the images into a timelapse.
Duh, I just re-read your OP and I realize you meant that you were talking about the printer giving a signal to trigger a camera. I think it's unlikely, but I'd love to be proved wrong.
That came out looking fantastic. Barring the devs adding it to the code so we don't need this, I'll be happy to use what you've made when you're done. I'll even be able to read it a bit as I've been learning Python for the last couple of years for school.
If you mean them adding parking to PrusaSlicer, I don't see that happening. They've completely broken the ability to run a script as part of the slicer process, so expecting them to implement a reasonable parking feature seems unlikely. I want to do a couple more tests and I need to clean up the code a bit before I release it. Shouldn't be a long wait.
RE: Timelapse Videos
I'm not doing that, I'm using twitch to provide a live feed that I can check any time, but from what I understand the feature on Prusa Connect is intended to fill the same purpose, which is to provide a recent photo to detect when things have gone completely south. Because that's it's focus, it's not taking the picture relative to something happening in the printer, it's generally just time-based. I think you could argue that the camera for this use shouldn't be controlled by the printer because any problem with the printer could also effect its ability to control a camera. But either way, what this means is that you're going to get a time-lapse, but without any control over where the head is, control over motion blur, etc. In other words, you'll get a time-lapse, but not a pretty one.
I put a bunch more time this weekend on improving my tooling to make it easier and faster to process the videos. One step closer to having something that can be released.
Me too. I haven't looked at the code for the board, but it has a usb port. If they required a camera with memory storage on it, then it could tell the camera to snap and store a picture, then update the prusa connect page to compile the images into a timelapse.