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Timelapse in Flair

[BOTH] Flair was designed for motion picture cameras, not DSLRs or single-frame cameras, so timelapse requires understanding how Flair's Move FPS relates to exposure time and camera triggering. This guide covers both shoot-move-shoot (step-and-shoot) and continuous motion timelapse approaches.

Key Concept: Move FPS Is Your Frame Window

In Flair, the Move FPS setting (bottom of the screen) controls how long Flair allows for each frame — it does not set playback speed. Setting Move FPS to 0.5 fps means Flair treats each frame as 2 seconds long. During that 2 seconds Flair "thinks" the shutter is operating — the rig stays stationary — and then moves between frame positions when it thinks the shutter is closed.

Your camera's actual exposure is set independently on the camera itself. The trigger pulse from Flair fires within that frame window.

Approach A: Shoot-Move-Shoot (Step and Shoot)

Best for: fast rigs, tight framings, or subjects where motion blur between steps would look wrong.

Setup steps

  1. Plan your move — determine the final playback frame rate (e.g. 25 fps) and the number of frames in the finished clip.
  2. Set Move FPS (bottom of screen) to a slow value — 0.5 fps is a good starting point (= 2 seconds per frame).
  3. Set your camera to the correct exposure (typically well under 2 seconds). Disable autofocus and auto iris.
  4. In External Camera setup in Flair, configure the trigger pulse to fire at the correct moment within the 2-second frame window. Set pulse length to suit your camera.
  5. If the rig is still vibrating when the shutter fires, add settling time under SFX / Film Effects.
  6. If your rig is fast and GOTO moves are causing vibration, lower the GOTO speed in Miscellaneous Settings.
  7. Use Digicam (if required) to download images and step automatically, or press Step manually.

Interval calculation

The effective interval between frames is the GOTO time plus the frame window time (e.g. 2 seconds). The GOTO time will vary with step size and rig speed. Allow enough frame window time that the GOTO always completes before the exposure fires.

No timing warning

At 0.5 fps you will not see the "0.006 seconds" timing warning. Two seconds is far more than the rig needs.

Approach B: Continuous Motion Timelapse

Best for: long duration timelapse (many minutes or hours) with slow, smooth rig movement. The rig moves throughout the exposure, naturally producing motion blur proportional to the movement — mimicking the 180-degree shutter rule of cinema.

How to think about it

A 5-second Bolt move at 25 fps (1/50 s shutter) has 125 frames. To replicate that look over 25 minutes:

  • 25 min × 60 s = 1500 s total
  • 1500 s ÷ 125 frames = 12 s per frame
  • For 180-degree shutter: exposure = 6 s

At a 6 s exposure over a 6 s interval, the camera is continuously exposing while the rig continuously moves — creating the same proportional motion blur as the real-time move. In this mode, Moving Step mode is generally not required, and the continuous movement during the long exposure makes the result look fluid and natural.

From the community

"The biggest mistake one could make shooting timelapse is creating staccato movements in any way. Be it from the shutter angle or the (non-existent) motion blur... Timelapse is all about finding the sweet spot in the exposure and interval settings." — @Sebastian

Setup steps

  1. Programme your move in Flair at the desired total duration.
  2. Set fairings to zero to remove acceleration ramps at start and end. The rig will preroll and postroll — factor this into your shoot framing.
  3. Set camera interval and exposure in-camera. Flair runs the rig independently; the camera fires on its own interval timer.
  4. Optionally use Flair's External Camera trigger to synchronise exposures to rig position.

Fairings and preroll

With fairings at zero, the rig prerolls at the start and postrolls at the end to reach and leave at speed. Allow for this in your framing. If you need a gradual ramp-in, set fairings to a small value and accept a reduced constant-speed window.

Removing Acceleration (Constant Speed)

If you want the rig to move at constant speed throughout — no ramp up or ramp down — set the fairings to zero. The rig will preroll and postroll, so the programmed move extent will be smaller than the total rig travel. As @peter notes: "Just set the fairings to zero, and the rig will preroll at the start and postroll at the end."

Source: Programming Timelapse in Flair — talk.mrmoco.com