A Unique Approach to Creating High-Quality 3D Print Timelapse Videos

You've probably seen quite a few timelapse videos of 3D prints while watching maker builds, because they're a good visual representation of the 3D printing process. There are a number of ways to capture those videos and simplest is to record a video of the entire print and speed it up. But such videos look messy, as they capture all of the movement of the printer itself. Good timelapse videos sync with the printer to capture just the printed part and this tutorial from Matt@JemRise demonstrates a unique approach that allows for multiple angles.

Most of the "clean" 3D print timelapse videos you've seen, where the part is still and seems to "grow" in place, were created by coordinating image captures with the 3D printer's firmware. Special commands in the g-code tell the printer to move the extruder to one corner after each layer finishes and then trigger an image capture. That works well, but it requires that the camera be connected to the 3D printer—or at least to the same computer that controls the 3D printer.

Matt's solution provides a few notable benefits. First, it works with smartphones and/or tablets that act as cameras. Because old smartphones are affordable and easy to find, they make good cameras for this purpose. This solution also works with multiple devices simultaneously, so it can create timelapses with views from multiple angles. And finally, this solution can also capture screenshots in addition to the photos. That means that timelapses can include other visuals, like the render of the part in the slicer.

To utilize Matt's technique, you need a 3D printer controlled by a Raspberry Pi. That's a common setup that many of you already run, so this may not require any new hardware. The slicer is then setup with a couple of commands after each layer. The first moves the extruder to one corner and the second triggers a Python script. That script tells the Raspberry Pi to issue a capture command to any devices connected via Bluetooth, like an iPhone or Android phone. The Raspberry Pi connects as an emulated Bluetooth keyboard to ensure compatibility with almost all devices. When triggered, it sends the key presses necessary to snap a photo on each device.

Afterwards, users will have a sequence of photos from each device. It is a simple task to assemble those into timelapse videos using any video editor.

If that sounds good to you, then keep on eye on Matt's YouTube channel. He says that he'll be releasing the code on GitHub and will post a link in the future.