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I'm currently trying to make a time lapse video. This can be done fine with iMovie, however, I'm having one simple issue. Is there any way to accelerate a video progressively with any open source software?

I specifically named ffmpeg, because I've always had the feeling ffmpeg can do anything :). However, if there is any other (free) alternative, I'd be quite glad to hear of it as well.

If you want to know why, I want to progressively increase the speed to give a dramatic effect to my video.

Essentially, I want the video to get faster as it progresses.

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What do mean by "progressively"? I'm assuming you want your output to speed up in a non-linear fashion, as in the video will become faster as the video progresses. Is this correct? – LordNeckbeard Jan 26 at 2:04
That is absolutely correct. – boopyman Jan 26 at 2:14
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FFmpeg by itself (I'm referring to the binary, not using it programatically via the libraries) can speed up your video, but only in a linear, constant speed. slowmoVideo can change the speed of your video dynamically and add motion blur if desired. It's free, but currently only available for Linux. – LordNeckbeard Jan 26 at 20:08
Hmmm... Thanks for suggesting, it looks pretty awesome ! It's just a shame there's now Windows or OSX version... – boopyman Jan 26 at 20:31
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2 Answers

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If you have a Linux machine with an nVidia card you might try this: http://slowmovideo.granjow.net/

I've been using slowmovideo. It's still very much alpha software. However, I've been getting some pretty impressive results.

I also progressively speed up video using Blender VSE. Just like slowmovideo, blender lets you change the video speed by manipulating an IPO curve.

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Great answer for Linux users. See my answer for Mac solution. – boopyman Feb 3 at 22:17
Blender will run on Windows and OSX too. – Jason Mar 7 at 22:03
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up vote 0 down vote

If someone wants to do this on a Mac, here's how.

Download the free trial of Final Cut Pro X (it's 30 days).

In Final Cut Pro X, you have two options that essentially do exactly what SlowMoVideo does:

  • Optical Flow (the creation of frames based on the direction pixels move), for smoother slow motion.
  • A Retiming Ramp, which lets you either gradually go to 0% speed, or from 0% speed.
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