Timetracks4D is a camera that cuts time out as if it were space.
Think of video as a cube stacked in three directions: width, height and time. Ordinary playback cuts that cube straight across time and shows you the slices one after another. Timetracks4D tilts the cut. Once it is tilted, every place on the screen shows a different moment: whatever held still comes out as it was, and only what moved is twisted.
■ Two ways to shoot
[Movie] Records while the cut turns. The tilt changes from frame to frame, so the picture keeps moving. Angle, Speed and Window Time change how it twists.
[Still] Builds one picture by stacking narrow bands, one at a time. Each band was taken at a different moment, so the finished picture reads as the flow of time from top to bottom. This is the slit scan, the way the first Timetracks worked. It saves a long picture: eight screenfuls joined end to end, each at the camera's own resolution.
Both are made from the same camera feed, but they treat time differently, so each one has its own settings.
■ Main settings
- Camera (Back / Front), Zoom (Lens), Resolution, Frame Rate
- Transform (Shear / Rotate) and the edge time runs along (Long Edge / Short Edge)
- Auto Rotate speed, Angle, Window Time
- How the band moves (One-way / Palindrome / Wave / Fixed / Drift / Random)
- Interval between bands, from single frames to hours
- Scan Width
- Full Screen, Show Buttons, Touch Gestures, Prevent Auto-Lock
- Add Location
There is a button that randomizes the settings. If you are not sure what to touch first, press that.
■ Getting a good result
Hold the device still. If the device moves, the whole picture moves with it and you cannot tell that apart from the subject moving. A tripod or a table is the sure way.
Point it at something that moves. A still subject seen from a still device gives the same picture at every moment, so nothing happens. People walking, a hand, water, traffic, anything swaying in the wind - these work well.
Once you have the feel of it, try moving the device instead. That is where the more complicated shapes come from.
■ Pricing
Everything except recording is free. Play with the camera and the settings as much as you like; the picture you would get is on the screen already. Try it first.
Full Access (a one-time in-app purchase) removes the ad and lets you save movies and stills.
If you have already bought Timetracks, you do not need to buy anything. Full Access turns on by itself when you update.
There are better more functional free apps just like it to download. The app is slow and not high quality as far as the image goes
Interesting app; I'd like some changes...
lindes
Happily, this app no longer crashes immediately on my iPhone 3GS, as of update 1.0.1. That said, I'd still like some changes in this before I'd be likely to use it regularly. Here are some thoughts on 1.0.1:First off, it's a very cool concept. I've been interested in slit-scan photography for a while, and having a way to at least approximate it on the iPhone is a very welcome thing. Next, I find the behavior of this app a little strange in a few ways: it is continually scanning (and, depending on your mode, re-scanning) the range of the sensor (or a single line of it), and (if set to save to camera roll) it saves roughly every 2 and a half full scans (worth), giving you a very tall (or wide, but the UI is always vertical) image, maybe 3:1 aspect ratio (I haven't measured... But the example outputs all appear to be two saved images placed side by side, with that placement done by something other than this app). This is kind of neat to be able to do, but I'd also like to be able to have it do a single scan and then stop, saving the image at that point, and not starting again until I said to. I think that's my biggest request, though. It's definitely interesting, and I expect to play more with it over time. I only wish I had a good way to mount my iPhone on a tripod... Perhaps I'll look for something that will let me do that. Keep up the good work! This app definitely has promise.
Save needs tweaking
ballookey
I LOVE this app however, one thing is keeping it from getting a full five stars from me, and that's a big thing. There's no save function. There's an option that says "Save to Camera Roll" but you don't have any control over when exactly it does this. Imagine you start an image, get some good effects, then you're interrupted by something else and need to close down the app. There's no way that I've found of saving your image before closing the app. If you want to keep something specifically, without chance of losing it, you have to either do a screen cap, or wait until you see the activity monitor indicate that it's saved.Without saving control of some kind, it's very heartbreaking to gather some neat effects and images, only to lose them because you must close the app quickly.Nevertheless, it is very fun to play with and I hope that the creators will see fit to add this function. I would still say it's worth the price to play with it.
Great Potential
Gizmobass
There are some amazing artistic images that can be created from otherwise ordinary scenes. The screen shots show some typical scenes with the camera (iPhone) held still. Moving the camera around while the 'scan' is taking place renders the most interesting results. Experiment with textures and patterns up close using different types of movement from slow to moderate speeds.The interface could be a little more intuitive. It takes a bit of head scratching to figure out how the thing works.If you just want to take funny pictures of your friends this app is probably not for you. If you want to create never-before-seen images and don't mind a little experimentation this very cool!
Minor fixes. (3.0.1)
Timetracks has been rebuilt from the ground up and renamed Timetracks4D. (3.0.0)
■ New Movie mode
It treats video as a cube of width, height and time, and records while tilting the cut through it. The cut keeps turning, so the picture twists as it moves. Angle, rotation Speed and Window Time are all yours to set.
■ Still mode rebuilt
- Shoots at the camera's own resolution (up to 4032 x 3024).
- High frame rates are now available (up to 240 fps).
- Saves a long picture: eight screenfuls joined end to end.
- Wave, Drift and Random have been added to how the band moves.
- The interval between bands runs from single frames to hours.
- A progress ring around the shutter shows how far the picture has come.
■ Other improvements
- Front camera and lens switching.
- A button that randomizes the settings.
- A quick guide inside the app.
- The place you recorded can be saved with the file.
- Support for 120 fps (ProMotion) displays.
■ Pricing has changed
The app is now free, and everything except recording is yours to try. Removing the ad and saving your work come with Full Access, a one-time purchase.
If you have already bought Timetracks, you do not need to buy anything. Full Access turns on by itself when you update.
Version 3.0.1
The developer, Masayuki Akamatsu, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
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