Project Chronos

Project Chronos, a DIY motion control platform for timelapse.
 

UPDATE 1/1/2012  Now compatible with external intervalometers and intervalometer based bulb rampers via 3.5mm stereo input jack, Plus highly expanded SMS control. 

Project Chronos

Project Chronos is an open source DIY linear motion control time lapse tool. Based on the IGUS slider and a lead-screw design it offers remarkable levels of resolution in a small leightweight portable package. The system can generally be constructed for under $500. I have tried to take all the guesswork out of this system to make it as easy as possible, including a series of video inctructions that provide step by step directions, a list of required parts, highly detailed arduino code, and schematics.

You can find more about this project on Sourceforge.net, and timescapes.org

My goal with this was to provide an inexpensive DIY timelapse system. Chronos is the first part of that system and is 100% open source, and I dont make a penny off this system. I have plans to either make this compatible with other vendors systems such as pan and tilts, focus controllers, zoom controllers, etc, and where i cannot find a vendor to add compatability i will be designing my own systems. 

The first compatible device will be ZEUS, which will be a controller that connects via the Rj-11 phone plugs on the face of the unit, which will add a finer level of control and tie it into the other systems. it will feature a very robust feature package including bulb ramping. 

I also wanted this portable as possible with as little setup time as possible. There IS no setup time, you attach the camera, select a mode, direction, and hit start. I have attached a shoulder strap to my rail and hiked 5 miles with it, with its leightweight and non obtrusive design it was very easy to take into very hard to reach places, and very easy to operate and run with a single person. 

PROS

Simple construction

 - Based of the popular Arduino microcontroller platoform.

 - Easy to find parts

 - 100% open source

8 Shooting modes

 - Features 3 selectable speeds for continuous movement

 - Features 3 selectable speeds for velocity ramped movement

 - Features 2 selectable SMS (shoot move shoot) modes, Master and Slave

-  NEW! 1/1/2012 SMS master mode you can select from 13 interval selections 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 2000, 3000 or 4000 intervals per end to end travel.

-  NEW! 1/1/2012 SMS Slave Mode. Acts as a passive passthrough for use with external Intervalometers and bulb rampers such as the Little Bramper. The system waits to move untill the shutter has closed, then performs its movement. 

 - All movement mode speeds can be modified via PC/Laptop/Mac with USB cable.

Camera Control

 - Built in intervalometer

 - Built in camera trigger 

 - Compatible with any camera with a shutter release port

Highly portable

 - Lightweight 13.5lbs

 - Slim non-obtrusive yer very rugged design

 - Does not require a laptop to run

 - No extra tripods required

Durable and accurate design

 - Features a full 36 inches of travel

 - Very strong, able to lift 25lbs vertically

 - Extreme accuracy, up to 1/2000th inch, excellent for Macro Timelapse

 - Extremly smooth operation.

 - limit switches that stop the carriage when it hits either end (except velocity ramped mode which runs 35 inches then stops)

Easy to use

 - 2 Dials and 4 buttons for simple control

 - Runs well over 8 hours on 4800mah 12v li-ion battery

 - Dry system requires no lubrication

 - virtually zero setup time

Expandability

 - compatible with i2c protocol for communication for other devices.

 - will be compatible with any other systems i develop such as pan heads, focus controlers, etc.

 - currently working with several vendors of other systems to expand compatability.

 - will be 100% compatible with the ZEUS controller that is in development, adding a GUI and refined levels of control.

Now for the CONS

1) Limited length. By modifying the carriage i managed to squeese out a full 36 inches of travel on this system. So far i have not felt much of a need for more travel, however, there may be times where 36 inches is not enough. In this case a longer rail may be required. Therefore this should not be considered as an alternative to other 6-8 foot turn-key systems, but viewed as a different type of tool. crescant wrenchs and socket wrenches are not the same tools, however they have similar functions. Project Chronos can be used quite well as a main rail, but might be well served as a compliment to other larger systems. 

2) Lacking speed for video. This seems to be what most people are concerned with on this. To be honest when designing this system i was not looking into making it a video dolly, this is purpose built for timelapse and does timelapse exceptionally well. Others have asked me many times about swapping the motor, going with a more aggressive thread on the lead screw, but no matter how i look at it i cannot seem to find a way to make it move fast enough for video dolly work. The max speed i can get is about 6 minutes end to end travel (if wired bipolar)  using the AFMotorshield, i can get 5 min end to end using an Easydriver.  using a 16tpi leadscrew instead of 20tpi will knock it down to about 4-5 min end to end. The answer may be with a better motor driver, or having a higher current setup. If you are fine with moving the carriage by hand, two easy to access screws on the top of the carriage are all you need to remove to release the cart so it can move freely up and down the rail. 

3) No on-board user interface other than a few dials. This may concern some people, i went the simple 2 dial 4 button approach simply because i had problems trying to hook a serial LCD to the system as enabling serial output cut the motors top speed in half. I had always planned on developing a more advanced controller system (zeus) for this, but i did want to have at least some basic on board controls. You can actually get a suprisingly large amount of functionality with the current control system. Zeus will expand that greatly with about 10 speeds of continuous, 10 velocity ramped, and a highly configurable SMS system. As I have learned more i think an i2c backpack on an LCD would probably have worked without bogging it down. 

The FUTURE of Chronos and this open source platform.

Right now there are 2 completed Project Chronos rails, one in the USA and another in Canada. There are 3 more builds that i am aware of going on, in the USA and UK. This opens very interesting possibilities that i am very excited about, other DIY enthusiests and garage engineers such as myself will be making thier own rails and might find a better way to do something, or develop new code to add features, and taking this design to entire new levels, and hopefully begin a community of support for Project Chronos. The integration has no limits and i expect eventually to see somebody get it to work with the openmoco software engine, or other open source software systems. 

HOW TO BUILD THIS?

Well the biggest stumbling block i can see is the custom made brackets. Not everyone has a project partner with a CNC mill. However my project Partner Kyle does in fact have one, and has already milled out brackets and such for other people. You will have to discuss pricing with him. You can reach us at the links below.

The brackets can also be made from a very hard wood, aluminum, plastic, or any other rigid and durable material. Kyle uses Lexan which is often used as a bullet proof glass. Aluminum would be an excellent substitute

I recently built another one of these for a gentelman in Canada, and took the opportunity to do step by step instructions of preparing the rail, wiring the switches, soldering the circuits, and even calibration. Im in the process of editing them, and should have the first video out in the next few days. 

Resources 

direct email to Kyle and myself for any questions

- projectchronoshelp@gmail  .com

Smugmug video gallery with timelapse samples from Chronos including SMS, Velocity ramped, and continuous modes.

- http://taborstreetphotography.smugmug.com/Other/Chronos-testing/18593169_4zqqJJ

Smugmug gallery with over 100 images, including detailed images of the build, various parts, chronos on scene, shematics, the control box, circuits, etc. 

- http://taborstreetphotography.smugmug.com/Other/Project-Chronos/18481788_PbV2Vq

Sourceforge, where i host the variation of code, discussion boards, a wiki, parts list, etc

http://sourceforge.net/projects/projectchronos/

Timescapes.org  a wonderful online community of timelapsers, i post on here frequently, if you are interested in timelapse this is where you really need to go. i have lots of information on Project Chronos, Project Orion, and Project Zeus on here. Many vendors for timelapse systems also post on here frequently. 

BUILD VIDEOS!  Link coming soon!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE Jan 1 2011
Changed up the SMS modes, SMS1 is now the master SMS, with a selectable range of 100-900 pauses per end to end travel, as well as 4 macro shooting interval sets including 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000 intervals over the course of the track.  SMS2 is now a slave mode where it will wait for a trigger from an intervalometer such as the little bramper and can even act as an active passthrough, so the intervalometer plugs into chronos and then you plug the camera into chronos.
I will be posting updated schematics soon, basically you need the trigger out on pin 9, trigger in on pin 10. i just drilled a pair 3.5mm stereo jacks intop the case. 
The code is going to be released once i do a little bit more debugging. Then ill update sourcforge .net as well with schematics and code.