A step by step guide to getting started with Tau, and creating beautiful timelapses that you cant make anywhere else.
This is the walkthrough of Tau itself, screen by screen. If you want the general picture first, including phones and cameras, read how to make a timelapse video.
Payment
Before getting started with Tau, payment is required. Full access to Tau is available with a single purchase of $16.99€14.99, and one licence works on all of your devices. After payment you can download Tau for macOS or Windows straight away.
Activation
When you open Tau for the first time, choose Sign in to activate and sign in with Google using the email you bought with. Tau finds your licence and activates itself, with no key to copy. It works the same on every device you own.
Bought with a different email? Choose Enter a licence key instead and paste the key from your purchase on Polar, the checkout Tau uses. Your key is also on your account page once you've signed in.
Intro
After activation, you'll be prompted to follow a short intro — which explains the general flow of the application from setup to export. When your satisfied with that, you're ready to use Tau!
Setup
The first step to using Tau is the setup screen. Here you are free to set data like:
- project name
- duration
- frame intervals
- camera resolution
- camera and many more options (currently & to be added later).
The setup screen will show you the total number of frames and duration of the final video so you're not left guessing.
When you've completed the setup, you can then move on to starting a recording.
Recording
The recording will last the duration that was set previously on the setup screen. When that is complete, you can move on to the editor.
Editor
The editor is still under developed with a lot of features to be desired.
However, right now, you can playback the timelapse, scrub through the recording and add overlays/widgets to customise the final video.
I plan on adding minimal editing features like trimming, and the ability to add sounds/music using audio files later on.
Export
Lastly, the export screen — where you can complete the timelapse creation process.
Here you can select your output format, frame rate, quality and resolution. You can also toggle the watermark if you want to use it or not.
When you export you'll be able to choose what folder the finished timelapse will go.
I hope you have a great experience using Tau!