Timetracks4D vs Surface Surfer

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.

Surface Surfer scans with the iPhone's front and rear cameras at the same time. Glide the phone over a surface, as if surfing it, to collect the interesting surfaces and textures of the world. As you move your iPhone, it records as if carving an invisible mirror into the world along your path. Each side of the mirror shows the world it was facing. Just as the gradients on ocean waves mirror the sky on the other side, putting a surface next to what lies opposite it may reveal connections you don't usually see. It uses slit scanning: from the center of the camera image it takes a single thin line, frame after frame, and lines them up in time. Move your iPhone and the places you pass become one long image. Hold it still and the changes that happen in front of you become the image. Go explore the surfaces of the world. CAPTURE • Scan while you hold a volume button or Camera Control. Scans are saved to Photos automatically (or choose to be asked each time) • Real scale: each strip is as wide as the image actually moved (optical flow), so what you scan keeps close to its real proportions • Horizon lock keeps the slit upright to the world even when the phone tilts • Exposure and white balance lock at the start of a scan (or stay automatic) • Choose the back lens: Ultra Wide, Wide or Telephoto (the lenses available depend on your iPhone) • Back light while scanning, and a "front flash" that lights your face by turning the screen white • Records where you scanned (file name and photo location; can be turned off) VIEW • Solid: the strips are placed back into space using the phone's orientation and how far it actually moved. Walk around a tree to get a cylinder; turn on the spot or circle the phone around your face to get a curved panorama • Lenticular: tilt the phone and the back and front images switch through fine stripes, like a lenticular print. Keep tilting and they keep alternating. Pinch to zoom • Export as USDZ to open in Files, AR Quick Look or Preview on a Mac COLLECT • Saved to your photo library as PNG. Browse only the scans made with this app FREE No ads and no in-app purchases. Every feature is ready to use. Requires an iPhone that can use the back and front cameras at the same time.