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Adding the Lap Timer to my videos!
When adding the lap timer to my videos, I’m not using any software to render the graphics quickly. I painstakingly set them up in my video editor, lap-by-lap, flag-by-flag and in some cases frame-by-frame!
Please let me start by reiterating what I’ve said to anyone who has asked, or in a video where I covered this topic. It is not worth it! It takes too long!
A 15 minute session currently takes me about an hour. Although this does vary depending on the number of flags in the session!
Video Editor of Choice
I initially started out using VSDC Video Editor, but I found it’s limitations when I wanted to improve the graphic overlay. Or perhaps, I was unwilling to put in the time required to find out.
I’d previously used Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects too. But quite frankly, I can’t afford the licensing for the latest versions!
I stumbled upon Black Magic Design’s Davinci Resolve, and was very impressed with it’s feature set – even in the free version! The biggest restriction with the free version that I can see, is the ability to render the videos using your GPU, rather than just your CPU. I work from a laptop, which doesn’t have a dedicated GPU (it’s an 8th gen i7 with integrated graphics) and whilst this causes some very long render times. I can cope for now!
The Process
So, onto the process I guess!
I retrieve the videos off of my GoPro – a simple transfer process via the USB-C cable and Windows File Explorer. I then import them to the media pool of the freshly created Davinci Resolve project (I use one project per visit, no matter how many sessions there were). As my laptop isn’t all that great a spec, I also generate proxy media to help with smooth playback in Resolve itself.
I create a timeline for each session and drag and drop the relevant video onto each timeline.
Setting Markers
The first step is to watch back through the video! I hit the “M” key on my keyboard, each time I cross the start/finish line – this drops a marker onto the timeline, for future use. If there are red, yellow or green flags, I hit ALT+M and drop a new marker, but set the colour of the marker, to match that of the flag.
Only now am I ready to start adding the lap timer to my videos!
Lap 1
I then position my play head (the red playback arrow) onto the blue marker denoting the start of lap 1 and ensure I am happy with it’s position, adjusting it by a couple of frames if I’m not. Once I’m happy it’s at the start, I drop in a Fusion Composition from the effects panel and set the duration of it to slightly longer than the recorded lap time!
Then I have to head over to the Fusion panel. I’ve set up a keyboard shortcut to import a Fusion Composition from a file, so I hit those keys and import my lap 1 timer component.
There is only one node in this component that I need to edit, the lap counter, to set the correct number of total laps for the session.
I then jump to each flag marker, and set the position keyframe of the required nodes to show each flag. As long as I remember, I use 15 frames (1/4 of a second) to add a smooth transition to them appearing or going away.
I repeat the step above with any other flags. The green flag will be displayed for 5 seconds, before being hidden again.
The final step for the first lap, is to jump to the blue marker for lap 2, ensure I’m happy with it’s position (I can use the lap timer to make sure it’s positioned as accurately as possible).
I adjust the length of the Fusion Composition to this point, and insert a new Fusion Composition component directly after it!
Lap 2 to end!
Having just inserted a new Fusion Composition to end of lap 1, were ready to set the Composition to just over the length of the lap, and enter the Fusion pane again.
I use my keyboard shortcut to import my saved Composition (this one differs to that used on lap 1) and once again set the lap counter to the correct total length, and the curren lap!
This composition also has 3 other nodes that I need to set. One for the last lap time, one for PB time (this only changes as required!), and one for the delta time. On the lap 2 composition, the delta time is left empty as lap 1 had nothing to compare with!
I repeat the steps from lap 1 for any red, yellow or green flags that need to be added, before I jump to the next laps blue marker and repeat the process again!
Chequered Flag
So the session has come to an end, just like before, I’m going to find the end of the lap using the lap timer and insert a new Fusion Composition but make it run to the end of the timeline, rather than any specific time.
I’ll jump over to the Fusion pane again, and import my chequered flag file. I then set the previous lap time, PB time, session best time, and delta nodes to the correct values.
Ready for Voice Over!
The lap timer element of my video is now complete! The video is ready for me to script and record the voice over, before adding that to the timeline, ready for export.
On my computer, the export of a 15-20 minute video takes around 3.5-4 hours! This is partly due to the settings (H.264, 1440p at 30fps), my hardware and using the free license for Davinci Resolve. I’m planning to play with render options as I’ve read that it may be quicker to export with a different codec and then convert it to H.264 for YouTube.
Fastest Lap!
The only other component I sometimes have to insert, is the banner that appears when I set a new personal fastest lap time. This works very similarly to the lap timer, in that it is a pre-made Fusion Composition.
I set my play head to the end of the lap where I went quicker, and insert an additional Fusion Composition element and set the duration to 10 seconds.
As I’ve already created the Composition, I import my .comp file and only have one node to edit – the lap time!
Done!
Having recorded and inserted the voice over element of the video, and waited for the complete render, it’s now just time to upload it to YouTube. I use GIMP to create a thumbnail and upload that at the same time. If I’ve used music, I ensure I’ve licensed it correctly in the description if required. I set the video to go live at the required time and sit back and wait for your comments!
Oh, and the final thing I do, is create the post on here, which goes live at the same time as the video, and usually contains some extra information that isn’t shared anywhere else!
So there it is, the complete process that I have to follow when adding the lap timer to my videos!