NovaLapse

NovaLapse is a lightweight and portable application you can use to create timelapse movies using a webcam. It enables you to take snapshots and save them as images, and contains a bunch of intuitive options that can be configured by all types of users, even those unskilled with webcam recording tools.

Initial webcam configuration

At startup, you're greeted by a standard panel that asks you to select the video device from a drop-down list. In the following window, it's possible to pick the preferred image resolution (ranging from 160x120 pixels to 720x576 pixels), along with the pixel depth and compression. The size is automatically calculated based on these two values and displayed in bytes.

Create timelapse clips and capture images

The main panel is larger than the previous two, comprising a pane for showing the video footage, together with an area for tinkering with settings, such as the interval (seconds) and stopping mode (halted by the user or after any given number of pictures).
The timer can be started and stopped with the click of a button. Moreover, you can take a snapshot anytime. The pictures are auto-saved in a folder placed in the same location as this tool, and they are organized by day.

No installation required

There is no setup pack involved, so you can copy the downloaded files to a custom directory on the disk or store them to a removable storage unit, in order to seamlessly run NovaLapse on any PC with as little effort as possible.
It doesn't add new entries to your system registry or need libraries to work properly. Your settings are remembered by auto-updating an .ini file on exit.

Evaluation and conclusion

Although it hasn't received updates for a long time, it worked smoothly in our tests, without triggering the operating system to hang, crash or indicate errors. CPU and RAM usage was minimal, so it didn't hog system resources.
To sum it up, NovaLapse facilitates a simple method for capturing webcam footage to create movies and take snapshots. It can be easily handled by anyone.