
Motion Stills – Now on Android - arunc
https://research.googleblog.com/2017/07/motion-stills-now-on-android.html
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seltzered_
I'm confused. Does this imply that photos within this app can be taken similar
to 'live photos' \- where a single tap records both a full-res still pic AND a
video? Or is this app just for recording stabilized / loopable videos?

I recently switched to iOS after using Android for years and live photos are a
huge draw for me. I don't care if they're stabilized or loopable, I just love
the context they add in (audio, movement) while also having a still photo.

~~~
Veratyr
I've got an Android phone and unfortunately no, it's just video, there's no
still.

I sorely miss the real Live Photos I had on iOS for the same reasons as you.
There are camera apps on Android that do it (like Camera MX) but the UX isn't
really comparable and you can't use Motion Stills on stuff taken outside the
app.

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bmc7505
Seems like an productized implementation of Hyperlapse:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOpwHaQnRSY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOpwHaQnRSY)

~~~
skeletonjelly
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft....](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.hyperlapsemobile)

has existed for years

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Aye_Jeigh
I think it's kinda funny that the dreaded Pixel lens flare issue is clearly
apparent in the stabilization demo.

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niftyneii
The UI on this is pretty novel for an Android app; a longtime Android dev I
usually get pretty pissy about UIs that feel too 'iOS'y but this one does a
pretty good job of feeling 'fresh' instead of just like another iOS port. The
stabilization stuff is pretty good too.

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davidmanescu
I'm assuming the GIF showing a phone taking a Motion Still was itself made
using Motion Stills. Fun.

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oDot
The camera app I truly miss on Android is Instagram's Hyperlapse. They should
make it happen!

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bambax
> _In order to display your Motion Stills stream immediately, our algorithm
> computes and stores the necessary stabilizing transformation as a low
> resolution texture map. We leverage this texture to apply the stabilization
> transform using the GPU in real-time during playback, instead of writing a
> new, stabilized video that would tax your mobile hardware and battery._

But doesn't this mean videos can only be shared/viewed within the app? How
does one share videos with users that are not on Android 5.1+ then (and who
therefore can't even install the app)?

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pgeorgi
I think the keyword is

>> "immediately"

The GPU texture mapping thing is the strategy employed for immediate feedback
in the app. The stabilized video can still be rendered to a file in the
background (and/or while plugged in) later.

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owenversteeg
So I hadn't heard of this and I thought the name was for taking a still photo
from a video. Sadly, that's not what this does, so does anybody know a good
solution that does this?

It's 2017, I feel like "hit spacebar in VLC and screenshot" is a really poor
way of extracting still images from video. So what is the highest-quality way
to extract a still from a video?

~~~
whiddershins
Photoshop can extract frames from a video, from which you can save animated
gifs or just single frame stills.

Premiere or Final Cut can easily export single frames as stills.

As for doing it with free tools, I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if
there are a number of good ways.

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oneplane
It's a good thing this is getting supported on non-Apple platforms too. In
time, maybe they'll all get common formats, and then we'll all have the same
stuff again.

This isn't about 'stealing' or who 'came first', it's about everyone getting
everything.

~~~
jvzr
This is not the same thing, though. I hope you realize. This is not bringing
Live Photos to Android nor allowing cross-platform playback.

It's just giving Android users a handy app to loop videos.

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fowl2
Whatever happened to that gimmick where an image from both the front and rear
cameras was saved?

~~~
dingo_bat
I can do that on my phone. Samsung allows you to download modes for the
camera. One of those is dual camera. It's fun sometimes.

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wybiral
I texted a GIF from my Pixel and it was really blocky, even at the highest
setting. It doesn't look bad during playback or when uploaded to Photos
though.

Is this an MMS issue or something?

~~~
dingo_bat
I just used it on my S7 and shared it on whatsapp: looks very high quality to
me. You can try changing the gif quality from settings, although the default
worked fine for me.

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wybiral
I tried at the medium (default) and highest. Oddly enough the highest quality
setting was the most blocky so I'm guessing the MMS or Pixel->Iphone text did
something weird?

Either way, the app is neat and I think this is just an artifact in the MMS
stage rather than the files.

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Aissen
I'm wondering how it competes with the stabilization algorithm available in
the default video editor for Nexus/Pixel (is it in the Google Camera app for
other devices?).

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tambourine_man
I find it so weird that an oxymoron is accepted as product name.

~~~
lanewinfield
I think that's the idea.

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tambourine_man
I'm sure it is

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andybak
"We listened to your feedback and today, we're excited to announce" \- doesn't
anyone have a functioning cliche detector anymore? Maybe my ears are
oversensitive but I find this kind of bilge insincere and off-putting. Is it a
UK vs US thing? Or am I just getting cranky in old age?

~~~
crazygringo
As a product manager who writes sentences just like these, genuine question --
what would you prefer instead?

Let's say this has been by far the #1 app request for the past year, and the
reason you've built it is literally because it's what people have been asking
for. And as a team, you're actually excited to ship it after months and months
of development.

Really curious how else to phrase it? Without sounding immature or
unprofessional ("it's here WOOT!") -- or too self-absorbed ("Drum roll
please...").

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raldi
"This has been by far our #1 request for the past year. It's been a long haul
and we're very proud of what we've put together. We think you're going to like
it."

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themacguffinman
How is this meaningfully different, other than the fact that your statement
takes twice as many words to express the same thing?

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raldi
It doesn't contain the horrendously-overused word "excited".

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rbg246
But it does contain the highly annoying and redundant -"We think you are going
to like it"

Which both annoys me because you are telling me how I should feel and it's a
new feature what other emotion are you hoping for in a customer.

