---
license: cc-by-nc-4.0
pretty_name: Time-Lapse Artifacts
annotations_creators:
- expert-generated
source_datasets:
- original
language:
- en
size_categories:
- n<1K
task_categories:
- video-classification
- feature-extraction
tags:
- drawing
- longitudinal-study
- traditional-art
- provenance
- single-subject
- video
- computer-vision
- time-lapse
- human-motion
dataset_info:
- config_name: canonical
  features:
  - name: video
    dtype: video
  - name: record_id
    dtype: large_string
  - name: collection_tier
    dtype: large_string
  - name: is_canonical
    dtype: bool
  - name: acquisition_protocol_version
    dtype: large_string
  - name: date
    dtype: large_string
  - name: time
    dtype: large_string
  - name: tool
    dtype: large_string
  - name: medium
    dtype: large_string
  - name: support
    dtype: large_string
  - name: dimensions
    dtype: large_string
  - name: duration_seconds
    dtype: float64
  - name: width_px
    dtype: int64
  - name: height_px
    dtype: int64
  - name: orientation
    dtype: large_string
  - name: encoded_frame_rate
    dtype: float64
  - name: video_codec
    dtype: large_string
  - name: pixel_format
    dtype: large_string
  - name: container
    dtype: large_string
  - name: has_audio
    dtype: bool
  - name: hub_xet_hash
    dtype: large_string
  - name: original_filename
    dtype: large_string
  - name: provenance_status
    dtype: large_string
  - name: legacy_provenance_path
    dtype: large_string
  - name: legacy_related_references
    dtype: large_string
  - name: evidence_method
    dtype: large_string
  - name: provenance_reference_duration_delta_seconds
    dtype: float64
  - name: size_bytes
    dtype: int64
  - name: notes
    dtype: large_string
  splits:
  - name: archive
    num_examples: 356
- config_name: pre_standard
  features:
  - name: video
    dtype: video
  - name: record_id
    dtype: large_string
  - name: collection_tier
    dtype: large_string
  - name: is_canonical
    dtype: bool
  - name: acquisition_protocol_version
    dtype: large_string
  - name: date
    dtype: large_string
  - name: time
    dtype: large_string
  - name: tool
    dtype: large_string
  - name: medium
    dtype: large_string
  - name: support
    dtype: large_string
  - name: dimensions
    dtype: large_string
  - name: duration_seconds
    dtype: float64
  - name: width_px
    dtype: int64
  - name: height_px
    dtype: int64
  - name: orientation
    dtype: large_string
  - name: encoded_frame_rate
    dtype: float64
  - name: video_codec
    dtype: large_string
  - name: pixel_format
    dtype: large_string
  - name: container
    dtype: large_string
  - name: has_audio
    dtype: bool
  - name: hub_xet_hash
    dtype: large_string
  - name: original_filename
    dtype: large_string
  - name: provenance_status
    dtype: large_string
  - name: legacy_provenance_path
    dtype: large_string
  - name: legacy_related_references
    dtype: large_string
  - name: evidence_method
    dtype: large_string
  - name: provenance_reference_duration_delta_seconds
    dtype: float64
  - name: size_bytes
    dtype: int64
  - name: notes
    dtype: large_string
  splits:
  - name: archive
    num_examples: 129
configs:
- config_name: canonical
  default: true
  features:
  - name: video
    dtype: video
  - name: record_id
    dtype: large_string
  - name: collection_tier
    dtype: large_string
  - name: is_canonical
    dtype: bool
  - name: acquisition_protocol_version
    dtype: large_string
  - name: date
    dtype: large_string
  - name: time
    dtype: large_string
  - name: tool
    dtype: large_string
  - name: medium
    dtype: large_string
  - name: support
    dtype: large_string
  - name: dimensions
    dtype: large_string
  - name: duration_seconds
    dtype: float64
  - name: width_px
    dtype: int64
  - name: height_px
    dtype: int64
  - name: orientation
    dtype: large_string
  - name: encoded_frame_rate
    dtype: float64
  - name: video_codec
    dtype: large_string
  - name: pixel_format
    dtype: large_string
  - name: container
    dtype: large_string
  - name: has_audio
    dtype: bool
  - name: hub_xet_hash
    dtype: large_string
  - name: original_filename
    dtype: large_string
  - name: provenance_status
    dtype: large_string
  - name: legacy_provenance_path
    dtype: large_string
  - name: legacy_related_references
    dtype: large_string
  - name: evidence_method
    dtype: large_string
  - name: provenance_reference_duration_delta_seconds
    dtype: float64
  - name: size_bytes
    dtype: int64
  - name: notes
    dtype: large_string
  data_files:
  - split: archive
    path:
    - metadata.csv
    - Standard_Time_Lapses/*.mp4
- config_name: pre_standard
  features:
  - name: video
    dtype: video
  - name: record_id
    dtype: large_string
  - name: collection_tier
    dtype: large_string
  - name: is_canonical
    dtype: bool
  - name: acquisition_protocol_version
    dtype: large_string
  - name: date
    dtype: large_string
  - name: time
    dtype: large_string
  - name: tool
    dtype: large_string
  - name: medium
    dtype: large_string
  - name: support
    dtype: large_string
  - name: dimensions
    dtype: large_string
  - name: duration_seconds
    dtype: float64
  - name: width_px
    dtype: int64
  - name: height_px
    dtype: int64
  - name: orientation
    dtype: large_string
  - name: encoded_frame_rate
    dtype: float64
  - name: video_codec
    dtype: large_string
  - name: pixel_format
    dtype: large_string
  - name: container
    dtype: large_string
  - name: has_audio
    dtype: bool
  - name: hub_xet_hash
    dtype: large_string
  - name: original_filename
    dtype: large_string
  - name: provenance_status
    dtype: large_string
  - name: legacy_provenance_path
    dtype: large_string
  - name: legacy_related_references
    dtype: large_string
  - name: evidence_method
    dtype: large_string
  - name: provenance_reference_duration_delta_seconds
    dtype: float64
  - name: size_bytes
    dtype: int64
  - name: notes
    dtype: large_string
  data_files:
  - split: archive
    path:
    - Pre_Standard_Time_Lapses/metadata.csv
    - Pre_Standard_Time_Lapses/*.mp4
---

# time-lapse-artifacts

485 time-lapse recordings of one artist's traditional drawing practice across
nearly two years (September 2024–August 10, 2026), with standardized acquisition
since July 15, 2025. Across approximately 1.90 TB of video, the archive follows
the same artist working in physical media—including pencil, ballpoint pen,
fountain pen, graphite, and ink—on fixed-format paper and illustration board.
The release combines 356 canonical Standard videos and 129 earlier
Pre-Standard recordings. Every published video has a persistent record ID,
content hash, byte size, and encoded-stream metadata; historical session and
provenance fields remain less complete in the Pre-Standard tier.

In this dataset, provenance refers to the documented relationship between a
physical drawing and its time-lapse record, rather than to histories of
ownership or sale.

An earlier 2012–2016 archive of more than 8 TB also exists, consisting
primarily of uploaded 1080p drawing videos, with some livestream-derived
material. It is not yet published in this dataset and is excluded from the
current 485-record, 1.90-TB release totals. This is an active construction
release.

## Snapshot and Coverage

These counts describe the current `main` branch. The immutable `v0.3.0` tag
contains 467 rows: 338 Standard and 129 Pre-Standard. A later curator-verified
provenance correction promoted one distinct Standard recording from the
noncanonical unresolved subtree. A subsequent creator-verified ingestion added
17 unique Standard media objects, bringing current `main` to 356 Standard and
129 Pre-Standard records. Two of those additions are explicitly documented as
shortened derivatives rather than full-duration masters.

| Collection tier | Published MP4s | Indexed rows | Date coverage | Metadata state |
| --- | ---: | ---: | --- | --- |
| `standard` | 356 direct files | 356 | 2025-07-15–2026-08-10 | Complete core technical metadata for every direct Standard file |
| `pre_standard` | 129 | 129 | 2024-09-17–2025-07-13, plus 9 unknown dates | Complete core technical metadata; historical descriptive and provenance gaps remain |
| Earlier archive (unpublished) | 0 public videos | 0 | Historical scope 2012–2016 | More than 8 TB held outside this release; ingestion pending |

**Current published index:** `main` contains 485 rows: 356 Standard and 129
Pre-Standard. The preceding v0.1 state at revision
`339e6149de130cbe2d001f7a0e5247872bc788ec` exposed 465 rows: 335 Standard and
130 Pre-Standard. v0.2 added three previously unindexed Standard files and
removed one Pre-Standard row whose media did not meet the ownership and
provenance threshold. v0.3 added stable Pre-Standard identities and technical
metadata. The post-v0.3 provenance correction promotes one previously
unresolved, distinct Standard recording and corrects a separate record's
physical finish date and time. The later 17-record Standard ingestion applies
technical and provenance criteria without filtering records by aesthetic
completion or perceived artistic quality.

The Hub configurations use the split name `archive`. No official
train/validation/test partition has been defined.

## Viewer and Metadata Discovery

The release exposes two explicit configurations so metadata-complete canonical
records are not silently mixed with historically less complete records:

- `canonical/archive` is the default and loads root `metadata.csv` with the 356
  direct files in `Standard_Time_Lapses/`
- `pre_standard/archive` loads `Pre_Standard_Time_Lapses/metadata.csv` with the
  129 direct files in that folder

Each configuration has the same declared 29-column schema. Stored dimensions
and byte sizes are nullable integers, `has_audio` is a nullable boolean, and
encoded frame rate remains a float because historical encodings include
fractional reported rates. Undocumented values load as null rather than as
zero or false. Both indexes declare tier membership directly: the root index sets
`collection_tier = standard` and `is_canonical = true`; the Pre-Standard CSV
sets `collection_tier = pre_standard` and `is_canonical = false`.

Published-index completeness is defined by the 356 rows in `canonical/archive`
plus the 129 rows in `pre_standard/archive` and their generated Parquet
exports. Hugging Face's separate column Statistics job is an auxiliary,
asynchronous surface; its availability is not used to claim or reject
row-level completeness.

The configuration lists the two active `metadata.csv` files and only direct
MP4 paths in `Standard_Time_Lapses/` and `Pre_Standard_Time_Lapses/`. It does
not use a recursive canonical glob, so the nested
`Standard_Time_Lapses/Provenance/` subtree is excluded.

## Overview

`time-lapse-artifacts` documents analog drawing processes across different
recording periods and acquisition conditions. Raw video is the primary record.
Metadata identifies, organizes, compares, and documents recordings without
imposing aesthetic scores or stylistic labels.

The collection is a single-creator longitudinal archive. This makes it useful
for studying within-practice change, but it does not represent artists,
materials, studios, or drawing practices broadly.

## Repository Structure

### `Standard_Time_Lapses/`

The directory contains 356 direct MP4 files. `metadata.csv` is their complete
machine-readable canonical index: every direct file has one validated row with
core technical metadata. Direct placement alone is not sufficient for future
additions; metadata and release validation are required.

Each canonical metadata row now includes:

- a persistent `record_id`
- `collection_tier = standard`
- `is_canonical = true`
- `acquisition_protocol_version = standard-2025-07-15`
- descriptive session fields
- encoded video properties
- repository content hash and size
- provenance fields where documented

Files use a structured filename convention described in `SCHEMA.md`. A
filename is descriptive, but it is not the stable identity of a record;
external references should use `record_id`.

### `Standard_Time_Lapses/Provenance/`

This subtree contains supporting historical records and retained exceptions.
It is not part of the canonical record set.

`2026-07-31/` preserves the completed provenance release, including mappings
between historical `Series_9x12` filenames and canonical records. The former
full duplicate video snapshot is not retained. Relationships are preserved
through mappings, hashes, metadata, and repository history.

`Unresolved_Series_9x12/` contains distinct historical recordings that do not
yet have enough documentation for promotion into the canonical collection.

### `Pre_Standard_Time_Lapses/`

These 129 recordings predate the standard acquisition protocol. They are
published for archival continuity but are not interchangeable with canonical
standard records. Each now has a stable `record_id`, exact Hub content hash and
size, playback duration, stored dimensions and orientation, frame rate, codec,
pixel format, container, and audio-stream presence. Historical dates, times,
materials, and provenance remain incomplete where evidence is unavailable.
Missing values must not be interpreted as zero, false, or evidence that a
property was absent.

The folder-local `metadata.csv` is the active index for these 129 videos and is
loaded by the `pre_standard/archive` configuration. It follows the same
declared 29-field schema as the canonical index while leaving undocumented
historical fields empty.

Material that does not meet the archive's ownership and provenance threshold
is excluded from both the published media and the active metadata index.

### `Earlier_Archive_2012_2016/`

More than 8 TB of earlier material is held outside this dataset. It consists
primarily of uploaded 1080p drawing videos, with some livestream-derived
material. At the audited snapshot it contains no public video data. References
to 2012–2016 therefore describe archive scope, not current downloadable
coverage.

## Metadata and Provenance

The metadata distinguishes documented facts, established historical
relationships, and unresolved information. Evidence may include:

- exact file/blob identity
- original filenames and repository paths
- file sizes and hashes
- duration comparison
- visual continuity across recordings
- documented physical references
- repository commit history

Uncertain relationships are not promoted to verified relationships solely
because dates or filenames look similar.

The active CSV files and live Viewer use semicolons for multiple `tool` and
`medium` values, for example `Pencil;FountainPen` and `Graphite;Ink`. A pipe
(`|`) is **not** a valid separator in v0.2. The two fields are independent
observed-value lists; equal list lengths and positional pairing are not
guaranteed. See `SCHEMA.md`.

`encoded_frame_rate` is encoded playback rate. It is not the original temporal
sampling rate of the drawing process.

## Acquisition and Stored-Video Orientation

The acquisition protocol effective July 15, 2025 is documented in
`Archive_Specifications.md`.

The protocol's capture orientation and a file's stored pixel orientation are
different concepts. The `orientation`, `width_px`, and `height_px` metadata
describe the published encoded file. Historical canonicalization may include a
rotation, crop, or transcode; those transformations are documented only where
evidence currently exists and must not be inferred from dimensions alone.

The July 15, 2025 protocol boundary is explicitly encoded in canonical
metadata. It supports era-aware comparison of repeated physical-media practice,
but it is an acquisition change, not a skill-change label. Differences across
that boundary may reflect capture conditions as well as practice development.

## Annotation State

Session-level descriptive and provenance metadata are curated by the creator
from the physical practice, filenames, file properties, and retained historical
evidence. This is the scope of `annotations_creators: expert-generated`; it does
not mean that frame-level task labels exist. Likewise, `language: en` describes
the filename vocabulary, metadata, and documentation, not incidental audio.

The `video-classification` task facet refers to possible session-level targets
such as documented tool, medium, and support. The release does not define label
encodings, an official benchmark, or train/validation/test partitions.

The videos themselves are primarily raw and unannotated. The release does not
provide:

- frame-level bounding boxes or segmentation masks
- hand, pen-tip, pose, or stroke labels
- aesthetic or quality scores
- imposed stylistic classifications
- calibrated physical trajectories
- original capture timestamps for individual time-lapse frames

Researchers may derive annotations, but derived labels should identify the
source `record_id` and pinned repository revision.

## Intended and Unsupported Uses

### Reasonable uses in the current release

- archival and drawing-process research
- qualitative within-creator analysis of practice and skill development across
  repeated physical-media sessions
- self-supervised video representation experiments
- frame-change, scene, and workspace analysis
- development of annotation and tracking methods

### Uses requiring additional validation or calibration

- hand or pen-tip tracking
- optical-flow comparison across acquisition eras
- temporal behavior analysis
- real-world trajectory, velocity, acceleration, or motor-control measurement

The release does not currently provide capture intervals, acceleration factors,
source-frame timestamps, camera calibration, or pixel-to-physical coordinate
mapping. Encoded time-lapse playback must not be treated as real drawing time.

### Not validated

- population-level claims about artists or drawing behavior
- clinical, biometric, authorship, or identity inference
- a leakage-safe training or evaluation benchmark
- commercial use outside the CC BY-NC 4.0 terms

## Limitations and Sources of Bias

- The archive documents one creator and one evolving practice.
- Current public video coverage begins in 2024, not 2012.
- The standard and pre-standard tiers have substantially different historical
  descriptive/provenance completeness and acquisition conditions.
- The workspace can contain hands, tools, phones, tablets, reference material,
  and other objects that may create visual shortcuts or occlusion.
- Stored resolution and frame rate do not establish physical or temporal
  calibration.
- Large files make exhaustive inspection and replication expensive.
- No official leakage-safe split exists.

## Rights, Privacy, and Audio

The creator confirms ownership of the published video files and depicted
creator-owned drawings. Material that cannot pass the ownership and provenance
review is not part of the active public index and is not distributed by this
release. This statement does not independently grant rights in incidental
third-party material that may appear on screens, in references, or in captured
audio.

Nearly all published masters retain an audio stream. `has_audio` records stream
presence only; it does not establish that the stream contains meaningful
signal. Users are responsible for reviewing audio, visible screens, references,
reflections, tattoos, and other potentially identifying or third-party content
before redistribution or model release. A future proxy release should remove
audio by default while preserving the archival masters.

## Access and Reproducibility

The active 485-video release contains 1,901,279,778,073 bytes of video
(approximately 1.90 TB, or 1.73 TiB). Canonical files are often several
gigabytes each, so users should select records through `metadata.csv` before
downloading video.

### Bandwidth-safe Quick Start

Install Hugging Face Datasets, stream the archive, and disable decoding while
selecting records:

```python
from datasets import Video, load_dataset

dataset = load_dataset(
    "maxwellinked/time-lapse-artifacts",
    "canonical",
    split="archive",
    streaming=True,
)
metadata = dataset.cast_column("video", Video(decode=False))
first = next(iter(metadata))
print(first["video"]["path"], first["tool"], first["medium"])
```

This exposes the complete metadata schema without transferring video bytes.
Default decoded row access additionally requires `torchcodec` and a compatible
video-decoding stack. Use `streaming=True` unless a full archive download is
intentional.

Use `"pre_standard"` as the configuration name to stream the earlier tier.

For reproducible work:

1. Pin a repository commit or release tag.
2. Record the selected `record_id` values.
3. Preserve the published `hub_xet_hash` values.
4. State whether audio was retained.
5. Document all rotation, crop, sampling, decoding, and proxy-generation steps.

Run the included validator before publishing a metadata change:

```bash
python tools/validate_metadata.py metadata.csv \
  --pre-standard-metadata Pre_Standard_Time_Lapses/metadata.csv
```

`tools/enrich_prestandard.py` reproduces the Pre-Standard technical fields
from a pinned Hub inventory and MP4 container headers. It uses HTTP range
requests through FFmpeg; it does not intentionally download complete videos.
`tools/capture_hub_inventory.py` records the corresponding Xet file IDs from
resolve headers without following redirects or transferring video payloads.

The v0.2 index can be regenerated from the pinned 335-row source index plus the
three audited additions:

```bash
python tools/repair_metadata.py source_metadata.csv metadata.csv \
  --additions tools/metadata_additions_v0.2.csv
```

## Versioning

The repository is under active construction. Record identity is carried by
`record_id`; a filename may be corrected without creating a new conceptual
record. Content replacement must retain provenance and should receive a new
content hash.

See `CHANGELOG.md` for release-level changes.

## Documentation

- `metadata.csv` — canonical machine-readable index
- `Pre_Standard_Time_Lapses/metadata.csv` — active pre-standard public index
- `SCHEMA.md` — filename and metadata contracts
- `Archive_Specifications.md` — acquisition specifications and known gaps
- `VALIDATION.md` — validation scope and current results
- `tools/capture_hub_inventory.py` — pinned Hub/Xet identity inventory
- `tools/enrich_prestandard.py` — pinned Pre-Standard technical enrichment
- `tools/validate_metadata.py` — cross-tier metadata and repository checks
- `Standard_Time_Lapses/Provenance/` — historical evidence and mappings

## Citation

Until a DOI-backed release is available, cite the dataset and pinned revision:

```bibtex
@dataset{maxwellinked_time_lapse_artifacts_2026,
  author    = {maxwellinked},
  title     = {time-lapse-artifacts},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {Hugging Face},
  url       = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/maxwellinked/time-lapse-artifacts},
  note      = {Active construction release; include the repository revision used}
}
```

## License

The dataset is released under **CC BY-NC 4.0**. The license applies only to
material for which the licensor holds the necessary rights. Users must conduct
their own review of incidental third-party content and downstream use.