docs/Archive_Specifications.md

Archive Specifications

Scope and Protocol Version

These specifications apply to recordings and drawings created beginning July 13, 2025 unless a metadata row documents a deviation. Two protocol identifiers now distinguish the canonical workflows:

• standard-2025-07-13 — the earlier Standard workflow established July 13,
• standard-2026-08-27 — the prospective canonical fragment-sequence workflow established August 27, 2026.

Protocol assignment is not a blanket finish-date cutover. standard-2026-08-27 applies to the canonical_fragment record IDs documented in the revision-pinned relationship packets. Other Standard rows retain standard-2025-07-13, including historical RecNN rows outside those packets. A RecNN filename suffix alone never assigns the prospective protocol. Use the generated workflow views for membership and the dataset card for generated counts at the selected repository revision. The provenance index locates the supporting packets.

For standard-2026-08-27, each canonical MP4 and metadata row represents one unchanged source recording. Membership requires the protocol value in metadata and record_id membership in a revision-pinned relationship packet; filename dates and RecNN alone are insufficient. Historical MP4s may represent one recording or may combine multiple recordings, including through InShot. This is a file-specific possibility, not a claim that every historical file is compiled. The distinction is illustrated by the prospective 2026-08-27 packet and the separate June 18–30 historical relationship.

The identifier records the governing workflow. It does not imply that every published file has identical encoded dimensions, orientation, codec, audio, or post-processing history.

Capture Configuration

The owner-confirmed capture default established under the earlier Standard workflow, and inherited by the prospective fragment-sequence workflow unless a row documents a deviation, is:

• Device: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, model SM-S918U
• Application: Framelapse 2; observed current version 11.7
• Logical camera: Rear (Main), 1.8x
• Nominal capture interval: 0.2 seconds
• Capture orientation intent: Landscape
• Capture resolution class: 2160p UHD (4K)
• Still-image size: 4000 × 3000

The 0.2-second interval is a protocol-level nominal setting, not a confirmed measurement for every Standard recording. It does not by itself establish a calibrated real-time basis for any record. The separate exploratory recording-timing sidecar documents a narrower empirical calibration for one observable recording profile.

AE/WB lock, autofocus, and stabilization are owner-reported for certainly the majority of this period, not confirmed as universal per-record facts. Deviations must be recorded prospectively and must not be filled retrospectively by guess.

Capture versus published encoding

Capture orientation and stored pixel orientation are separate properties. metadata.csv fields width_px, height_px, and orientation describe the published encoded file. Many canonical files are stored as portrait video, including records that historical evidence identifies as rotations or crops of landscape sources.

Do not infer a rotation, crop, or transcode solely from dimensions. Such a transformation should be asserted only when supported by provenance evidence.

An ordinary SHA-256 match establishes byte identity with the specific comparison file. Direct-device or unchanged-source provenance additionally requires evidence about that file's origin. File size and container or stream metadata can corroborate provenance, but cannot independently prove drawing membership, direct-device origin, or an untouched source. Do not assign a cause to a smaller file without supporting comparisons.

Acquisition evidence and canonical representation

Under standard-2026-08-27, Framelapse source recordings are retained unchanged as acquisition evidence and each source file has its own canonical metadata row. Grouping, file order, retained-sequence completeness, and derivative coverage remain in a separate noncanonical relationship manifest. Historical canonical representation may instead use a selected InShot assembly when that workflow is specifically documented for the file; it must not be presumed for all historical MP4s. The active indexes retain the original 29 fields plus five timing-display fields and work_id; see the 35-field schema. Dynamic browser previews and physical-reference photographs remain noncanonical access or evidence layers linked through persistent identity.

Under standard-2026-08-27, all RecNN members in one prospective grouping share the documented finish date and finish time of the complete grouping/physical work. That timestamp is not the individual end time of each fragment. RecNN records chronological position within the group.

A 2160 × 3840 portrait H.264, 30-fps InShot processing profile is documented as a candidate. It does not become a canonical protocol boundary until one complete natural drawing passes fragment-order, join, duration, stream, hash, and manifest verification and receives explicit creator approval. Existing 60-fps canonical records remain unchanged. The encoded 30-fps value is a playback property, not the real capture interval.

Timing and Calibration Status

The current protocol documentation does not provide a complete calibrated time base for motor-control or physical-trajectory measurement. The nominal 0.2-second setting records the intended protocol; the interval actually used for an individual recording remains unconfirmed unless separately documented.

At source revision b4b58f0ce0effb31ebf7671fbb0bd9c11765db4e, the exploratory recording-timing sidecar interprets 22 retained device-filename timestamps as recording starts and their matching MP4 creation tags as finalization boundaries. Those direct observations fit a profile-specific elapsed-time model that is applied to 164 additional observable-profile-matched fragments. The model is in-sample, has no independent holdout, and does not identify its empirical intercept as a physical capture constant. Its two-second start allowance is an operational review threshold rather than a proven semantic error bound.

In particular, the following may still be unknown for a recording:

• confirmed per-record frame-capture interval
• real drawing-session duration
• time-lapse acceleration factor
• source-frame timestamps
• removed pauses or edit decisions
• dropped-frame history
• camera model, lens, and mount geometry
• pixel-to-physical coordinate mapping or homography

encoded_frame_rate is playback rate only. It must not be treated as original drawing-time sampling. The timing sidecar uses decoded frame count only inside its separately documented empirical model; it does not recover source-frame timestamps, uninterrupted drawing duration, or drawing-active time.

Canonical duration_seconds remains encoded playback duration. The timing model uses separate timestamp-boundary evidence and probed frame counts; it does not reinterpret encoded duration or encoded_frame_rate as wall-clock time.

Drawing Surfaces

9 × 12 in

• Strathmore 300 Series Bristol
• Smooth surface
• 100 lb (270 g/m²)
• Acid free

11 × 14 in

• Strathmore 300 Series Bristol
• Smooth surface
• 100 lb (270 g/m²)
• Acid free

14 × 17 in

• Strathmore 500 Series Premium Bristol
• Plate surface / ultra-smooth
• 100% cotton
• Acid free
• 2-ply
• Introduced in the Standard collection on August 19, 2026
• Manufacturer packaging describes the paper as archival quality

30 × 40 in

• Strathmore 500 Series Illustration Board
• Heavyweight vellum surface
• 20-ply
• White

The creator confirms that the fifteen June 18–30, 2026 Rec01–Rec15 indexed video files use this Illustration Board support. Their paths and active metadata encode IllustrationBoard; the correction preserves all media bytes, stable record IDs, Xet identities, sizes, and technical fields.

Other support sizes and materials may appear when identified in the canonical filename and metadata. Future 30 × 40 in records must preserve any documented exception rather than assuming that dimensions alone establish support.

Drawing Instruments and Ink

Ballpoint

• Pelikan 337 Giant Ballpoint Refill
• Black and Blue
• Medium, 1.0 mm
• Document-proof ink conforming to ISO 12757-2

Documented acquisition exception: 2026-08-23.1932.BallpointPen.Ink.Paper.14x17.Rec03.mp4 uses the standard Pelikan black refill until approximately 00:04:59. Visible refill handling marks the transition to an unmarked, unknown-brand black refill for the remainder of the recording; the brand is not inferred.

Fountain pen

• Pilot Custom 823
• 14-karat gold nibs used in Fine, Medium, and Broad sizes
• Aurora Black fountain pen ink

The nib size used in an individual recording is not consistently documented and must not be inferred from line appearance alone.

Additional tools and media are recorded at the individual-record level.

Audio

Audio presence is a stored-file property, not a required part of the acquisition protocol. has_audio records whether an audio stream exists. It does not describe the stream's contents or establish redistribution rights for music, speech, notifications, or other incidental sound.

Exceptions and Evidence

Known departures from the protocol should be documented in the affected metadata row. A deviation claim should identify its evidence in notes and, where applicable, provenance fields.

When a property is not documented, it must remain unknown rather than being reconstructed from visual appearance alone.