{"id":26270,"date":"2021-11-18T11:31:34","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T11:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=26270"},"modified":"2021-11-18T11:31:34","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T11:31:34","slug":"processing-create-an-animation-of-jupiter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2021\/11\/18\/processing-create-an-animation-of-jupiter\/","title":{"rendered":"Processing: Create an animation of Jupiter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How to use photo-editing software to turn a stack of images into an animated GIF<\/p>\n\n

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Use a sequence of your favourite Jupiter images to make a short animation of the gas giant rotating <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The planet Jupiter is great for capturing and presenting as an animation. The gas giant has a fast rotation period that can easily be seen and captured to create a satisfying animated GIF This is achieved by taking individual images over a span of time, which can be less than 30 minutes. In this article we will show you how to create an animation of the rotation of Jupiter from a series of pre-processed images using Adobe Photoshop. Then, we will look at how to export it as an animated GIF, which is ideal for posting on social media, websites and for presentations.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

To begin, we import the already captured and processed images into a stack in Photoshop by clicking \u2018File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack\u2019 from the main menu. In the \u2018Load Layers\u2019 panel, click on the \u2018Browse\u2026\u2019 button and navigate to the folder where the processed images are stored, and select all the images required. Click \u2018OK\u2019 and the images will be imported into the stack (see Screenshot 1).<\/p>\n\n

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Screenshot 1: the \u2018Load Layers\u2019 panel before (left) and after (right) the Jupiter files have been selected using \u2018Browse\u2026\u2019. Next, click \u2018OK\u2019 and the files will be imported into a stack<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Once the files are loaded the \u2018Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images\u2019 box becomes active, so tick it and then click \u2018OK\u2019 at the top right. Now make the \u2018Layers\u2019 panel visible by clicking \u2018Window > Layers\u2019 from the main menu. Here, the new image stack can be viewed as a series of layers (see Screenshot 2). Using the mouse, drag each layer into time order, with the earliest image at the top and the latest at the bottom. Using WinJUPOScompatible file-naming at the time of image capture will help with this process.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

A world in motion<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

After the files are in the correct order, check each image and crop as appropriate to remove any blank edges created by the image alignment process. Next, open the \u2018Timeline\u2019 panel from the main menu by clicking \u2018Window > Timeline\u2019. In the centre of the \u2018Timeline\u2019 panel, click the down arrow to select \u2018Create Frame Animation\u2019. Double-click on \u2018Create Frame Animation\u2019 to create the first frame of the new<\/span> animation sequence. This can be seen in the bottom of the \u2018Timeline\u2019 panel.<\/p>\n\n

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Screenshot 2: the image stack can be viewed as layers in the \u2018Layers\u2019 panel<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Screenshot 3: the completed stack animation, with durations of each frame<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

To add the next frame in the sequence, click the square with the \u2018+\u2019 sign at the bottom of the \u2018Timeline\u2019 panel. A second frame will appear beside the first one. As no changes have been made, this is identical to the first frame. To change this, go back to the \u2018Layers\u2019 panel and scroll to the very top of the image stack. On the top image layer, click the eye icon next to the thumbnail to hide the top image. The second image is now visible in this new frame. The animation now consists of two frames. To add the next frame, once again click the square with the \u2018+\u2019 sign at the bottom of the \u2018Timeline\u2019 panel. A third frame will appear. Once again, go back to the \u2018Layers\u2019 panel. On the second image down in the stack, remove the eye symbol next to the thumbnail. This will now hide that image, so the third image down is visible in this third frame. Continue adding new frames in the same way, hiding each image layer until all the images have been added as frames (see Screenshot 3).<\/p>\n\n

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Screenshot 4: in the \u2018Export\u2019 screen you can make final adjustments using \u2018Fit in View\u2019 and then you are ready to \u2018Save\u2019 your animated GIF of Jupiter<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

By double-clicking below each frame, you can change the duration each frame is visible for when playing, to speed up or slow down the animation. It is best to keep them all at the same timings. You can now save them as an animated GIF. To do this, select and click \u2018File > Export > Save For Web (Legacy)\u2019 from the main menu. If the image is not fully visible in the window, click the down arrow next to 100% at the bottom left and select \u2018Fit in View\u2019 (See Screenshot 4).<\/p>\n\n

If the image size is big, you can reduce the size of the exported GIF by adjusting the size at the bottom right of the window. The \u2018H\u2019 (height) is locked to the \u2018W\u2019 (width) by default, so making a change to one will keep the image proportions correct. Then click the \u2018Save\u2019 button and scroll to the folder where you want to save the GIF and name it. Click \u2018Save\u2019 and you will have an animated GIF of Jupiter rotating.<\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

3 QUICK TIPS<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

1. <\/strong>Keep consistent timings between the images being captured and it will help to produce a smoother animation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. <\/strong>Keep the camera orientation consistent when you are capturing the images \u2013 by using an equatorial mount \u2013 as any rotation in your images can make aligning them difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. <\/strong>Include the Great Red Spot or shadow transits by Jupiter\u2019s moons, as these always look spectacular when included in animations.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

\n
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\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Dave Eagle <\/strong>is an astronomer, astrophotographer, planetarium operator and writer<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

PHOTOS: STEVE MARSH, DAVE EAGLE <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to use photo-editing software to turn a stack of images into an animated GIF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":26263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"80","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"80","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_80-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_80-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"December-2021","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"December-2021","purple_external_id":"December-2021-80-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"December-2021-80-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086547||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086547||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.199","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.199","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.199","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.199","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/a3647c23-03bb-4d99-9805-7fd1fb7e67fd.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/a3647c23-03bb-4d99-9805-7fd1fb7e67fd.jpg",2048,513,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/a3647c23-03bb-4d99-9805-7fd1fb7e67fd-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/a3647c23-03bb-4d99-9805-7fd1fb7e67fd-300x75.jpg",300,75,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/a3647c23-03bb-4d99-9805-7fd1fb7e67fd-768x192.jpg",768,192,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/a3647c23-03bb-4d99-9805-7fd1fb7e67fd-1024x257.jpg",800,201,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/a3647c23-03bb-4d99-9805-7fd1fb7e67fd-1536x385.jpg",1536,385,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/a3647c23-03bb-4d99-9805-7fd1fb7e67fd.jpg",2048,513,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"How to use photo-editing software to turn a stack of images into an animated GIF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26270"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26270"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26777,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26270\/revisions\/26777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}