Solar Animation Tutorial

Stuart Green (Carbon60)

Introduction
This tutorial presents my own preferred method of making animated sequences of the Sun.
It is non-automated (does not use tracking or programmed sequencing for image capture)
so takes some effort and patience during the imaging phase in order to capture a sufficient
number of images for the production of a smooth animated movie. By way of example I will
use a solar prominence as the target object, but the process can be applied to any suitable
feature imaged at any wavelength, be it white light, hydrogen-alpha, calcium II K, or other.
The workflow includes:
1. Image capture
2. Stacking
3. Deconvolution/sharpening as a batch process
4. Alignment
5. Creating and Saving as an animated Gif

There are more ways to do this than is shown here using other software packages, but the
principles will be much the same. Automation is possible using guiding software and by
defining auto sequencing parameters in the image capture settings, but I prefer to take full
control and do this manually. If you want to automate the process then please check out
these features in your specific tracking and image capturing packages.

1. Image Capture
I use Genika Astro for image capture and the Reticle tool to help maintain the target area in
the centre of the screen. This is selected from the toolbar, or with Ctrl+R, as shown in Figure
1. The live image (solar prominence in this case) would appear as in Figure 2, with the centre
of the Reticle targeted onto what may be a relatively stable part of feature.
Images may be captured in the usual way after setting the camera exposure, gain and
gamma accordingly to capture the best level of detail.
During the session the image will drift if you have an imperfectly aligned mount, in which
case manual corrections can be made using the hand controller to keep the target within
the centre of the reticule. Alignment does not have to be ‘perfect’ as later processing steps
will take care of minor drifts about the centre point.
Figure 1: Screen shot from Genika Asto image capture software showing Reticle tool

Figure 2: Simulation of Reticle tool over target feature

The total time required and the number of and timing of each image can depend on a
number of factors, such as the type and level of activity expected from the target feature
and the rate and degree of change over a reasonable length of time. Fast, explosive
outbursts, such as solar flares with a lifespan of a few minutes may require short imaging
sequences captured in quick succession over the life of the outburst, whereas long duration
events with slow changes, as may be the case with quiescent prominences, or filaments,
may require more widely time-spaced captures over several hours. The important thing is to
ensure that the images are equally spaced out in terms of timing over the duration of the
imaging session, otherwise the animation will appear jumpy and will lack the smooth flow
expected in this form of presentation. This can be a challenge when the weather doesn’t
cooperate and passing clouds cover the target at the wrong moment. Perfect blue sky days
are ideal in this regard, providing uninterrupted views of the Sun.
For an active prominence, as in this example, images are captured in 10s bursts every 30
seconds (Figure 3). A typical session may last 30 minutes to an hour (or more!) depending
on the weather conditions, the activity of the feature and on how much patience you have.
This means that typically 60 to 120 video files may be collected over the session for further
processing. The number of frames within each file will depend on your camera and settings.
There is no fixed formula as the camera settings will depend entirely on the characteristics
of the target.

Figure 3: Image timing between ‘capture’ and ‘waiting’. 10s on and 20s off in this example.

2. Image Stacking
Use your favourite image stacking package to process the captured video files in accordance
with your usual preferences. Ensure that the stacked images are filed in a specific folder for
easy retrieval later. With most stacking packages it may be possible to batch process. I use
AutoStakkert!3 which allows me to select and process/stack all of the required video files
automatically. The settings selected will depend on how many frames have been captured
per video file and on the quality of those frames, in the usual manner.

3. Deconvolution/Sharpening Using Image Post Processor (ImPPG)

ImPPG performs Lucy-Richardson deconvolution, unsharp masking, brightness normalization
and tone curve adjustment. It can also apply previously specified processing settings to
multiple images, allowing easy batch processing of all stacked images relevant to the
animation sequence. Details of ImPPG can be found here and is highly recommended:
https://greatattractor.github.io/imppg/
ImPPG can also align an image sequence to remove ‘jutter’ resulting from small movements
of the target feature between subsequent frames resulting from inaccurate tracking. This is
essential if the animation is to remain smooth flowing during playback.
The automated processing (or batch processing) feature in ImPPG requires pre-set
deconvolution and sharpening parameters. These are best produced on one of the images in
the sequence that you wish to animate. Open ImPPG and select one of your stacked images
from the sequence captured during the session. Use the controls in the left panel to
optimise the appearance of the image and then save the settings using the ‘Save Process
Settings’ function on the toolbar (Figure 4). You will be given the option to name this
accordingly (in the IMPPG settings folder with a .xml file extension). This will become the
‘settings’ file required for the image batch processing function.

Figure 4: Select ‘Save Process Settings’ from the dropdown menu on the ‘File’ tab.

Batch processing of the entire image sequence is achieved as follows:

1) From the dropdown menu under ‘File’ on the toolbar select ‘Batch Processing’
 2) This will open a window within the main screen as shown below. Click on ‘Add Files’
and select the folder containing the stacked images. Select all of the images in the
sequence and this will populate the list of images to be processed by ImPPG. Ensure
that only image files are selected as any test files will prevent the batch process from
running. Erroneous files can be manually deleted from the list.

3) Apply the process settings (which will commonly be applied to all of the images in
the list) by browsing to and loading the settings file (.xml) created in the preceding
step.

4) Create an ‘output’ folder for the processed images and name this accordingly as you
will require the images for the alignment stage.

5) Set the output format (I use TIFF, but could be JPG or other) and activate ‘start
processing’.

This action will create a set of deconvoluted/sharpened images from the raw stacked
images ready for image alignment and these will be stored in the ‘output’ folder created and
selected in step 4.

4. Image Alignment (Aligning Image Sequence)

This is an automated process that aligns the images to avoid ‘jutter’ between frames caused
by imperfect tracking.
Select ‘Align Image Sequence’ under ‘Tools’ on the main toolbar.
A popup screen will appear. Click on ‘Add Files’ and navigate to the folder containing the
ImPPG processed images from the previous stage and select all of the images. They will
appear in the list as shown below. Ensure that ‘Crop to Intersection’ and ‘Stabilize High-
contrast Features’ options are selected and set an output folder for the aligned images.

Select ‘Start Processing’ and the application will run automatically through the list of
images, aligning them accordingly and placing all images in the selected output folder.

5. Creating an Animated GIF

I use GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) which is freely available from www.gimp.org
(The current version is 2.10.18 although I’m using an older version 2.8)
The same (or similar) principles will apply if using Photoshop or other similar image
manipulation applications.

In GIMP, open all of the ALIGNED images from the image sequence by selecting ‘Open as
Layers’ from the dropdown menu under ‘File’ on the main toolbar. Navigate to the
appropriate folder containing the aligned images. Click the top of the list and Shift-Click at
the bottom of the list to highlight all of the images that are to be uploaded.

The images will be loaded into the layers window on the right in GIMP as shown, with the
first image at the top of the list displayed in the main window.
Sometimes the images might require ‘flipping’ to correctly orientate them because of the
use of a 45 ° mirror diagonal on the telescope. This can be achieved using the
‘Image/Transform/Flip Vertically’ sequence of popup menus from the toolbar.

I usually keep my animations as monochrome sequences, although they can be coloured.

Ensure that all layers are set to RGB mode and use the curves function under the ‘colours’
tab on the main menu tool bar to set the R, G and B channels. Unfortunately, unlike
rotation, this has to be done manually to every individual layer in GIMP (other software
packages may enable this to be automated). Once the images are set to how you would like
them, then they can be animated.
The animation can be previewed using the animation playback function which can be found
under the ‘Filters’ tab on the main toolbar.
Sometimes (more often than not) the animation runs backwards. In this case the layer stack
needs to be set up in reverse order so that the animation runs in the correct direction. This
is easily achieved using the ‘Reverse Layer Order’ function under the ‘Layers’ tab on the
main toolbar and the ‘Stack’ options dropdown menu.

Once it has been established that the sequence is playing in the correct direction and that
the images are correctly oriented, then the sequence can be exported as a gif animation.
In GIMP select the ‘Export As’ option under the ‘File’ tab on the main toolbar.
Give the file a .gif extension and click ‘Export’ (twice). The following popup menu will
appear. Ensure that the settings within the red circles shown here are ticked as these will
ensure that the sequence will be saved as a continuous loop animation. The delay between
frames is usually set at a default value of 100 ms, which is fine. Ensure that you have set an
output folder and press ‘Export’.

The output will be a .gif file in the selected folder, which will animate once opened.

The output from this worked example can be found here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/49942481948/in/dateposted-public/

Download (or view) the ‘original’ version for the sequence to run, otherwise you’ll just
receive a still image.
Acknowledgement:
Special thanks and deepest gratitude goes to ‘Great Attractor’ on SolarChat for his brilliant
(and free) ImPPG software application.