Saturn 22/4 ANIMATION...

[Kokatha man]

:eek: Heh-hee.....I made a crude animation about 12 months ago and then forgot anything I'd learnt by not doing anymore till today: I've switched from CS3 to CS4 since (although I think they're fairly similar therein) but I am having trouble with some of the finer points of animation..!

Firstly, I appreciate that getting all the frames as close as identical to each other is paramount.....for this little animation the problem lay with the last frame (coincidentally the best, as seen in this thread http://stargazerslounge.com/editpost.php?do=updatepost&postid=1792742 )

Despite it being taken as the last in a sequence of captures with identical capture & processing applications, the colour was somewhat different and I spent most of my time trying to approximate it to the rest.....

Unfortunately it wasn't 100% successfull.....but despite this I decided NOT to discard it (which would have solved the problem!!!)

In "chasing" some sort of colour parity the background has become lighter and this shows as an annoying brightening at the end before the sequence jumps back to the first frame again.....

I could have been a bit more focussed on the smoothness of the imagery for this animation also (but it did seem to degrade the individual images as an animation regardless) bu I'll live with that and other inadequacies for the moment...but I have hit a brick wall trying to discover how to add the frames onto this sequence in reverse so that the animation runs forwards and then reverses sequence back to the start etc rather than getting to the end and jumping back to the start - I prefer that method.....can anyone assist me in this....?

Other than that I'm relatively happy with the outcome as a first "genuine" animation attempt - those 4 tiny moons (Enceladus right out to the left) shuttling back & forth are bonuses imho. (my last animation about a year ago was pretty crude in comparison to say the least!:D)

[johnh]

Thats a great animation and you really do lift up those moons most neglect especially Enceladus which is very faint. You can tear your hair out getting everything to match with varying conditions, you can see the end frame is so much better than the rest where the Encke pops out. I use microsoft GIF animator as its so simple for forwards/backwards animations. Excellent work anyway as this takes lots of time.

John.

[Kokatha man]

"Tear you hair out" is right John.....I'm about to go for a walk before I re-tackle this later....!:)

The last frame (clearly the best) also has inadvertently had some gamma added late last night when I was battling with colour equalisation on that frame.....the tiredness must've made me do a couple of ridiculous things that in the light of day were madness..!

That accounts for the background brightening.....no problems fixing that, but after mulling over the frame reversal I wanted I decided to just bite the bullet and go for the simplest in terms of logic (even if there is a simple menu application that'll do it easily!)

That of course is to just keep on creating layers with the images in reverse order.....but something's gone awry and the animation won't play ball at all at the moment.....hence the need for a break.....it could even be that the software/pc wants one::D last night I got to wavelets in R6 with one of the images for this animation and suddenly all the controls just went haywire.....just had to close it and start again..!

But I know I need a break....!

Thanks for that link, I'll look into it later...:)

[beamish]

I am loving that Darryl !

grrrrrrrr

[oldfruit]

Love your results. It`s great to see when you more experienced guys post animations when the rest of us mere mortals are struggling to produce a single decent image.

I cannot imagine the amount of patience you must have to capture and process animations like this.

[astroman001]

That is a really fantastic result. I love the moons sequence, the frames look really well registered with sharp moons and storm detail.

Well done

Peter

[Olorin]

amazing details!! great work. love the moons!

Thanks for sharing

Dror

[Kokatha man]

Thanks Karlo, o/f, Peter and Dror.....we've finally sorted this blasted animation thingy out I think!?!:D:D

Apart from the last frame having some gamma that lightened the background (hence that "flicker" at the end) we have just discovered that one of the frames was actually a tad larger image size: its' total size was 826x619 pixels as opposed to the rest being 816x612 pixels.....have no darn idea how that came about but it was simple to change it to the other ratio.....hopefully when we get the new frameset finished in the next hour or so we can ameliorate the flicker and also the apparent "jump" halfway through which must've been that slightly oversized image.....and we got the rewind by virtue of doing what i said I'd have to - making a set on the end in reverse order....!

Boy, this sure is hair-pulling stuff as John said.....by the time we'd worked out what we think are all the glitches the animation we were working on was a bit of a hotch-potch so we just closed it down and headed for a cup of tea.....but we'll be back in the saddle in a few minutes and edit/repost the animation!

Sure accelerates the learning process!!!

ps oldfruit: I know we're heading towards "ancient" status but as for "experienced chaps" we've only been planetary imaging for 2 years.....

[beamish]

Is that a "Royal We" or have you a silent partner ?

[Luis Campos]

Wow!!!....Just WOW

[Kokatha man]

Is that a "Royal We" or have you a silent partner ?

Heh-hee Karlo.....you're a mind reader!?! I was just about to edit the animation and acknowledge my partner who's just gone inside to make a cuppa.....

But she certainly ain't "silent"....!:D:D

All the imaging (not much processing though!!!) is done with her company and assistance (she retired last year as a Uni SA "gun" IT fixer) and I owe a lot to her and never forget it (she certainly won't let me!?!:D

But seriously, she has been great help tonight.....here's the latest rework.....and to demonstrate my boundless gratitude to her (we've been together for 41 years) I'm posting/editing the 0.3 seconds per frame job which she "reckons is better" than the 0.2 sec job.....who am I to argue - a flamin' idiot wanting to invoke her wrath..?!?:)

Animation numero duo.....

[Kokatha man]

.....aah well, here's the 0.2 second one as well - there's a little frame jump still there and more colour balance also etc.....but as John said, these are incredibly intense jobs keeping track of things.....we'll sort that out and some other refinements for when I get my new website up and running...

ps: I like this one a little better.....:)

[Space Cowboy]

Great animation! Quite hypnotic watching those moons.

[AztecastroMcJ]

Quality result

all good, last 2 slightly better than 1st i think

moons r great

thx for posting

James

[hayju01]

absolutely fantastic nice job!

[Kokatha man]

Thanks Stuart, James and Justin.....yes. the little moons shuttling back and forth do really add to the image imo.....and I hope you're right James - the 2nd & 3rd (just simple variations of each other) took a lot more effort than the first one did: it was working out how to get the animation to reverse itself that was hardest - and in the end we did it the time-consuming way.....but I think it improved them also.

Still a bit more needed to get it as good as it can be.....but it was a terrific learning experience where you really have to stay on top of all the p/shop applications you execute.....and what you put in really needs the utmost care in getting everything as balanced as possible.....as well as double checking everything as you do it imho....!

Thank goodness I don't get runs of captures to animate very often.....although there is one or two from a month ago that I should do also....!:D

[AztecastroMcJ]

yep think batch processing would help

however u do that lol

[beamish]

Last two are very good ! Certainly paid off to do the re-work

cough.. I actually prefer the 0.3 version

(ducks for cover !)

[nightfisher]

They are really good, the detail is superb

[Kokatha man]

Thanks again fellas....."batch" processing sure would be great James: as for the 0.3 or 0.2 or whatever.....I have this feeling that if I'd gone for the 0.3 initially "she who will give you her opinion regardless" might've come up with a different preference..!:D

At least it keeps us on our toes.....but throwing animations into the equations with all the processing for them as well really rockets the work-load.....you don't have to worry about how identical each image is to others you process when animations aren't part of the objective.....meaning with these I had to vdub & ninox etc allmost the whole darn lot again, seeing I'd cropped out Enceladus in most of the original vdub & ninoxing....!

[omneferuss]

....all very well Dazza... but 'Auteur' status awaits the Full-length feature.. Cate and Jeffrey are keen, but cameo roles just aren't enuff, they say.. despite what you've done for Enceladus

All Haill to Pat, I go with the longer subframes too... but regardless, Bro...

these are gobsmackingly georgeous... tho' no doubt only your 'C B DeMille' period... sofar.

What will you achieve with that Peter Jackson VX at your disposal ?!

....but lest the novice or passerby think it's "ALL in the equipment", let me disabuse them of that delusion!!

Dazza has spent untold hard yards like a daemon-possessed draught-horse , not dallying with some dilettant delinquency delight deliciously dangled before him..

and fought his demons every step of the way... his 'silent partner' at every step beside him!

....if anyone desrved to attend that dinner-party with the likes of Gallileo and Newton, as a representative of Future Generations who appreciate the wealth of understanding that they bequeathed to us, then here I think is the work of two noble candidates... who, with more diligence and determination than dollars, have achieved and will achieve more and better than their detractors could ever imagine.

[Kokatha man]

Heh-hee Russ.....methinks your prose overfloweth..!

But thank you very much for the compliments brother: I'm really just a "song & dance man" - or as Pat is prone to say...allways making a song & dance about something..!

Sometimes I see myself as a sort of "Victor Meldrew" character from that (now old) British comedy series.....although I do like to smell the roses frequently!