6. Making a Movie of the Spectra

We already know how to plot the spectra in IDL (see How to plot the fitted spectra outside SPEX). We can use the IDL routine TVRD to read the current widow containing the spectrum for each interval. Then we use WRITE_JPEG to save it as a jpeg file. People who want to know the details of this should refer to Fanning's book "IDL Programming Techniques".

The following is a sample code:

IDL> image24 = tvrd(true = 1) ;read current IDL window
IDL> write_jpeg, jpegName, image24, quality = 75, true = 1 ;write to a jpeg file, jpegname is the name of the file
 

Each spectrum is thus saved as a jpeg file. There are many ways to make a movie from multiple jpeg files. Here are two of them:

(1) Using movie maker VideoMach (shareware, noncommercial use is free !). It is very easy to make MPEG or AVI movies. Here is the sample movie. As you can see, we add the flare light curve at the top of the spectrum window and mark the time of each spectrum in lightcurve.

(2) using JSMOVIE in SSW. It is good for web publishing. Here is the sample movie.

This page last updated: June 27, 2011