At every opportunity I record hours-long videos of northern lights and I recently had an idea to insert a scale of geomagnetic activity indicators and solar wind parameters on the video in the form of a line chart, so that the events on the video correspond to these indicators. I think it would be very convenient for studying the behavior of auroras at certain values of solar wind and magnetometers on the ground. The format of the final video could be made 4:3: with the standard 16:9 widescreen format on top, and the line charts on the bottom, and the UTC observed time scale below, and all these charts crossed by a vertical slider. I hope I'm stating the idea correctly through the translator.

I know how to use the basic functions of simple video editors, but they lack a necessary feature. I would be grateful if knowledgeable people could contribute to the study of this issue.

At this point, I have no idea what program to implement this in. It is necessary to insert the image of line diagrams of magnetometers and some indicators of solar wind into the video of aurora borealis and as it is played back the vertical line should move from left to right along these diagrams.

Edited April 18Apr 18 by Samrau

Theory wise what you need to do in broad terms is

Time your video to your trace . If your trace is 6hrs and there is 39 seconds of live video for that 6 hrs , your 2d animation wants to be 39 seconds long too .

In a 2d animation program

You'd need two layers the first your trace the second whatever image you are using for your bar ( you may need to create a small rectangle yourself in a painting program of the right px by px size that you want ) .

Then to animate your bar you would need to set a key frame at the start and end of the video . The bar at the begining of trace at the first key frame , the bar at the end of the trace at the last key frame . This should give you the sweeping bar effect I think you are looking for here .

Once you've exported that it's just a case of placing the two video clips into a video editor , your live footage and the trace, and placing one over the other , they may need adjusting in size obviously .

Hope this helps achieve what your trying to do

Edited April 18Apr 18 by Alphane

Can you tell me if I titled the topic correctly or would it be better to do it differently?

'How do you create an animated graph trace ?'

Would be my suggestion if you aren't happy with the original

1 minute ago, Alphane said:

'How do you create an animated graph trace ?'

Would be my suggestion if you aren't happy with the original

It is imperative that the title of the topic speaks for itself, I guess I'll add yours, too.

Creating an animated graph trace for aurora videos

Maybe ??

Edited April 18Apr 18 by Alphane

2 hours ago, Samrau said:

At every opportunity I record hours-long videos of northern lights and I recently had an idea to insert a scale of geomagnetic activity indicators and solar wind parameters on the video in the form of a line chart, so that the events on the video correspond to these indicators. I think it would be very convenient for studying the behavior of auroras at certain values of solar wind and magnetometers on the ground. The format of the final video could be made 4:3: with the standard 16:9 widescreen format on top, and the line charts on the bottom, and the UTC observed time scale below, and all these charts crossed by a vertical slider. I hope I'm stating the idea correctly through the translator.

I know how to use the basic functions of simple video editors, but they lack a necessary feature. I would be grateful if knowledgeable people could contribute to the study of this issue.

At this point, I have no idea what program to implement this in. It is necessary to insert the image of line diagrams of magnetometers and some indicators of solar wind into the video of aurora borealis and as it is played back the vertical line should move from left to right along these diagrams.

If you don't mind paying for a reasonably priced subscription, Premiere Pro would be a great program for something like this (If you cancel it the amount refunded is prorated. The longer you own it the less the money is returned).

You can add and manipulate a still image (the graph) over the top of a video. You would have to transform the graph image by resizing it first then stretching it across the frame, then entering the amount of time that image should be visible. If you wanted to also add a bar that moves across the graph (like how JHelioviewer does with the x-ray flux graph over satellite imagery) you would have to animate the graph then add a bar graphic or add the bar as a separate layer and animate it instead. This sounds a little complicated at first but can be quickly learned via their own tutorials (youtube is probably a better option) or by simply experimenting on your own.

I've wanted create something similar to your idea so today I'll experiment with the methods I shared above and update the outcome and what I learned. Even if you do pick a different program the methods should still be identical (unless you find a program that completely automates the process lol).

16 minutes ago, Parabolic said:

If you don't mind paying for a reasonably priced subscription, Premiere Pro would be a great program for something like this (If you cancel it the amount refunded is prorated. The longer you own it the less the money is returned).

You can add and manipulate a still image (the graph) over the top of a video. You would have to transform the graph image by resizing it first then stretching it across the frame, then entering the amount of time that image should be visible. If you wanted to also add a bar that moves across the graph (like how JHelioviewer does with the x-ray flux graph over satellite imagery) you would have to animate the graph then add a bar graphic or add the bar as a separate layer and animate it instead. This sounds a little complicated at first but can be quickly learned via their own tutorials (youtube is probably a better option) or by simply experimenting on your own.

I've wanted create something similar to your idea so today I'll experiment with the methods I shared above and update the outcome and what I learned. Even if you do pick a different program the methods should still be identical (unless you find a program that completely automates the process lol).

Along with @Alphane , this is valuable information. If you have a chance, try doing this with my YouTube video. Can you download it? No restrictions, I won't prosecute for copyright infringement ). Try doing. The time on the video is +5UTC.

What do you normally use to edit your videos?

I use DaVinci Resolve -- you can get the "non-studio version" for free and it will do everything you need.

I just tested the line indicator in it (I have the studio version, but the free version will do it as well) -- all you need is a line a gif, or jpg or png) then you just literally keyframe it in, and it's SUPER simple. Put in your start point, end point, and it's done.

I knew I was thinking it way too complicated.

It literally takes seconds and you can layer it onto your charts and have the Aurora video on top part.

Here's the tutorial - he's using just the Resolve logo, but you use a line instead, same exact thing; I tried it, it works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3wgEe0OJ18

Edited April 18Apr 18 by NightSky

@NightSky Thanks for another valuable information. I mostly use MOVAVI VideoEditorPlus from an older version. I learn new programs quite quickly and I'm not afraid of difficulties, I just need to find time for it. Now I have a lot of work to do outside: taking care of garden trees, planting lawns and flowers, maintenance of the house. I also need to pay more attention to my main job, as the construction season has started.

1 hour ago, Samrau said:

If you have a chance, try doing this with my YouTube video.

I made a quick example what I was thinking using SWPC real time solar wind data (for the 15th) and will post it here in a moment.

This is just a rough example of what I had in mind. I couldn't be bothered with a .gif so here's a video lol.

I also just noticed that the line slows down in the middle and it wasn't intentional, although it does remind me that the ability to change speed at anytime is useful.

Edited April 18Apr 18 by Parabolic

37 minutes ago, Parabolic said:

I made a quick example what I was thinking using SWPC real time solar wind data (for the 15th) and will post it here in a moment.

This is just a rough example of what I had in mind. I couldn't be bothered with a .gif so here's a video lol

Good job! In the right direction

8 minutes ago, Samrau said:

Good job! In the right direction

Where was your video at again and did you have a graph picked out already?

Edited April 19Apr 19 by Parabolic
Grammar

We need to think how to make the graphs more compact and not lose their informational value, besides, we need to add at least one magnetometer - the most important indicator. The video itself, I think, does not need to be big, but some minimal auroral activity should be clearly visible to make conclusions more correct.

If anyone has any other ideas, please suggest them, suddenly a brilliant solution will be born out of different “stupid” suggestions.

The distribution of likes will continue tomorrow, as I have exhausted the limit.

@Parabolic I'm not doing any video editing yet, to be honest. I may do them later while I'm busy with my household chores. If you can, download from youtube https://youtu.be/i6-S11qSIt0 and try to insert the charts there. You can send here a screenshot of the video template with charts for now, we'll see the layout.

2 minutes ago, Samrau said:

We need to think how to make the graphs more compact and not lose their informational value, besides, we need to add at least one magnetometer - the most important indicator. The video itself, I think, does not need to be big, but some minimal auroral activity should be clearly visible to make conclusions more correct.

If anyone has any other ideas, please suggest them, suddenly a brilliant solution will be born out of different “stupid” suggestions.

The distribution of likes will continue tomorrow, as I have exhausted the limit.

These are the other ones I picked out. Around halfway through the event DSCOVER data was very inconsistent so I left that one out. I can more than likely add whatever mag plots you find. As for the resizing without compromising visual quality, that's normally no issue for me. I have a fair amount of experience with aspect ratios and image scaling. Making the background of the graph transparent without losing the actual lines might be a little difficult but I can probably isolate them.

I'm about to send google drive a link to the video.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nAnwDxXCm97RA4m0ffLnEQSe5MecHWNt/view?usp=sharing

29 minutes ago, Samrau said:

I'm about to send google drive a link to the video.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nAnwDxXCm97RA4m0ffLnEQSe5MecHWNt/view?usp=sharing

Awesome, I got it downloaded. I'll try to complete 1-3 versions before 05:00:00UTC. The included time stamp in UTC format is a big help btw!

@Parabolic The time on the video is +5UTC, keep that in mind. You don't have to do it, much less rush it, but I can't wait to see it nonetheless.

2 hours ago, Samrau said:

a lot of work to do outside: taking care of garden trees, planting lawns and flowers,

Oh, trust me, I know.... 😆

I've been busting my butt in the garden for the last few weeks, and that's JUST for flowers.

We have a few fruit trees, and I had some work around them several weeks ago. It's just slow work. I still have more work waiting, but I think I start getting on the winning side of it, I hope.

I do think - if you find time to look into it, that you'd like Resolve because while it's a hugely capable editor, it's also very easy to use. I've tried several different editors over the years, so I've seen my share of them. Best part was that I could test it with the free version and when I liked it, I moved on to the paid version because it had some perks that were useful for me.

2 minutes ago, Samrau said:

@Parabolic The time on the video is +5UTC, keep that in mind. You don't have to do it, much less rush it, but I can't wait to see it nonetheless.

Ah okay thanks for the heads up

8 hours ago, NightSky said:

Oh, trust me, I know.... 😆

I've been busting my butt in the garden for the last few weeks, and that's JUST for flowers.

We have a few fruit trees, and I had some work around them several weeks ago. It's just slow work. I still have more work waiting, but I think I start getting on the winning side of it, I hope.

Brooooo, yes we have a lot in common 🤗, we could even create a separate thread for gardeners 😂

@Samrau

It's going to take me a little while longer to work on it (Electrical issues at home) but I'll more than likely be able to start on it around 14:00 - 15:00 tomorrow.

2 hours ago, Parabolic said:

@Samrau

It's going to take me a little while longer to work on it (Electrical issues at home) but I'll more than likely be able to start on it around 14:00 - 15:00 tomorrow.

NP

12 hours ago, Samrau said:

Brooooo, yes we have a lot in common 🤗, we could even create a separate thread for gardeners 😂

Haha,

I'm actually super bad at gardening, I just don't have a green thumb. That said, I've been trying to grow flowers for 20 years - because I want to have a nice place for butterflies and Hummingbirds in summer. So I have way too may flowerbeds with way too many flowers.... but I can't stop because I need them to keep butterflies and Hummingbirds happy!

I already mentioned the fruit trees, and in addition to those I usually try to grow some tomatoes, too... somehow the bugs end up eating more of the tomatoes than I get to harvest. This year I started the tomatoes from seed so at least I didn't spend a bunch of money to get small tomato plants to start with. Whether they'll grow to produce tomatoes... I guess we'll see...LOL!

On 4/19/2025 at 10:15 AM, Parabolic said:

@Samrau

It's going to take me a little while longer to work on it (Electrical issues at home) but I'll more than likely be able to start on it around 14:00 - 15:00 tomorrow.

apparently a friend of @Parabolic decided to plant flowerbeds, too. ahahaha