Live stack of folder contents

Discussions of Electronically Assisted Astronomy using the Live Stacking feature.
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Duncan
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Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 10:31 pm

Live stack of folder contents

#1

Post by Duncan »

Hi , in love with sharp cap pro , particularly the stacking /live stack element .

I am trying to sort a computer issue with wifi, Rpi's and SharpCap etc and wondered if a different programme can capture images and save them to the folder which pro then allows you to stack ., I. E run a Sharp Cap live stack on images captured by a different programme ? Can't see this being an issue if they are all in the folder at the same time BUT if they are added after you tell Sharp Cap to stack I. E have the two programmes running in parallel will Sharp Cap only stack those in the folder when you press go , and any subsequently added will be ignored .

Currently i have a usb3 lead through a window but the Ideal is all scope requirements fed to a rpi4 then wifi'd in to a laptop in doors with Sharp Cap running ,however, it seems that the programmes that allow you to do this at the scope end (astroberry etc ) will not work directly with Sharp cap , leaving the only way forwards to install a mini pc (NUC etc) on the scope running winows.

Duncan
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Re: Live stack of folder contents

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

yes, this is possible, either with the files already in the folder or with them being added in real time - choose the 'Virtual Folder Monitor Camera' and have a look at this part of the documentation : https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/3.2/#Virtual%20Cameras

Note that the files need to be in a format that SharpCap can read - FITS, PNG, or TIFF.

thanks,

Robin
Avocette
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Re: Live stack of folder contents

#3

Post by Avocette »

Hi Duncan,
I personally use Astroberry on a RPi4 controlled through VNC Viewer on my laptop. I live stack the captured images by collecting them using the file transfer function in VNC, and then pointing Sharpcap to the folder on the laptop. Great for a quick stack and save to jpeg to have something to show before committing to a full stack and process the next day.
There are smoother ways of doing the transfer, for instance using Syncthing on the RPi and laptop (and possibly using the Samba server I am told is built into Astroberry, but I would need more detailed help to get this going myself). I had Syncthing running brilliantly well for some time, using default settings, but I subsequently had difficulty changing folder names, and found that if I changed anything it would wreck the functionality.
These day I run two rigs, the second with a SW AZGTi linked via WiFi, and each has an RPi running Astroberry. I sit indoors with my laptop running SharpCap Pro and monitor and live stack as I go...
Good luck, Ed
Duncan
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Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 10:31 pm

Re: Live stack of folder contents

#4

Post by Duncan »

Ed ,

looks like you are doing just what I aspire to . Only a power lead to the scope and everything (mount /camera /tracking via phd2/ etc) controlled /sent over WiFi .
I had a great night last night and took many images with sharp cap on my laptop indoors and a usb3 lead out of the kitchen window, so with your system astroberry runs on the rpi with phd2 on it and an imaging programme to take the images . The images are sent to the main computer with sharp cap running which stacks them live as they are taken as if it was sharp cap controlling the camera to take the images . Do you run stellarium as a planetarium and use the telescope control plug in to control your mount , if so is it on the rpi or the internal computer ?

Think I know what to ask Santa for this Christmas .

Duncan
Duncan
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Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 10:31 pm

Re: Live stack of folder contents

#5

Post by Duncan »

Robin

Tried out your method by creating an empty folder , browsing to it in the live stack section of folder monitor and then dragging and dropping images to if one at a time , result , yes it works and live stacks images added to the folder (by other means) in real time .
When you clear the live stack left had side of the screen the frame count restarts for the next set of images , but strangely , the right hand section (below the browse to section " does not zero the counter .? Minor problem that has no effect on the end result .

Thanks for a great programme

Duncan
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Re: Live stack of folder contents

#6

Post by admin »

Hi Duncan,

Glad to hear you got this working. The two frame counters have slightly different meanings. The one on the right-hand side keeps track of the number of frames that have been found in the folder and the number that have been processed so far. The one in the live stacking is just tracking the number of frames that have been added to the current stack.

Cheers, Robin
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