Select which plate solver to use

Somewhere to ask questions about the best way to use SharpCap
Forum rules


If you have a problem or question, please check the FAQ to see if it already has an answer : https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap-faqs
Post Reply
nm1213
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:47 am

Select which plate solver to use

#1

Post by nm1213 »

Hi Robin,

I've got both AstroTortilla and ASPS installed and working. However AstroTortilla has gone a bit wonky for whatever reason when being used with SharpCap. ASPS works fine as a standalone and seems to be a bit quicker.

The path in the plate solver settings is as follows:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Astrometry\bin\solve-field

Sharpcap seems to default to using Astrotortilla. How can I make it default to ASPS without un-installing AstroTortilla?

Thanks!

N.
nm1213
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:47 am

Re: Select which plate solver to use

#2

Post by nm1213 »

Seems the solver does not allow me to manually override what is auto-detected. For example, I manually select C:\cygwin\bin\solve-field, but the auto-detect is populated with: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Astrometry\bin\solve-field. SharpCap logs show the path being used as C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Astrometry\bin\solve-field.

In my case, both paths are valid. However, I'd prefer c:\cygwin\bin\solve to be used.

N.
nm1213
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:47 am

Re: Select which plate solver to use

#3

Post by nm1213 »

One more thing. I can't find the setting in the registry to toggle if the plate solver is auto-detected, or manually selected. The only key there seems to be PlateSolve.SolverLocation, and that's set to c:\cygwin\bin\solve-field. There are no keys that reference c:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Astrometry\bin\solve-field.

N.
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13177
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
Contact:

Re: Select which plate solver to use

#4

Post by admin »

It was a bug :( - will be fixed in the next 3.2 build. Thanks for spotting.

cheers,

Robin
ydots
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2018 8:43 pm

Re: Select which plate solver to use

#5

Post by ydots »

I have a problem with SharpCap recognizing Astrotortilla. It does not detect it automatically and I cannot find the solve-field file. I installed Astrotortilla first, downloaded the index files, then installed SharpCap.

Please help
nm1213
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:47 am

Re: Select which plate solver to use

#6

Post by nm1213 »

Hi,

Manually navigate to c:\cygwin\bin and see if there is a file called solve-field there. If so, launch Sharpcap, go to settings, and select the plate solver tab. There select to enter a manual path and browse to c:\cygwin\bin, and select the solve-field file. That should let you use Astrotortilla.

You may also have installed Astrotortilla in a non-default location. In this case go to Start, Run, and type in Regedit. Then ctrl+f (or select edit, find) and type in Astrotortilla. This should bring you to where Astrotortilla settings are stored. One of these settings relates to the directory where Cygwin is installed. Just make a note of this. Then close the registry, and enter the same path manually in Sharpcap.

Also, hopefully you did install Cygwin as part of Astrotortilla. Can you launch the program and solve a previously taken image without any errors? If Cygwin isn’t installed for whatever reason, just run the Astrotortilla installer again. There will be a checkbox to install Cygwin.

Hope this helps,

N.
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13177
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
Contact:

Re: Select which plate solver to use

#7

Post by admin »

Also note that there is a bug as described above in SharpCap 3.1 which means that it may not correctly use the manually entered location of a plate solving tool, so once you have found the 'solve-field' tool, if you still have trouble please try the latest SharpCap 3.2 beta build.

cheers,

Robin
ydots
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2018 8:43 pm

Re: Select which plate solver to use

#8

Post by ydots »

Thanks N and Robin,

I will follow this and see if it works. Have to wait a while though. My Lenovo Thinkpad L380 which is less than 2 weeks old just went blank and won't boot up. Have to wait 2 to 4 weeks for the warranty process. :(

Y
Post Reply