SharpCap V4.0 Not Displaying Sky Simulator Images

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lnpEAA
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2021 9:24 pm

SharpCap V4.0 Not Displaying Sky Simulator Images

#1

Post by lnpEAA »

I am unable to get SharpCap to display images provided by Sky Simulator.

Both Sky Simulator and SharpCap Hardware are set to:
• ASCOM Focuser Simulator Driver
• Telescope Simulator for .Net
With these settings RA and Dec are the same in both programs, tracking is on, and they both track the same.

Sky Simulator is set to use DSS and to put images in C:\Users\My\Documents\ASCOM

SharpCap
Live View> set to “still Image”
Cameras>Sky Simulator selected
Camera Control> exposure 5 seconds
Camera Control>Show, Get Image from C:\Users\My\Documents\ASCOM\image.png
Camera Control>Show, all other settings left at default
Scope Controls>Connected, checked, RA Dec match Sky Simulator RA Dec, directional arrows active and functional, Rate and Tracking functional.
Scope Controls>ASCOM Simulator Focuser Driver, Not Setup until camera is working
Everything else in Control Panel is untouched.

Testing
Sky Simulator is running in separate window.
When RA Dec changes Sky Simulator indicates “slewing” as the scope is moving, when scope stops, Sky Simulator indicates “Image download started” and then “Image download finished.” The path to the downloaded image is C:\Users\My\Documents\ASCOM\image.png and the new image can be viewed there (in Photos). This is the same path entered in SharpCap Camera Control>Show

So far everything is as expected. My difficulty is that the new image is not displayed in SharpCap. I think I’m missing something, perhaps a simple work flow step. The image.png file displays if I copy it to Folder Monitor Camera watch folder and set the camera appropriately. The image.png file changes to a new star field each time the scope is moved indicating Sky Simulator is working as expected up to that point. How does Sky Simulator let SharpCap know that a new image is ready? I’ve tried taking a “Snapshot” but that does not trigger display of the new image.png file.

Any assistance in helping me understand the proper SharpCap workflow to display Sky Simulator images will be much appreciated.

SharpCap V4.0 8138.0 and ASCOM 6.5.1.3234 SP1 and Sky Simulator v0.1.28 (8/27/21) are current versions.
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Menno555
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Re: SharpCap V4.0 Not Displaying Sky Simulator Images

#2

Post by Menno555 »

Hello

If I understand your question correctly ...

You mention the image being image.png. Is that the only name?
As far as I know, the Folder Monitor Camera depends on different named images. Like image1.png , image2.png, image3.png , and so on.
So most likely it can work with numbered images, counting upwards.

Menno
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admin
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Re: SharpCap V4.0 Not Displaying Sky Simulator Images

#3

Post by admin »

Hi,

are you pressing the 'Start Simulation' button in Sky Simulator? That's what makes it generate new images automatically as the co-ordinates change (note it does not generate new images while the mount is in motion as far as I can tell)
Capture.JPG
Capture.JPG (22.16 KiB) Viewed 1137 times
Also, the images can be quite dark as the sky simulator camera doesn't always report MaxADU to match the image data - you can use SharpCap display stretch to brighten them.

cheers,

Robin
lnpEAA
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2021 9:24 pm

Re: SharpCap V4.0 Not Displaying Sky Simulator Images

#4

Post by lnpEAA »

Hi

Yes,
1. In Sky Simulator I select mount and focuser then press "Start Simulation" and get "Simulation Running (Hit Escape to Stop)"
2. I manually (with SharpCap direction arrows) move scope. Beneath "Simulation Running (Hit Escape to Stop)" a message says "Slewing..."
3. When slew stops message says "Download image start"
4. After 2-3 seconds message says "Download image finish" I have exposure in SC set to 5 seconds (also tried 8s).
5. I look in the designated folder and a new image called "image.png" is there along with two other files related to focuser.
6. The new image does not appear in SharpCap.
7. Repeat steps 2-5, get a new image that overwrites the previous "image.png", no image in SharpCap.

In SharpCap Camera Control Panel I click "Show" and set Image Location to the folder used by Sky Simulation.

Test:
Copy "image.png" to monitored folder, change camera to Folder Monitor, "image.png" appears in SharpCap.

As I slew the scope the new image changes to wherever scope is pointing. I just don't know how to get SharpCap to display the image.

I'm working on this so I can begin to learn plate solving with SharpCap. The first step in that process is to get the simulated sky image into SharpCap,

Thank You

Lance
lnpEAA
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2021 9:24 pm

Re: SharpCap V4.0 Not Displaying Sky Simulator Images

#5

Post by lnpEAA »

Hi

I just tried running SharpCap in Live Stack. That works. I watched a demo video yesterday and they appeared to take a snapshot so I was working in Still Image mode and taking a Snapshot. That does not work. Live Stack does.

I will continue to learn.

Thank You for such a wonderful product.

Lance
Dylan22b
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Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:25 am

Re: SharpCap V4.0 Not Displaying Sky Simulator Images

#6

Post by Dylan22b »

I have the same exact problem and its super annoying. There are no tips or tutorials on anything about this
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Re: SharpCap V4.0 Not Displaying Sky Simulator Images

#7

Post by admin »

Hi,

so the folder monitor camera is the wrong choice to make this work - you should just select 'Sky Simulator' from the list of ASCOM cameras in the SharpCap cameras menu.

In the setup window for the Sky Simulator ASCOM driver there is a big button which you may need to use to set the path where the main Sky Simulator program is writing the image.png file, especially if you have changed that path.

cheers,

Robin
Jupiter
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Re: SharpCap V4.0 Not Displaying Sky Simulator Images

#8

Post by Jupiter »

I had virtually the same experience as the original poster re: not seeing the sky simulator image on sharpcap though being able to see the simulated image in the target folder using a windows image previewer. The image was generated successfully by Sky Simulator...but it looked black in Sharpcap.

I now believe that I know what the issue is though I have only briefly tested it.

It appears that what you need to do is set the maximum A/D counts in the simulator (you get there by clicking on the "show" options on the camera panel on Sharpcap) to 256 i.e. 8 bits (it seems to default to 65535...16 bits). The stars now appear and the camera is reported as 8 bit mono rather than 16 bits.

My guess is that the image was always present however it was so low level since it was based on an 8 bit range whereas the screen was scaled to a full 16 bits...it just showed as a black screen.

I would love if someone could comment if this "fix" works and also if it makes senses. This is my first post...just getting my system glued together...thanks to Robin for a great piece of SW.
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Re: SharpCap V4.0 Not Displaying Sky Simulator Images

#9

Post by admin »

Hi,

thanks for sharing that tip - it basically works for me, although I got black cores on the brightes stars if I set the MAX ADU to 256. Set it to 255 instead and this problem goes away :)

cheers,

Robin
Jupiter
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Re: SharpCap V4.0 Not Displaying Sky Simulator Images

#10

Post by Jupiter »

Sorry...yes typo....255 not 256. cheers.
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