A brief introduction to the SharpCap Sequencer

Discussions, Bug Reports and Issues related to Beta versions of SharpCap
3ricJohanson
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Re: A brief introduction to the SharpCap Sequencer

#31

Post by 3ricJohanson »

I'm so very excited about this feature. Here's a sample of what I'm trying to do with it, and so far it seems to be working well. My goal is to image from a bunch of positions using two cameras, so my "run exec" stuff is about triggering camera 2 (running in sharpcap).

Some feedback in general about the sequencer:

- it would be nice to be able to copy/paste existing steps, either in the GUI or in the text to the bottom left of the editor. I currently end up using an external editor and load it up in the sequencer.
- It would be nice to have a "sleep until reached setpoint temp" (with a timeout if it's never reached?)
- it would be nice to be able to edit the text in the sequence in the bottom left window.
- Might be wise to listed units for RA/Dec (hours, degrees, etc) for mount control
- Conditionals on focus failure?
- would be nice if the "RA/Dec" Coordinate repeat functions also allowed for specification of the object name -- it would clean up my code considerably so I wouldn't need to use a script to write a sequence.
- For focus, it's often that focus needs to be be redone after X minutes, N photos, or Y degrees temp change (at least, that's what the other major sequence tools use). For me, I'd be happy with an autofocus every X minutes.

But even as is I'm excited to use this new capability. Very exciting times.

Best,
-3ric Johanson


SEQUENCE
CAMERA OPEN QHY410C
SET COOLER TARGET TO 0
DELAY 10
SET BINNING TO 1
SET COLOUR SPACE TO RAW16
SET EXPOSURE TO 6
SET GAIN TO 20
SET OFFSET TO 74
SET RESOLUTION TO 6072x4040
SET OUTPUT FORMAT TO "FITS files (*.fits)"
MOUNT CONNECT
MOUNT GOTO 20 35
DELAY 2
TARGETNAME A10-20
RUN c:\temp\trigger_camera_2.exe WITH PARAMS "A10-20, 6" WAIT False
CAPTURE 6 FRAMES
MOUNT GOTO 17 5
DELAY 2
TARGETNAME A11-20
RUN c:\temp\trigger_camera_2.exe WITH PARAMS A11-20,6 WAIT False
CAPTURE 6 FRAMES
FOCUSER CONNECT
AUTOFOCUS FROM 1 TO 100 STEP COUNT 5 BACKLASH 200
FOCUSER DISCONNECT
MOUNT GOTO 16 5
DELAY 2
TARGETNAME A12-20
RUN c:\temp\trigger_camera_2.exe WITH PARAMS A12-20,6 WAIT False
CAPTURE 6 FRAMES
WARM UP TO 15 LIMIT 3 RATE 8 TOLERANCE 1
SET COOLER OFF
MOUNT DISCONNECT
CAMERA CLOSE
END SEQUENCE
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Re: A brief introduction to the SharpCap Sequencer

#32

Post by admin »

Hi,

thanks for the feedback – it's good to hear that you are finding the new functionality helpful :-) I will answer your suggestions in detail below.

Robin
3ricJohanson wrote: Fri Jan 29, 2021 5:50 pm
Some feedback in general about the sequencer:

- it would be nice to be able to copy/paste existing steps, either in the GUI or in the text to the bottom left of the editor. I currently end up using an external editor and load it up in the sequencer.
You can copy/paste in the GUI - select one or more steps and use Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V. I guess I need to add these to the Edit menu
- It would be nice to have a "sleep until reached setpoint temp" (with a timeout if it's never reached?)
the best thing to do is to use the built-in cooldown step – this will call the camera down at a given rate. There's a warmup step as well.
- it would be nice to be able to edit the text in the sequence in the bottom left window.
I've wondered about this myself – the difficulty is working out what to do when the edits lead to invalid syntax. To make it truly usable you need a way to show exactly where the problem is, which would be quite a lot of work.
- Might be wise to listed units for RA/Dec (hours, degrees, etc) for mount control
I think the units are currently decimal hours and decimal degrees. As you say I should make this clear. If you look in the sequence planner tool, I've added a way there to enter the coordinates in pretty much any commonly used Ra/dec format – have a play with that and if it works for you, let me know - I could see if I can do the same thing the steps in the sequencer
- Conditionals on focus failure?
so far I've avoided conditionals or variables – adding those would make the whole thing a fully fledged programming language which would add a lot of complexity. In an increasing scale of complexity some things that might be possible are : an ignore errors block; a retry on error block; a take recovery steps if there is an error block
- would be nice if the "RA/Dec" Coordinate repeat functions also allowed for specification of the object name -- it would clean up my code considerably so I wouldn't need to use a script to write a sequence.
good idea, thanks
- For focus, it's often that focus needs to be be redone after X minutes, N photos, or Y degrees temp change (at least, that's what the other major sequence tools use). For me, I'd be happy with an autofocus every X minutes.
You should be able to achieve this using a 'Run a periodic task ...' block - this sets up a set of steps to be run at the interval given. Note that the steps only get run between other steps or between frames when capturing with the camera in still mode. This is how the periodic dithering is implemented.

But even as is I'm excited to use this new capability. Very exciting times.
cwm2col
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Re: A brief introduction to the SharpCap Sequencer

#33

Post by cwm2col »

Hello Robin,

Regarding dithering in the sharpcap 4 sequence beta, could you clarify some queries ease?

1. Where is the dither amount in pixels set?
2. Does the dithering happen only between captures, linked to phd2, and not during short exposure as possible in livestack.
3. I use an explore scientific 16mp deepsky color cam, same as bresser version and orion starshoot 16 I think. It has an ascom driver, works fine in sharpcap up to v3.2. After sensor analysis, I cannot use the brain feature. Are the ascom supported cameras limited in this feature?

Love sharpcap though.

Best wishes, Colm
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Re: A brief introduction to the SharpCap Sequencer

#34

Post by admin »

Hi Colm,

dithering amount is now set in the 'Guiding' page of the settings - this applies to dithering within live stacking and to those triggered by the sequencer tool.

In the sequencer, to use dithering you should put the camera into 'Still' mode - this means that SharpCap can pause capturing completely while the dither happens (not even needing the short exposures used in live stacking).

There's no intention to break/limit the smart histogram/brain in 4.0 - I wonder if it is somehow looking for the wrong file. If you look in the log you will find entries about looking for the sensor analysis file - ie

Code: Select all

Info   	18:45:38.542090	#1 	Did not find sensor characteristics at C:\Program Files (x86)\SharpCap 4.0\SensorLibrary\AA115MTEC~MONO8.json	
Info   	18:46:04.644927	#1 	Loading library sensor characteristics from C:\Program Files (x86)\SharpCap 4.0\SensorLibrary\ALTAIRGP224C~RAW8.json				

Have a look at the file names it is looking for and also look at the analysis file that will be saved in

Code: Select all

C:\Users\<your windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\SharpCap\SensorCharacteristics
cheers,

Robin
cwm2col
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Re: A brief introduction to the SharpCap Sequencer

#35

Post by cwm2col »

Thank you Robin,

Regarding the dithering query I had, I was referring to the dithering amount in pixels, not the duration (if that is what you thought I asked). With a ratio between my guide scope and imaging scope of 1.5, I can set a 20 pixel dither in sharpcap live stack corresponding to ~30 pixel imaging dither, same in APT. Can that value be set in the sequencer in SC 4.0?
I see the option for still mode and triggering a dither without needing to capture, but I would like to be able to control how much to dither in pixels, if its possible.

Thanks, Colm
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Re: A brief introduction to the SharpCap Sequencer

#36

Post by admin »

3ricJohanson wrote: Fri Jan 29, 2021 5:50 pm
- would be nice if the "RA/Dec" Coordinate repeat functions also allowed for specification of the object name -- it would clean up my code considerably so I wouldn't need to use a script to write a sequence.
This is now available in SharpCap 4.0.7483 - the 'csv' files for the targets can optionally have a target name at the start of each line, followed by the co-ordinates.

I have tried to make SharpCap as flexible as possible in parsing the co-ordinates from these files - I took every form of RA/Dec co-ordinates I could find online and made sure SharpCap could handle them all. All of the following should work to get you the Orion Nebula

Code: Select all

M42, 05 35 17.3 -05 23 28
M42, 05 32 49.8 -05 25 21
M42, RA 5h 35m 17s | Dec -5° 23′ 28″
M42, 5h 35m 17s   -5° 23′ 28″
M42, 5h35m17.39s/Dec-5°23'28.24"
M42, RA= 5h 35.4m, Dec= -05° 27´
M42, RA: 05h 35m 24.0s Dec: -05°27'00"
M42, 5h RA, -5° DEC
M42, RA 05h 35.4m |Dec. -05° 27″
M42, RA 05h 35.4m, dec. –05º 27’
M42, {RA=05:35:16,Dec=-05:23:28}
M42, 5.5880555555555551 -5.3911111111111119
M42, (05:35:20.556, -05:18:32.593)
M42, (83.84, -5.309)
Robin
cwm2col
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Re: A brief introduction to the SharpCap Sequencer

#37

Post by cwm2col »

Hi again Robin,

Can I ask your advice about implementing the option you suggested earlier in the thread, re dithering in still mode between frames.
I am using the 'standard' sequencer, and the advanced mode that corresponds to this is here:
Clipboard01.jpg
Clipboard01.jpg (118.54 KiB) Viewed 2924 times
Looking at it, will this profile allow still mode between frames and a dither, before capturing the next frame. Or do I need to modify it in the advanced mode to put into still mode between frames. How can that be done effectively?

I am only using this to capture my light frames, 240 s subs, with a heavy dither between each frame. Thanks for any help.
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Re: A brief introduction to the SharpCap Sequencer

#38

Post by admin »

Hi,

you don't need to make any big adjustments in the advanced editor to make that work. In fact the 'Capture Still Frames' step understands that dithering may need to happen in the background and will perform the dithering operation between frames as required. The only change I would suggest making is to reduce the dithering interval by a few seconds – with the frame time and the dithering both set to 240 seconds there's just a chance that sometimes you might get two frames happening without a dither in between.

Cheers, Robin
cwm2col
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Re: A brief introduction to the SharpCap Sequencer

#39

Post by cwm2col »

Thank you Robin,

If I reduce dithering interval by a few seconds, would that not cause unwanted movement in the frame about to finish?
Basically,how do I get dithering to start after 240s frame has elapsed, but prevent another frame from starting while dithering is happening? Maybe it does that, but I didn't by see a commands that inform me about the dithering process (especially amount of dithering which is important for me, but an aside to the current query).
Thanks again, Colm
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Re: A brief introduction to the SharpCap Sequencer

#40

Post by admin »

Hi,

Give it a try was shorter exposures to familiarise yourself with what is going on. The dithering will never happen during the frame – it will happen at the next frame gap are the dithering interval has finished. If you set the frame time to 40 seconds and the dither interval to 30 seconds and then run the sequence you will see in the log that a dithering operation is happening after each frame - like this :

Code: Select all

20:25:44 Starting  : Capture 100 still frames (guiding required : True)
20:25:44 Starting  : Wait until guiding is active
20:25:44 Info      : 'Current guiding state is Guiding' while running step Wait until guiding is active
20:25:44 Completed : Wait until guiding is active
20:26:24 Progress  : (completed 1 of 100) Capture 100 still frames (guiding required : True)
20:26:25 Pausing main sequence to run periodic task Dither every 30 seconds
20:26:25 Starting  : Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:26:25 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:26:26 Info      : 'Current dither state is Settling, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:26:27 Info      : 'Current dither state is Settling, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:26:28 Info      : 'Current dither state is Settling, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:26:29 Info      : 'Current dither state is Settling, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:26:30 Info      : 'Current dither state is Settling, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:26:31 Info      : 'Current dither state is Settled, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:26:31 Completed : Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:26:31 Periodic task Dither every 30 seconds complete, will run again in 0:00:30
20:27:11 Progress  : (completed 2 of 100) Capture 100 still frames (guiding required : True)
20:27:12 Pausing main sequence to run periodic task Dither every 30 seconds
20:27:12 Starting  : Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:12 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:13 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:14 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:15 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:16 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:17 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:18 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:19 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:20 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:21 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:22 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:23 Info      : 'Current dither state is Dithering, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:24 Info      : 'Current dither state is Settling, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:25 Info      : 'Current dither state is Settling, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:26 Info      : 'Current dither state is Settling, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:27 Info      : 'Current dither state is Settling, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:28 Info      : 'Current dither state is Settling, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:29 Info      : 'Current dither state is Settled, Unknown' while running step Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:29 Completed : Request a single dither from Guiding Application
20:27:29 Periodic task Dither every 30 seconds complete, will run again in 0:00:30
The size of the dithering operation can be set up in the guiding settings.

cheers,

Robin
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