New Feature : Planetary Live Stacking

[PeterC65]

I use SharpCap for EAA and not AP, so I'm interested in a quick and easy way to see a fairly good image of a planet, rather than masses of image control.
With this in mind, I'm finding I'm using just the Fine convolution sharpening set to maximum (1.0), with the Saturation set to 1.4. These settings alone, and a stack length of 200 frames, gives me good results with my Mars capture and with Borodog's Jupiter capture (which is from a much bigger scope). With such good results from the Fine convolution sharpening I'm unlikely to use the (much more fiddly) Wavelet sharpening.
I also have a full Moon disc capture which just needs Fine convolution set to maximum and no saturation adjustment. Auto Adjust Colour/Brightness does a great job on the Moon by the way.

[Borodog]

FWIW the convolution sharpening was the original approach I investigated/suggested for this tool. I think that having both approaches, especially having both working together if the user wants, will cover all of the bases of what the user might want to do given their different levels of tolerance for fiddling around. ;O)

Thanks, Robin!

[Borodog]

I made a video going through the great new features in yesterday's version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1LOMXn9dWM

Special thanks to DMach from Cloudy Nights who provided the incredible SER file.

[admin]

I just watched your video through - thanks for making it, it's great!

Couple of power user tips that came to mind while watching (maybe you are aware of these already)...

* The change to tracking the planet in the offset position can be achieved by a reset of the stack - no need to close/open again
* The little up/down buttons next to the sliders give fine control, you can get bigger steps by clicking on the slider itself to the left/right of the current position of the slider

cheers,

Robin

[Borodog]

Great tips, Robin.

The reason I stopped the tool was see where the planet was when I turned the tool on, but I realized after the fact that I could Show Unprocessed Frames and then just reset the stack when the planet was noticeably off-center, which was what I was trying to illustrate.

At some point when the interface is stable I will do a whole new tutorial from start to finish. I'll have to try to remember all of these little things. ;O)

[PeterC65]

Hi Robin,

Just thinking about the use of planetary stacking vs DSO stacking, it might be good to have a histogram tab within the Planetary Stacking control, just as there is one within the Live Stacking (DSO) control. Doing this would allow the histogram to be bigger and would make it easier to move the black, mid and white levels. It would also make planetary and DSO stacking consistent, so both having two histograms, one main histogram and one (smaller one under Camera Controls) just for display control.

The 'Stabilize to center' tick box isn't being persisted across sessions by the way, all the other settings are persisted.

Peter

[MikeMcCall60]

What do you think the best approach would be to maintain a good focus during stacking? I had a problem the other night, I went out of focus but could not tell till stacking started to degrade.

Mike

[Borodog]

You can make note of the statistics, particularly the average, at the start of your session. Now that there is a scrolling graph and histogram, it's easy to see the average score. If it drops noticeably, you can Show Unprocessed Frames and decide if you need to refocus.

[Borodog]

Here's a time lapse I created from a very long SER file from last year. I don't remember why, but I couldn't baby the scope, so I just set it and forget it. Seeing was variable and often poor, in addition to the focus never being reset. Still, I think it's pretty awesome. :O)

https://www.cloudynights.com/uploads/ga ... 572813.mp4

[Altocumulus]

I made a video going through the great new features in yesterday's version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1LOMXn9dWM

Special thanks to DMach from Cloudy Nights who provided the incredible SER file.

Thanks for the display - that was good to see.

Just a stupid question - you started with a lower stack, then increased to 1000 frames. Numbers on the left panel are still moving, does that imply the app is re-using existing frames?

p.s. Do you know what the 'scope was DMach ?