New Feature : Two column camera controls

[admin]

Hi folks,

I've been tinkering with possible ways to make it easier to see all the camera controls at once for a while, and didn't come up with anything sensible until I realised that if you switch from a single column to multiple columns, you also have to switch from scrolling vertically to scrolling horizontally for the whole thing to make sense. Once I had that worked out, the rest was relatively easy and you end up with this...

Screenshot 2024-12-11 203348.png (96.08 KiB) Viewed 4455 times

Multiple column mode is easily toggled on and off with the checkbox in the title bar of the camera controls area. It's probably going to be most useful when using SharpCap on a widescreen monitor or when working with cameras at small ROI or those with square sensors (like the IMX533).

When you are in multi-column mode, you will notice

* SharpCap sets a minimum column width to prevent controls being too crunched up - if there isn't enough space for the columns needed then you can scroll left/right to see more

* SharpCap will typically try to fit 2 columns in view unless you make the control area very wide, when it will try for three columns

* Control groups will not split from the bottom of one column to the top of the next - if there isn't enough space at the bottom, the whole group will move to the top of the next column. Dragging the groups around to change their order can be helpful if you find a large group being pushed to the next column leaving lots of blank space

cheers,

Robin

[kaymann]

My ASI 533 would love not wasting the right hand side empty space - How many votes do I get - I use all of them for a YES please!

[rogastro]

Hi Robin. I've probably done something wrong, but It doesn't work for me. If I check the Multi Column tick box, it seems to 'grey' out and if I adjust the column width and try to move them about, nothing happens. Also, I don't have orange sliders

[tentaclejoe]

Hi Robin,

I've only tested this with the test cameras but I notice on my screen if I set the controls to auto hide it reverts back to single column. Is there anyway to have it stay in Multi Column mode when using the hide feature?

Joey

[admin]

Hi folks,

glad this one seems to be popular. In answer to the points above...

* The width of the 'auto hide' controls is stored/remembered separately to the normal width, so I think when you switch to auto-hide you will still be in two column, but will be too narrow to see the second column. Just drag the auto hide panel wider to the right position and then that width should be remembered in future

* The orange sliders can be configured in the main settings - see https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.1/#Increa ... indicators

* The 'Multi Column' checkbox does deliberately fade partly unless your mouse is near it - that's to try to make it less intrusive when it's just sitting there and not being used (most of the time). When you move your mouse back to it, it will 'un fade'.

* If you are successfully in multi-column mode (the tick is showing in the check box) then as you drag the controls wider you should either see (a) a second column start showing on the right or (b) blank space to the right if all the controls fit in one column. If you don't see either of those, please post a screenshot of what you do see once the control area is dragged to be wider (about 1/3 width of screen).

thanks,

Robin

[Borodog]

Kudos on this one, Robin. Can't wait to try it. I have tons of wasted space in the image preview area for planetary imaging and end up doing a lot of scrolling up and down because the mini display histogram is not near the gain control (in fact I was going to request you move them closer together for exactly this reason . . . ).

[admin]

Hi Mike,

glad it will be useful - don't forget that you can also re-order the groups of controls to suit your usage (although the contents/ordering of each group is fixed by SharpCap).

cheers,

Robin

[Borodog]

Oh; I never knew that. You learn something new every day . . . Do you just click and drag them?

[admin]

Yes, using the little 'three lines' grip at the top right of each section - just drag them around and the ordering will be remembered (I think on a camera by camera basis).

cheers,

Robin

[Borodog]

Thank you!