Platesolve 3 (Planewave)?

[abmscopes]

Hi, is there a way to get Sharpcap to use Platesolve3 from Planewave as its plate solver? I've started using it in NINA and it blows the platesolving competition out of the water, with a cherry on top. It doesn't fuss over focal length or ask for specific catalogues or fall down if the stars are smeared, it just solves everything I throw at it, usually in a few seconds. But I can't see the option to add platesolve3 to Sharpcap? Thanks.

[Jean-Francois]

Hello,

It is possible, at least with Platesolve2.
In the past Norman wrote a script with Platesolve2. Now the script use ASTAP.

viewtopic.php?t=2331

Regards,
Jean-Francois

[admin]

Hi,

I will have to investigate how easy it is to

a) get SharpCap to run the plate solving application and
b) interpret the results into the format SharpCap need.

cheers,

Robin

[admin]

Just to update...

I have Platesolve2 working now in some test code - it will work in SharpCap once I get around to adding some way to configure it. I also am close to getting Platesolve3 to work. Both of these additions will come in SharpCap 4.1, not as an update to SharpCap 4.0.

I think I would personally be reluctant to use PlateSolve2 - it seems slow compared to Astap/Astrotortilla and requires the field of view and starting point to be specified (Astap/Astrotortilla can cope without these). Also, in at least one test the PlateSolve2 results were slightly off compared to Astap/Astrotortilla/PlateSolve3 - for instance the latter 3 applications all agreed on the rotation of the image to within 0.1 degrees, but PlateSolve2 was a degree different from all the others.

PlateSolve3 looks much more capable and faster, although configuring it to work was a fair bit of trial and error.

cheers,

Robin

[abmscopes]

This is brilliant news, thanks so much for doing the work on this . I think other users will be thankful for having the option. PS3 does seem to be getting a lot of positive comments on various forums. I agree it's probably not worth spending time on PS2- I gather from others that PS3 is a much better product. Looking forward to using it in a sharpcap future release.

[Jean-Francois]

Hello,

How/where do you download the version 3 ?
The version 2.28 is free as standalone software, but the version 3 seems to be part of a big software suite.

Is the version 3 only usable with a Planewave telescope ?

Regards,
Jean-Francois

[abmscopes]

I currently use it with NINA. It was a free add-on and works with any telescope. But I use Sharpcap as well so once integrated into that I would expect it would also be 'free' (or part of your sharpcap subscription). But one of the admin will set you straight on that. I imagine if there's a licensing cost to use it, that may get passed onto users.

[admin]

Hi,


there is a download for PlateSolve3 on the NINA plate solving information page. https://nighttime-imaging.eu/docs/maste ... tesolving/

I am happy to add support in SharpCap to use PlateSolve3, but I cannot give any assurances about whether it is OK to use this freely available version with SharpCap or whether it is only supposed to be used with NINA. If you have paid money for any big software packages that included PlateSolve3 then I would imagine that you are free to use such a copy of PlateSolve3 in any way you want.

cheers,

Robin

[Jean-Francois]

Hello Robin,

I saw the website, but I missed the link from the NINA section.
I was looking direct on the Planewave website.

Thanks for the link. Today I have only ASTAP and it is working fine.
If the Platesolve3 allows smaller field of view or longer focal as ASTAP, then it could be in the future an alternative to ASTAP.

One of the big problem today is ... a lot of different plate solve software use a similar stars catalog,
but not the same. Means we need to download 2 or 3 times the full set.
In the past with only a few 100 MB, it was not a problem to have several plate solve catalogs.
Now, the stars catalog have 2 or 3 GB ... if not 60 GB

"Nina has kindly been selected to add the new PlateSolve3 program to its arsenal of platesolvers, courtesy of Dave Rowe".
May be it will be sufficient to ask directly Dave Rowe

Regards,
Jean-Francois

[woldsweather]

Is Platesolve3 now working with Sharpcap?