New Multi Reticle Feature

[rac19]

With regard to the new Multi Reticle feature in the latest beta release.

I would like to have a provision to save/load x,y pixel positions for any of the reticles. This would be useful for use on a finder 'scope camera to preserve a reticle position when the main OTA is centred on target. It would allow one to use the finder 'scope to bring the OTA onto target when the target doesn't appear in view after a GoTo at high magnification.

[admin]

Hi,

it almost seems to make sense to auto save them now that there is a 'reset' button to put them back to defaults. That would seem perhaps the easiest way?

cheers,

Robin

[rac19]

Attached is an image of "Dave's Crosshairs" which works quite well. The only minor issue with it is that the position is relative to the main window and depends on positioning of Sharpcap and the live view window being identical for each session. A similar feature built into Sharpcap would be relative to the live view window and possibly even adjust for zoom and/or panning.

This application has a Save and a Load button. I would be happy with a tick box to autosave and auto load.

[admin]

Hi,

actually, I got around to making the multiple reticule tool automatically save and restore its settings, so if you use the very latest SharpCap 4.1 beta you will get that functionality. Of course those are circles and lines rather than crosshairs.

There are a lot of options in that 'Dave's Crosshairs' - certainly more that I would want to add to SharpCap. What are the key ones from your point of view that SharpCap is missing?

cheers,

Robin

[rac19]

Hi Robin,

I will have a look at the latest beta and let you know. I certainly don't use all the features in Dave's Crosshairs. All that matters to me is auto save and restore. The restored position needs to be in reference to to native frame of the sensor regardless of zoom of pan.

Some sort of protection against accidentally moving the reticles is worth considering. I seem to do this regularly, possibly due to a a trigger happy touchpad. One option could be a checkbox (for each reticle) to Autosave which takes effect only when opening and closing the reticles.

I forward to seeing how it works,

Best regards,
Richard

EDIT: I guess the once the checkbox is is ticked, it should not be possble to move the reticle. To do so, it would be necessary to untick the checkbox, move the reticle, then tick the checkbox again.

[rac19]

I just had a quick look and it looks perfect for my needs. Locking the reticle position is really part of the process, as you have implemented.

Something else to consider. zips it possible to minimise/maximise the multi-reticle window so that it uses less screen space while leaving the reticles in view? At the moment, the only option seems to to move it to the edge of the screen.

[admin]

Hi Richard,

glad that the new updates are starting to have the features that you need. I have actually added a way to minimize the window, but not released that change yet - that should be in this week's update.

Note that the position of all reticules in SharpCap is saved relative to the current image size, so will not track the same pixel on the sensor if you move the ROI of the sensor around (which I think was one of the things you were looking for).

cheers,

Robin

[rac19]

Hi Robin,

I use this feature on an "electronic finder scope" so it is unlikely that I would use ROI or zoom . I normally have Sharpcap full screen with the live view on auto zoom, so the position on the screen should be the same at all times. It's a different story for the main camera but that's not my use case.

The only situation that could be a problem is if I use the laptop screen for one session and an external screen (with a different resolution) the next time. If the locked position is based on sensor pixel location, that shouldn't be a problem.

From a practical viewpoint the reticle feature is already very useful and I very much appreciate its addition to Sharpcap.

Best regards,
Richard.

[rac19]

Hi Robin,

I tried reticule locking some more tonight and it seemed to work very well. Differing screen resolutions didn't seem to be a problem. I thought that this would be so because the x,y positions are based on the sensor pixels not the screen pixels, as I understand it

I did have a couple of crashes so I have attached some logs. They didn't actually bother me as I was using Sharpcap on the finder scope and Firecapture on the OTA. I tend to use Sharpcap for DSO imaging and Firecapture for Planetary imaging.

Best regards,
Richard

[admin]

Hi Richard,

I think I have already fixed the bug that was causing you problems there - try downloading the very latest beta from the link in this post : viewtopic.php?t=6100

cheers,

Robin