Live Stack Folder Change

[kaymann]

Last night at 23:00 I set up for a long night of observing. I started with IC4604 setting everything up in Live Stacking and to make sure everything was Plate Solved and Centered. I always save all RAW files (FITs). Since nothing was every changed from the last session I assumed all RAWs were being saved in the IC4604 folder for post processing. I woke up at 04:45 and saw that the mount had stopped just before meridian (auto stop tripod strike prevention) (planned on my part). I then switched to C/2025 R3 Panstarrs and began a live stack of it and within seconds clouds ruined the opportunity. I thought at least I have more than three hours of IC 4604... Nope not a single save or even a save of the Previews. After some intense mental anguish I got to thinking what if SC saved the IC4604 files in the Panstarrs folder - sure enough there they where.
I had actually shut down the Live Stack of IC4604 and then started a new one of Panstarrs (in a hurry not to lose it to twilight) and assumed folders would respect the change of object since in both cases the GoTo Catalog object was used and the Live Stack Name was observed to be changed near the top of SC.

So how do I change an object and ensure a new is created and the old object does not move have this happen again? Renaming every FITS to from C_2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) to IC4604 is not my idea of fun... Also a "New" button in the Live Stack area would have prevented my situation. Oh, and yes I know this was operator error and not a bug.

BTW finding Panstarrs in your catalog was pure joy - thank you for adding comets to the catalog!!!!

[admin]

Hi,

can you see if you can dig out the log file from this session and share it please? This sort of thing is supposed to 'just work' - if you change the target name and then start a new stack, it should use the new name. If you start a new stack and then change the target name, it should prompt you to rename the files that have already been saved in the new stack based on the name change.

It soulds like you somehow fell through the cracks between the above two situations, so it would be interesting to see the log to try to work out how that happened and how to stop it from happening again.

For the existing files, oddly Windows does a reasonable job of bulk renaming files - select all the files in Windows Explorer, then press F2 to rename, then type a new name for the file it lets you edit and it will try to apply a similar change to all the other files. Probably worth trying that on a copy of the raw files just in case it goes wrong.

As for a 'New' button, the 'Clear' button is effectively that - it saves and clears the current stack and a new stack then starts with the next frame.

cheers,

Robin

[kaymann]

Log_2026-04-16T04_55_45-11196.zip

(101.46 KiB) Downloaded 4 times

I think this is the file you are looking for...

I had to zip to get it small enough

[admin]

Hi,

I think there is some of the stuff I need in that file - I can see you trying to stack PANSTARRS from about 04:55 to 05:22 in that log, but the log shows SharpCap starting up at 04:55, so I guess the captured of IC4604 must have been made in a different run of SharpCap earlier in the evening. If we can find the log for that run then maybe that helps. Nothing that you did in the later run of SharpCap from 04:55 to 05:22 would have affected where the files from the earlier session ended up.

cheers,

Robin

[kaymann]

Let's try this log file...

Previous Log.zip

(90.51 KiB) Downloaded 3 times

[admin]

Hi,

that's the one - thanks!

Here's what happened...

At 04:52, live stacking had been stuck for some time unable to align frames because the mount had stopped tracking. You closed live stacking at this point. Live stacking really just goes into 'pause' when you do this so that if you close it accidentally you can re-open and continue

You then goto the new target of C2025_R3 PANSTARRS. If live stacking had still been active, the integration between the GOTO and the live stacking would have saved and cleared the stack, but because it was hidden and paused this didn't happen. The goto operation changes the target name.

At about 04:54, you re-activate live stacking. Normally, that would clear the stack because it has been closed for more than 60 seconds, but it didn't - maybe you have turned off the option in the live stack settings tab to 'Start new stack when re-opening after being closed for 1 minute or more' (please check that option - if it is turned on then there is a bug maybe).

When live stacking tries to restart, it notices the target name change and prompts you about whether you want to rename the existing stack - the prompt you had was

You have changed the Target Name from 'IC4604 (rho Oph Nebula)' to 'C_2025 R3 (PANSTARRS)' while Live Stacking is active.

Do you want to use this new name for the current stack and rename the 601 saved files from the current stack to reflect this?

You responded yes to this, which was a mistake (but understandable at 5 in the morning!) - you probably were thinking that you were renaming a brand new stack and missed the mention of renaming 601 existing files. Because you answered yes, SharpCap moved all the files into the Panstarrs folder.

So, what have we learned?

1) There was no real bug here - SharpCap moved the files because you said yes when it asked, however it should be possible to avoid asking in this situation in future

2) I will look at improvements to the interaction of live stacking with GOTO movements to perform the save/reset even if stacking is closed

3) I can change the messaging when asking to rename to include something like 'The current stack has a total exposure of 1hr 13min' to give you a bit more chance of spotting what the question is asking.

thanks for helping me dig into this issue - it's nice to be able to fix this sort of usability issue, but sometimes hard to find the situations where the problems occur.

cheers,

Robin

[kaymann]

At 04:52, live stacking had been stuck for some time unable to align frames because the mount had stopped tracking. You closed live stacking at this point. Live stacking really just goes into 'pause' when you do this so that if you close it accidentally you can re-open and continue

• Yes this happened as a result of the mounts meridian auto stop to prevent a mount strike. So this was expected and was actually a good thing. I thought closing the Live Stack would have been the end of rho Oph. And yes I was in a hurry to get the comet going before twilight drowned it out.

You then goto the new target of C2025_R3 PANSTARRS. If live stacking had still been active, the integration between the GOTO and the live stacking would have saved and cleared the stack, but because it was hidden and paused this didn't happen. The goto operation changes the target name.

• Bingo - Anyway to let us know that it is lurking back there waiting for reactivation. This could be a orange notification at the top? with even a timer letting me know how much time before I loose the stack?

At about 04:54, you re-activate live stacking. Normally, that would clear the stack because it has been closed for more than 60 seconds, but it didn't - maybe you have turned off the option in the live stack settings tab to 'Start new stack when re-opening after being closed for 1 minute or more' (please check that option - if it is turned on then there is a bug maybe).

• I just looked and the "Start new stack when..." is not checked. I did this because a refocus usually takes longer than a minute

When live stacking tries to restart, it notices the target name change and prompts you about whether you want to rename the existing stack - the prompt you had was

You have changed the Target Name from 'IC4604 (rho Oph Nebula)' to 'C_2025 R3 (PANSTARRS)' while Live Stacking is active.

Do you want to use this new name for the current stack and rename the 601 saved files from the current stack to reflect this?

You responded yes to this, which was a mistake (but understandable at 5 in the morning!) - you probably were thinking that you were renaming a brand new stack and missed the mention of renaming 601 existing files. Because you answered yes, SharpCap moved all the files into the Panstarrs folder.

• Exactly - I was worried if I said NO the COMET stack was going to be named for the NEBULA - the exact opposite of what actually happened. The file rename count meant nothing as I was taking extremely fast exposures of the comet and thought maybe I was already up there in count on the comet. I was trying to avoid renaming the hundreds of comet photos from Nebula to Comet...

So, what have we learned?

1) There was no real bug here - SharpCap moved the files because you said yes when it asked, however it should be possible to avoid asking in this situation in future

• Absolutely not a bug, just a how do I A Clear "the first stack will be called... and the new stack will be called... I was worried that hitting clear would delete my FITs (I know what was I thinking)

2) I will look at improvements to the interaction of live stacking with GOTO movements to perform the save/reset even if stacking is closed

• Clarity would have helped Do I still have stack open and it's current name. Are we about to start a brand new stack and what will it's name be

3) I can change the messaging when asking to rename to include something like 'The current stack has a total exposure of 1hr 13min' to give you a bit more chance of spotting what the question is asking.

• This would have been really awesome or even "The current stack was started at 01:06 am...

thanks for helping me dig into this issue - it's nice to be able to fix this sort of usability issue, but sometimes hard to find the situations where the problems occur.

• Hopefully my misunderstandings can help you perhaps tweak the interface... No worries if not.

cheers,

Robin

• BTW I was able to easily rename all the files utilizing PowerToys Rename which allows you to rename pieces of file name leaving other parts untouched. Do you know of a app that is able to change FITS headers as easily. I often forget to change the filter name. Finally, I cannot thank you enough for having the comet in the catalog - complete time saver!

[admin]

Hi,

for changing the FITS headers, it looks like PixInsight or Astap can do this (see https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php? ... ders.9389/ and https://www.cloudynights.com/forums/top ... s-headers/). I'm sure there are other tools with the functionality too.

Including comets is a rather fun little feature - I only include the handful of brightest current comets and the list/orbits is only updated when you update SharpCap itself, although you can also drop a file in the custom catalog folder with 'comet' somewhere in the name and the standard orbit format data inside like the following

Code: Select all

       0010P  2026 08  2.1194  1.417718  0.537422  195.4709  117.7976   12.0272  20260414   9.6 10.0  10P/Tempel                                               MPEC 2026-G41

cheers,

Robin