What features next for SharpCap 4.2?

[admin]

SharpCap 4.2 has progressed well so far, but I am thinking that there might be space for another new feature or two before the full release. I have a few ideas, but I'm not quite sure which would be the best, so I thought I would set up a poll in the forums and get some feedback from everyone

The ideas I have been considering are:

• A better 'Spiral Search' feature to help find small targets like planets when you have a limited field of view. Improvements would include calculating the field of view from the focal length/pixels size and arranging a spiral that gives some overlap, variable movement speeds, being able to pause, continue and even reverse a spiral (if you see the target whizz through you can go back).
• A 'First Use' setup wizard that will help configure SharpCap to suit new users - asking you what type of imaging you will be doing, helping choose preferred save formats, where saved files go, potentially how files are named, etc. This might also ask about what ASCOM hardware you use, location (for target selection), light pollution, etc.
• A way to edit all of the autofocus parameters in one place to allow easier configuration of autofocus. Turns out there are a lot of different parameters that impact on autofocus (backlash, scan step size, count, measurement settings, etc) and the 'fiddle with them until it works' approach that SharpCap currently has doesn't suit everyone.
• Remote notifications sent from SharpCap to your phone/tablet if something bad happens (errors or warnings during imaging, particularly automated imaging.

Hopefully there should be a poll showing above - please choose the one you would find most useful personally (in the case of the first use setup wizard, consider how much it would have helped you as a new user). If you wouldn't use any of these then there is a choice for that too

cheers,

Robin

[AstroChessPilot]

IMHO,

Autofocus
First Use
Spiral Search
Notifications

Bonus - Cloud Remover

Thanks for a great program!

[MarMax]

Robin,

I'm mainly a DSO observer and would like to see further enhancements relative to gradient removal and star reduction. The addition of background extraction, stellar color calibration and arcsinh stretch have greatly improved the live stacking experience. As SharpCap and my techniques improve what begins to stick out is the areas where further optimization would be most helpful.

The top of the list is gradient removal. I've also found that wideband live stacks are much preferred over narrowband and I'm speaking only for OSC imaging. To improve the wideband experience it would be extremely beneficial if star reduction was possible. These two features are easy to suggest and perhaps very complex to implement. As always, I'm so impressed with SharpCap and how it has allowed me to experience EAA.

Mike

[Jean-Francois]

Hello Robin,

for the Live Stack processing why not add the extern processing from GraXpert, StarNet2 (free) or the BlurXTerminator / NoiseXTerminator.

I think it will be difficult for short individual exposure to perform the X-processing after every update of the stack.
It will need more CPU power. If the camera is in Still mode, then it can pause during the X-processing.

Jean-Francois

[pastorgalactico]

Hello;
In the upcoming version 4.2, is it planned that the program will be fully compatible with Spanish and other major languages?
I have to keep translating images to understand the program's settings in the SharpCap subtopics.
Regards, and I hope I won't have to keep translating images to understand how to configure the settings.

[admin]

Hi everyone,

thanks for taking the time to vote in the poll and to reply above. It's good to collect these sort of suggestions and feedback and interesting that the autofocus parameter editing is the most popular so far in the poll...

thanks,

Robin

[takuya_t]

Hi Robin,

Personally, I think improving Spiral Search would be the better choice.
I realize that this is a feature that becomes less necessary as users gain more knowledge and experience. However, the underlying concept is very intuitive and easy to understand: if you move the field of view in a spiral pattern without leaving any gaps, you are guaranteed to eventually find what you're looking for.

For that reason, I believe it will continue to be a valuable aid for people who are new to the hobby, especially those who do not have a sturdy tripod or mount. (I also fully understand from our previous discussions that implementing improvements in this area is far from a trivial technical task.)

To be honest, though, Remote Notifications and the Autofocus Parameter Editor are probably more appealing to me personally at the moment!

Thanks for your always great job!

Takuya

[SteveInNZ]

I don't think that spiral search is limited to beginners.
There just aren't any other options when trying to find a planet as the magnification is generally too high for plate solving or relying on the guide/finder scope.
The ability to "walk back" after seeing your planet wizz through the field would be a godsend.

Steve.

[takuya_t]

Hi,

Although this is probably stating the obvious to Robin, I'd like to clarify my reasoning a little further.
With the current version of SharpCap, I think it's almost certain that we can get an initial successful acquisition by removing the Barlow lens and using either Hi-Res or Ultra Hi-Res SharpSolve. After that, we can simply reattach the Barlow lens and refocus. However, with a tripod/mount that isn't particularly rigid, simply touching the OTA to install the Barlow lens may be enough to push the planet out of the FOV.
That's a significant problem.
Also, if we're using an extremely long focal length telescope together with a camera that has a very small sensor, even Ultra Hi-Res may not be enough to rely on. That said, experienced users can usually recover fairly quickly. They can follow the traces created by a defocus ring or a Bahtinov mask and use various other techniques to get the planet back into the FOV without spending too much time.
Even so, I think a properly functioning Spiral Search could still help experienced users reacquire a planet a little more quickly.

For less experienced users, the situation can be much more serious. If they lose the planet after attaching a Barlow lens, or if plate solving fails in the first place, they may find themselves completely stuck.
When all they know is that the target must be somewhere nearby, but they have no idea what to do next, I think Spiral Search can be an enormous help.

Thank you,

Takuya

[admin]

Hi Takuya,

I agree with you that a solidly working Spiral search would be of most value to those at the 'starting out' level of astrophotography, with smaller cameras, less stable mounts, etc. I tend to 'cheat' for planetary these days and use a large sensor camera in small ROI mode (ie planetary with an IMX571 camera) - plate solving is no problem, so you can easily find the target, but not everyone has that luxury.

One thing that worries me about an enhanced spiral search function is that my experience is that you often see the target whizz through view and it has gone before you get a chance to stop the spiral. That's why I want a 'reverse' feature to go back when that happens. But spiral search relies on the ASCOM 'MoveAxis' commands, and all you get to choose is 'how fast to move' and 'how long to move for'. Both of those are actually uncertain to some degree, since the mount often accelerates up to the set speed rather than immediately starting at that speed, and it's not known how quickly the mount responds to start/stop commands. Then there's backlash...

So my concern is that I could write a theoretically perfect spiral search feature that could track a spiral, reverse over the spiral, re-track it again, etc, but in practice it might not work at all well because of uncertainties in mount movement and backlash - probably just for the people with entry level mounts that could use it the most

cheers,

Robin