SharpCap Forums

Hi Robin,

Not sure if this is a bug or just slightly clunky.

If you do a live stack from the Folder Monitor Camera, then save the result by ending the live stack session,

Then re-enter Live stack and choose a new folder using the Browse button on the right, then Clear, then select 'All Fits files',

The folder does not update.

You have to clear again, and select the folder a second time.

Then it works.

I had to play around a bit to find a sequence that does work.

(You might ask why I eccentrically use SharpCap to stack images of stars to track parallax changes. I've tried two alternatives. AutoStakkert is not always able to stack such images and writes no useful information to the output FITS file. PixInsight stacks well, but is very slow. I have only recently developed a quick way to extract the data I need from such images, and have a backlog to work through.)

Using on a Windows 10 PC.

Regards,

Jane.

I've just thought to write a stack not by leaving Live Stack, but by hitting the Clear button. The same thing happens. You need to clear twice to pick up the new folder. J.

Hi,

I think you are hitting up against a live stacking 'feature' which is that closing the live stacking doesn't immediately throw away/end the current stack - it will come back if you re-open live stacking within 60 seconds (there is an option to turn this off somewhere in the right hand most live stacking tab). The idea of this is that if you close live stacking by accident you can just re-open and continue stacking (you might have to press the 'Resume' button, but that's all that's needed). In real observing the 1 minute timeout works well - if you are moving to a new target by the time you have done the GOTO, reframed, etc, re-opening live stacking will start a new stack from scratch. When processing saved data, you can easily get the change done inside of 60 seconds.

Keep an eye on the image count shown below the folder monitor camera playback controls - as long as that changes when you select a new folder, the folder monitor camera has updated to the new folder. If you have left live stacking open (or re-opened after a short delay) then you will need to use the 'Clear' button in live stacking and then the 'Play' button in the folder monitor camera to make it start processing frames.

I did test and couldn't find any problems, but probably doing a slightly different order to you out of habit...

* Stack target 1, save (or close to trigger saving)
* Select folder for target 2 using 'browse' button
* Re open live stacking (if I closed it)
* Press the live stacking clear button to get a new stack ready to go
* Press the 'Play' button in the folder monitor camera to get the frames processing.

Hope this helps,

Robin

Thank you. I can happily live with all that, especially as I'm using the live stacking in SharpCap for what the pharmaceutical industry calls an "off-label" purpose. I've got my stacking done.

Hi,

plenty of 'off label' users out there... I think spectroscopy in research/industry is a fairly common one, along with microscopy, satellite tracking and a whole bunch more. It's always fun to find out what weird and wonderful uses people have come up with for the software!

cheers,

Robin