Starlight Live Feature/Improvement Suggestions

[DoctorD]

Hi

I hope Paul81 does not mind me staring this thread - I've been using Starlight/lodestar Live since it's first release and continue to be amazed at the levels of functionality that Paul manages to include in each new release.

I though it might be useful to have a single thread where we can discuss everything from minor improvements to major pieces of functionality.

Paul has already previewed his hot pixel removal and I for one am looking forward to this (given the number of hot pixels my Lodestar-C has!).

Some minor UI improvements as a starter:.

1. Include the Stacked/RAW and Linear/arcsinh/X^0.25 info on the saved PNG (perhaps these could all be optional via a Image Export screen) - I often forget which mode I've used when I come to post the images.

2. Include a Processed Image Save button available at all times - no need to confirm the file name/location, just press and it's saved to your preferred location as the file naming convention works fine. 

3. Remember last settings for "Image Acquisition" and "Focus and Alignment" modes (Exposure and image processing) - I usually use the focus and alignment mode to centre the object at 5 or 10s exposure (or sometimes much less depending upon the brightness of the surrounding stars) before moving to Image Acquisition at my chosen exposure for the evening (matched to my Dark Frame). This allows me to leave the Export RAW FITS setting as no files are saved in the Focus and Alignment mode.

More involved functionality:

1. Add the possibility for user defined transfer functions to augment the arcsin and x^0.25 - this might be achieved by a CSV lookup table - 64K integers should be manageable but I'm no software engineer!

On the topic of transfer functions, I find the way the current arcsinh and x^0.25 work to be somewhat confusing and this might be down to how the other image controls are applied - you always seem to end up with the histogram pushed to the right. Perhaps if there was a separate level shift available which effectively moved the zero point before applying the transfer function we could keep the histogram in the middle or better still towards the left and then adjust Black/White levels and contrast after the transfer function has been applied. I get the impression that currently the brightness is applied after the transfer function but I could be wrong.

Once gain a big thank you to Paul81 for all the effort he puts into this magnificent piece of software.

Clear skies

 

Paul

 

 

[RobertI]

I feel a bit awkward suggesting any improvement to this this fantastic and free software  , however...

• I would second the UI improvements above. 
• For me one of the biggest improvements would be to reduce the brightness of the menus - the glare spoils the 'at the eyepiece' feel and the object should be the star of the show. Perhaps white text on a dark menu background?

Rob

[aparker]

Thanks for starting the thread.

 

a few things that are on my mind, some of which I know are underway already.

 

1. Pixel binning

2. Control over SX cameras TEC

3. Control over SX filterwheels

4. Image invert

5. Marquee zoom in frame and focus mode

6. Control over motorized focusers (microtouch is the one I have)

7. Autoguide the scope based on image shift during stacking

8. Faster stacking algorithm

9. "Reset all" button that will unfreeze SLL if it gets stuck trying to stack a bad frame and falls behind the image acquisition (this is the usual cause of my having to force quit the app, seems to be much more common with v2/2.1)

 

As you can see, a lot of my desires relate to centralizing automated telescope controls in one app (SLL) rather than having to run a bunch of separate ones.

 

[Paul81]

Will keep a note of anything that comes up on the topic and assess the feasibility and suitability for inclusion in future versions.

In the meantime, this is the change list for V3 (undergoing testing and bug fixing):

- Code tidy.
- Exposure tab now stores separate exposure properties for focus / alignment / frame and dark / image acquisition modes. User selections are saved upon program exit and restored upon next load.
- Added camera binning. When used with colour cameras, this will automatically switch internal processing to be monochrome. Live stacking can combine multiple exposures of different (binned) resolutions, but will always re-scale newer exposures to the resolution of the first exposure that was stacked (since last reset).
- Added support for cameras with Thermo-electric cooling.
- Added the ability to modify the stacking mode during a sequence without discarding image data. The stacked image data is transferred to the new stacking mode as the first exposure. Data in the old mode is discarded.
- Added 'sum and mean stack' mode whereby N number of frames are first stacked using the sum operator into a 'super sub-exposure' and 'super sub-exposures' are mean stacked together. In this mode, the display is only updated every N exposures, but with the benefits of both sum and mean stacking.
- Added defective pixel removal during live stacking process. This can be enabled via the 'Defective Pixel Removal' checkbox on the Stacking Tab.
- Added support for SX filter wheel. Filters can be selected on the exposure tab.
- Modified CYGM to RGB colour decoding algorithm to yield better colour reproduction.
- Modified main dialog tab bar to keep tabs top justified.
- Modified star detection algorithm to increase the ability to detect more stars in each image for stacking.
- Fixed bug: Keyboard controls not working for display processing tab.

 

The main planned feature for V4 is video export (i.e. record your observing session to video for posting online).

Paul

[Martin Meredith]

Sounds like a long list of useful new features Paul. I just hope the clouds clear to coincide with its release...

Like Alex, I was wondering whether SL could output autoguiding information. I've no interest in running a separate guidescope and the associated applications, but if it were possible (at least with short subs) to do this via SL at the cost of just connecting a single cable, it could be a very interesting development.

Martin

[Ain Soph Aur]

V3 sounds amazing, especially the support for the SX usb filter wheels! I have the 7 filter model and this capabillity will be a game changer. 

One small request I have is that the date and time of the exposure to be added to the FITs header.

[aparker]

Wow - can't wait.  Every new release is like Christmas in EAA-land.  Very excited about the filterwheel control.  TEC control is probaby going to be expensive, as I am now going to be sorely tempted to get an SX-694...

 

Thanks as always for developing such a great app!

 

[Astrojedi]

A really feature packed release. I just acquired a SX filterwheel so looking forward to this even more. 

Paul, needless to say I (and I am sure everyone who uses you SW) really appreciate your efforts. 

[DoctorD]

Hi Paul

V3 is going to be s major step forward for an already fantastic piece of Software!!

CS

Paul

[Paul81]

Thank you for the kind words of encouragement from everyone! I try to keep on top of keeping note of requests, and plan out groups of updates at a time for the next few releases.

I certainly feel the pressure to get the releases right nowadays, have to be quite careful testing and reviewing the code updates to avoid any major oops! 

[Paul81]

There are also a few remaining features to test in V3 before release and I am still working on the filter wheel (a bit slow due to lack of time). Depending on how the testing goes of the other features I might release V3 with the filter wheel control disabled and list it as a bug, so will be 'fixed' in V3.1. That way folks can start using the binning - that seems to be in high demand, especially for Ultrastar users. 

[DoctorD]

Hi Paul

If you'd like a few Beta testers, I'm sure there's a few of us who would be happy to see a pre-release for testing purposes

I hope that this thread hasn't put you under any undue pressure - I hope it's a place where we can give constructive input, whatever your planned release schedule.

CS

Paul

[Ain Soph Aur]

Raise hands. Anyone else checking this forum a few times a day looking for a SL v3 release anouncement? 

 

Oh,.. Paul. No pressure.

[aparker]

+1 for releasing V3 without filterwheel if binning is ready to go.

Also happy to volunteer to test betas with the caveat that I'm super-busy and can't always guarantee I will have an observing session planned in a timely way...

Also a suggestion for the filterwheel function (not critical but nice to have) - allow users to map names to the filter positions - e.g. I would be able to set mine up to display "dark" instead of "1", "H-alpha" instead of "2", etc.

 

Alex