Astroart 6 Help

[Doug64]

Hi,

I've got a HEQ5 with ED80 and use a finderguider with a GPcam and I image with a modified Cannon DSLR.  I've recently started guiding whilst imaging and dithering at the same time every two subs.  During an imaging session I was spending a lot of time taking darks however after reading a lot of threads I'm trying to do away with the darks by using bias frames as darks  so I can spend more time getting the lights.

I have recently obtained some lights of a target along with 200 bias frames and 200 flat frames.

I'm now trying to evaluate Astroart 6, I was previously using DSS but I'm having problems with the preprocessing.  I can get my lights into the Image section and the 200 flats into the flat section but when I add the 200 bias Frames to the dark section and try to process the image nothing is happening the program just stalls and I have to close it down.

I've also tried adding the 200 bias frames to the F.dark section as well as the dark section as mentioned in a thread by Olly but the same thing happens, the program stops working.

I'm sure I'm doing something wrong but I can't work out what it is, can anyone offer any assistance.

Thanks

Doug

[Freddie]

Put them in as lights and stack them without alignment to create a master and then use that master when stacking the lights. You can do the same with your flats.

[Doug64]

1 hour ago, Freddie said:

Put them in as lights and stack them without alignment to create a master and then use that master when stacking the lights. You can do the same with your flats.

Thanks for the reply,

I'll give it a go, still trying to learn as much as I can about Astroart.

Doug

[Doug64]

Freddie,

I've tried what you stated and it appeared to work but as I have the Demo version which I am trying to evaluate I am unable to save the bias frames / flat frames as master frames and therefore I cannot see what the software can do for my images.

I'll have to consider if the cost of the software is actually worth it.

Thanks again

Doug 

 

[The Admiral]

Hi Doug,

I use Astroart for stacking but I'm hardly proficient. I'm not sure why it doesn't work, but one thing to note is that under the options tab you will want to just stack the flats and bias frames without any alignment set. For the lights of course, you'll want to set the operation to align on stars with rotation. I use a generic master bias and put it in both the flats-dark and dark boxes, but of course you are not in a position to do that. Are you using RAWs as input files? If so, try setting the RAW to demosaic on import, and make sure high detail checkbox, or whatever it's called, is cleared.  If that works then you can work from there.

Are you sure the program has stalled? It might not appear to be doing much, but given time it'll come up with the goods. 200 of lights, bias and flats is a lot of data, and it'll take its time.

Ian

Edit. Incidentally, what processor are you using and how much RAM?

[DaveS]

When you stack your darks, bias, and flats select Median as the method.

[Doug64]

14 minutes ago, The Admiral said:

Hi Doug,

I use Astroart for stacking but I'm hardly proficient. I'm not sure why it doesn't work, but one thing to note is that under the options tab you will want to just stack the flats and bias frames without any alignment set. For the lights of course, you'll want to set the operation to align on stars with rotation. I use a generic master bias and put it in both the flats-dark and dark boxes, but of course you are not in a position to do that. Are you using RAWs as input files? If so, try setting the RAW to demosaic on import, and make sure high detail checkbox, or whatever it's called, is cleared.  If that works then you can work from there.

Are you sure the program has stalled? It might not appear to be doing much, but given time it'll come up with the goods. 200 of lights, bias and flats is a lot of data, and it'll take its time.

Ian

Edit. Incidentally, what processor are you using and how much RAM?

Hi,

I'm using an Intel I7 quad core with 16GB Ram.

The program was stopping as it wasn't even getting off frame 1.  I've now got it to work by placing bias frames into image section and making a master bias but I cannot save it due to using the demo program but I can view the master frame so I know it works.  I've also done the same with my flats and that also worked but again I cannot save it.

I've also ran some old data which included lights, darks and flats through the program and that worked so all appears to be working fine.  I'll just have to think about buying the full program.

Is this software mainly used for pre-processing and then the saved file can be manipulated in photoshop or similar programs or is it also being used for camera and telescope control.

Doug

 

 

 

 

[Doug64]

12 minutes ago, DaveS said:

When you stack your darks, bias, and flats select Median as the method.

Thanks,

Will remember to do that.

Doug

[The Admiral]

20 minutes ago, Doug64 said:

Hi,

I'm using an Intel I7 quad core with 16GB Ram.

The program was stopping as it wasn't even getting off frame 1.  I've now got it to work by placing bias frames into image section and making a master bias but I cannot save it due to using the demo program but I can view the master frame so I know it works.  I've also done the same with my flats and that also worked but again I cannot save it.

I've also ran some old data which included lights, darks and flats through the program and that worked so all appears to be working fine.  I'll just have to think about buying the full program.

Is this software mainly used for pre-processing and then the saved file can be manipulated in photoshop or similar programs or is it also being used for camera and telescope control.

Doug

Well, same processing line up as I've got, so it should work.

Silly question may be, but have you tried running it without using the 1st image? If I remember correctly, it can be picky. Can you simply do a median stack on the lights without using darks, flats, bias? If not, then the problem must surely be with the lights (or some of them). Have you manually inspected each of the lights to see if there is any obvious issue?

It is a complete program in that it aligns and stacks, and allows you to manipulate the resultant image. It can also control mounts and cameras I believe. The workflow may or may not be to your taste. I was already using StarTools to pp but I got AA to give me more flexibility in calibration and stacking. I find the manual pretty unhelpful, fine if you know what you want to do but just need to know how AA does it, otherwise not.

Ian

[Doug64]

4 minutes ago, The Admiral said:

Well, same processing line up as I've got, so it should work.

Silly question may be, but have you tried running it without using the 1st image? If I remember correctly, it can be picky. Can you simply do a median stack on the lights without using darks, flats, bias? If not, then the problem must surely be with the lights (or some of them). Have you manually inspected each of the lights to see if there is any obvious issue?

It is a complete program in that it aligns and stacks, and allows you to manipulate the resultant image. It can also control mounts and cameras I believe. The workflow may or may not be to your taste. I was already using StarTools to pp but I got AA to give me more flexibility in calibration and stacking. I find the manual pretty unhelpful, fine if you know what you want to do but just need to know how AA does it, otherwise not.

Ian

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the reply, it looks like I've got it working but cannot save anything due to it being the Demo version.

I think I'll buy it over the weekend just for the pre-processing side of things as I think it can do much more than DSS which I'm using at the moment.  I currently image with a modded DSLR and use Backyard EOS for my imaging sequences etc and then process the stacked images in Photoshop  (another learning curve).

Once I have the full program I can then play around with camera / telescope control etc to see if it suits me.

Thanks again for your replies

Doug

[The Admiral]

2 hours ago, Doug64 said:

I think I'll buy it over the weekend

I bought mine through FLO as a cd version.

Ian

[Merlin66]

I use AA6 to control all my cameras, guiding and acquisition for spectroscopy.

AA6 uses flat darks (darks taken at the same exposure as the flats) rather than bias frames.

Works very well for me.

 

[ollypenrice]

27 minutes ago, Merlin66 said:

 

AA6 uses flat darks (darks taken at the same exposure as the flats) rather than bias frames.

 

 

It doesn't have to, Ken. I never use 'real' flat darks, only a master bias as a dark flat. This works perfectly. I just put the master bias in the flat darks box.

I suspect the problem is the number of files being handled, as has been suggested.

I make master bias and darks by putting them in the lights box and average combining them without alignment. You can use Median but AA recommend Average. I doubt it matters.

Then I put my flats in the flats box, my master bias in the darks box, average combine without alignment and that's my master flat.

You do need to be able to save to do this, though.

Just a thought, Doug, but are all the files in the same file format?

I remain a huge fan of AA for stacking and calibration.

Olly

[Doug64]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

I've been having a play around today with the demo to see if it will control my camera etc as I'd rather have one program open that can do everything than a number of separate programmes.

I know the Pre-processing will work once I get the full program and not the demo so I decided to try my Canon 550d DSLR.   I downloaded the driver file and put this into Astroart and started the program and went to Plug Ins and found the CCD Camera tab.  I opened this up and was able to select my camera using the Canon Native setting.  Great I thought with a smile on my face.  I then tried to take an image and this is where the problems started.

If I set the camera to take a single 1 second exposure it counts down the pause time and then the shutter opens but it fails to close until I push stop or it does it itself after about a minute.  It's as if the program forgets to close the shutter after taking the image.  When I push the stop button an image comes up.

After this problem I tried to take a sequence of shots but it failed sadly.  As before the camera counts down and opens the shutter but fails to close it until I push stop or after a period of time and then the second image is not taken and the sequence fails, this happens no matter what length of image I set.

So it would appear that the camera control for a Canon DSLR is a waster of time.

Does anyone else use a Canon DSLR with this software and if so do you or have you had this problem and if you did how did you solve it.

Thanks

Doug