NINA plate solving

[muletopia]

With help from here NINA is taking image sequences, as in the attached image. But my start up procedure is cumbersome slew to target  with CDC plate solve with Sitech server II , then slew to target with CDC  and repeat until satisfied that the target is centred then start guiding with PHD2 and finally take a sequence with NINA.

Sitech uses Platesolve3 so I  want to use it with NINA also. I followed NINIA's instructions and entered the telescope & camera parameters.  In NINIA options platesolving it asks that the platesolver location be entered, so I filled the field with :C\chris\nina as this is where Platesolve3 is shown in file location by Windows.

When I ask NINA to plate solve an error message "... please enter the correct location for the plate solver" is displayed. So I have obviously missed something, but what?

[newbie alert]

Why are you using CDC to frame and slew, then nina when you can just frame and slew with Nina?

Don't know what platesolve 3 is, ASTAP is fast and accurate, never had a issue

[StevieDvd]

C\chris\nina is an odd directory for the program. If you view that directory in explorer does it have a sub-folder called Platesolve3 perhaps?

The directory you are pointing NINA at should contain the platesolver executable and related files.

Edit

I read the notes on Platesolve3 you need to run the program standalone first to set the location of the catalog files before using in Nina. View the properties of the program icon you run to invoke the solver to get the location of the executable folder that NINA wants.

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by StevieDvd

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Is the directory actually :C\chris\nina  ? or something like  :C\chris\nina \platesolve3 

However from all the threads i have seen of platesolving in NINA most seem to suggest not using  platesolve at all and use ASTAP,.

Also whilst it seems a huge leap  think it would be worth taking it and using NINA for all your framing and platesolving and forget the other programs, that seems awfully hard and time consuming.
When I first went to using NINA I too was wary about using the inbuilt sky atlas but you can use either Stellarium or CDC to find your target if you are like me and like to look what targets are about and then you can NINA and import the coordinates from these direct into NINA and do further framing if you wish, including a really good manual rotation aid if you do not have a rotator.
Once you have done that NINA will do everything for you.

If in doubt I recommend looking at all the helpful tutorials of PatriotAstro on YouTube. Such as THIS one.

If you do want to just use Platesolve 3 then maybe some screen shots of your setup in NINA and of the directory of platesolve3 in file explorer might help.

Steve

[muletopia]

16 hours ago, StevieDvd said:

C\chris\nina is an odd directory for the program. If you view that directory in explorer does it have a sub-folder called Platesolve3 perhaps?

The directory you are pointing NINA at should contain the platesolver executable and related files.

Edit

I read the notes on Platesolve3 you need to run the program standalone first to set the location of the catalog files before using in Nina. View the properties of the program icon you run to invoke the solver to get the location of the executable folder that NINA wants.

 

Yes I ran iplatesolve3.8.0  stand alone on an image captured last night, (NGC1566) and the centre it reports is very close indeed to the J200 coordinates (allow my time to start guiding),

In NINA I tried the location as C:\chris\nina, which is from where the stand alone was launched

The executable is called platesolv38.0.exe. As NINA expects just platesolve3 is this likely to be a problem?

Chris

 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Hi Chris,

Having looked in the NINA instructions for platesolving it looks like I was wrong  about PlateSolve3 and that in fact it is a recommended platesolver and is very good for long focal lengths with a small fov and fewer stars.
It was probably PlateSolve2 that was not recommended as it could not blind plate solve.

The instructions are as follows if you have not seen these:

PlateSolve3#
Author: PlaneWave Instruments (Dave Rowe) URL: PlateSolve 3.80 5GB

Nina has kindly been selected to add the new PlateSolve3 program to its arsenal of platesolvers, courtesy of Dave Rowe. PlateSolve3 is a standalone executable which has been improved to work with longer focal lengths and smaller FOVs with fewer stars. This download has the necessary catalogues already added. Just unpack it into a directory of your choosing and point to it in Nina platesolving options.
You need to start the executable once standalone and select File - Configure directory.
Set the GaiaDr2 location to the 'UD Catalog' directory in the unpacked PlateSolve3.80 directory.
Then set the UCAC4 location to the 'Kepler' directory in the same unpacked directory. You will also need to set your location in View - Parameters

Benefits

Works really well with long focal lengths and small FOVs. Tested up to 12000mm.
Very fast (blind) solver
Does not require an Internet connection
Drawbacks

A little slow to start up.
The regional settings of windows need to be set to use a point as the decimal symbol
Recommendation

Primary Solver: Recommended
Blind Solver: Recommended

These instructions can be found HERE along with a link to the full download of PlateSo;ve3, which you may already have, but maybe best to download the latest version again and follow these instructions to the full and I hope it will then work well for you.
Let us all know how it goes.

Good Luck 🙂 

Steve

[peonic]

2 hours ago, muletopia said:

 

The executable is called platesolv38.0.exe. As NINA expects just platesolve3 is this likely to be a problem?

Chris

 

My guess is that you've pointed NINA at the platesolve 3 installer file that you downloaded, not the fully installed application?

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Hi Chris,

I previously did not have PlateSolve3 installed for NINA but have just downloaded it now.
I put all the files in my "Program Files" directory, but only because that's where I already had ASTAP and All Sky Plate Solver, shouldn't really matter where you put it.

So these are the files and directories I have downloaded.

You then need to run it as a stand alone program by clicking on the platesolve3.80.exe file before using it in NINA so you can set the proper directories for the star catalogues.
But it sounds like you have already done this so should be fine.

So having clicked on PlateSolve3.80.exe I clicked on File menu and then Configure Directories and set the proper directories for the star catalogues:

If all is good you should see two Status OK messages.

Then set the path to PlateSolve3.8.exe in NINA like below, make sure it is the full path to the exe file not just the directory.

 

Then set PlateSolve3 for both your Platesolver and Blind Platesolver:

 

Then to test as it is daylight I loaded a random image I had  in Framing in NINA.

• Set Image Source to File
• Click on Load Image
• Select the image.

iIt then brings up the platesolving dialogue box.
Make sure the data is correct for pixel size, focal length and binning.
You can either enter the approximate coordinates of the image if they are not embedded in the image file and then click on Plate solver, or leave them at zero and click Blind solver.
Personally I wouldn't bother with the coordinates if not readily available as it seems to blind solve pretty quickly.

For me al seemed to work perfectly and  blind solved in about 5 seconds.

I hope you can get yours working the same, I do not see why it shouldn't 🙂 

Steve

[StevieDvd]

As @teoria_del_big_bang has so kindly shown the problem is likely that you are telling NINA that you have the platesolve3.exe in the the wrong directory. Change that and you should be ready to solve the problem 😁

[newbie alert]

Did i see that it needs the UCAC4 catalogues in the plane wave spec?

[teoria_del_big_bang]

6 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

Did i see that it needs the UCAC4 catalogues in the plane wave spec?

I don't actually know what that means I just downloaded the files in one zip file from the link on NINA and then unzipped all to same directory.

Steve

[newbie alert]

[StevieDvd]

4 hours ago, newbie alert said:

Did i see that it needs the UCAC4 catalogues in the plane wave spec?

As you can see from the pictures above these are included in the big download file and @teoria_del_big_bang has put both directories in the settings as the instructions indicate.

Or are you asking if they are needed? Not that I know the answer to that!

[newbie alert]

2 hours ago, StevieDvd said:

As you can see from the pictures above these are included in the big download file and @teoria_del_big_bang has put both directories in the settings as the instructions indicate.

Or are you asking if they are needed? Not that I know the answer to that!

I use ASTAP and sometimes platesolve2.. when I installed platesolve2 I had to also install the UCAC3 file... Tweak the settings and I've never had an issue... Assume the platesolve3 to use the UCAC4 and direct it in the same manner 

[DavidLF_]

Hi, I'm new here, I'd like to resume this conversation, I recently installed PS3 and it resolves quickly, but it gives me an ascom driver error in NINA when trying to move the telescope.  In the parameters tab I forgot to add my coordinates, I don't know if this is the cause of the problem.  I have also read this here "The regional settings of windows need to be set to use a point as the decimal symbol" but I don't know where to change it.  can anybody help me?  Thanks in advance!

[Clarkey]

5 hours ago, DavidLF_ said:

but it gives me an ascom driver error in NINA when trying to move the telescope.

What mount and driver are you using? Is the driver the latest version? I have used NINA platesolving without issue - but I use ASTAP.

I doubt if it is a windows issue if Windows is normally working fine. (Not to say it is impossible).

[DavidLF_]

Hace 5 horas, Clarkey dijo:

¿Qué montura y controlador estás usando? ¿El controlador es la última versión? He used the solution of placas NINA sin problemas, pero uso ASTAP.

Dudo que sea un problema de Windows si Windows normalmente funciona bien. (Por no decir que es imposible).

Yo uso un neq6 y la última versión de ascom.

I also use astap but I am very interested in platesolve3 because of my long reach and small fov

Edited April 18, 2023 by DavidLF_