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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

New Bahtinov Mask Assistant Tool

  • Posts: 106
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Just a thought; as an interim feature, could it be possible to select an overlay (akin to cross hairs and guidelines) and centre a Bahtinov mask directly on the selected star in the acquisition images. The selected star will still be auto focused as usual but the viewer will see the Bahtinov mask pattern results as the focus becomes more accurate. We are talking about a pretty bright star for Bahtinov therefore the pattern can be proportionate to the corresponding HFR .

Note: should this be an existing feature on other applications I was truly not aware. I only use Ekos.
Skywatcher 190MN - EQ6 Pro (with Belt Mod) - ASI1600MM-Cooled - ASI EFW7 - ASI120MM - WO f4 Guide Scope - Rigel nStep - KStars/Ekos - KDE - PixInsight
5 years 1 month ago #34874

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Hi.
It would be totally awesome if you could give us the real time streaming view at 5x and 10x, as in APT.
Cheers
5 years 1 month ago #34894

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Just thought I share my experience with Jasem's autofocus tool, using a very simple home-built autofocuser with a timed motor (not a stepper motor) and Shoestring Astronomy FCUSB as the driver. I focused using Jasem's tool and then checked using a Bahtinov mask. Here is the result:



Couldn't me more perfect, I would say.

PLEASE, Jasem, do NOT give up on the autofocuser. It is (almost) PERFECT as is!
5 years 1 month ago #34955
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Any update on the tool?
5 years 2 weeks ago #36229

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I am very interested in this feature. Is there any news from this project ?
4 years 11 months ago #38349

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Is there any news from this project ?
Adam4adam TutuApp AppValley
Last edit: 4 years 10 months ago by banadd.
4 years 10 months ago #38755

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Is there any update about this feature? Automatic focusing is not working flawlessly for me, so such bahtinov mask grabber could help me a lot
4 years 10 months ago #39497

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I see there is no update on this feature for a while. Does someone know if the repository where sneubert was working on is available in Github? As sneubert is apparently not able to work on it the last months, maybe someone else (I volunteer for this) can pick up where he left and continue working on this feature. It would be great to have this in Ekos too. I hope the repo is available, there is some really good effort done for this and it would be sad to not have this in Ekos.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq, AstroNerd
4 years 3 months ago #46780

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Hi All,

Happy new year everyone!

I spend my Christmas holidays well, I have been developing a Bahtinov mask assistant tool for kstars/Ekos. It is still under development, but the sources are already available on GitHub. I have forked the kstars project and created a branch where I develop the Bahtinov mask assistant tool (as part of the Focus tool from Ekos) see: github.com/prmolenaar/kstars/tree/bahtinov-mask-focus

For this project I first did some research on how to detect the Bahtinov star pattern in an image and then step by step integrated it into Ekos. As there is no simulator yet that generates the Bahtinov star pattern, I depend on a clear sky to test if it really works. So far the skies were very cloudy so I haven't been able to test the software yet. I will try that as soon as possible. When the implementation is working properly I will create a request to merge the changes back to the original kstars project.

I hope this will give other people some hope that the Bahtinov mask focus helper is on its way. I you like you can give it a try (download sources, build it and run it) and post the result on this forum.
A short tutorial:
- Start kstars / Ekos
- Connect your ccd
- Select Focus tab
- Select algorithm "Bahtinov mask"
- Select a star
* if you have a bahtinov mask on your telescope and a bright star in view, then a Bahtinov star pattern should be visible.
* if the software recognizes the Bahtinov star pattern, it will draw lines over the star pattern en circles on the center and on an offset to indicate the focus
* also the FHR value is set the the calculated offset, which also updates the graph

Good luck experimenting with it, and please be aware that the drawing of the star pattern on the image is not tested yet, so it might not work properly yet.
The other focus algorithms haven't been touches, so they still work as before.

Kind regards,
AstroRunner
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq, Radek Kaczorek, Alfred, Wouter van Reeven, Brian, Peter Sütterlin
4 years 2 months ago #47733

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Thanks for this. Am I to understand that this is a complete KStars fork so compiling and installing it will replace and KStars already on the system?


Thanks, Wouter
4 years 2 months ago #47847

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Hi Wouter,

That is correct, this is indeed a compleet KStars fork that will replace KStars on your system.

I am currently doing research into generation of Bahtinov diffraction patterns, which maybe could be integrated in the INDI CCD simulator to support testing the Bahtinov focus assistant in KStars/Ekos. But that is quite some difficult matter. So for now testing will only be possible on real stars, and not using the CCD simulator.

Kind regards,
AstroRunner
4 years 2 months ago #47870

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Maybe best to test without installing; call kstars from the build folder.
Cheers
4 years 2 months ago #47875

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