Unfortunately video is not possible. ASTAP live stacking is similar in function as AstroToaster&DSS. There are no functions to read cameras and there are no plans to add them. ASTAP could be used as an addition to existing programs like Ekos & CCDCiel.

Adjustment of brightness and colour is possible during stacking. See sliders in the top of viewer. However if used in auto mode [low,medium, high, gamma setting] there is no need to change them. To save the result you could pause/stop the stacking and save the viewer image as FITS/PNG/TIFF for further processing. You can also live zoom in and focus on existing details.

Version 0.9.283 is now released. If no more bugs are found, this should be the version for the next days. Then I will compile for Raspberry Pi and hopefully it is fast enough. The MacOS version I will do tonight.

The only remaining question for Ekos is if the FITS file are saved with the lastest ra,dec readings. This is required for the correct functionality. As soon the ra, dec changes that image is skipped. The next image is used as reference for the new stack.

Han

Stash,

In the first versions, I made a coding mistake with background detection and it was very CPU intensive trying process noise as stars. The latest version should be much faster. You could just test it on a directory of images and see the processing time. I have still have hope it will work on the Pi4.

I haven't added the RAW files functionality yet to the live stacking. That's easy to add but it uses DCRAW for conversion and this could add some delay. If DSLR is used in combination with Ekos are the results saved as FITS or RAW?

Han

Hans ,

Thanks for your efforts - goes without saying really

Thanks for the reply and I note the "error" which is only to be expected in testing - I will download the newer version (using stand alone version of ASTAP not the installer versionanyway)/

The added delay of using DCRAW could / would be removed if you processed images directly in RAW mode as EKOS can provide either if my memory serves me ! I think CCDCIEL converts or receives FIT anyway so CCDCEIL would need to be changed to allow RAW DSLR files - I am using Indiserver on Linux with DSLR attached but running CCDCIEL on Windows so that I can do live stacking via AT - works very well !
CCDciel ,which I have started using live ,does not work too well on RPI as PC says on his site - not sure how well it works on RPI4 - so that really means off OTA processing IMO.

Of course being Indi ,ASTAP Live stacking could be run on a separate RPI (or other hardware) by itself if CPU/Memory is a problem or interrupts workflows (older RPI) it only needs to access the files where Ekos stores images. I have done this before with AT picking up images from Ekos across a wired network (wireless too slow) or using a File sync application.

Still to get a "live Stacking" application in Linux is a big plus.

I will let you know how my testing goes

Ekos can handle both Raw and Fits with DSLR.
(Raw is fast because there is no conversion process.)

In CCDCamera, Raw images are converted to Fits by the driver.
(I think it will be even faster if the driver does not perform the conversion process.)

OK same tests but using v283

Results :-

1. Dreaded blue spinning wheel of death gone from ASTAP - a lot more responsive - tick

2. 5 x 35mb FIT files were processed and stack displayed in 2 mins - initial stack displayed in 15secs - faster than AT for FULL display - tick

3. Images with NO darks so same files (only one set RAW and the other FIT) produced finished images as attached but with col adj in AT - could find equiv in ASTAP - Sliders and or Stretch auto or otherwise didn't help.

4. Loss of Colour - but maybe down to the convertion of RAW to FIT's - see note (a) below

So far better experience for me than first test but still nots some refining but hell pretty good in a couple of days - big slap on your back Han's

Would I change fro AT (or that matter DSS Live) - yes if it runs on a RPI4 and the user interface was tidied / simplified - I would like the Col Adj to be a popup modal window that appears/disappears without the other "clutter" so its like DSS Live or AT.

Dont want a lot do I - LOL

So its getting there , from my point of view. Thanks Han's

Haven't got a RPI4 so cant help you with testing else I would.

Notes.
A - I haven't any FIT's files on my test machine so I used ASTAP to convert my 5 RAW(CR2) files used in the test so this may or may not have caused colour loss.!

Thanks for the info. If Ekos can convert to FITS then there is the advantage that the mount position will be added (presumably). That will be better for detection a new position = new stack.

Stash,

Thanks for testing. I'm glad it starts working for you.

Conversion to colour can be specified in the tab "stack method". Since intermediate result is shown after each stack step, final colour correction has to wait after the stack.

Making a separate "live stacking" program makes it more difficult to maintain. Now all parts are benefiting from each other. The viewer, stacking , solving combination is beneficial.

I hoped the menus are understandable .

I have the raw conversion implemented but not released yet. It was a little more difficult then anticipated. Do you think jpeg will be ever be used for stacking?

Now some more testing and I will try the Pi4 in the next days.

Han

Lots of great progress here! Regarding FITS images, INDI encodes the RA/DE of the current mount position. Looking forward to test this in a couple of days until I finished the ASTAP astrometry work.

How about a compromise - add direct connection from Top Menu to the Live Stacking Window

Use of Jpeg - As politicians should know - "never say never" - would give speed increase I would have thought and maybe other uses I can't think of (others might ) If its not much extra work and no extra difficult support needed then why not !

I just uploaded ASTAP version 0.9.284. Live stacking will work with FITS, RAWs, JPEG and TIFF, PNG

I also uploaded 32 and 64 bit version for Raspberry Pi. Below the test result of live stacking expressed in time required per image. For Pi4 you have to set your exposure times for an mono image of 2328x1760 pixels at around 10 seconds or more . Note the memory card used are slow. Class 10?
Above these dimensions, the process time becomes too much to use.

Time required for live stacking per image:


My Pi3 was running out of disk space, so maybe it slowed done the processing.

Han

This happened to me after I installed it (apparently) successfully (all dependencies satisfied) on an RPi4, running Ubuntu MATE 18.04, with amd64 architecture added.



What am I missing?

Jo

Did you download the Raspberry Pi4 rather than the Linux version?