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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Collimation Circles

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Replied by Marc on topic Collimation Circles

Ok this is a test run...

So, you start sct-colim, then adjust the size of the window so the outer ring fits the exterior brim of your donut.
Then you use the left click/right click to adapt the size on the inner ring to the circle of the secondary mirror. (wheel mouse in the dark... not good, too easy to roll it unwillingly). And you can change the colour (RGB) with the central click. Window is always on top.
Program is x86_64. Haven't tried to build it on a raspi so far. Hope for clear skies tonite. ;)
Please test it if you can. I'll publish the source as soon as everything is OK. You need GTK+2.0 GDK and cairo libs installed.

- Marc
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Last edit: 4 years 1 week ago by Marc.
4 years 1 week ago #50894
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Replied by David Tate on topic Collimation Circles


I assume you mean we should do: sudo apt-get install libgtk2.0-dev

I did and was able to build and execute the sample Codelite GTK 2.4C.
4 years 1 week ago #50897

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Replied by Marc on topic Collimation Circles

First real life test... Sure it's a bonus ... :)

- Marc

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Last edit: 4 years 1 week ago by Marc.
4 years 1 week ago #50901
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Replied by Eric on topic Collimation Circles


Agreed on the subject of settings. I've got yet another code branch on my computer that provides settings serialization for all tabs, that is, saving and loading tab settings to XML files. Not complete yet, no...

However, we need to keep the amount of tabs minimal. Right now we have:
- Manager, responsible for editing profiles, and starting the INDI server and drivers.
- Scheduler, responsible for orchestrating observation sessions.
- Mount, responsible for pointing and monitoring the telescope movement.
- Capture, responsible for exposing one, eventually filtered, optical sensor.
- Focus, responsible for moving the sensor to the optimal focus plane.
- Align, responsible for resolving the position of the telescope.
- Guide, responsible for keeping sensor pixels illuminated by the same sky spatial angle.
- Observatory, responsible for ensuring safe operation of the observation setup.

The next tabs that could appear are a log analyzer and a storage manager. Whatever feature we create, we need to find the best location where to insert it: if a collimation helper is created, then its best location is clearly the Focus module currently.
When development progresses and that helper takes so many settings that it doesn't fit the Focus tab anymore, then, agreed, it should move out. Frankly, right now, most of the features are already covered by Focus.

Unless we get much help, Ekos cannot achieve the same level of specialization as SkyGuide or CCD Inspector. But some neat things can be done.

That's why I listed the steps of the procedure that best fits the OP requirement, in order to find where elements should be fixed, improved or automated. I understand that:
- altering settings with no way to return to stable values is a BIG problem for many of us.
- the cross-hairs overlay should be configurable, and/or should fit star properties detected in the sub-frame.
- process automation would be desirable, in the same way as the polar alignment tool.

Any other ideas?

-Eric
4 years 1 week ago #50903

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Replied by Andrew Burwell on topic Collimation Circles

I'm thinking there needs to be a way to invoke interfaces that are not regularly used in an imaging session but could borrow from components that are already built. Maybe just make it a button on the Camera tab to launch a collimation interface that borrows heavily all the correct components.

This would be similar to the mount model feature on the align tab.
4 years 1 week ago #50904

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Replied by Marc on topic Collimation Circles


I agree the best place is in the focuser tab. That seems obvious as you need to focus in/focus out along the process
(i.e you need to test extra focus AND intra focus, if the difference is important, it could mean your Shmidt blade is misaligned).

I think you need to deal with the two circles (one for the outer ring and one for the inner ring) separately. At least it's what I have done...
How you do this is not really important, this is trivial to program..

I think The process should be linked in a way or another with autoguiding. Trying to collimate an SCT (most particularly the longest ones)
without autoguiding is just futile.

I also think we could have 2 presets :
- One fast fps 100/300 mlsecs and high gain for "ordinary" nights.
- One slow fps 1000->3000 mlsecs low gain for high turbulences nights.

For elongation, I have no (simple) idea. The simplest way is probably to put the test star in the middle of the field.
Remember some SCTs are corrected, other not, if you have in mind to test both the center and the edges ...

- Marc
Last edit: 4 years 1 week ago by Marc.
4 years 1 week ago #50905

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Replied by Marc on topic Collimation Circles

Source of sct-colim if you have basic skills in compilation and can't wait ...

- Marc
4 years 1 week ago #50925
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Replied by David Tate on topic Collimation Circles

I have it running... but it's not transparent. The circles resize nicely and change colors. (pretty neat)

Now what I did was replace the sample main.c that is auto built by CodeLite. It's an Executable GUI GTK 2.4/C project.
4 years 1 week ago #50931

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Replied by Marc on topic Collimation Circles

Try to start if from a terminal and see if it says "supports_alpha = TRUE"
If it says "supports_alpha = FALSE" then your X server does not support alpha blending.
In that case, it's not possible to have transparency.

You can also try :

xdpyinfo | grep -i render

If it says RENDER, then the Xrender extension which deals with the alpha blending is installed.
If not, well... Bad news :(

What is your set up ? distro, X server, (Xorg, Wayland ?) PC, Raspberry ?

- Marc

Last edit: 4 years 1 week ago by Marc.
4 years 1 week ago #50932
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Replied by David Tate on topic Collimation Circles

It does say:
supports_alpha = TRUE
and
RENDER

I'm running Raspberry Pi4 using Raspbian. I complied with CodeLite as "Executable GUI GTK 2.4/C project"

Last edit: 4 years 1 week ago by David Tate.
4 years 1 week ago #50933
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Replied by Marc on topic Collimation Circles

Maybe your Window Manager is blocking transparency. You should look at you WM setup.
Or, it can be VNC blocking alpha channel (limited number of colors) to speed up the cnx.
If you are connecting through VNC, try to connect directly with a mouse, kbd and screen.
If it works, then the problem comes from the VNC side. If not, then the problem comes from your WM.

If it comes from VNC, try to set 32bits colors. (Will slow down your cnx !)

Also try to skip CodeLite and just build with

gcc $(pkg-config --libs --cflags gtk+-2.0) main.c -o sct-colim

Anyway, I don't have raspi4 nor stellarmate, so it is not easy to help you beyond that point.

- Marc
Last edit: 4 years 1 week ago by Marc.
4 years 1 week ago #50948

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Replied by David Tate on topic Collimation Circles

Running it directly without noNVC made no difference.

and running sct-solim after your build line is still showing non-transparently.


But using your build line I see the following output:
(the font is not helping you see the warnings... it's pointing to: *window and win and *widget).

gcc $(pkg-config --libs --cflags gtk+-2.0) main.c -o sct-colim
main.c: In function \u2018main\u2019:
main.c:38:27: warning: passing argument 1 of \u2018gtk_window_set_position\u2019 from incompatible pointer type [-Wincompatible-pointer-types]
gtk_window_set_position (window, GTK_WIN_POS_CENTER);
^~~~~~
In file included from /usr/include/gtk-2.0/gtk/gtkdialog.h:35,
from /usr/include/gtk-2.0/gtk/gtkaboutdialog.h:32,
from /usr/include/gtk-2.0/gtk/gtk.h:33,
from main.c:1:
/usr/include/gtk-2.0/gtk/gtkwindow.h:195:70: note: expected \u2018GtkWindow *\u2019 {aka \u2018struct _GtkWindow *\u2019} but argument is of type \u2018GtkWidget *\u2019 {aka \u2018struct _GtkWidget *\u2019}
void gtk_window_set_position (GtkWindow *window,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~
main.c: In function \u2018clicked\u2019:
main.c:145:10: warning: passing argument 1 of \u2018expose\u2019 from incompatible pointer type [-Wincompatible-pointer-types]
expose( win, NULL, NULL);
^~~
main.c:89:35: note: expected \u2018GtkWidget *\u2019 {aka \u2018struct _GtkWidget *\u2019} but argument is of type \u2018GtkWindow *\u2019 {aka \u2018struct _GtkWindow *\u2019}
static gboolean expose(GtkWidget *widget, GdkEventExpose *event, gpointer userdata)
~~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~
Last edit: 4 years 1 week ago by David Tate.
4 years 1 week ago #50950

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