Request ability to rotate through mosaic targets

For mosaics, it would be nice to be able to rotate through the panels taking some number of subs on each panel. Loop back to the first panel after the last panel.

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Just making a quick note while I am thinking about this… this request really has nothing to do with mosaics. If we can implement something to satisfy this need for any multi-target sequence, then mosaics will be satisfied as well. No idea on the UI for this right now…

That’s right, it is not specific to mosaics. But for me, mosaics are where it would be most handy.
Andy

Hello,
I had opened a new topic about “Sequence of sequences”.
Andy directed me to that post.

I explain my case, very similar, but for Asteroids and comets astrometry:

One of the things I need is imaging asteroids or comets.
But I need some time (for example, 1hr.) between images of the same target.
I need the asteroid to change its position between two image shots, and that depends on objet speed.

I can introduce a delay in each event of the target, but in this way I should have lot of lost time with the equipment stopped. I prefer to rotate between asteroids, and beginning again after a time (for example 1 hr).

What I’m doing now is a sequence like that (for example 4 asteroids), copying the whole sequence several times (2-3 times):

Asteroid1- 2 shots of 150sec. begin at 22:00
Asteroid2- 2 shots of 150sec.
Asteroid3- 2 shots of 150sec.
Asteroid4- 2 shots of 150sec.

Asteroid1 copy- 2 shots of 150sec. begin at 23:00
Asteroid2 copy- 2 shots of 150sec.
Asteroid3 copy- 2 shots of 150sec.
Asteroid4 copy- 2 shots of 150sec.

Asteroid1 copy- 2 shots of 150sec. begin at 24:00
Asteroid2 copy- 2 shots of 150sec.
Asteroid3 copy- 2 shots of 150sec.
Asteroid4 copy- 2 shots of 150sec.

But it’s very annoying…
Is it posible (I didn’t find it) to have a “sequence of sequences”? Like a main script.
If I call the 4 asteroids sequence as SEQ1, making a super-sequence like:
“Repeat SEQ1 x 3 times each 1 hr.”

It would be perfect for astrometry purposes.
Thank you
Fernando

Now that you have “global” sequence settings

maybe just adding an option along the lines of “Rotate through targets taking [   ] subs per target” would do it? That would cover the mosaic case, I’m not sure if it needs to be any more sophisticated for the asteroid astrometry case.

Andy

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Interesting but I wonder if it should be associated with the “Event Order” radio buttons. Perhaps a text box after “Rotate through events” where the default value is one. This would give the current behavior but you could use a larger value to get the results being discussed.

This type of feature would also be useful for variable star photometry. I’m looking for some software that will take an image of target A, move to target B, take an image of target B, move to target C, take an image of target C. And then move back to target A and keep repeating the sequence until I tell it to stop. So a repeating multi-target sequence.

James

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This sort of thing - the ability for advanced users to configure things in ever more ways - adds complexity, both to the user interface and the implementation. This has consequences; less experienced users find things more difficult, the developers spend more and more time supporting them and the probability for new and obscure bugs is increased.

The downsides of this affects everyone while the benefits of the new features only affects the very few people who use them.

We are seeing this now. Ken and Jared are saying that their ability to develop new features is compromised by the time they are spending debugging and supporting the current product.

Getting the balance right is difficult and most people, including most developers, tend to err on the side of adding complexity.

All IMO of course, but based on many years of software development and seeing this happen time and time again.

Chris

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Also my request is an option to rotate the events. If I make a mosaic of 4 panels, it first do all the subs in event1 and then move to event2. I would like to have the option to rotate in the events.
I would like to make first the Lum subs and rotate in the events. then I can select the RGB and rotate again until all the subs are done.

A markbox on/off would do the job I guess.

Thanks!

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+1 for this great new feature.
As for implementation, why not just add a numeric field titled “Repeat Sequence: 1”, where the user just types in a number bigger than 1. Simple for both new users and old.
Seems to me the added complexity for the code would be minimal.

I was unaware of this thread, and just began a new thread on this very topic. What jmacon wrote is what I had in mind, and it adds next to zero complexity. I’m no programmer, but in my naive view, it seems like it would be easy to simply add a “repeat sequence” option.

When I started looking for software of this type, I began by listing all of the features that I do not need (focusing, enhanced pointing accuracy, mosaicing, etc.), and realized that the only thing I really need is the ability to slew to a number of targets, and then image them, sometimes repeatedly. The addition of this simple feature sure would be great! Thanks.

Tom

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In addition to this feature request, I would like to see a slight variation of this feature. The variation would allow repeating all the events in a specific target. I often duplicate the five events for LRGBHa in the same target to allow each filter to take images spread out into more than 1 continuous session. Say I want 10 images of each filter. I can check ‘Rotate through events’ to spread them out completely, but I don’t want to do this because of the frequent filter changes required, 1 per image. If I select ‘Finish entire events first’, I get no spread over the target elevations. So I do perhaps 5 per filter, then repeat those a second, perhaps third time. So that requires 10 or 15 events. No easy way to dup the initial 5.

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It’s a pity, but this request seems not to be under the Feature Request Poll that is those days going on.

I find it more important each day.
I have to copy the same target each time with duplicated names etc.
It’s annoying.
It’s a pity. :frowning:

We realize this is annoying. If we had time to fix everything we would… Unfortunately folks with this need and folks practicing astrometry with SGPro are in the minority and have less weight when it comes to feature requests right now.

Hi,

I am new to SGPro, but not new to astrophotography. I am switching to SGPro at the moment as I am impressed with the auto-focus capabilities.

I am used to run sequences like this (for example)

autofocus>
6x L 3min
autofocus>
3x R 5min
autofocus>
3x G 5min
autofocus>
3x B 5min
goto 1>

This means that about every hour I have a complete set of data useful for LRGB combination. If clouds come in and I have to quit, I at least have data to combine LRGB! And I needed 4 autofocusroutines on filter change.

Now, If I use the same sequence in SGPro and check “Finish entire events first” I have to be careful restarting the target every hour. Not the way, SGPro is to be used as “enter, run, relax” solution. Otherwise, if I select “rotate through events” I have autofocus triggered after each frame, which is very time-consuming.

So, in my opinion, this is not only essential for astrometry and asteroid folks, but for all of us having sites with common weather issues…

What about adding a “goto” event?

Thanks for reconsidering.

Hello,
I entered to see if there is any update on this subject.

In the meantime, I saw you added the Script possibility at the end of the Sequence.
I have no idea of how to do it, but it should be possible a script like that:

“Reset the sequence”
“Wait for X time (1 hr. or just for an exact time)”
“Restart the sequence again”

At least I should have a way of repeating the entire sequence with several targets every hour until sun rise!.

Another improvement should be adding a counter in the script, repeating it only one time, twice, or whatever you want.

But the first one is already a good solution.

Thank you