I wouldn't mind a tour of your garden. It looks quite nice. Web Session History looks quite interesting but I might start looking at it at all hours of the night.
Great video and well explained. I'll be trying out two of them to start with. I find myself going back to your other videos to refresh on certain tasks.
Awesome stuff chad!, Ive been using the Lightbucket one for some time and its pretty awesome. I like it for those days where i dont know what i want to shoot that night. But im keen to check out the webserver plugin now.. Now to just wait for the rain to go away!.. Keep up the great work chad!
Hi Chad! Just a little correction about JSON format. In your example you are showing XML format, JSON is more like: { number: 0, path: "C:\path", name: "filename000.fits", filter: "red", length: 180, } Btw, love your work and learned a lot with your videos!
Yep, you are spot on. I decided at the last minute to throw something together as a visual for people that didn't have the slightest understanding of how they differ, and of course, I didn't have my system powered up to grab the real json example. :( I guess I've got XML on the brain after the FramingCache update video.
Another great video. I am loving the new Web Session History viewer, the latest additions have been incredible. I can also see my scope in your lightbucket view :-)
Thanks for another great video Chad! Glad to answer questions or field enhancement requests for Session Metadata or Web Session History Viewer - just ping me here or on Discord.
I just did it, there is no setup, literally just install the plug-in, restart NINA, and from the plug-in page select "On" for "Web Plugin Enabled" (it defaults to off). It's that simple. It even provides the URLs for you. Super Easy.
The plugin does everything for you... Ugh, during my review and editing I kept pausing on the way I mentioned that and just knew it wasn't clear. Sorry! But, really, there is nothing to do but add the plugin and turn it on! Thats it!
@@PatriotAstro question, when I focus, the left side of the graph is shallower than the right side. I can’t seem to get the classic V. Otherwise it does work. Esprit 80, QHY294 mono, Pegasus Astro focuser, Ha filter.
Thank Chad! I am wondering if there is a plug in to allow the most recent image captured during a sequence to be stretched and saved automatically during the run (in real time) as a .jpg that is constantly over written so that it can be uploaded and viewed in near real time on a web page using FTP. I realize some of these plug ins are close to that, but nothing does exactly that. Any thoughts? Paul
So sort of. Look at the Web server plug-in, and the light bucket plug-in. Both of these give you access to at least the most recent image, as well as more data too.
Great video!! I saw you also have installed Orbitals plugin. I would love to know more about that plugin. Can we do planetary imagin with NINA?? Actually I use firecapture, but using a single sw for adquisition for both solar system and dso objects would be great! Thanks!
@@PatriotAstro by the way, don't pay too much attention to the comments claiming JSON example is wrong. I'm a computer scientist and you explain more than enough to know what is that option about it. There is no need to know the exact syntax, and those who have realized, they don't need more explanations. Keep doing videos like this one, you are one of the best YT astrophotographers I follow
@@urtziodriozola7766 I'm not worried about it. I honestly should have known better but it was a last minute decision to add it and I had XML on the brain at the time. I definitely would have preferred to get it right, but the point works enough for the target audience that it was intended for. Thanks for the comment, and thanks for watching!
I wish there was something like the web server plugin and the metadata plugin combined, where it could track everything over your entire imaging career and then update it in a spreadsheet so you could have a master log of what you’ve done, while also not being managed by a web host like lightbucket. I want that because it would add privacy and would help me manage files down the road more easily
I've sorta wanted something similar - really just a database that can store everything you care about from your imaging sessions (minus the images). Of course you need a UI in front of the database, so getting into a decent amount of work. Afraid it might be a tool only for those data junkies Brent mentions below ;)
I'd been using the web session history plugin, but apparently didn't know about all its features--I'll have to play with it some more. Kind of annoying, though, that there's nothing--no landing page or anything similar--at the computer's IP address. If you forget to add /dist (which doesn't seem very intuitive) to the URL, you're pretty much SOL.
I'm going to assume they developer wanted to choose a root folder outside the true IP root in case someone already had another webserver running on the box... which would break 2 things. :)
@@danbrown586 That's a very valid point. It looks like the plugin uses a couple UnoSquare packages including SWAN.lite and the embedIO webserver. I'm going to guess that the plugin devs need to run their entire package out of their %localappdata%\NINA\Plugins\ folder and that it wasn't prefered to drop the webserver root js code in the same folder as the plugin dll's. I'm not 100% sure why, but I'm sure it is related to NINA plugin guidelines of some sort. Oh well.
The web server root is actually %localappdata%\NINA\WebPlugin\ - you can see the dist and sessions folders under there as well as the web server logs. WebPlugin is separate from the plugin folder itself so plugin updates don't impact it. Should be easy to add a redirect to /dist if you hit the root - look for that in a future release.
@@tompalmer3727 Interesting. And it would probably also be simple to drop a index.htm in there with a link to /dist (or that just does the redirect). Any reason that couldn't be done manually?
Thanks for the video. I am using the new plug, Session Metadata which creates a CSV file of my night session. Which of the parameters corresponds to the total RMS you look at in PHD2? There are the 6 parameters you can see in the CSV file. GuidingRMS Ex. .0897 GuidingRMSArcSec Ex. .8771 GuidingRMSRA Ex. .0668 GuidingRMSRAArcSec Ex. .6531 GuidingRMSDEC Ex. .0599 GuidingRMSDECArcSec Ex. .5855 and how could the other parameters be used in assessing the guiding for the evening?
These datapoints are in Pixels and Arc-seconds (alternating). In most cases, people care about the ArcSec ones because that value is hardware-independent. This means that if your guiding is 0.9 arcsec on your guide camera, it is also 0.9 arcsec for your imaging camera. (…Since this is a sky measurement and not dependent on sensor characteristics such as pixel size.) OK, with that being said though, what’s likely more important to you is understanding the pixel scale of your optical system for both your guide camera and your primary imaging camera. You see, PHD2 should already be aware of your guide camera pixel size and your guide scope focal length. This allows it to calculate the image scale for the guiding system and provide you RMS values in pixels. So fundamentally, if your guiding says that it is less than one pixel, it is telling you that your guide camera is not deviating outside of one pixel, more or less. But, you need to know how that relates to your primary imaging camera. It may be that while your guide camera is moving less than one pixel, that may translate to three pixels of movement on your primary camera. As you can see, image scale and understanding your optics as it relates to image scale, is the key. Most people will tell you they want their primary camera, in a perfect world, to guide under one pixel. So, what you really probably care about here is the top two values of GuidingRMS and GuidingRMSarcsec. Looking at RA and DEC are important so that you can understand if you’re having a problem with one specific axis, but overall guiding is more important in the long run. As far as improving this goes, it’s important you understand that you have physical limitations based on the quality of your mount and you’re typical seeing conditions. Tuning your mount and proper balance is a good start. From there, trying to get the best calibration possible will also help… But eventually it will all come back to mount quality and seeing. One more point as it relates to this plug-in however, you may find using the guiding statistics can be helpful on a per image basis when determining what images should be excluded from the final stack. Poorly guided images are easy ones to discard because they will not have the best quality stars. Hope this helps. I saw the question on FB as well so I’ll try to copy-paste this answer there too.
These look like very useful tools. Is anyone considering developing a tool(s) for parsing some of this data from folders of previously captured imaging sessions?
On occasion I use live stacking. Those csv or Json files throw the watch folder notice of new file and create an error in the live stack. Seemed to happen in dss and the pixinsight ezlive stack. Anyone else seen this or found a fix?
I thought there was a way to do this by entering a full path for the metadata file names but the backslashes are stripped. Good suggestion though - I'll add to the list. Thanks -
That example of JSON was not actually right. That looked closer to XML but not so because it wasn't valid. JSON would be like: { "image": "file1.fits", "exposure": 180 }
Yep! I had XML on the brain and added that CSV and JSON example right at the end of editing. I thought it would be helpful to show people that don't have any real IT experience what was being talked about... then, I went and did that. LOL - oh, well. Next time. HaHa.
I wouldn't mind a tour of your garden. It looks quite nice. Web Session History looks quite interesting but I might start looking at it at all hours of the night.
That's the best time to look at the history! It helps me sleep knowing all is well... :)
Great video and well explained. I'll be trying out two of them to start with. I find myself going back to your other videos to refresh on certain tasks.
I have to go back to remind myself how to create synthetic flats about every 3 months... by watching my own video... :)
Great review Chad. I especially like the Web session History Viewer.
Me too! It is a beautiful interface and quite useful as well.
Awesome stuff chad!, Ive been using the Lightbucket one for some time and its pretty awesome. I like it for those days where i dont know what i want to shoot that night. But im keen to check out the webserver plugin now.. Now to just wait for the rain to go away!.. Keep up the great work chad!
I'd held off on the webserver plugin for a while... but now I have no idea why i did that... This plugin is fantastic!
Hi Chad!
Just a little correction about JSON format. In your example you are showing XML format, JSON is more like:
{
number: 0,
path: "C:\path",
name: "filename000.fits",
filter: "red",
length: 180,
}
Btw, love your work and learned a lot with your videos!
Yep, you are spot on. I decided at the last minute to throw something together as a visual for people that didn't have the slightest understanding of how they differ, and of course, I didn't have my system powered up to grab the real json example. :( I guess I've got XML on the brain after the FramingCache update video.
Very nice and timely video Chad. Thanks for taking the time to pull it together.
Hope it helps you get info you need!
Tried these out last night as well as the off-line mapping, what can I say other than thanks for pointing them out so useful.
Glad to help. Let me know if you end up having any questions.
Another great video. I am loving the new Web Session History viewer, the latest additions have been incredible.
I can also see my scope in your lightbucket view :-)
LOL, I knew a few people would see their own images/sessions in there!
Thanks for another great video Chad! Glad to answer questions or field enhancement requests for Session Metadata or Web Session History Viewer - just ping me here or on Discord.
Thanks TOM! and great work on the plugins!
Excellent Video Chad. I want to use it to troubleshoot an issue I am having. Very useful
Great! Let me know how it turns out.
Love your work Chad!
Thanks!
another excellent and detailed /informative video! Thanks for your hard work to make them!
Glad you found it useful!
Bravo! I would like to use Web Session History plugin, but setting up a web server looks daunting to this neophyte.
I just did it, there is no setup, literally just install the plug-in, restart NINA, and from the plug-in page select "On" for "Web Plugin Enabled" (it defaults to off). It's that simple. It even provides the URLs for you. Super Easy.
The plugin does everything for you... Ugh, during my review and editing I kept pausing on the way I mentioned that and just knew it wasn't clear. Sorry! But, really, there is nothing to do but add the plugin and turn it on! Thats it!
Exactly! Thanks for responding to Tom. I love it when people pitch in!
@@PatriotAstro Thanks fellas!
@@tomdaigon8707 No problem!
Great video, thank you
Thanks! Hope you find it useful.
@@PatriotAstro question, when I focus, the left side of the graph is shallower than the right side. I can’t seem to get the classic V. Otherwise it does work. Esprit 80, QHY294 mono, Pegasus Astro focuser, Ha filter.
Awesome video! Thank you!
Glad you liked it!
The video resolution is low so it is hard to see the details on the screen. Can you make 720P video?
Thank Chad! I am wondering if there is a plug in to allow the most recent image captured during a sequence to be stretched and saved automatically during the run (in real time) as a .jpg that is constantly over written so that it can be uploaded and viewed in near real time on a web page using FTP. I realize some of these plug ins are close to that, but nothing does exactly that. Any thoughts? Paul
So sort of. Look at the Web server plug-in, and the light bucket plug-in. Both of these give you access to at least the most recent image, as well as more data too.
Great video!! I saw you also have installed Orbitals plugin. I would love to know more about that plugin. Can we do planetary imagin with NINA?? Actually I use firecapture, but using a single sw for adquisition for both solar system and dso objects would be great! Thanks!
It'll be one of the ones I do sooner than later. I added it but haven't had enough clear skies to use it yet. :(
@@PatriotAstro by the way, don't pay too much attention to the comments claiming JSON example is wrong. I'm a computer scientist and you explain more than enough to know what is that option about it. There is no need to know the exact syntax, and those who have realized, they don't need more explanations. Keep doing videos like this one, you are one of the best YT astrophotographers I follow
@@urtziodriozola7766 I'm not worried about it. I honestly should have known better but it was a last minute decision to add it and I had XML on the brain at the time. I definitely would have preferred to get it right, but the point works enough for the target audience that it was intended for. Thanks for the comment, and thanks for watching!
I wish there was something like the web server plugin and the metadata plugin combined, where it could track everything over your entire imaging career and then update it in a spreadsheet so you could have a master log of what you’ve done, while also not being managed by a web host like lightbucket. I want that because it would add privacy and would help me manage files down the road more easily
I've sorta wanted something similar - really just a database that can store everything you care about from your imaging sessions (minus the images). Of course you need a UI in front of the database, so getting into a decent amount of work. Afraid it might be a tool only for those data junkies Brent mentions below ;)
@@tompalmer3727 Thank you for all your hard work developing some of the current plug-ins and Nina!
I'd been using the web session history plugin, but apparently didn't know about all its features--I'll have to play with it some more. Kind of annoying, though, that there's nothing--no landing page or anything similar--at the computer's IP address. If you forget to add /dist (which doesn't seem very intuitive) to the URL, you're pretty much SOL.
I'm going to assume they developer wanted to choose a root folder outside the true IP root in case someone already had another webserver running on the box... which would break 2 things. :)
@@PatriotAstro But surely there can only be one process listening on port 80 (which is why they let you set an alternate port).
@@danbrown586 That's a very valid point. It looks like the plugin uses a couple UnoSquare packages including SWAN.lite and the embedIO webserver. I'm going to guess that the plugin devs need to run their entire package out of their %localappdata%\NINA\Plugins\ folder and that it wasn't prefered to drop the webserver root js code in the same folder as the plugin dll's. I'm not 100% sure why, but I'm sure it is related to NINA plugin guidelines of some sort. Oh well.
The web server root is actually %localappdata%\NINA\WebPlugin\ - you can see the dist and sessions folders under there as well as the web server logs. WebPlugin is separate from the plugin folder itself so plugin updates don't impact it.
Should be easy to add a redirect to /dist if you hit the root - look for that in a future release.
@@tompalmer3727 Interesting. And it would probably also be simple to drop a index.htm in there with a link to /dist (or that just does the redirect). Any reason that couldn't be done manually?
Thanks for the video. I am using the new plug, Session Metadata which creates a CSV file of my night session. Which of the parameters corresponds to the total RMS you look at in PHD2? There are the 6 parameters you can see in the CSV file.
GuidingRMS Ex. .0897
GuidingRMSArcSec Ex. .8771
GuidingRMSRA Ex. .0668
GuidingRMSRAArcSec Ex. .6531
GuidingRMSDEC Ex. .0599
GuidingRMSDECArcSec Ex. .5855
and how could the other parameters be used in assessing the guiding for the evening?
These datapoints are in Pixels and Arc-seconds (alternating). In most cases, people care about the ArcSec ones because that value is hardware-independent. This means that if your guiding is 0.9 arcsec on your guide camera, it is also 0.9 arcsec for your imaging camera. (…Since this is a sky measurement and not dependent on sensor characteristics such as pixel size.) OK, with that being said though, what’s likely more important to you is understanding the pixel scale of your optical system for both your guide camera and your primary imaging camera. You see, PHD2 should already be aware of your guide camera pixel size and your guide scope focal length. This allows it to calculate the image scale for the guiding system and provide you RMS values in pixels. So fundamentally, if your guiding says that it is less than one pixel, it is telling you that your guide camera is not deviating outside of one pixel, more or less. But, you need to know how that relates to your primary imaging camera. It may be that while your guide camera is moving less than one pixel, that may translate to three pixels of movement on your primary camera. As you can see, image scale and understanding your optics as it relates to image scale, is the key. Most people will tell you they want their primary camera, in a perfect world, to guide under one pixel. So, what you really probably care about here is the top two values of GuidingRMS and GuidingRMSarcsec. Looking at RA and DEC are important so that you can understand if you’re having a problem with one specific axis, but overall guiding is more important in the long run. As far as improving this goes, it’s important you understand that you have physical limitations based on the quality of your mount and you’re typical seeing conditions. Tuning your mount and proper balance is a good start. From there, trying to get the best calibration possible will also help… But eventually it will all come back to mount quality and seeing. One more point as it relates to this plug-in however, you may find using the guiding statistics can be helpful on a per image basis when determining what images should be excluded from the final stack. Poorly guided images are easy ones to discard because they will not have the best quality stars. Hope this helps.
I saw the question on FB as well so I’ll try to copy-paste this answer there too.
These look like very useful tools. Is anyone considering developing a tool(s) for parsing some of this data from folders of previously captured imaging sessions?
I haven't heard of that yet, but I'd love to see it.
On occasion I use live stacking. Those csv or Json files throw the watch folder notice of new file and create an error in the live stack. Seemed to happen in dss and the pixinsight ezlive stack. Anyone else seen this or found a fix?
I thought there was a way to do this by entering a full path for the metadata file names but the backslashes are stripped. Good suggestion though - I'll add to the list. Thanks -
I think the alternate title is: Tools for data junkies
I think you are right! That describes me well...
That example of JSON was not actually right. That looked closer to XML but not so because it wasn't valid. JSON would be like: { "image": "file1.fits", "exposure": 180 }
Yep! I had XML on the brain and added that CSV and JSON example right at the end of editing. I thought it would be helpful to show people that don't have any real IT experience what was being talked about... then, I went and did that. LOL - oh, well. Next time. HaHa.