That’s a great feature !! Being a mobile astrophotographer I rarely do all the shoots in one night so I have to manually set the remaining number of frames by hand the next night.
One feature that could be great is to keep the infos for the unchecked slot when saving the sequence.
This makes me VERY happy Leo! The JSON is perfect for creating a modified sequence file in my external scheduler script and then running it in DragScript. I think this should allow me to achieve my goal of a zero-update (no editing) DragScript plus a scheduler that runs from a database, so the only changes for nightly runs would be to the database.
I can use the Web Dashboard’s excellent framing utility to populate the RoboClip database with my projects / targets, and then read that database in my scheduler script to choose the target to run next.
Will the sequence progress counter be stored in the RoboClip database or somewhere else?
Hi Glenn,
It’s my old unfinished project that I posted about here a long time back.
With my RoR observatory finished and three mounts to keep fed, I’ve revived it.
I really want Voyager Advanced so this is a bandaid until it’s available.
I have a version now that requires editing the DragScript when I add a new target.
The flow looks like this:
DragScript:
Do setup stuff for the night (connect to gear, wait safe, open roof, blind solve and sync, optionally calibrate
Call an external script (VBScript) that calls TheSkyX to determine if the moon is up. Returns 1=moon up or 2=moon down to the DragScript
Dragscript jumps to either “Run LRGB” block if moon is down, or “Run NB” block if moon is up.
In those blocks, a “DO IF HA” decision sits in front of each sequence. So adding a new sequence requires a copy and paste plus editing the RA and DEC values in the DO IF HA and “run sequence” DragScript actions. You could build a sequence for each target, or use a generic LRGB or NB sequence and use the overrides in the “run sequence” action to set the RA, DEC and target name.
After running a sequence, repeat from step 2 until night end
The “new improved” version of this would be to define a single Sequence and then in the external script called in step 2, use the JSON interface to set the target name, RA, DEC and filter/exposures information . The external script would also scan a database of all the targets I am currently chasing and decide which one to run next. That decision could be as simple as “target is up and above altitude X” or as complicated as you want to make it. Some of the many factors could include:
Separation from moon, or moon up/down
Western-most target, setting soon
HA value - pick something close to transit, as high as it will ever get from your location
Degree of completion of that target - finish things up so you have something to process
Run L filter closest to meridian, then B, G, R lower down
That’s a high level overview - hope it makes sense.
Again, this is a hack until Advanced comes out which will do all this and more with a nice UI. I’m not buildilng a UI, just using text editors and database editors. Plus 60% of this only exists in my head at the moment. It will use TheSkyX for astro calculations. You could do something similar with Python and astropy.
I use a DragonFly to automate my RoR and it comes with VBScripts so I kind of fell into that groove recently, that’s why I decided to go this route for my scheduling script.
I am not a programmer, so the running of external scripts and programming in Python is all voodoo to me. However, I am interested in doing a scaled-down version of what you describe.
Leo seems to be giving Voyager capabilities once reserved for Voyager Advanced. I wonder if he still plans to develop the Advanced version at all. I confess I do not fully understand how to use the recently added features. Maybe when I do, I will find that they are enough to meet my automation needs.
Gleen, Voyager is a small software with very few users … it is useless to believe what you are not. I do my best to import news into our common passion but most of the time they are not understood and seem to turn into a handicap.
I will do my best with what I have and what I know.
Attention ! I tell to all you since now that managing the sequence is something really powerfull developed for the advanced version of Voyager … so the editing or creation of a new sequence will need a dedicated plugin to purchase separately (not a different version just base + Developers plugin) … this only for JSON editing … all other functions will work in base version of Voyager.
This Developers plugin will be filled also with other special features will be deploy in the future.