Sequence Generator Pro anyone ?

[RobertM]

Anyone got any experience or knowledge of this software ?

I'm looking at automation software.  Initially it was going to be MaxPilote but, although free, it's proved to be a bit quirky so I'm looking around at alternatives.  Most are v.v. expensive but SGP seems much more reasonable at around £100'ish.  Users seem to rate it as quite good, any opinions out there ?

Robert

[Carole]

Every-one seems to rate it very highly, it's economical and does just about everything you need it to, so you should have no problem with it.

I gave up as I could not get it to talk to PHD but you get a months free trial I believe and you're more IT savvy than me. 

Carole

[RobertM]

Thanks Carole. I believe it talks to PHD V2 and not the older version.

I've just downloaded the 45 day trial - of course that may not be long enough to even try it out for one night but at lease I could give it a go with ascom simulators.

[Carole]

Yes I got some-one clever with IT to help me via Teamviewer and we installed PHD2 and it still would not connect, he was puzzled as he has SGPro running on his own kit and often helps people remotely.  So I thought if he can't manage it I have no hope.

Well if you can get it talking to everything, I am sure you will like it once you can get it under a sky as every-one I know who uses it thinks its the bees knees. 

Carole

[Carole]

I know it should control, filterwheels, camera, guiding, dithering, and plate solving, and I think it does the observatory and the mount as well.

Carole

[Carole]

Robert, just realised that Doug (who you met at kelling who knows me from Astronomy Shed) is using SGPro.

I can put you in touch with him if you want to discuss.

Carole

[RobertM]

Hi Carole,

Thanks for that.  I do have his email address so will probably ping him.

I installed the 46 day trial yesterday and have managed to get more or less everything connected.  I even managed to open the roof with it this morning (after fixing the mangled belt) !  Unfortunately PHD is giving an exception when trying to connect to TheSkyX but I've an idea why that is.

Hopefully I'll be able to do a 'dry' run tonight.

Robert

[MarkS]

Hopefully I'll be able to do a 'dry' run tonight.

A dry run in the wet 

[Carole]

 

[RobertM]

Rather surprisingly it's damp tonight !

[RobertM]

After a few days trial and a lot of error I finally got an automated test image recorded last night !!

The software is a bit frustrating to get running and has a lot of quirks (or is that me!); for instance taking filters - why are the filter names recorded in two separate places and why reset the filter absolute position to 0 rather than use 0 to mean use as is i.e. Don't  reset something that works.

The developers have done a lot of work making the software totally independent which is admirable but in doing so have done a certain amount of reinventing the wheel.

On the plus side:
Use of equipment profiles which can be used with different setups.  These contain details of Camera, filter wheel, focuser, mount, flats box, observatory RoR/dome, cloud sensor and environmental monitors.
Use of filter offsets and/or autofocusing with lots of options with regards when to refocus.
Various plate solve tools though I've yet to find one that does a 'blind solve' in less than 5 seconds like my existing software.
The feature of being able to slew to target then iteratively plate solve till within a defined distance.
Open roof on start and close on finish of session.
Multiple target setup so the whole night can be used - this is my main reason for automation.
Being able to resume a sequence from where it left off i.e. if doing 10 x lum/R/G/B and cloud stops you imaging after 5 of the green then the software allows you to resume the sequence, finishing off the green then doing the blue.
Fully automated use of PHD including calibration.
Works with Canon cameras.
Ability to centrally set the target directory and fits file name based on imaging parameters.

On the negative side:
Steep but short learning curve.
Confusing use of two places for equipment with different configuration (control panel/equipment profile) though this may be a bug.  I think the control panel should be using the equipment in the active profile and not doing its own thing.  This one caused me a lot of grief !
Use of ASCOM a bit of an Achilles heel though it's ok when it works.
PHD2 sometimes has issues connecting to both mount and guide camera but once working I was getting very good guiding.

That's a short summary for those interested.

Watch this space for the first image captured using this.

Robert

[Carole]

So overall, once you have the issues sussed, and hopefully they'll do some improvements to the software at some point, would you say it might fulfill your needs?

Carole

[RobertM]

Hi Carole,

I think it fulfills 90% of my needs now and I can work around the 'features'.  The requested enhancements would complete the picture; namely this is being able to detect a clear sky and starting/resuming a sequence.

Bearing in mind I'm using the 2.5.0.1 beta software it could have been a total disaster but the fact that I'm able to use it successfully is result.

There are many features I still need to get my head around.

Value for money wise I think it is excellent.

A couple of the features I haven't used yet:

Automation of flats collection
Integration with GNS/text messages and email for notifications.
Slaving off SkySafari Pro.
Plate solving web or fits images to get target co-ordinates.
Mosaic wizard - this seems to be the feature that tips people into buying it.

I've still 41 days left to decide and now I'm over the hurdles my thoughts are very positive.

Robert

[Carole]

That's great. 

Apart from the fact that I couldn't get it to talk to PHD I don't need all these bells and whistles, I just do stuff manually as for me (a) It's less complicated. (b) Less things to go wrong.  Plate solving would be nice, but I just feel the setting up of it would be too complex for my limited IT skills to contemplate, so I find everything manually and centre it to previous images by eye.

But great that you have probably found something that meets your requirements. 

Carole

[The Thing]

Platesolving makes life so easy Carole. Last night I wanted to re-acquire the Crescent IC443 exactly as the night before and so I just did a 'goto image' using one of last nights subs. I used AstroTortilla to do this. 120s later (solve old image, slew to where the mount thinks it is, take a shot, solve new image, solve to verify position - repeat until on target) and I had a test shot showing the exact same framing of my target. No-brainer.

[Carole]

I am sure you are right Duncan, but you guys are much more IT savvy than me, I read through the installation instructions on Astrototilla once and decided it was far too complex.  Plus until I can resolve the away from the laptop issue where I could not use a wireless came pad, I don't really want to have to use EQmod as a regular thing.  I suppose a wired gamepad might be the solution, but not sure I can be bothered.

Carole

[The Thing]

It's easy as long as you know the range of fields of view of your setups so that you don't download too many indices.

(sorry about the thread hijack robert!)

[RobertM]

Platesolving makes life so easy Carole. Last night I wanted to re-acquire the Crescent IC443 exactly as the night before and so I just did a 'goto image' using one of last nights subs. I used AstroTortilla to do this. 120s later (solve old image, slew to where the mount thinks it is, take a shot, solve new image, solve to verify position - repeat until on target) and I had a test shot showing the exact same framing of my target. No-brainer.

Duncan, that's ok (this forum is like any other) btw. how long does astrotortilla take to do a blind plate solve on your images.

Carole, just been trying some of those other bits:

Integration with GNS - right now it's giving me status updates via GNS... Dithering... Starting integration of event 2 - coolio 
Mosaic wizard - put in the object name and it pulls in a plate from DSS covering the area then you can lay a frame of your camera on top and either use that as a target or drag the frame larger to create mosaic entries.  Once happy you can then create a sequence direct from that window.

Here's a screenshot of it in action:



PS. GNS has just told me that the guide star was lost due to cloud and SGPro automatically restarted the sub (after guiding settled down).

[Carole]

GNS has just told me that the guide star was lost due to cloud and SGPro automatically restarted the sub (after guiding settled down).

That's pretty smart.

Carole