Customized Software Development?

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8 replies•375 views
Steven Fanutti avatar
Steven Fanutti avatar
Hello fellow AstroBin users!

After decades of hobby programming, I have decided to post video captures of some of my new and old software projects. I thought that I would put an offer here to all AstroBin users for custom, free and open source software development that may be helpful to you for both visual astronomy and / or astrophotography. I develop on all three major platforms (Windows, macOS and Linux). I know C, C++ and Java quite well. For command-line applications, I use C and C++ and Java(TM) SE for visual application development. Unfortunately, I do not know Swift very well at the moment and learning it for visual development will require more time than I have, so if I develop a visual program for you, it will be in Java(TM) SE. Those are the languages that I know best and use most often for my own personal software development.

If you have an idea for a software project such as a tool that you wish you had, but can't find online, post it here or send me a private message and I will see if I can do it for you. I make no promises, but if it is within my abilities, you will get from me a free program and the source code if you want to change it and share it around. I also welcome invitations to collaborate on projects. I will test and debug the program as time permits. Here are some demos that I posted to YouTube. If you subscribe to my channel, you will be notified when I post new demos if you wish:

https://youtube.com/@stevenfanutti?feature=shared

Thanks,
Steven Fanutti
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Wei-Hao Wang avatar
Wei-Hao Wang avatar
Hi Steven,

That's very nice of you.  Every now and then, I had wished "if there is a program for this" and looked for it in the internet.  So I believe people have tons of ideas but couldn't find existing programs to do those.  

Are you sure you want to do this for free?
Jérémie avatar
Jérémie avatar
Hi @Steven Fanutti , 

If you are looking for new challenges in this area, I may have a suggestion of endeavour, though I don’t know if that’s really interesting and I don’t know if it already exists or not (I may just be doing things wrongly ?).

When doing collimation of your reflector under the stars, when you adjust your mirrors, the defocused star moves on the screen and you have to slew your mount to recenter the star (at least when you can’t easily target a cluster where other stars would replace it). It would be nice to have a controller that takes the feed of your camera, let you select a defocused star and automatically follow it with the mount while you gently and slowly adjust the mirrors (and show you a zoomed / cropped version of it in another window). It would require both object detection and tracking, communication with the mount, maybe a procedure of calibration of the software etc. Some people can track the ISS, so my guess is that - vibrations excluded - the mount could easily recenter the star almost in real time. Now, I don’t know if that would be very practical (adjusting while the telescope moves, even slowly) ? Maybe it should just record where the star is going and recenter when you’ve stopped adjusting ?

Hope this may helps you find an exciting idea for your next project :-)
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Steven Fanutti avatar
Steven Fanutti avatar
Wei-Hao Wang:
Hi Steven,

That's very nice of you.  Every now and then, I had wished "if there is a program for this" and looked for it in the internet.  So I believe people have tons of ideas but couldn't find existing programs to do those.  

Are you sure you want to do this for free?

In my opinion, unfortunately writing software isn't a good way to make money. People are always looking for freebies. I use all three major platforms (Windows, Linux and macOS). I really like the freedom of Linux. I use the Synaptic Package Manager to install software. There are free and fully functional alternatives to non-free software. I used to use Starry Night Pro for Windows 98. It was an excellent program, worth every penny. A few years ago, I bought a more recent version from the company. I was not able to run it because of OpenGL issues. I eventually disposed of it in frustration. Instead, I now use Stellarium and Kstars, both free to download. Bottom line, non-free software is in decline in my opinion. So, I don't expect to make money from writing software.
Steven Fanutti avatar
Steven Fanutti avatar
Jérémie:
Hi @Steven Fanutti , 

If you are looking for new challenges in this area, I may have a suggestion of endeavour, though I don’t know if that’s really interesting and I don’t know if it already exists or not (I may just be doing things wrongly ?).

When doing collimation of your reflector under the stars, when you adjust your mirrors, the defocused star moves on the screen and you have to slew your mount to recenter the star (at least when you can’t easily target a cluster where other stars would replace it). It would be nice to have a controller that takes the feed of your camera, let you select a defocused star and automatically follow it with the mount while you gently and slowly adjust the mirrors (and show you a zoomed / cropped version of it in another window). It would require both object detection and tracking, communication with the mount, maybe a procedure of calibration of the software etc. Some people can track the ISS, so my guess is that - vibrations excluded - the mount could easily recenter the star almost in real time. Now, I don’t know if that would be very practical (adjusting while the telescope moves, even slowly) ? Maybe it should just record where the star is going and recenter when you’ve stopped adjusting ?

Hope this may helps you find an exciting idea for your next project :-)



I am looking into possibly writing some Android apps. I have written a couple of test apps, but the learning curve is steep.
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MaksPower avatar
MaksPower avatar
I would love someone to take the SDK from ZWO for their cameras (it's in C) and create a plug-in for Xojo, so that a native app written using Xojo for MacOS, Windows, Linux, iOS or Android - or even R-Pi - could access these cameras directly without using ASIStudio, or (say) SharpCap.

If you haven't used Xojo it may interest you (I use it a lot).
drmikevt avatar
drmikevt avatar
Jérémie:
Hi @Steven Fanutti , 

If you are looking for new challenges in this area, I may have a suggestion of endeavour, though I don’t know if that’s really interesting and I don’t know if it already exists or not (I may just be doing things wrongly ?).

When doing collimation of your reflector under the stars, when you adjust your mirrors, the defocused star moves on the screen and you have to slew your mount to recenter the star (at least when you can’t easily target a cluster where other stars would replace it). It would be nice to have a controller that takes the feed of your camera, let you select a defocused star and automatically follow it with the mount while you gently and slowly adjust the mirrors (and show you a zoomed / cropped version of it in another window). It would require both object detection and tracking, communication with the mount, maybe a procedure of calibration of the software etc. Some people can track the ISS, so my guess is that - vibrations excluded - the mount could easily recenter the star almost in real time. Now, I don’t know if that would be very practical (adjusting while the telescope moves, even slowly) ? Maybe it should just record where the star is going and recenter when you’ve stopped adjusting ?

Hope this may helps you find an exciting idea for your next project :-)

I'm pretty sure that MetaGuide already does this.
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