[education/kstars] doc: KStars Handbook Focus Updates for 3.7.0
John Evans
null at kde.org
Mon Apr 1 00:10:32 BST 2024
Git commit 9816d265ee80fac4776eafa0bad216544461570a by John Evans.
Committed on 31/03/2024 at 23:10.
Pushed by johnevans into branch 'master'.
KStars Handbook Focus Updates for 3.7.0
KStars Handbook Focus Updates for 3.7.0
M +97 -29 doc/ekos-focus.docbook
M +- -- doc/ekos_focus.png
M +- -- doc/focus_advisor.png
M +- -- doc/focus_mechanics.png
M +- -- doc/focus_mechanics1.png
M +- -- doc/focus_process.png
M +2 -2 doc/index.docbook
https://invent.kde.org/education/kstars/-/commit/9816d265ee80fac4776eafa0bad216544461570a
diff --git a/doc/ekos-focus.docbook b/doc/ekos-focus.docbook
index 4cc44180b1..85703a8ede 100644
--- a/doc/ekos-focus.docbook
+++ b/doc/ekos-focus.docbook
@@ -231,7 +231,17 @@
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
- <para> Focus parameters are saved per Optical Train automatically.</para>
+ <para> Focus parameters are saved per Optical Train automatically and so multiple trains can
+ be setup to manage different configurations with different parameters.</para>
+
+ <para> When a new Optical Train is created, Focus will attempt to default parameters from
+ other, similar Optical Trains. The attributes that must match for this are the Focuser and
+ the scope type. If this is the first train for the seclected Focuser and scope type then
+ default parameters are created.</para>
+
+ <para> It is recommended to use the
+ <link linkend="focus-advisor">Focus Advisor</link> tool on new Optical Trains to set parameters
+ appropriately.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="focus-focuser-group">
@@ -487,6 +497,12 @@
<link linkend="focus-advisor">Focus Advisor</link> tool.
</para>
</listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para> The <guilabel>Force AF</guilabel> checkbox can be used when a sequence is active
+ either in Capture or the Scheduler. When checked, an Autofocus will be triggered at
+ the completion of the currently active subframe.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
@@ -798,8 +814,18 @@
<listitem>
<para> <guilabel>SEP Profile</guilabel>: If the star detection
algorithm is set to <emphasis>SEP</emphasis>, then choose a parameter
- profile to use with the algorithm. It is recommended to use the
- default 1-Focus-Default profile as a starting point.</para>
+ profile to use with the algorithm. The following are recommended:</para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para> <emphasis role="bold">1-Focus-Default:</emphasis> for scopes
+ that do not have a central obstruction such as a refractor.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para> <emphasis role="bold">1-Focus-Default-Donut:</emphasis> for scopes
+ that have a central obstruction such as a Newtonian, SCT, RASA,
+ Ritchey-Cretien, etc.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
</listitem>
<listitem>
@@ -1007,27 +1033,62 @@
</listitem>
<listitem>
- <warning>
- <para><guilabel>Donut Buster</guilabel>: This is an experimental feature and should be used with caution. The
- intention of Donut Buster is to improve focusing for telescopes with central
- obstructions that create donut shaped stars when defocused. In future it is likely that more functionality
- will be developed for Donut Buster. In this release the functionality is aimed at data collection in order
- to research methods of improving focus.</para>
- </warning>
+ <para> <guilabel>Average HFR check</guilabel>: Similar idea to <guilabel>Average Over</guilabel> but in this case
+ it it the HFR Check datapoint that is averaged over the selected number of frames. In addition, if the
+ <guilabel>Algorithm</guilabel> is Linear 1 Pass then the last datapoint of an Autofocus run, which is the
+ in-focus datapoint, is also averaged over this number of frames. Set a value of 1 to start. This can be increased
+ if there are issues with HFR Check Autofocus runs being triggered by outlying datapoints when the HFR Check runs.</para>
</listitem>
+
<listitem>
- <warning>
- <para> <guilabel>Time Dilation Factor</guilabel>: This is an experimental feature of Donut Buster and should be
- used with caution. This feature scales the exposure time during Autofocus from the Exposure value entered in the
- Exposure field for the furthest datapoints from focus. Datapoints near focus are taken with an unscaled exposure.
- For example, if Focus is setup with an Exposure of 2s and Time Dilation Factor is set to 4, then when Autofocus
- moves out to take its first datapoint, an exposure of 2s * 4 = 8s is used. On each successive datapoint the
- exposure is reduced down to 2s around the point of optimum focus. As the focuser moves through focus, so the
- exposure is scaled upwards to 8s for the last datapoint.</para>
- <para> The purpose of this feature is to increase the brightness of out of focus datapoints which will be dimmer than
- in-focus datapoints and therefore harder for star detection to resolve from the background noise.</para>
- <para> This feature assumes Autofocus is run from near to optimum focus.</para>
- </warning>
+ <para><guilabel>Donut Buster</guilabel>: This is an experimental feature and should be used with caution. The
+ intention of Donut Buster is to improve focusing for telescopes with central obstructions that create donut shaped
+ stars when defocused, e.g. Newtonians, SCTs, RASAs, Ritchey-Cretiens, etc.</para>
+
+ <para> <guilabel>Donut Buster</guilabel> is only available for Linear 1 Pass, walks of Fixed and CFZ Shuffle,
+ curves fits of Hyperbola and Parabola, and focus measures of: HFR, HFR Adj and FWHM.</para>
+
+ <para>When <guilabel>Donut Buster</guilabel> is checked, intermittent curve fitting is suspended and is only activated
+ at the end of the focus sweep. This allows donut buster to better process edge datapoints that may be affected by donuts.</para>
+
+ <para>The following sub-options are available within Donut Buster:</para>
+
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para> <guilabel>Time Dilation x</guilabel>: This feature scales the exposure time during Autofocus from the
+ value entered in the <guilabel>Exposure</guilabel> field for the furthest datapoints from focus. Datapoints near
+ focus are taken with an unscaled exposure. For example, if Focus is setup with an Exposure of 2s and Time Dilation x
+ is set to 4, then when Autofocus moves out to take its first datapoint, an exposure of 2s * 4 = 8s is used. On each
+ successive datapoint the exposure is reduced down to 2s around the point of optimum focus. As the focuser moves
+ through focus, so the exposure is scaled upwards to 8s for the last datapoint.</para>
+
+ <para> The purpose of this feature is to increase the brightness of out of focus datapoints which will be dimmer than
+ in-focus datapoints and therefore harder for star detection to resolve from the background noise.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para> <guilabel>Outlier Rejection</guilabel>: This is a factor to scale the aggressiveness of the outlier rejection
+ algorithm when <guilabel>Refine Curve Fit</guilabel> is checked. The higher the value the more outliers will be
+ excluded from the curve fitting process. The default value is 0.2.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para> <guilabel>Scan for Start Position</guilabel>: Check this option to have Focus scan around the current
+ focuser position to find an approximate optimum focus position. The purpose of this is to ensure that Autofocus starts
+ near to the focus position. The following sub-options are available:</para>
+
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para> <guilabel>Num Datapoints</guilabel>: The number of datapoints to use in each scan. 5 is a good place to start.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para> <guilabel>Initial Step size x</guilabel>: A multiplicative factor to apply to the <guilabel>Initial
+ Step size</guilabel> for use in the Scan for Start Position. Default is 1.0.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
</listitem>
<listitem>
@@ -1220,6 +1281,11 @@
</itemizedlist>
</listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para> <guilabel>AF Overscan Delay</guilabel>: Delay between the completion of the outward move of an Overscan,
+ and the inward move. Generally most focusers work well with no delay.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
<listitem>
<para> <guilabel>Capture Timeout</guilabel>: The amount of time in seconds to wait for a captured image to be received before
declaring a timeout. This should only be triggered if there are problems with the camera during the Focus process so set this
@@ -1428,13 +1494,9 @@
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
- <para> <guilabel>Step Size</guilabel>: This is the suggested focus step size to use. This is a critical parameter. It is
- defaulted from the Critical Focus Zone (CFZ) dialog. So the first thing to do is set this dialog up and get a reasonable value
- for the CFZ. Alternatively, if you know a reasonable value for your equipment from other sources you can just enter that.</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para> <guilabel>Out Step Multiple</guilabel>: This is the suggested outward step multiple to use.</para>
+ <para> <guilabel>Step Size</guilabel>: This is the suggested focus step size to use. This is a critical parameter. It can
+ be defaulted from the Critical Focus Zone (CFZ) dialog if you know how to set that up. Alternatively, if you know a reasonable
+ value for your equipment from other sources you can just enter that.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
@@ -1461,6 +1523,12 @@
label you can see in the tooltip what values Focus Advisor is recommending.</para>
</listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para> <guilabel>SEP Parameters</guilabel>: This sets the SEP parameter profile appropriate
+ for the scope type attached in the selected Optical Train. By hovering the mouse over this
+ label you can see in the tooltip what values Focus Advisor is recommending.</para>
+ </listitem>
+
<listitem>
<para> <guilabel>Help</guilabel>: Press this button to get help on using Focus Advisor.</para>
</listitem>
diff --git a/doc/ekos_focus.png b/doc/ekos_focus.png
index 535f5061d8..cc593536d1 100644
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diff --git a/doc/focus_advisor.png b/doc/focus_advisor.png
index b13d1d1190..61b10d41b1 100644
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diff --git a/doc/focus_mechanics.png b/doc/focus_mechanics.png
index e61b9199ff..4d46fa057f 100644
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diff --git a/doc/focus_mechanics1.png b/doc/focus_mechanics1.png
index 6c129503bf..4f5ac7b74d 100644
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diff --git a/doc/focus_process.png b/doc/focus_process.png
index 023efb0113..0b6e5526bf 100644
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diff --git a/doc/index.docbook b/doc/index.docbook
index d1e93c6157..07c9675b6f 100644
--- a/doc/index.docbook
+++ b/doc/index.docbook
@@ -226,8 +226,8 @@
<legalnotice>&FDLNotice;</legalnotice>
-<date>2024-02-06</date>
-<releaseinfo>3.6.9</releaseinfo>
+<date>2024-03-31</date>
+<releaseinfo>3.7.0</releaseinfo>
<abstract>
<para>
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