The video's just over a year old, but I just had my first night out with NINA last night, and you're the one who put me on to it. Canon DSLR, zoom lens, and poorly-configured autofocus, and I'm still pretty happy with how it came out. And with my admittedly-brief interaction with it so far, the advanced sequencer makes a lot of sense. I particularly like how I can capture one object until it drops below my treeline (without needing to work out exactly what time that would be), and then move to another one.
Cuiv, another excellent video. Your approach to not only show the application's capabilities but also your thought process when using NINA helps others to learn much more efficiently!
Thanks Cuiv. I absolutely LOVE NINA and I’ve never used the advanced sequencer, so was curious to see what it could do. Having watched this video, though, I really don’t understand the point. It seems needlessly complicated to me and I can’t see what the use case would be. I’ll be sticking to the simple sequencer which works just fine.
Hi Cuiv, another fantastic demo. This version is enough to razzle dazzle the most creative imagers. I appreciate your excellent description with a nice dose of humour. You are the man !
This was really useful, thanks. I have started to mess with the advanced sequencer and you did a good job of clearing up some of the confusing bits on how the logic gets evaluated.
Glad to see you're back to creating these videos. I have been using the new sequencer since they started with 1.11 and I still just learned a few new things from this video. Thx
Salut Yannick, ça fait plaisir de te voir en pleine forme ! Another nice video, I do agree the new N.I.N.A. sequencer is simply briliiant, Joyeux Noël.
Very happy to see you again. This is heavy! A few well-designed templates and a few well-placed duplicates, and the nights of the weeks of the months of the year are programmed. I love this N.I.N.A Thank you Cuiv. Merry Xmas.
I just learned (within a reasonable doubt) NINA 1.10 to where I am very comfortable. WOW, this is a MAJOR change ... but looks very encouraging. And, at least, it has the BASIC simple NINA option. One of the options I was hoping for in the next release was the availability to AutoFocus before Plate Solving, particularly after a meridianal flip. It seems that this is now possible in NINA 1.11. I'm glad I took FORTRAN back in 1974 ... it applies to this. Good Video Cuiv. Stay well.
Welcome back Cuiv. Yes, 1.11 has amazing things. By the way, I noticed you have changed your wing. Have fun and be safe with it. "May the pressure of cells be with you" .
This new version is amazing and many thanks for your explanations. I love this new sequencer and I only use this 1.11 version without any issue up to now
Nice video. It took me a day to figure out how to loop until nautical dawn. Damn pull down menus. I also would have liked an option to say if HFR > 4 (for example) just turn everything off. Merry Christmas. Good to have you back.
just thinking out loud here, could you add an autofocus condition trigger for that HFR increase and in the same loop put the external script trigger which could call a program/command to shut things down. Would this work?
Excellent vid thanks Cuiv. The sequencer seems to work very much like writing a computer program in itself, with conditions, loops, etc., and you really have to approach it that way. Best to "debug' your sequence before running it live. Hope you got to see the conjunction. Brief views through cloud here in Adelaide, and there was still quite some separation between the planets. Hardly a "Christmas Star" from here.
Exactly that - you're really programming your sequence via a GUI. I was able to see the conjunction, and also do a bit of outreach with a nearby family too :-) it was a lot of fun!
Great to see you back and looking well. Thanks for your review of NINA. It is awesome. I was told that the external script, if used the right way, can notify you on you phone when the imaging session is over. Are you familiar with that and , if so, how would a script like that be made . I figured that if anyone knew it would be you. I wish you and your family a Happy, Healthy Merry Christmas and New Year.
I think the easiest would be a third party command line program, althougfh I haven't done it - but you'll need to have an SMTP server. Search for "batch file to send an email" or something like that on Google! Thank you, Merry and Healthy Christmas & New Year to you too!!
I know your comment is over a year old, and you're likely aware, but in case you aren't, the Ground Station plugin will do this, notifying you by Telegram or Pushover. Or you can trigger an event on IFTTT to send an email.
This works very much like graphical programming works :D just put things where you want them. I haven't tried it yet, but this looks like I'll absolutely love it! (To programmers, this does make sense immediately I guess)
The new sequencer is great! My only complaint is the absence of triggers dealing with lost guiding or discontinuities in image quality (for example pausing the sequence for a specified time when clouds or temporary obstructions appear and then recenter/refocus).
Coffee!! I think you should already be able to use NINA to run an external script to send an Alexa command to a compatible coffee maker like the Hamilton Beach, using the amazon ASK Command Line Interface. Or maybe use the Switch instruction to run a Pegasus PowerBox to control a 12V relay to power on a coffee maker connected to mains. Hmmmmm.... I'm liking the new sequencer for when things get complicated, but here we start down the slippery slope of error handling, which might be the most useful application - to have it send a text message or do something (turn on a blinking red light maybe?) when something goes wrong. And possibly take other protective measures such as stopping tracking. One could implement this with an "On Error" trigger, assuming there was an underlying mechanism to pass error codes, equipment status codes, messages, etc. Would be useful for more fully automated setups. Merry Christmas and clear skies!
At first I was like 'dafuq, they’ve made this way too complex!’ - Then I realised, it’s just levels of control. Have Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 controls is AWESOME. Being able to say ‘hey, after 20 subs, check my image is still bang on centre, BUT if my HFR slips, prioritise that’ That’s AWESOME, absolutely love the really simple (but helpful) target list too! This is why I use NINA and this is why it’s the industry leader as of right now. These big overhauls on free software is unheard of.
Great video. Nice to see more explanation of NINA. Question, How can you get NINA to use the correct rotation of the expected image in the framing section if you're not using a rotator?
I too am using NINA 1.11 nightly #032 because it now supports my Canon EOS Ra and the CR3 Raw File Format. Occasionally I will get and Canon EDS Error message. I'm hoping this latest nightly build will do better. But that is the only error I'm seeing. All in all it's working quite well. ;o)
Thanks for this great video looks terrific ! I do not know if the feature already exist but in this new version will it be possible to automaticaly put on hold the sequencer if the guiding (from phd2) is lost due to whatever reasons...clouds...) and resume it when the guiding is ok ?
Looks like you pulled the brake toggle early during the flare there Cuiv....or maybe those hills creating turbulence... take care next time and Merry christmas..
Thank you for the feedback! Both the hills and a huge convergence across the peninsula I was on created turbulence and rotor I had never experienced before, so I was quite overwhelmed. You can see the full version here: ruclips.net/video/4T233TGyMQc/видео.html My right turn at the start is momentarily interrupted by the wing jerking back, and then the left turn that I wanted to continue to get back inside the Landing Zone is interrupted by that asymmetric collapse that I didn't correctly anticipate. So then I had to pull on he brakes to some extent to avoid advancing outside of the LZ, let myself drift with the sideways component of the wind, then flare asymmetrically a bit early... if you have some advice, please let me know on the longer video above!
The new sequencer is awesome. I feel like there could more global or top-level options that applied to every target. Maybe I just have not explore it enough.
Does the new sequencer have a test mode, where it runs through the sequence telling you what it *would* do, without actually doing it? That would be helpful for debugging.
My mind just exploded. It seems powerful but it looks like you can fry a night with a small mistake. I wish it had a simulator so you can watch the sequence run like when you use the ascom simulator to see how things work. I'm always around when it runs anyway. You are a brave man for sky diving or floating down to the ground with only air between you and the ground. I'll stick with drones for the views.
Looks powerful but complicated. Can you set up a series of targets where it loops until a flip is needed then goes to next target? I hate trusting flips. Always worry about cable snags or guiding going haywire or camera hitting tripod leg etc. It would be great if you could say loop M31 until 5 minutes before a flip, then slew to ... It would mean some planning to get targets in the right order and in the right places to work, but would mean imaging could go all night with no flips needed. If it does this then I’m a happy man!
You can set up triggers to stop imaging at a certain time. So if M31 crosses your meridian 12:45 for example, you can tell NINA to only image M31 until say 12:40 and then that particular target sequence will end, and it will skip to the next target in the sequence. You have tremendous flexibility with the loop instructions, like Loop For Timespan, Loop Until Time, Loop While Target Above Altitude, Loop Until Nautical Dawn, etc. Ultimately though with good cable management you can eventually trust an unattended meridian flip. I've never had problems with it, but I'm also super precise with my cable management.
@@matthewsmith5104 Thanks Matthew. That sounds like a solution. I know I should sort my cables better, but with 3 scopes and 2 cameras I’m always changing things around and they end up messy. I’ll work on it!
Whilst I can get my DSLR camera to work I cannot get my Altair astro camera 290c to work, this camera works fine in Sharpcap, AltairCapture and APT. I have downloaded the latest Ascom platform and the latest driver from Altair and also reinstalled N.I.N.A. When I choose my camera (290c) from the dropdown NINA just hangs for a minute or 2 and then crashes, if I choose ascom camera the camera connects but there is no image displayed and no start button in the image field.....Any ideas?
Interesting but the details for one imaging event seem to be hidden in a variety of different areas. I like the arrangement in SGP where you can just look at the settings across a row. Much to learn and get used to here, but I do appreciate their effort to create freeware for those on a budget.
One mistake I've made and hope no one else makes it, I didn't stop guiding after finishing imaging a target set, and after Goto phd2 refused to start guiding because it hasn't been stopped
Hi Cuiv, you'll probably not look at this but I went back and looked at this old video as I needed a refresher. Your style has improved so much since this point. In this video you jump around a lot, talk too fast, and are hard to follow (for me), and in your later videos you are much smoother and better organized in your thoughts.
Interesting. Some useful stuff here. I was doing some of the thing you talked about in 1.10 by making say a 1/2 hr sequence for one target , saving it then reopening it multiple times, helped if the night got cloudy, and recentred each time. But this helps as I wanted something better for when to start a sequence.
Hello Cuiv, unless somebody ports it to Linux, this will not be for me. I know the best astrophotography sofware runs on window, but over here we have no windows ;-) g.
To me this is unnecessarily complicated. Can be very useful, of course. But I think simplicity is better than this approach. A matter of personal taste
Which is exactly why the devs have kept the old sequencer alive inside the new. You can keep using nina and not need to move to the advanced sequencer.
@@alfredobeltran611 yep, I'm glad it wasn't forced on people. That said, the continuing mountain of feature requests for specific situations really becomes feasible with this new sequencer without being too busy or disjointed.
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Sorry, I was referring to the subtitles generated automatically by RUclips. In your other videos they appear but not in this one and I thought it was an option chosen by the creator of the video. My english level is not enough to completely understand the video without the subtitles. Thanks anyway, I love your videos.
Oh no... Are you ready for astroimagers that have little experience with structured pseudo code pulling their hair out because they accidentally auto-focused 20 times between images!?!
The video's just over a year old, but I just had my first night out with NINA last night, and you're the one who put me on to it. Canon DSLR, zoom lens, and poorly-configured autofocus, and I'm still pretty happy with how it came out. And with my admittedly-brief interaction with it so far, the advanced sequencer makes a lot of sense. I particularly like how I can capture one object until it drops below my treeline (without needing to work out exactly what time that would be), and then move to another one.
Cuiv, another excellent video. Your approach to not only show the application's capabilities but also your thought process when using NINA helps others to learn much more efficiently!
Thank you!
Thanks Cuiv. I absolutely LOVE NINA and I’ve never used the advanced sequencer, so was curious to see what it could do. Having watched this video, though, I really don’t understand the point. It seems needlessly complicated to me and I can’t see what the use case would be. I’ll be sticking to the simple sequencer which works just fine.
Hi Cuiv, another fantastic demo. This version is enough to razzle dazzle the most creative imagers. I appreciate your excellent description with a nice dose of humour. You are the man !
This was really useful, thanks. I have started to mess with the advanced sequencer and you did a good job of clearing up some of the confusing bits on how the logic gets evaluated.
Glad to see you're back to creating these videos. I have been using the new sequencer since they started with 1.11 and I still just learned a few new things from this video. Thx
Salut Yannick, ça fait plaisir de te voir en pleine forme ! Another nice video, I do agree the new N.I.N.A. sequencer is simply briliiant, Joyeux Noël.
Very happy to see you again. This is heavy! A few well-designed templates and a few well-placed duplicates, and the nights of the weeks of the months of the year are programmed. I love this N.I.N.A Thank you Cuiv. Merry Xmas.
MERRY CHRISTOPHERMAS to Cuiv and ALL!!!
I just learned (within a reasonable doubt) NINA 1.10 to where I am very comfortable. WOW, this is a MAJOR change ... but looks very encouraging. And, at least, it has the BASIC simple NINA option. One of the options I was hoping for in the next release was the availability to AutoFocus before Plate Solving, particularly after a meridianal flip. It seems that this is now possible in NINA 1.11. I'm glad I took FORTRAN back in 1974 ... it applies to this. Good Video Cuiv. Stay well.
Always informative to hear your overview of NINA features. Much appreciated. Happy Christmas 🎄🎁
Thanks for the shout out Cuiv! Tons of great info here too.
Great to see You , Merry Christmas!
Welcome back Cuiv. Yes, 1.11 has amazing things. By the way, I noticed you have changed your wing. Have fun and be safe with it. "May the pressure of cells be with you" .
Yep, it's now an AirDesign Vivo (I've had it since July). It is really nice! But it's not magic, and will suffer in rotor-ish conditions...
This new version is amazing and many thanks for your explanations. I love this new sequencer and I only use this 1.11 version without any issue up to now
Thanks for introducing the upgraded sequencer. Very informative.
Nice video. It took me a day to figure out how to loop until nautical dawn. Damn pull down menus. I also would have liked an option to say if HFR > 4 (for example) just turn everything off. Merry Christmas. Good to have you back.
just thinking out loud here, could you add an autofocus condition trigger for that HFR increase and in the same loop put the external script trigger which could call a program/command to shut things down. Would this work?
Excellent vid thanks Cuiv. The sequencer seems to work very much like writing a computer program in itself, with conditions, loops, etc., and you really have to approach it that way. Best to "debug' your sequence before running it live. Hope you got to see the conjunction. Brief views through cloud here in Adelaide, and there was still quite some separation between the planets. Hardly a "Christmas Star" from here.
Exactly that - you're really programming your sequence via a GUI. I was able to see the conjunction, and also do a bit of outreach with a nearby family too :-) it was a lot of fun!
Looking like free fall parachute? Great job buddy! Merry Christmas Yannick!
Paraglider :) Merry Christmas to you yoo!
Great to see you back and looking well. Thanks for your review of NINA. It is awesome. I was told that the external script, if used the right way, can notify you on you phone when the imaging session is over. Are you familiar with that and , if so, how would a script like that be made . I figured that if anyone knew it would be you. I wish you and your family a Happy, Healthy Merry Christmas and New Year.
I think the easiest would be a third party command line program, althougfh I haven't done it - but you'll need to have an SMTP server. Search for "batch file to send an email" or something like that on Google! Thank you, Merry and Healthy Christmas & New Year to you too!!
I know your comment is over a year old, and you're likely aware, but in case you aren't, the Ground Station plugin will do this, notifying you by Telegram or Pushover. Or you can trigger an event on IFTTT to send an email.
This works very much like graphical programming works :D just put things where you want them. I haven't tried it yet, but this looks like I'll absolutely love it! (To programmers, this does make sense immediately I guess)
I love the thumbnail😂 great stuff, glad you’re doing better!
Hehehe thanks!
Super funny how you went from explaining things using common words to using words like 'inherited'. I approve. :D
Hard to stay general when describing something that is really GUI-based programming :D
The new sequencer is great! My only complaint is the absence of triggers dealing with lost guiding or discontinuities in image quality (for example pausing the sequence for a specified time when clouds or temporary obstructions appear and then recenter/refocus).
Agree 100%. That's a feature of EKOS that I miss.
Thank you very much, the new sequencer is great, been using it for a while. Merry Christmas Cuiv all the best for you and your family
Woooooooooow, mi mind exploded too, merry Christmas Cuiv, take care greetings as always from Monterrey, Mexico
Nice to see you again ... as usual great video
Thank you so very much for doing this video, it really helps! Stay well and Merry Christmas
Great job explaining. Thanks for doing this.
Coffee!! I think you should already be able to use NINA to run an external script to send an Alexa command to a compatible coffee maker like the Hamilton Beach, using the amazon ASK Command Line Interface. Or maybe use the Switch instruction to run a Pegasus PowerBox to control a 12V relay to power on a coffee maker connected to mains. Hmmmmm....
I'm liking the new sequencer for when things get complicated, but here we start down the slippery slope of error handling, which might be the most useful application - to have it send a text message or do something (turn on a blinking red light maybe?) when something goes wrong. And possibly take other protective measures such as stopping tracking. One could implement this with an "On Error" trigger, assuming there was an underlying mechanism to pass error codes, equipment status codes, messages, etc. Would be useful for more fully automated setups.
Merry Christmas and clear skies!
Mwahaha, go for it!!
Yeah good point on the error handling. I think they have lots of plans for that sequencer :)
Love the new sequencer already!
Gotta love a brief 30min video! =)
Yes, very brief :D
At first I was like 'dafuq, they’ve made this way too complex!’ - Then I realised, it’s just levels of control.
Have Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 controls is AWESOME. Being able to say ‘hey, after 20 subs, check my image is still bang on centre, BUT if my HFR slips, prioritise that’
That’s AWESOME, absolutely love the really simple (but helpful) target list too! This is why I use NINA and this is why it’s the industry leader as of right now. These big overhauls on free software is unheard of.
Great video. Nice to see more explanation of NINA. Question, How can you get NINA to use the correct rotation of the expected image in the framing section if you're not using a rotator?
You'd need to use the manual rotator, which will prompt you to rotate manually.
I too am using NINA 1.11 nightly #032 because it now supports my Canon EOS Ra and the CR3 Raw File Format. Occasionally I will get and Canon EDS Error message. I'm hoping this latest nightly build will do better. But that is the only error I'm seeing. All in all it's working quite well. ;o)
Thanks for this great video looks terrific ! I do not know if the feature already exist but in this new version will it be possible to automaticaly put on hold the sequencer if the guiding (from phd2) is lost due to whatever reasons...clouds...) and resume it when the guiding is ok ?
Not yet afaik!
I see you are a Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli fan. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is definitely an A++ choice movie!!
Good eye :) The one you see is the manga, 7 volumes by Miyazaki, and it's amazing.
Looks like you pulled the brake toggle early during the flare there Cuiv....or maybe those hills creating turbulence... take care next time and Merry christmas..
Thank you for the feedback! Both the hills and a huge convergence across the peninsula I was on created turbulence and rotor I had never experienced before, so I was quite overwhelmed. You can see the full version here: ruclips.net/video/4T233TGyMQc/видео.html
My right turn at the start is momentarily interrupted by the wing jerking back, and then the left turn that I wanted to continue to get back inside the Landing Zone is interrupted by that asymmetric collapse that I didn't correctly anticipate. So then I had to pull on he brakes to some extent to avoid advancing outside of the LZ, let myself drift with the sideways component of the wind, then flare asymmetrically a bit early... if you have some advice, please let me know on the longer video above!
The new sequencer is awesome. I feel like there could more global or top-level options that applied to every target. Maybe I just have not explore it enough.
Does the new sequencer have a test mode, where it runs through the sequence telling you what it *would* do, without actually doing it? That would be helpful for debugging.
My mind just exploded. It seems powerful but it looks like you can fry a night with a small mistake. I wish it had a simulator so you can watch the sequence run like when you use the ascom simulator to see how things work. I'm always around when it runs anyway. You are a brave man for sky diving or floating down to the ground with only air between you and the ground. I'll stick with drones for the views.
One question: why? What was wrong with the "old" sequencer? It was already very customizable and worked fine.
Not enough for advanced APers. Want to recenter often, want to launch scripts, etc.
Looks powerful but complicated. Can you set up a series of targets where it loops until a flip is needed then goes to next target? I hate trusting flips. Always worry about cable snags or guiding going haywire or camera hitting tripod leg etc. It would be great if you could say loop M31 until 5 minutes before a flip, then slew to ... It would mean some planning to get targets in the right order and in the right places to work, but would mean imaging could go all night with no flips needed. If it does this then I’m a happy man!
You can set up triggers to stop imaging at a certain time. So if M31 crosses your meridian 12:45 for example, you can tell NINA to only image M31 until say 12:40 and then that particular target sequence will end, and it will skip to the next target in the sequence. You have tremendous flexibility with the loop instructions, like Loop For Timespan, Loop Until Time, Loop While Target Above Altitude, Loop Until Nautical Dawn, etc.
Ultimately though with good cable management you can eventually trust an unattended meridian flip. I've never had problems with it, but I'm also super precise with my cable management.
@@matthewsmith5104 Thanks Matthew. That sounds like a solution. I know I should sort my cables better, but with 3 scopes and 2 cameras I’m always changing things around and they end up messy. I’ll work on it!
Good luck with the cables & the automated flip (one day, perhaps :) )
Whilst I can get my DSLR camera to work I cannot get my Altair astro camera 290c to work, this camera works fine in Sharpcap, AltairCapture and APT. I have downloaded the latest Ascom platform and the latest driver from Altair and also reinstalled N.I.N.A. When I choose my camera (290c) from the dropdown NINA just hangs for a minute or 2 and then crashes, if I choose ascom camera the camera connects but there is no image displayed and no start button in the image field.....Any ideas?
Interesting but the details for one imaging event seem to be hidden in a variety of different areas. I like the arrangement in SGP where you can just look at the settings across a row. Much to learn and get used to here, but I do appreciate their effort to create freeware for those on a budget.
One mistake I've made and hope no one else makes it, I didn't stop guiding after finishing imaging a target set, and after Goto phd2 refused to start guiding because it hasn't been stopped
Thank you!
thanks, bro
Hi Cuiv, you'll probably not look at this but I went back and looked at this old video as I needed a refresher. Your style has improved so much since this point. In this video you jump around a lot, talk too fast, and are hard to follow (for me), and in your later videos you are much smoother and better organized in your thoughts.
feels like programmers just created UI version of code :D
Interesting. Some useful stuff here. I was doing some of the thing you talked about in 1.10 by making say a 1/2 hr sequence for one target , saving it then reopening it multiple times, helped if the night got cloudy, and recentred each time. But this helps as I wanted something better for when to start a sequence.
Exactly, it's very powerful. It does take some time to get used to, and I need to get back to my video from time to time to remember how it works.
Hello Cuiv, unless somebody ports it to Linux, this will not be for me. I know the best astrophotography sofware runs on window, but over here we have no windows ;-)
g.
Yeah, NINA is based on .NET so Linux support would be quite hard to do...
To me this is unnecessarily complicated. Can be very useful, of course. But I think simplicity is better than this approach. A matter of personal taste
It is a big step up, and completely optional. Just use "Simple" and it is exactly the same as before.
@@kalon9999 No doubt about it. As I said, a matter of personal preferences
Which is exactly why the devs have kept the old sequencer alive inside the new. You can keep using nina and not need to move to the advanced sequencer.
@@AlaskanAstro Of course. My preference goes for the previous sequencer. But again, is a personal choice. Not a right or wrong one
@@alfredobeltran611 yep, I'm glad it wasn't forced on people. That said, the continuing mountain of feature requests for specific situations really becomes feasible with this new sequencer without being too busy or disjointed.
Please, activate subtitles. Thank you.
Unfortunately subtitles are just too much work... I can easily spend more time making subtitles than I do actually making the video...
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Sorry, I was referring to the subtitles generated automatically by RUclips. In your other videos they appear but not in this one and I thought it was an option chosen by the creator of the video. My english level is not enough to completely understand the video without the subtitles. Thanks anyway, I love your videos.
@@tresillo6 huh, that's weird, they should appear... I'll check. Thanks for letting me know!
Oh no... Are you ready for astroimagers that have little experience with structured pseudo code pulling their hair out because they accidentally auto-focused 20 times between images!?!
They'll be directed to the simple sequencer, or simply given pre-built complex sequences :)