Als Reticle (for your PC)

[sheeny]

I was searching for StarTarg on the web and found an old IIS thread where Joe Smith had written a couple of cross hair applications for the PC screen. One of the requests in the thread was for a double cross hair reticle, so I thought I'd have a go and write one...

and here it is!:D

It displays a red double cross hair reticle that you can position anywhere on the screen and it should stay on top. Brightness is adjustable, and it includes the date and local time.

I did have a button on it to make the border disappear like I made AlsAstroClock do, but the cross hairs move when the border disappears, and the transparent window takes the underlying image with it (but probably only until it is updated!).:sadeyes:

Feel free to try it out...

Enjoy,

Al.

[sheeny]

PS. This is written in and for the .NET framework for windows so if you don't have the .NET framework you may need to install it via windows updates.

Al.

[RAJAH235]

Hey Al, thanks again for your very useful utility.
I have added it to our Yahoo Groups web site, along with your clocks.
Mucho cracias.
:D L.

[joe_smith]

Thats pretty good Al :thumbsup: What I was thinkin was a way to load up the crosshair patten from a bitmap that way people could just make the design they want in paint ect. and load it in. All you need now is a rotation feature :2thumbs:

[Shawn]

The Rotation feature for me was the ideal , What I did was drew up a red double crosshair on a black background in Corel Draw. downloaded the Eusing windows Comander software, "freeware".. Made the Corel Draw window 50% transparent and sit that on top of the imaging window..and there you have it, ffully custimizable movable and rotatatable crosshairs, you can put a couple of little circles on the reticle too, for field rotation . Works quite well , Unfortunately I cant post a screenshot because my screen capture software can see a partially transparent window...

Any software that can rotate an image arbitrarily will do the job, there are many that do...
S

[sheeny]

Yeah I Know!;)

I haven't worked out how to do that (rotate the image) in VB.NET yet...:P I also wanted to make the image zoom in the window so the spacing of the cross hairs could be adjustable.:) Lots of little challenges to solve...

Al.

[sheeny]

No worries. Glad you've found them useful.:thumbsup:

Al.

[sheeny]

Sounds interesting, Shawn. Maybe you should write a little "how to " guide?:thumbsup: I can understand what you're doing just not exactly how...:):whistle: I'm interested in learning if you'd care to share some more details.:D:whistle:

Al.

[Shawn]

Heres the reticle Al , rotated some arbitary angle, this window would be 50% transparent and placed on top of the imaging window , reticle moved and rotated to suit via constraint handles that you can see here, Eusings Windows manager is free and deals tith transparant windows very well, Unfortnately I cannot screen capture a partially transparent window It doesnt show up at all If I try... But its very versatile the crosshai widths are easily adusted and the entire retical can be resized by dragging the constraint handles... Its a compromise of course....;)

S

[sheeny]

Version 1.1 of AlsReticle now rotates as well as has adjustable brightness.:)

Visual Basic never ceases to amaze me... it looks so complex compared to the old Basic, Fortran, Pascal and Assembler that I used to program with 20 years ago. But when you cut through the apparent complexity of choices, and the convoluted examples that are all over the web, the final solution is sooooo simple!;):whistle: Ya just gotta laugh at the incredibly difficult problems you can create for yourself while teaching yourself a programming language:lol:... in the end it was so simple I was sure wit wouldn't work that way! But it did!:whistle:

BTW this is my 3rd program in VB:).

Al.

[iceman]

Fantastic Al, thanks! I'll use it!

[sheeny]

Mike, if you've already downloaded the zip file you might like to replace it...

I uploaded a screen shot and then realised I hadn't made the text on the rotate control red.:rolleyes::doh:Fixed now and the zip file is replaced with the corrected one!:thumbsup:

Al.

[Astroman]

Just tried it out, beaut bit of programing there Al, is there a way to make it resizable, like full page?

[sheeny]

whoooaaarrr!!!!!!...

I dunno...:shrug::D

Last week I didn't know how to make it rotate, so we'll see.:P I'll have to think about it:confuse3:. I think the .gif file I'm using for the reticle would have to be full size (say 1280x1280) because if you resized a little one up it would end up pretty chunky and ugly.

I hadn't considered that a larger one was needed, in fact, I toyed with the idea of making it smaller. Why would you want it bigger?

Al.

[sheeny]

Thanks Shawn!

I had a quick look at some of the Eusing software... looks pretty interesting! I'll have to download and try some of it. Thanks,

Al.

[Doug]

Nice program Al,:thumbsup: (gee I dunno, give a bloke something for free and he still winges!:shrug: )
How hard would it be to run up a utility that would place a pair of diagonals across a sensor image. What you have produced is great for a square image, but it wouldn't allow a star/object alignment on center chip too well. A set of crosshairs that would go from corner to corner of a rectangular imager display, DSI, 350D etc. would really hit the spot for many people I should think.
Still great effort and thanks.
cheers,
Doug

[sheeny]

I use K3 and it's got cross hairs to help you find the centre. In the capture software you are using I'm guessing that you don't have a border around the actual captured image to drag the overlay to:shrug:? So, you would probably need to enter the frame size in pixels and them move it roughly over where you think the image is... correct? Maybe you can post a screen shot so I can see the problem?

mmm... another interesting little project, perhaps...

Al.

[Doug]

Thanks for the interest Al. K3ccd tools and Guide Dog etc can place cross hairs on an image, but only a webcam or maybe DSI.
What I use is MaxDslr (and I suppose Images plus is similar) and a 350D.
The attached image is a screen shot using one of the light frames from the TV Libra animation I did. The image shown is not calibrated and is displayed as it comes from the Dslr, but at 20% of full size. It could be reduced further, but I think this will illustrate what I'm thinking off.
Actually since 2 instances of your reticule program can run simultainiosly, a single rotatable line x2 but long enough to cover most image displays would work wonders. If the bright star off to the upper right was an alignment star and I could get it cross haied to the center, it would improve pointing accuracy. As is I use an external taped on affair to show me the center.
cheers,
Doug

[sheeny]

I think I'm a bit more confused after your second post, Doug.:lol:

I have 2 ideas in mind:

One is a resizeable version of AlsReticle - maybe not full screen but as large as I can accurately draw the reticle .gif.

The other idea is a resizable window with some lines to aid image composition - say centre lines, diagonals, 1/3 grid. These would not be rotatable, they would just resize with the window. This doesn't require a .gif as the lines could be calculated and drawn (based on what I've read so far:P!). I haven't done this yet so no doubt it will be a little learning adventure!;)

Am I getting close to what you want?

Al.

[Dennis]

Hi Al

Wow - I must have missed this one first time through. Thanks heaps for another one of Al's Amazing Astronomy Applications. I really appreciate the effort you put into producing these - thanks!

Cheers

Dennis

[Doug]

Al, I think either of your ideas would work quite well. The first idea would involve the least work I guess, but would still require 2 instances of the reticule program running, but that is no big deal.
The second idea sounds like it would really hit the jackpot. I remembered that Images plus (unpaid for) puts diagonals across images, so I have included a screen capture becuz it illustrates what I am trying to communicate.
Actually, me personally, could happily use 'Al's Reticule' as is by 2 because although my previous window shot was at 20%, I could easily reduce it to 6.25% and the current reticule lines would span the image window.
As you can see though it is just an ugly mess of lines, usable, but messy.
Pity there is no obvious way of displaying the horizontal and vertical centers of images I suppose that is what you mean by grids?

cheers,
Doug

[h0ughy]

top work Al, you deserve a BIG pat on the back

[sheeny]

For those of you who wanted a resizable reticle, this is it. The reticle is up to 800x800 pixels, but the window is whatever you want. It can still be rotated and the brightness adjusted as before.

The reticle will always be centred on and rotated about the centre of the window.

As for the Image Capture Composition Aid... well I have the code written that should work... it just doesn't draw the lines...:shrug:. I know the problem will be something simple when I find it!

Al.

[sheeny]

Thanks HOughy!

It's a bit of fun - when the sky's ordinary and it's cold outside.:)

Al.

[sheeny]

I solved the problem... and it was simple...:P. Apparently you can draw in image directly to a windows form, but lines and rectangles have to be drawn to a PictureBox... go figure...:shrug:

Al's ICCA is an Image Capture Composition Aid:P. It is a resizable and transparent window you can drag over your image capture window/frame to help you compose your shot.

It produces a grid of line over the capture frame showing the centrelines, diagonals, and the 1/3 frame points (i.e. the corners of the inner rectangle). The "brightness" of the window and lines is adjustable.

Al's ICCA does not always stay on top like Al's reticle does. If it did, it may obscure some controls on some software and have to be moved to access those controls. By allowing it not to be on top any obscured controls can be accessed as soon as the capture software is brought to focus.

Let me know what you think.

Al.

[Doug]

Thanks Al, that is exactly, well 98% what I meant:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
I have tried it out on Maxdslr running a simulated camera in focus mode and it works perfectly. I'm certain it will perform faultlessly with an actual imager. The beauty of your work is that it will fit any imager size and shape from a webcam chip upto a canon 5D or an SBIG 11000 series, even in 1/2 or 1/4 frame mode.
This little program will allow imagers who need to run 2 or 3 star alignments, to use their imagers direct when setting up, and when using the various precision alignment modes. Also when using something like a polar aligned Meade classic, synching to any object will still yield accurate subsequent goto operation.

Well thought out and compiled Al, thank you very much.

cheers,
Doug

[Doug]

The fact that it does not always stay on top is insignificant compared to the benefit of having it available Al, IMNSHO.
Doug

[sheeny]

Doug,

I was thinking about it last night in bed...:rolleyes:... I might be able to make the border disappear without shifting the ICCA. If that was the case, would it be better to always be on top?

If not, would it be better to have it always on top when there's no border, and normal when there is a border?

Al.

[sheeny]

This version is a bit of a compromise. I can't get it to work exactly how I'd like.

It is the same as version 1, except that I have added a button which removes the border and makes the ICCA stay on top. The same button will return the border and make the ICCA not stay on top (i.e behave like a normal window).

I haven't been able to solve the movement of the ICCA when the border disappears. It appears that the .NET framework won't let programmers play with that:shrug:. If anyone knows how to solve that, I'd like hear!

So as a work around, if you want to use the ICCA in no-border-stay-on-top mode...
Align the ICCA over your image capture window so the inside of the border lines up.
Move the ICCA so the top left corner of the outside of the ICCA border lines up with the top left corner of the capture frame.
Press the No Border button.The ICCA will move into position over the capture frame. The underlying image will be shifted by the same amount but this will be fixed when the image/window is refreshed.

So it's not perfect, but if you can work with it, then great!:)

Al.

[Doug]

Al, I had a play with it and found that after using the no border button, then bringing the border back, it behaves like version 1. It will not stay on top.
I think the original is just fine and I intend to use it tonight after dinner out in the dome. So far after about a month of inactivity, I powered up the EQ6 and after setting date and time bypassed alignment and did a goto to Jupiter. I'll post the resulting focus image later; it was 6 sec thru an ED80 f7.5 so it is grossly overexposed and as an image of Jup useless at that f ratio anyway, but it was nice to see the mount perform so well. Later I'll do a 1 star alignment and then a few gotos and with the aid of AlsICCA v1, I'll have a good idea of the pointing accuracy possible with the EQ6; I'll post the images.
Really, I think v1 is all anyone could reasonably want Al, and again, thanks heaps.
cheers,
Doug

[sheeny]

No worries, Doug. Glad it's useful. BTW V1.1 will only stay on top while it has no border - so you're right... it works the same as V1 while the border is visible.

Al.

[Doug]

Yup very happy with the program. Looks like I need to re drift align abit or maybe change the grease in the mount or both though.

The images:
#1 as previously mentioned the initial power up and goto Jup.
#2 after Kaus Australis was used as a 1 star align target.
#3 a meridian flip was needed to goto M5....:sadeyes: not so good.
#4 back east of the meridian to NGC7099 not so much error, but too much:mad2:
#5 return to Kaus Australis, showing a loss of position probably due to stiffness in the mount.
A check of the pier showed that it has shifted a tad from level, so once I re level it and free the glue in the mount I should be running on target again.:thumbsup:
It will be interesting to hear from others that are using this nifty little utility.

cheers,
Doug

[sheeny]

Cool! Thanks for the screen shots Doug!

Al.

[Merlin66]

Al,
What's the chances of "upgrading" your reticle program to give double cross wires with variable gap??
I'm use PHD and Craig refered me back to your program when asked the same question.....
I'll like to be able to have a cross-hair reticle in PHD which I could reposition on the capture screen to allow for the off-set between the target star and the star image on the slit; the gap between the cross wires would represent the entrance slit gap...
ie I might find after calibration of the spectroscope that the "best position" for the target star is at column 210 and the centre of the slit is at y= 93.. it would be ideal if this "calibrated" position was displayed in a reticle in PHD to allow perfect setting of the target every time.... does this make sense???
Ken

[sheeny]

:lol:

I was thinking about something similar to this last night! Actually I was thinking along the lines of a bifilar micrometer for measuring PA and offset, but all done in software, so perhaps its not exactly the same thing. I was thinking along the lines of say guiding on eta carinae but capturing a spectrum of the Humunculus only.

Let me ask a few questions and have a think about it, Ken...

I think an interface with PHD would be beyond me, but a stand alone overlay is something I can do.

Would you want the reticles to rotate like AlsReticle, or is it OK to keep them orthogonal to your camera?

Would you need to calibrate the reticles' relative positions in terms of real angles or would pixels do?

I'll dust off the VB.NET and have a play and see what I can come up with...

:)

Al.
Al.

[Merlin66]

Al,
Something about great minds....
I'd just need X-Y movement to align with the slit and would be happy with a pixel postion. KISS
Appreciate
Ken

[sheeny]

Here ya go Ken. Can you work with this?

It really wasn't too difficult to do (I just did some temporary changes as an experiment, and Visual Studio decided I didn't want my original version :rolleyes:... so after making a meal of it, I recreated the thing as V2.0 with a second reticle that can be shifted relative to the central one.:)

I tried adding a checkbox to step the X, Y offsets and rotation angle increments from 1 to 0.1 for fine adjustment, but the rotation function in VB doesn't seem to support fractions of a degree anyway:rolleyes:, so there was little point cluttering it with that.

BTW the X coordinate is +ve to the right as usual but for some reason Windows has the positive Y coordinate down:screwy:.

Al.

[Merlin66]

Al,
That looks really promising....let me give it a trial...
Any recommendations for "registering" the outline/ frame to the PHD screen to "calibrate" the position ( and be able to repeat the position)??
I'll follow your original notes for V1.1 ie top LH corner etc.
Let you know how its goes..
Much appreciated!!
Ken

[sheeny]

No worries Ken.

I'm guessing you want to align the frame of the reticle to the image window in PHD and then use the movable reticle to indicate the slit position, am I on the right page?

Let me know how you go. If you need something a bit different let me know and I'll see what I can do.

:)

Al.

[Merlin66]

Al,
EXACTLY!!
I couldn't have said it better mayself!
Ken

[Merlin66]

Al,
Ok a quick trial with PHD.
I can scale the reticle window to sit nicely on the "frame' of the PHD screen - so registration seems OK.
The off-setting of the double cross wire is ideal.... BUT....
The original (unmoving) cross wire, for me needs to be either a different colour and dimable ( ??) separately... or just a single cross wire as per the V1.
I think I could easy get mixed up between them in the heat of the moment.;)

What do you think??
Ken

[trent_julie]

Thanks for your work Al,
I will have a play with this next time I'm out
Cheers,

Trent

[Merlin66]

Ohhhh
Another request:D
Is it possible for the position of the reticle to be saved so that the next time it's opened the reticle comes up in the previous position.
( I could always use a Postit note to keep track of the off-set!!)
Ken

[mithrandir]

IIRC Windoze has always considered 0,0 to be at the top left.

It doesn't make any sense to coordinate geometers, but probably does to lazy programmers.

[sheeny]

Those requests are certainly possible, Ken, except for dimming the central reticle alone. The transparency is for the whole window.

I would probably have to make a different reticle altogether, however, if you don't need two reticles maybe it would be better to be able to shift the original reticle off centre rather than have another one?

Off to work now...

Al.

[Merlin66]

Al.
One moveable double cross wire would work for me!!
Ken

[sheeny]

Here ya go, Ken.:D v2.1.

This is the simple version... a single movable (and rotatable) reticle. I've also added the window size, so you can stretch it to exactly the image size of your camera to help with registration with the PHD image.

I haven't added the reticle position save and remember at this point. That's a little messier to do, so I won't attempt that till I have more time.:D

Al.

[mldee]

Just a small user feedback post. Your program made my (rarely done) drift align last night just that much easier. Mucho appreciate your efforts.

Cheers

[Merlin66]

Al,
Looks good on the sceen....
I'll try and do a "real" PHD/ spectroscope alignment as soon as the weather allows.
Many thanks!

[sheeny]

Thanks Mike!

Its a pleasure.

Al.

[sheeny]

OK guys here's another update.

Same as v2.1 except that I've added the ability to rotate the reticle in finer increments (0.1°) if you want to.:)

That stumped me with v2.1 but I've worked it out at last...

Al.

[Merlin66]

Al,
Many thanks for the upgrade!
Certainly a very usefull program.
Ken

[sheeny]

It was rainy day here today, but that's OK... there's now a new version of Al's Reticule (V3) which is now spectroscope friendly and has new improved spelling!:P

This a complete re-write.

The reticule is no longer an embedded GIF file, the program constructs it now.

The top 2 numeric up down controls are for the width and height of the imaging frame (F). This is used to draw some little alignment corners the right size to aid aligning the reticule up on the capture frame. These alignment corners are now independent of the window size. Remember, if you are capturing a 1280x960 camera at 50%, the frame size will be 640x480.:thumbsup:

The next 2 numeric up down controls are for the X and Y Offset (O) from centre of the frame.

The 3rd pair of numeric up down controls are for the Slit(S) dimensions, or slit width and height.

Then the reticule rotation (R) controls, Luminance (L) control and finally the centre circle radius (r) if you want a circle.

Notice I've corrected my spelling mistake as well ;o)... Apparently its spelled "reticule"...

I've added a picture of the Al's Reticule V3 on my desktop so you can get a bit of idea what it look like.:)

Al.

[Merlin66]

Al....you're great!!!
I'll download and try it out ASAP.
Your ongoing assistance to the spectroscope community is appreciated!

Ok just installed and run...excellent!! Does what it says on the box..
Look forward to some clear skies.....
(BTW you need to unzip all the files to a folder and then run setup.exe..the program name for use is -"AlsreticuleV3.application" - If you try to run from the zip file and then try from a folder you may get the error message saying it can't be run from xxxxx - you need to uninstall via the windows/ control panel/ add or remove programs and re-install from the unzip folder)

[sheeny]

I'd do it anyway, Ken, but I do have a vested interest.:D:lol:

Al.

[troypiggo]

G'day Al,

Just got the v3 and it doesn't seem to "stay on top". If I click on another window that was underneath "Al's Reticle" window, it covers it and AR is in the background. Anyone else finding this? I thought it was supposed to stay on top?

[sheeny]

G'Day Troy,

You are quite correct. Sorry about that. I've obviously missed that when V3 was completely rewritten.:P

I've just upgraded my PC so it might take a little while to get my act together to fix it, but I will!

Al.

[troypiggo]

Jeez, and all the money we paid for the app! :D

No worries. To be honest, I wasn't sure if it was a problem at my end because I'm actually using it in a VMWare virtual machine on my MacBook.

[sheeny]

Yeah, its hard to get good help these days:rolleyes:...:)

I just installed it on my new machine to check and it doesn't stay on top in W7 either, so I think there's a checkbox I missed...

Al.

[sheeny]

Here's version 3.1.

Bug fixed... it now stays on top again.:)

Al.

[Merlin66]

Well done!
Greatly appreciated by all the guys in spectroscopy!!

[troypiggo]

Works beautifully mate. Thanks for that!

[sheeny]

Well, its been a frustrating day! I thought I'd do a quick mod to Al's Reticule so it remembers the previous sessions settings while I waited for the sun to get higher in the sky... I figured it would be 1/2 to 1 1/2 hours of work.:rolleyes: No way! I've just solved it... I was plagued with "exceptions" all day... it turns out I had a line of code in there that I didn't need (in 2 places).:rolleyes: All done now...:D

So v3.2 is exactly the same as v3.1 except it now remembers the previous sessions settings when you close the program.

Enjoy!

:)

Al.

[Astroman]

Top work Al, glad you figured it all out. great piece of software!

[nexus6@amball]

Hi all... I'm new to this forum, but have been using my own reticle program for a while now - it has a number of features similar to Als, but has a few of it's own that you may like to play with...


5 slectable reticles
user selectable line colours
user selectable tint/ contrast colour
'click through' feature
'clck to mark'/ 'click to plot'


This is the start of some development I've been working for a LONG time, which will eventually control a bunch of gizmo's I've been working on.

Let me know what you think - I've already got a list as long as your arm of features that are 'waiting' for me to get to, but as programming is not my forte, and 2 under 5's to look after, this part of my hobby's not getting the time it needs for me to code... or work out how to implement my ideas.

oh - personally I'm sticking with 'reticle' - I understand a reticule to be a small handbag :)

Dark Skies.

[nexus6@amball]

Well, I did mention in my previous post, that I had a few features that I was looking to add - and that time was a limiting factor.

As it happens, my good lady wife took the children away for the weekend, to allow me to get on with some decorating (wall paper and gloss paint = BAD IDEA with a 3 year old).

As the weather has been less than great, I've taken some time to add a couple of additional features - unfortunately I've not been able to test them on another computer yet (as my wife has hers with her) - so I'm not sure that the install package will work away from my development machine.

Find attached the first version of my reticle program that I think is worth releasing... a couple of the new features are listed below.

- Tab based control panel
- Image grabber to file
- Screen grab can be automatic with interval setting
- Filename auto-increments
- Notes taking facility – with auto text
- Overlay location, notes, RA, DEC, Date, Time etc. on to grabbed image
- Rotation and translation of cross hairs can now be controlled using cursor keys – with Shift and CTRL.
- Lines and background now have full colour palate choice
- Notes can be saved and read to/ from a file

IF you have any comments / feedback / feature request, please don't hesitate to post here, or mail me directly.

Dark Skies.

[troypiggo]

Hi Andrew,

I tried your reticle program. Got the same error mentioned in this post.
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=622662

[nexus6@amball]

Hi troypiggo,

Thanks for your feedback - I'm now maintaining this software at http://www.helva.co.uk - specifically https://sites.google.com/site/squif3/software/Reticle

Take a look at the latest version there, and if that's still broken I'll post a fix and perhaps a few more features at the weekend.

Dark Skies.

Andrew

[troypiggo]

Thanks mate. By the way, perhaps should start another thread, as this one is more for Al's Reticle? Hope he doesn't mind the OT posts.

For the record, I use Al's reticle a lot for drift aligning, along with the CCD drift align method. But it's always good to do a visual check, and the reticle is the best way I've found for that.

[nexus6@amball]

Again, thank's to Troy for your feedback - for reference, the issue was with the way I set the package to deploy.

Following Troy's suggestion, I've spawned a new thread (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=837733) - I'm looking forward to delivering functional and non-functional improvements for you all.

For those of you that have had the same issues with the install - the exe is available in the new thread, or you can extract it from the zip file in this thread - copy the file;

‘AMBReticle_1_0_0_1\ AMBReticle.exe.deploy’

out of the zip file, to a location of your choosing, and re-name the file to ‘AMBReticle.exe’.

[sheeny]

Here's a little update to Al's Reticule V3.2.

I had a request via Ken Harrison to add on option to change the colour of the reticule. The red colour washes out when using a red filter in front of your screen, of course, at star parties, so for V3.3 I've added a colour button. It still defaults to red, but you can change it.

each press of the button will cycle the colour through red, green, blue, white and black... that should cover all options!;)

This is my first build in VB2008, and I notice things look a little different when publishing, so I'd appreciate any feedback... i.e. I hope it will install OK, if not I have some tweaking to do, so please let me know! It installed OK for me but that may not count!:P

:)

Al.

[mill]

Works perfect on Win7 32bit :thumbsup:

Thank you for making this available :)

[sheeny]

Thanks Martin.

Al.

[Merlin66]

Al,
Installs and works OK under Win7 64bit!!
Great service, much appreciated!
I'm sure some of the members will find it even more useful!
(BTW why no yellow?? ;))

[sheeny]

No worries, thanks Ken.

Umm... because with a red filter over the screen, the yellow looks the same as the green...:shrug::D

Al.

[Merlin66]

Al,
I don't run a red filter on the PC...;)
I generally set everything up and "work from home" via Teamviewer....
Just another "nice to have" issue...

[ballaratdragons]

OK, I have clicked on the file link in Al's post, what do I do next?
I get a list of things. Photo attached:

[Merlin66]

Ken,
Just click on the setup.exe file and it will do the rest for you!

[ballaratdragons]

Excellent, thanks.

Edit: Hmmm, where'd it go? It was open and I saw the red crosshairs, but when I clicked Minimise it vanished and I don't know where it went to open it again :lol:

[ballaratdragons]

Found it. It was in 'Programs' :thumbsup:

Thanks Al. Just what I needed for my initial star alignment :)

[mithrandir]

Can the version in Resources->Files be updated to the current one?

[Troy]

Hi, nice program.
Can the pixel size go up by one instead of two for the size between the lines (s)?

Troy

[sheeny]

Not without a major rewrite, and then the cross hairs would not stay centred when you changed the spacing. The command used to draw the cross hairs requires integer input. ATM spacing of 0 give a single line, 2 gives a gap of 1 between the two lines, etc.

To rewrite, would mean having to work out whether the spacing is even or odd, then offset each line by a different number (say, 5 and 6 for a spacing of 11) and the odd spaced cross hairs would not be concentric with the even spaced ones - they would be shifted by 1/2 a pixel.

Even if the commands could handle 1/2 pixel plots, any angled lines would be OK, but any orthogonal ones (vertical or horizontal) would display as double width anyway, so you're back to 3 being the same as 2 with a thicker line.

I don't think there is any real gain to be had in terms of accuracy.

Al.

[Troy]

I was thinking about using it to set the diameter of a defocus star. Then using the images with WinRoddier (optics testing). That one pixel would make it more accurate but it sounds like it would bugger up other features in the software.

Cheers

[Octane]

Al,

Just wanted to say thanks for this beautiful little application. I have StarTarg on an old machine packed away (after moving home) and needed a reticule in an emergency last night (I've finally set up after 4 months of being back in Canberra) and your software did the trick. :D

I just wanted to ask, if you ever decide to do some more work on the software, is it possible to add a countdown timer like in StarTarg? It'd be a nice-to-have, but, not absolutely necessary.

Thanks, again!

P.S. I'd like to echo Andrew's sentiment above of having the Resources/Files section updated to point to the last build of Al's Reticule. :)

H