Al's Focus Aid is here!

[sheeny]

Allan Gould has done it again! He's an ideas man is our Al!:thumbsup:

I got another PM today asking for a focus aid to help focus with the bahtinov mask focus aid... who'd have thunk it? An aid for aid!:P Definitely an ideas man!:)

Anyway here's my interpretation of what I think Al wanted.

I'm interested to hear how successful this turns out to be. I found a couple of examples where it is pretty obvious the thing is in focus or very near to it, but I can see that it might still be pretty subjective in poor seeing.:shrug:

Procedure to use:

1. Position the little cross hairs at the centre on the intersection of the diffraction spikes.
2. Rotate the centreline reticle to coincide with the central diffraction spike (and fine adjust position;)).
3. Adjust width of gauge lines until the angled diffraction spikes intersect the gauge lines on a tick mark.

If the star is in focus the diagonally opposite tick mark will be on th same diffraction spike at the same time.

Note: if your Bahtinov Mask is not perfectly symmetrical, each diagonal pair may coincide with the tick marks at different gauge widths.

How much room is left for icons on your desktop, Paul?

Enjoy.

Al.

[h0ughy]

mate you are a legend

[Omaroo]

This is pretty easy by eye, but you've added a level of precision. Nicely done again chaps. :thumbsup:

[sheeny]

Thanks guys! Its a team effort!:)

Al.

[troypiggo]

Great stuff yet again!

[allan gould]

Al
Really nicely implemented. As said before:- you'ré a legend.
For general information I asked Al about the possibility of doing this and before I knew it he had it in the bag.
Now there's a guy that keeps on giving - thanks Al from all of us.

[[1ponders]]

Plenty of room Al :)

[sheeny]

Hmmm... you seem to have more space there than I remember;).

Al.

[DavidU]

Sensational boy's:thumbsup:

[Zen Gazer]

Thanks, you make it look so easy.
Mike S

[allan gould]

Al
Thought I would post an application of your Focus aid program here. If you inspect the attached photo carefully you can see that although by eye this looks focussed with the Bahtinov mask, in reality its ALMOST there but just off a tiny amount. This could be critical if you are dealing with a focal reducer which has a critical depth of focus such that if you are just outside of it one side or corner of your image will have odd stars.
Great application Al.

[The Doctor]

Superb ! Cheers Al !!:)

[upgrader]

Have tried this but when I try to move the crosshair box it all goes red instead of staying transparent :(

[sheeny]

Hmmm...

A couple of things to check:

Have you got all your .NET framework files up to date?

Try uninstalling and reinstalling it (Possibly with another download just in case its been corrupted along the way:shrug:).

The red you are seeing is the colour I chose to make transparent. For some reason your system is choosing to ignore the transparency once you move it.

Have you tried any of my other programs? They all use the same technique to make the window transparent. IT might help to narrow down the cause to your system, or a corrupt file something else.:shrug: Just a thought...

Al.

[loc46south]

Absolutley brilliant - simple idea and it works. May I make a request on behalf of compound telescope users - would it be possible to make a similar screen that has 2 adjustable circles acting on a common centre point and a set of cross hairs as a collimation aid to use with donuts in sct's etc.

Thanks
Geof Wingham

[Screwdriverone]

Nice Work Al to the power of 2,

I have Al's Clock, Al's focus aid, AlsReticle and AlsICCA.

Now, just waiting on.......

Al's Operating System......

Please?

Cheers

Chris

[sheeny]

G'Day Geof,

Consider it done!;)

Here's one I prepared before:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=62696

:lol:

Al.

[sheeny]

Aldoze...:P

Alnux...:shrug:

:)

Hmmm... an operating system with a transparent background... I suppose it could be like windows but with the curtains open...:P:D

:lol:

Al.

[Screwdriverone]

How about Aleopard?

Al7?

Alluminate....

Hmmmm.

Cheers

Chris

[loc46south]

Again super simple and very effective - I've tried just about everything for collimating compound telescopes, including CCD Inspector and other software and have found that the simplest and easiest method is using the donut and an artificial star.

If you are ever in my neck of the woods I owe you a beer.

Cheers
Geof Wingham

[[1ponders]]

don't forget Chris there is also Als Virtual Light Box

[Screwdriverone]

Ooh!, is there?

Where does that live?

Need to complete the collection....

Chris

[sheeny]

Its here Chris:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=30188

:)

Al.

[Screwdriverone]

Sweet,

Thanks Al,

Now I have a set, trade you for a Mick Cronin mint?

Cheers

Chris