Here is the beta version of a front end for ppmcentre. Note that this front end only provides a visual interface to ppmcentre - all the real work is done by ppmcentre.
For those who don't know, ppmcentre is a DOS based program, developed by Anthony Wesley (bird), that takes a bitmap image of a planet and centres the image of the planet in the frame. Ppmcentre can do a few other things, too, most notably cropping the image from full size to a more manageable size.
According to bird and Mike (FWIW, I agree), Registax will do a better job on an image where the planet is centred in the image, and, the smaller the size of the file, the quicker Registax will process.
Unzip the file in the directory of your choice. Double click on the file called Setup.exe. PCFE will be installed on your computer along with all other files needed (including the latest version of ppmcentre). You can find PCFE under Programs|Planetary Tools on your Start Menu.
When you start PCFE you will see two tabs. The Folders Tab allows you to add folders for processing by ppmcentre. Press the Add Folders... button to open a dialog. Make sure the folder you want to select is open (open folder icon) before you press Add. If you make a mistake you can press the Clear button on the Folders tab. Alternatively, you can drag and drop folders from Windows Explorer (I find this easiest)
Click on the ppmcentre tab to adjust the ppmcentre switches. Holding your mouse over the various components will reveal a tool tip with some helpful advice on the purpose of each parameter (from birds ppmcentre instructions). Adjust these parameters to your hearts content, but be aware that I have placed some restrictions on these parameters that seemed sensible - eg CutX and CutY have to be smaller than Width and Height, the size parameters all have to be even and increments of 4 (as per birds instructions). PCFE will pass through the parameters you select - if you select parameters that don't make sense (eg Threshold = 0) then ppmcentre will report an error and return (unless you have selected the Force Process switch). PCFE starts with some vanilla flavour defaults - when you change one of the parameters, you are given the option to save these values as the new defaults, either when you move off the ppmcentre tab or by clicking on the 'Save ppmcentre options' on the File menu.
When you are ready to process your files, click on the Process button. PCFE will open a DOS window and run ppmcentre on the directories you chose with the parameters you selected.
I strongly suggest you read bird's documentation before using PCFE - probably a good idea to read the documentation while you have PCFE open and the ppmcentre tab selected. There are many more functions in ppmcentre that are not supported by PCFE, so you only need to read about the supported switches.
Thanks Paul, I'll have a look at that. My (probably limited) understanding is that the avi format is pretty simple (except if there's some fancy compression).
Further down the track I'll probably want to have a look at a small avi from one of you guys. Envisage doesn't capture as an avi - just a series of bitmaps, so I don't have to worry about splitting avis. This will only be after integrating RGBSplit and ppmcentre, though.
I'd love to Adam, but you know since I'm now a total DOS Command line guru and all ...
OK the truth comes out, really I would love to, but I'm off on hols today with the family for a week and I'm forbidden to bring a laptop or anything astronomy related... it's like she thinks I have a problem or something
Anyway, with Paul, Matt and a few other on the case I'll be looking forward to the finished product on my return. As Paul says if you ca link with Virtual DUb that wuld be great. Virtual Dub is excellent, very easy to use and you can batch up AVI's to convert to BMP.
On that subject, I wonder is after running ppm centre it would be possible to convert the BMP's back into avi without compression. I certainly find it a lot easier to work with a single file than 1000+
Rob after running ppmcentre, you want to run RGBSplit, so you still need them as BMP's.
I don't see how 1000+ BMP's is any more difficult? I think it's great to be able to look at the individual frames and see the quality of them. You can simply press ctrl-A in the directory, and drag them into registax.
I used both PCFE and RGBSplit on the colour ToUcam avi's from the 28th, that I posted yesterday. They both work great!
Rob after running ppmcentre, you want to run RGBSplit, so you still need them as BMP's.
I don't see how 1000+ BMP's is any more difficult? I think it's great to be able to look at the individual frames and see the quality of them. You can simply press ctrl-A in the directory, and drag them into registax.
I used both PCFE and RGBSplit on the colour ToUcam avi's from the 28th, that I posted yesterday. They both work great!
Mike, I use RGB split too which is great. What I had in mind was to convert the split BMPs into avis. I do find it a bit of a pain (Not major just a niggle) that I can't open the BMP's from registax but have to open up explorer and drag and drop.
I'd love to Adam, but you know since I'm now a total DOS Command line guru and all ...
I almost gave up on PCFE when I saw you had mastered the dark art of the command line!
Oh well, maybe someone else will use it!
I'm quite happy using the command line. I was actually one of those guys who was reluctant to go from DOS to Windows . But, now I have PCFE, I doubt that I will ever use ppmcentre at the command line again. It is just so much more convenient to use a GUI. The whole idea of PCFE was to give users who did not want to use the command line a chance to use bird's fine software.
I did a 'proof of concept' app with integrated ppmcentre and RGBSplit last night and that worked perfectly (well, not perfectly but pretty close!). This would allow you to select your folders, press Process and then ppmcentre will run, followed by RGBSplit on the centred bitmaps. This would save a little more time and effort in the usual planetary processing run.
Sorry to keep hitting you guys with new apps every other week but the intention was to put a RGB splitting app and a ppmcentre GUI front end in users hands as soon as possible.
On the subject of avis (converting from/converting to), I'll have a look at this once the integrated application is done - whether I can do the conversion myself or get another app to do it. No promises, of course!
As far as Virt Dub goes, really all is needed is the convert avi to bmp, none of the other fancy gear is needed anyway, so that may simplify it a bit/cd where/the_hell/didI/put_that/folder
There is something you might want to look at Adam. If the min pixel size is 250 you can't imput 250, but you can use any pixel number less than that, eg 248, 230, etc
Hi Paul, a couple of things - first, you are referring to the Min Pixels: setting?
When you say you are inputting values, do you mean by typing in a new value, or by clicking on the up and down arrows?
The range for the Min Pixels: value is 0 to 500 so you should be able to get any value in between.
I don't think I have clearly understood what the problem is - bear with me!
A bit of background:
All the values that use up down controls (or spin buttons, if you prefer) are locked for edit - you should not be able to enter a value in the box. The only way to change one of these values is to click on the up arrow or down arrow. The Min Pixels: setting should go up by one each time you click the up arrow and down by one each time you click the down arrow.
The width/height/cutX/cutY settings are a little different - they are incremented by 4 or decremented by 4 depending on which arrow you click. This is in line with birds instructions that these values should be even and preferably divisible by 4. Also these 4 controls are tied together in that you can't make cutX bigger than the width, or cutY bigger than the height etc.
Min Pixels is the minimum number of pixels with values over the threshold before the file is processed. ppmcentre obviously counts how many pixels in the image have a value greater than the threshold - if Min Pixels is set to 250, there must be at least 250 pixels in the image over the threshold for ppmcentre to recognise that there is an object in the image.
I have always used a Min Pixels value of 250 for images of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn and never had a problem, so I think 250 is a good default (and ppmcentre uses 250 as a default if you don't specify anything). The only case where you might use a lower value for Min Pixels is if you have an image of a small object, for example, Uranus - I think Mike had to use a Min Pixels of 80 (ie at least 80 pixels over the threshold) to get ppmcentre to process his Uranus images.
Quote:
If I set the Min Pixels at 250 does this mean the smallest CutX/CutYis the Min Pixel size?
Min Pixels bears no relationship to width, height, cutX, and cutY - these are all parameters that affect the physical size of the output file and the 'cutout' around the planet. My advice, FWIW, is to leave Min Pixels at 250 unless your imaging Uranus, Neptune or some other tiny object. Read Min Pixels as 'the minimum number of pixels over the threshold for the file to be processed'.
The Width parameter determines the width of the output file, the Height parameter determines the height of the output file. For example, say you have a set of Jupiter bitmaps at 640 pixels wide by 480 pixels high - you set your Width parameter to 400, and your height parameter to 400 and run ppmcentre. You will end up with bitmaps that are 400 pixels wide by 400 pixels high (and the planet centred).
Now for CutX and CutY. After ppmcentre has located the object of interest in the frame it needs to 'cut out' the planet and centre it in the frame. CutX determines the width of this cutout and CutY the height of the cutout. In my processing I never used CutX and CutY - only Width and Height, but it is included because others use it (note that, even though I never specified CutX and CutY, a default value of 360 is applied). A situation I can think of where you would be concerned about CutX and CutY is where you have some Jovian moons that you want to make sure are included in the output frames - you would need to make sure that the 'cutout' (CutX by CutY) is big enough to include the moons. I just make sure CutX and CutY are slightly smaller than Width and Height.
I've just realised that, because Min Pixels is placed straight under CutX and CutY that users might think that there is some relationship between them.
ppmcentre Front End - Call for Beta Testers
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and then Virtual Dub 
. But, now I have PCFE, I doubt that I will ever use ppmcentre at the command line again. It is just so much more convenient to use a GUI. The whole idea of PCFE was to give users who did not want to use the command line a chance to use bird's fine software.
