SN also allows you to hook into various weather sats globally, and various
observatories (mainly solar). It has a bunch of cool features and lots of
eye candy. I could list and list but you'd better better off checking out
there website.
Ditto, ditto! After using both, I still reckon Voyager is my fave. The interface relies less on OpenGL so it is also much snappier. They are both great programs, but I find Voyager is more data-centric and SN presentation-centric. Take your pick, or, like me who also has StarAtlasPRO, try them all. Truthfully? They are all extremely capable, and being commercial-quality they just, well.. work as advertised. No clunks, no spits, no spats. It just comes down to my mood on the day which one I'll fire up for the evening!
Rob - it looks a little warped because of the projection method chosen ATM. You have 7 methods to chose from - Gnomonic, Orthographic, Stereoscopic, Equidistant, Mercator, Elliptical and Sinusoidal.
Here's me flying to Neptune..... zwoooosh!!
Cheers
Chris
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoombellKid
Kinda looks a bit warp compared to SN, still it looks pretty cool. With a
name like Voyager does it have a built in flight simulator? SN allows you
to fly to any galaxy in it's database within 750 million lightyears from Earth
in 3D, kinda like star trek Enterprise. You can also ride Satelites in Earths
orbit, watch Earth transit the sun from Saturn as it did last year. You can
print 3 pane charts and indenpendantly set the FOV for the ep to be used,
finderscope and wide field of the constellation. Just select to object and
center it and print. I find that one of the most handy features of SN.
Travis - you'll need Photoshop CS2 or CS3 to do the panorama stitching well. If you send me a series of jpg photos of your backyard I'll see what I could do. You need to use a good wide angle and mount your camera on a tripod. Start taking photos and overlap about 10% from frame to frame. If you can, mark (right at the top) where north is on the one facing north, and similarly for south.
If you can get these together let me know by PM
Cheers
Chris
I did the same thing in Stellarium.. it's eerily similar to what I actually see in my yard. I used a free, completely automated tool (you just point it at a folder of images and it does the rest!). I'll post the details if you need it. One thing I want Stelliarium to do is specify the limiting magnitude so I only see on screen what I can actually see in real life. But it's free! Good for the beginner I guess. Even runs well on my laptop.
JFYI if you want an excellent free panorama stitching program the just works! then try autostich. In it's free form it only takes jpegs but you just open the folder with the files, select the files you want and press start. It does all the rest. Fantastic for what you guys are trying to do. If they need to be as tiffs then download Irfanview and convert your jpegs to tiffs. Done! You won't need photoshop and if you want to remove bits and pieces then open your panorama jpeg up into paint and use the eraser to remove what you want.
JFYI if you want an excellent free panorama stitching program the just works! then try autostich.
That's the one
PS: How does Starry Night "Enthusiast" fit into the whole SN scene? It's stated as being version 6.2 which is higher than the digital download versions too.. The digital download is attractive as I can get it almost instantly, but I'm curious how this version fits in (and which is best to get--I was about to buy/download the v6 core application to have a look).
I did mine in PS 7, didn't use a stitch program. SN uses PS's .psd file
format for their panoramas. The stitch program I have came with my
canon camera. It put an unatural wavy horizon into 360 images. The
image is 512x4092 pixels and you use a config file to position it.
You can save all your different viewing location with their true
horizons. Must get queensland astrofest when I'm up there next.
When I took the image I think I pretty much aimed straight at
the horizon
Your are right SN is a bit eye candy, but the data is there in several
formats in the Hud (configurable), info panel on the left and also link
to the internet. However I haven't tried the other two so I really cant
compare.
PS: How does Starry Night "Enthusiast" fit into the whole SN scene? It's stated as being version 6.2 which is higher than the digital download versions too.. The digital download is attractive as I can get it almost instantly, but I'm curious how this version fits in (and which is best to get--I was about to buy/download the v6 core application to have a look).
Enthusiast just has less features then Pro & Pro Plus, SN's website lists
what features are or are not available in each version. V 6.2 is that latest
update released last week. It was released to the beta testers the weekend
before.... but 160-190mg DL wasn't going to happen on my bush dial up, I'll
be grabbing it when I'm in town next at the local internet cafe who has a
lot faster connection than mine, hell I could email them and then drive to
town and still beat my email lol
Enthusiast just has less features then Pro & Pro Plus, SN's website lists
what features are or are not available in each version. V 6.2 is that latest
update released last week. It was released to the beta testers the weekend
before.... but 160-190mg DL wasn't going to happen on my bush dial up, I'll
be grabbing it when I'm in town next at the local internet cafe who has a
lot faster connection than mine, hell I could email them and then drive to
town and still beat my email lol
regards,CS
PS: I wish there was a "word missing checker" lol
Well I bought the digital download 6 Core to have a look. Interesting so far, but will have to delve further. Am I able to get a custom panorama into this version or is that only pro? I have a PNG image that I use for Stelliarium that I'd like to use.. amazing the difference it makes having your own backyard in the picture for reference. Now I'm wondering which modules I should buy to add on to the core, if I need any.
I'll PM you some pics with some good light shortly, just need to borrow a tripod.
Is it best to angle up to get the obstructions in frame or keep parallel to the ground?
Clear Skies,
Trav
Trav - no problem - pleasure!
Just keep your shots parallel to the ground plane, with your average horizon cutting straight across the middle of the frame. If the horizom deviates from this at points, (like the roof of an adjacent house) don't worry - as long as the end of the last frame is at the same height as the beginning of the first.
Well I bought the digital download 6 Core to have a look. Interesting so far, but will have to delve further. Am I able to get a custom panorama into this version or is that only pro? I have a PNG image that I use for Stelliarium that I'd like to use.. amazing the difference it makes having your own backyard in the picture for reference. Now I'm wondering which modules I should buy to add on to the core, if I need any.
As mentioned in my message #29 above SN uses PS .psd file format for it's
panoramas. I use Pro Plus and can only guess the DD core version is a stripped
down version of what I have.
Download 6 Core allows you to use your own, but it's messier (pun unintended) You also need to supply an accompanying text file describing the attributes of the image file.
One thing I noticed with SN - how on earth do you get to see below the horizon?
1) Stand on tippy toes
2) Click on the Options tab down the left hand side and under Local View untick Local Horizon.
cheers
Mark
Thanks Mark - I really don't find the menu systems on SN anywhere near as intuitive as Voyager. It also seems that when you delete you local horizon you aren't left with the option of a single horizon line with cardinal points displayed. Very annoying! Yes, I can put up the local grid, but even it doesn't display a single line at 0 degrees.
The only add-on I've felt compelled to buy as an extra is the Image and Object Database so that there are pictures of the objects you're looking at to help with identification, like 47 Tuc, Messier objects etc.
cheers
Mark
ps: I'd like to say that I consider myself still very new to semi serious amateur astronomy/photography and that I think this version of the software is aimed at me and those like me. Probably not for the seasoned/advanced amateur. (is there an oxymoron in there somewhere?)
Download 6 Core allows you to use your own, but it's messier (pun unintended) You also need to supply an accompanying text file describing the attributes of the image file.
One thing I noticed with SN - how on earth do you get to see below the horizon?
Pic of SN from my back yard
I'm not in front of SN at the moment, but are there instructions for doing the panorama? If you have a link, that would be great. Although if it requires photoshop that will be a pain.. unless Irfanview supports the format. Guess I should just wait until tonight.
Truthfully? They are all extremely capable, and being commercial-quality they just, well.. work as advertised. No clunks, no spits, no spats. It just comes down to my mood on the day which one I'll fire up for the evening!
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