I am currently adding the word “Dark” after the %ft_when I want them labeled as flat-darks. Can this label be included in the “Type” dropdown of the sequence UI?
Thanks
1 Like
This would be handy.
It’s been a while since I’ve used flat-darks, but if I recall these are Darks taken at the same exposure as the flats correct? So for each flat exposure you’d have a corresponding dark exposure?
Seems that a faster way to do this would be to create a new target and name it “Flat-Darks” then copy the Flat events into that new target (right click Flat-Darks target, “Copy Events From > Flats Target”)
…and change the type of the exposures to Dark. That takes a couple of seconds and leaves you with easy to identify Flat-Darks.
Adding a “flat-dark” is no different than a “dark”. It’s just associated with another type of event…and really it doesn’t even matter that the event is a “flat” provided the exposure length and binning match up to what ever you’re subtracting it from. If your flats are always the same exposure you could even build up a master “flat-dark” library and not have to take them multiple times.
Jared
Yes, flat darks are darks used to calibrate flats, therefore they are at the same exposure condition as the flats.
Rather than going the Target route wouldn’t it be faster to do it my way: simply have SGP stop when the flat event is finished comments “cover the scope, rename files”. Then I cover the scope, go in the little window where all the file naming parameters are shown and simply type Dark in front of ft% - that is all. And thereafter the files will be distinguished by the flat-dark name so I can manage them.
My suggestion wasn’t about speeding things up, it was about enhancing the program, and yes, also making it easier to use. Flat-Darks are a type of sub.
In fact it might even make sense to let the user type whatever they want in the “type” field. SGP doesn’t care what the “type” is, does it?
SGP Certainly cares what type it is. For Darks we close the shutter (if so equipped). For Bias we do the shortest exposure possible. For Lights we run image and star analysis and populate additional info into the FITs headers. For Flats we specifically don’t run star analysis and don’t populate certain info in the fits headers (RA/Dec, among others). For “Flat Darks” we wouldn’t do anything other than Darks…so it’s not really any different than darks. Just that the time is relative to the dark vs a “Light-Dark”.
Sounds like
You can type whatever you want into the “Suffix” field to achieve this.
Thanks,
Jared
Yeah, I should have known about the shutter and stuff that SGP will be controlling. And thanks for pointing out the suffix, it is exactly what I needed. No roundabout way necessary.
Farzad
I too would love to see Dark Flats added to the list. I currently use the suffix, but that information appears in a different location in my file naming string. I like to keep minimal, short info at the beginning of my file names so I don’t have to constantly expand the explorer columns to see what I’ve got. The frame type is one of those things that I need right up front. And I also use the suffix for other information. As for making it a separate target, it is related to the current target, not a target of its own. My flats are sometimes different exposure lengths so my dark flats must agree with them, and are therefore associated with them. Putting them into a different target means SGP will also put them into a different folder. Yes, there are plenty of work arounds to this, but really - it seems like it would be very simple to add Dark Flats to the list and have SGP just treat them the same way as Darks. This is something I’ve wanted for years, but never thought to suggest. 
I agree with MidnightDan. I use the suffix for other information and would like to be able to have the files labeled as FlatDarks (or FarkFlats) instead of Darks. It donesn’t matter that SGP would treat the two frame types the same. Seems like a very easy addition to make that would affect no one negatively and benefit those that use darkflats and would like their files to be labeled as such.