Added on Wednesday 10 June 2009 13:13:49
by milapse
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Timeismotion homepage: http://openmoco.org/node/25
Here's the dry stuff. How to use the software for timelapse and real-time pans with gentle starts and stops.
@milapse thanks again. I did pick up a cable trigger with a built-in timer and it seems to work fairly well. I'm still interested in your stuff and as I get better at this, I'll seriously consider your product. Cheers!
@WSPSkydiver typically you use an 'interval timer' we make our feature rich interval timer called the MX2 at dynamicperception(dot)com ;) but you can also find cheap ones on ebay.. Google: Timescapes FAQ ( I wrote that)
I Just found this video and I must say thanks! I'm an avid videographer, and just do it as a hobby. Thanks for providing this video tutorial and going into detail about how it works. I really enjoyed watching it. I do have one question, though.
My camera is an entry-level DSLR and (for instance) I wanted to take one shot every second. I was wondering what you use as a trigger to open and close the shutter of your camera, especially for time-laps stuff?
Great videos and thanks for sharing!
@XSportSeeker No, like I said, the meade route is a dead end due to proprietary restrictions. We are about to reveal the pan tilt head that will be best paired with the openmoco system It's very robust and has nodal adjustment for panoramic shooters. News within a month...
@milapse Thanks for the info milapse! I was looking at OpenMoco too... just a question though: Are you still using the same motorized head and Meade controls, or switched to the full Arduino project on OpenMoco?
And if so, did you assemble it yourself or you bought it?
I can deal with the software part, but I'm useless when it comes to hardware... :P
@XSportSeeker this project was an old hobby/labor of love, now I consider it a dead-end due to the proprietary hardware. I've moved on to more sophisticated, capable and expandable open-source solutions: the openmoco timelapse engine!!
@XSportSeeker this is what's commonly known as a 'hacking' or 're-purposing'... It's not a product that I produce, it's a Meade product. The only thing the 'TIM' software adds is the ability to 'ramp up' and 'ramp down' your speed - like I say in the beginning of part 1 "TIM will allow you to get gentle starts and stops to your timelapse pans". The Meade head alone will work fine for simple continious pans at any speed. If you need more information go to timescapes(dot)org, lots of info there.
I'd suggest taking all the deprecated videos of MILapse out, making one really short with the main features (and perhaps one about the software alone using Camtasia, FRAPS, CamStudio or another screen capture tool), and explaining details in text using a webpage or blog...
Not trying to be a troll or overtly critic here, but just seems that such a nice tool needs better presentation. :)
Not to be picky, I really like the product, price and iniciative, but why not simplify things? I like the videos, but they are a bit too long and don't pass much of a sense of security...
Now that the Meade controller goes with the head, why not send it with the custom firmware preloaded?
Another thing I still didn't get: how much can the setup do without a PC attached to it? From what I understand, most jobs can be donw with the head alone, right?
Any idea if this will work with a Celestron NexStar SLT mount? It appears that you can communicate with the mount via the same RJ10 - RS-232 - USB cable, and it appears that the mount can be controlled by a computer from this port. However I assume that Meade and Celestron uses a different protocol, so what needs to be changed for this software to work on a Celestron mount?
As far as I know those ratios will not affect it when your using the software to control it. The software is effectively overriding and sending raw speed commands.
(BUG: at release the TOTAL time is off by about -20% for unknown reasons... so plan on the calculated time +20% for the total script duration)
Hi, Have you considered the impact of the AZ-Ratio changes you made to your controller from default setting to 1.00 in an earlier video.
Why do you need to update the firmware on the meade head to a custom firmware? I am wondering why the TimeIsMotion software does not just use the meade commands outlined in the "Meade Telescope Serial Command Protocol" document to command the OEM firmware? Thanks!
Damn, here in Brazil is really hard to find the RJ10 cable to Serial (DB9) ready to go. The guys from cable stores told me that they can build it, if I give them the pin configuration. Does someone Knows where can I find this god damn configuration? Isn't it a RJ11 instead of RJ10? I wouldn't like to do an international shop, cause it would take to long to arrive on San Paulo. But it would be my last resource. Where can I buy it on U.S.?
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