MallinCam Micro Extended Control Software
Contents
1. Cause The USB cable is loose you selected the wrong Com port or another program is using the selected com port Solution Check to make sure your cable connections are snug Go to the Windows Device Manager and click on Ports to make sure you are using the correct Com port that appears when you plug in the USB cable You may need to start the MMEC application first before starting other programs that use serial communication Clicking Connect works but none of the buttons bring up the menu Cause The video cable or camera power is loose you selected the wrong active Com port or the video display software does not have the video capture device selected properly Solution Check to make sure your cable connections are snug Go to the Windows Device Manager and click on Ports to make sure you are using the correct Com port that appears when you plug in the USB cable Check your video display software to make sure its video device is set to your capture device and its video input is set to video composite Sometimes the menu is still on the screen after using a preset Cause The preset commands are being sent too fast for your communication connection Solution Use the Manual control virtual buttons to move to Exit and exit the menu by selecting EXIT not SAVE EXIT so it reverts to your previous good settings If this continues to occur select a slower Preset Menu Speed by changing it to a higher number 1 Fast 10 slow If you2. OK Exposure Normal Bright Star DSO example Senseup OFF AGC Off Lens x128 Brightness 40 Gamma 1 0 3D DNR 0 Monitor OK DPC Off setCustom20 txt setCustom13 txt Exposure WDR Full Moon Preset Senseup Off AGC Low Lens 2000 Brightness OK Gamma 1 0 3D DNR 5 Monitor LCD DPC Off Exposure Normal DSO stacking example Senseup OFF AGC Low Lens x512 Brightness 40 Gamma 1 0 3D DNR 3 Monitor OK DPC Auto Page 16 18 Below are the settings used in each of the manual format Custom files in C MicroSettings setCustom3 txt setCustom5 txt Manual Change mirror setting to Horizontal Display Menu Enter Move to Effect Right 3 Set mirror to horizontal Down Left 4 Right Return to Menu Up Enter Exit and Save Right 5 Down 2 Enter Manual Change mirror setting to Rotate Display Menu Enter Move to Effect Right 3 Set mirror to Rotate Down Right 4 Return to Menu Up Enter Exit and Save Right 5 Down 2 Enter setCustom4 txt setCustom6 txt Manual Change mirror setting to Vertical Display Menu Enter Move to Effect Right 3 Set mirror to vertical Down Left 4 Right 2 Return to Menu Up Enter Exit and Save Right 5 Down 2 Enter Manual Change mirror setting to Off Display Menu Enter Move to Effect Ri
3. an asterisk Presets are great when they are tailored to your equipment setup That is why you can easily modify every standard Preset object to suit your own needs You should consider the initial values provided in these Presets as a starting point Use the Adjustments button to play with the settings while you are viewing an Object like Clusters Once you know what works well for your equipment use an editor e g Notepad to modify that Preset You may find the standard Preset for the Moon is OK when it is partially full but is over under exposed for other phases You can click the Moon preset and then vary the exposure time by clicking on the Adjustments button until the image looks good You can also be creative and make several Custom presets for the Moon Custom 20 is already setup for the full Moon I recommend using the standard Preset format which deals with just Exposure and Enhance settings when first making new Custom presets Later you can learn how to use the Manual Preset format to change other settings Here is an important note about using Presets IMPORTANT The Micro s Menu must not be displayed on the screen when clicking a Preset button Presets send a sequence of commands to the camera just like you were pressing buttons on the back of the camera but assumes the menu is not on the screen when it begins sending the commands IF the menu is on the screen before clicking a Preset button you should use the Manual Control b
4. are using Bluetooth communications try setting the Preset Menu Speed to 5 or higher Sometimes the Adjustment screen does not work properly Cause SenseUp has accidently been turned on which affects the menu command sequence Solution Click Cancel on the Adjustment screen If the menu is still on the screen use the manual control buttons to exit the menu Now click on a Preset button e g Moon to return to working settings Page 13 18 My manual custom preset does not always work the same Cause Some other setting has been changed that causes the menu navigation to be different from when you first tested your manual custom preset Solution Open up your custom preset e g with Notepad and use the manual buttons to single step through each of your preset actions to see where it does not navigate properly Change a menu setting manually as needed or add steps to your manual custom preset to make sure that settings match what you were expecting Other issues See also Appendix D in the Micro Ex User Manual for cable and driver installation for controlling the MallinCam Micro from your computer Also see its Appendix F for additional troubleshooting tips Page 14 18 Preset and Custom Settings Below are the settings used in each of the object Preset files in C MicroSettings setMoon txt setDSO txt Exposure WDR Moon Preset Senseup Off AGC Low Lens 1000 Brightness OK Gamma 1 0 3D DNR
5. 5 Monitor LCD DPC Off Exposure Normal DSO Preset Senseup Off AGC Off Lens x1024 Brightness OK Gamma 0 3 3D DNR 0 Monitor OK DPC Auto setSun txt setCluster txt Exposure HLI Sun Preset Senseup Off AGC Off Lens 10000 Brightness OK Gamma 1 0 3D DNR 0 Monitor OK DPC Off Exposure Normal Cluster Preset Senseup Off AGC High Lens x64 Brightness OK Gamma 1 0 3D DNR 5 Monitor OK DPC On setPlanets txt setCenter txt Exposure Normal Planets Preset Senseup Off AGC Low Lens 100 Brightness OK Gamma 1 0 3D DNR 3 Monitor OK DPC Off Exposure Normal Center Preset Senseup Off AGC High Lens x16 Brightness OK Gamma 0 45 3D DNR 0 Monitor OK DPC Off Page 15 18 Below are the settings used in each of the standard format Custom files in C MicroSettings setCustom1 txt setCustom11 txt Exposure Normal Setting for fine Focusing SenseUp Off AGC Medium Lens x2 Brightness OK Gamma 0 6 3D DNR 0 Monitor OK DPC Off Exposure WDR Moon example Senseup OFF AGC Off Lens 10000 Brightness 40 Gamma 1 0 3D DNR 0 Monitor OK DPC Off setCustom2 txt setCustom12 txt Exposure Normal Set Brightness to 40 Senseup OK AGC OK Lens OK Brightness 40 Gamma OK 3D DNR OK Monitor OK DPC
6. MallinCam Micro Extended Control Software Overview This is a description of the MallinCam Micro Extended Control MMEC software for the MallinCam Micro video camera for Astronomy This is a Windows based application that provides remote control of the MallinCam Micro from a laptop or PC A program control cable is connected to the Micro s control port and the other end to the Laptop s USB port using a cable available from MallinCam or an approved vendor For installation instructions see the Installation section It is recommend you download MallinCam s Micro EX Camera manual and familiarize yourself with the operation of the Camera before using the MMEC app You can use the Manual Control buttons of the MMEC app to initially set up the camera as described in the manual which is available at http www MallinCam net uploads 2 6 9 1 26913006 micro_ex_user_manual pdf See Appendix D in the Micro Ex User Manual for cable and driver installation for controlling the MallinCam Micro from your computer Be sure COMM ID is set to 1 and BAUDRATE is set to 9600 on the system settings portion of the Micro s menu Main Window The MMEC main window consists of setup information and Presets A Setup information The COM selector at the bottom of the main window provides the means to set the appropriate Com port for the camera Just above this is a means of adjusting the speed of Preset Menu commands if needed B Exposure Presets The major
7. as shown the settings interact with one another With one of the X values highlighted press the middle button to toggle to the Y values Then use the up down left right arrows to select and set the Y values shown in the table below for Top Left Right Bottom and Move When finished with Mask 3 use the up arrow to highlight Mask and then press the right arrow to switch to Mask 4 Repeat steps 2 4 to set the values for Mask 4 as shown in the table below Do not delay too long between setting each Mask or the camera will timeout and not save your work Repeat the above for Masks 5 and 6 At this point you should see the complete crosshair as a screen overlay Press the down arrow to highlight Return and then the middle button Press the right arrow until Exit is highlighted and then the middle button Page 10 18 10 Use the down arrow to highlight Save Exit and then press the middle button SAVE EXITYL 11 You should now see your completed crosshair on the screen The table below contains the values to use for Masks 3 6 to create your crosshair Mask Select 3 4 5 6 Mode ON ON ON ON Color 7 7 7 7 Top X 143 97 147 143 Left X 143 97 147 143 Right X 145 140 190 145 Bottom X 145 140 190 145 Move X 144 118 168 144 Top Y 33 67 67 70 Left Y 65 68 68 102 Right Y 33 67 67 70 Bottom Y 65 68 68 102 Move Y 49 67 67 86 Page 11 18 Installation Be sure to first download your own copy of the ap
8. files later in this manual Page 6 18 For example the content of the setDSO text file is shown below Exposure Normal DSO Preset Senseup Off AGC Off Lens x1024 Brightness OK Gamma 0 3 3D DNR 0 Monitor OK DPC Auto If you wish to use a shorter exposure time just change the x1024 to x512 or whatever value you wish the DSO preset to use If a setting should not be modified when clicking on a preset use OK or leave the parameter blank The Object Presets do not modify the Brightness setting the Brightness setting takes longer to change Note SenseUp is always set to Off since it is not recommended for Astronomy use You can use this standard preset format for Custom presets as well The setCustom2 txt file illustrates how you can use a custom preset for a specific purpose Exposure Normal Set Brightness to 40 Senseup OK AGC OK Lens OK Brightness 40 Gamma OK 3D DNR OK Monitor OK DPC OK If you select 2 next to Custom and click on Custom you will see a Use this Custom preset Set Brightness to 40 prompt Clicking on Yes will change the Brightness to its normal setting of 40 You can add several setCustomN txt files and select them in this manner Just copy an existing standard preset change the settings values modify the description on the first line and save it as setCustomN txt e g setCustom7 txt Selecting Custom 11 12 or 13 will set the Exposure and Enhance values accordin
9. g to the examples in the Micro EX User Manual for the Moon Bright Star DSO and DSO with stacking You will have to manually adjust the sharpness to 20 WDR level 10 and ATW auto if needed Selecting Custom 20 illustrates how you can make slight variations of an Object Preset The standard Moon preset is for a partial Moon The Custom 20 preset is for a full Moon Page 7 18 Manual Custom Presets Manual custom presets can be used to adjust settings on menu selections other than Exposure and Enhance Manual custom presets use a different format and are more involved and are less bullet proof than the standard preset format The following manual custom preset text files can be found in C MicroSettings setCustom3 txt setCustom4 txt setCustomS txt setCustom6 txt The valid values for actions in a manual custom preset file are shown below These values can also be found in the ValidManualValues txt file Manual Enter Up Down Left Right The first line of a manual custom preset should always begin with Manual followed by a dash and a short description of what it accomplishes All other lines are action or comment lines A number can be added after an action to indicate how many times to repeat that action e g Left 3 A comment line beginning with a dash can be used to identify a group of actions IMPORTANT Once your action commands have navigated the menu to the setting you wish to change your custom preset needs to f
10. ght 3 Set mirror to off Down Left 4 Return to Menu Up Enter Exit and Save Right 5 Down 2 Enter J Page 17 18 c Additional Information You can find other helpful information at RemoteVideoAstronomy com If you wish to be notified about updates or you have any questions or comments please send an email to Remote VideoAstronomy aol com If you wish to share your preset files with others you can simply post the text contents of a preset file in a thread message or you can email your MallinCam Micro preset files to Remote VideoAstronomy aol com for review and posting Copyright 2014 2015 NightLights Software Page 18 18
11. gs for the target object 6 Click on an Exposure Enhance setting this EN will select that item which will be shown on the On sa Screen Display menu aa 7 Click Left Right arrows to adjust the setting while watching screen image this will adjust the selected Exposure Enhance setting Watch the display screen to observe the effects of your adjustments You can continue to repeat steps 6 amp 7 as much as needed You can also turn on off crosshairs if you have set them up as described later in this manual 8 Click Save to set camera the adjustments you made will be saved in the Camera and the OSD menu will be removed from the screen If you want to discard your adjustments click on Cancel instead When you are ready to slew to a new object click on the Center preset slew to the object use your mount controls to center the object and then click on the appropriate object Preset button to better view the object Then click on Adjustments to fine tune the Exposure or Enhance settings if needed Page 4 18 Other actions Use the Manual Control simulated buttons to manually navigate the Menu on screen and change other settings Be sure to exit the on screen Menu when done the Menu should not be on screen when clicking a Preset Adjust speed of Preset Menu commands if needed 1 Fast 10 slow If a Preset does not complete properly and the menu stays on screen use the Manual Control buttons to Exit
12. irst get the selected item to a default setting and then change it to the setting you wish To get the item to a known default setting first use Left M where M Maximum number of values for that setting Then use Right N where N number of action button presses to get to the desired value for the setting For example Gamma has four settings To select the third setting 0 6 use Left 4 followed by Right 2 the third setting is two over from the first setting If you wish to select the default setting 0 3 just use Left 4 no Right action is needed If you wish to select the highest setting 1 0 you can just use Right 4 no Left action is needed Always end your manual custom preset with appropriate actions to move to Exit and select Save The on screen display Menu should not visible when done The setCustom3 txt is an example of changing the mirror setting to Horizontal and contains the following lines Page 8 18 Manual Change mirror setting to Horizontal Display Menu Enter Move to Effect Right 3 Set mirror to horizontal Down Left 4 Right Return to Menu Up Enter Exit and Save Right 5 Down 2 Enter The setCustom4 txt file changes the mirror setting to vertical and the setCustomS txt file changes the mirror setting to rotate this flips it both horizontally and vertically The setCustom6 txt file changes mirror back to Off its standard setting The only difference between these 4 files is the
13. ity of the main window contains the extended control portion which allows a specific type of setting e g Moon Sun DSO Custom etc to be selected which will initiate the sending of a series of preset commands to automatically change the Micro s exposure amp enhance settings After the preset commands are sent to the camera the exposure enhance settings can be further adjusted using the Adjustments window by clicking on Adjustment on the menu bar The Manual Control window can be displayed by clicking on Manual Control on the menu bar e MMEC Adjustment Manual Control Help MC Micro Extended Control 5 mi 5 a Planets Custom B EHE Presets Presets are great Clicking on an Exposure Preset button will set the camera to specific values for that Object type The Center preset is useful to center a bright star to initially focus your camera Then Click on the Custom Preset for fine focusing Custom Presets can be selected expanded for other specific uses The Center preset is also useful anytime you slew to a new target to assist centering the target using a fast screen update rate before clicking on a Preset with a slow screen update rate DSO and Clusters use multi second exposure settings while the Page 1 18 Moon Sun and Planets presets use exposure settings less than a second The Cluster preset also makes a good preview for centering Deep Sky Objects before clicking on the DSO preset Yep this is
14. n the screen of various colors By using the light gray color and adjusting four of the masks to create small vertical or horizontal bars you can create a nice crosshair to assist centering your objects It takes time to first set this up but when done you simply turn them on and off The crosshair on off buttons on the Adjustments window assume masks 3 6 are used for crosshairs The steps below set up masks 3 6 to create crosshairs You can use the manual control portion of the main MMEC window to virtually press the buttons using a mouse or you can press the actual buttons on the back of the camera 1 eo eM ON Begin by pressing the middle button to display the menu and then use the right arrow to move over to Privacy Press the middle button to select Privacy PRIVACY Now press the right arrow until Mask 3 is displayed Press the down arrow to select Mode and then the right arrow to turn it on Press the down arrow to select Color then press the right arrow until color 7 is shown You may see various shapes displayed as you adjust each mask s values Press the down arrow until Top is highlighted and then use the right left arrow to set X to the value shown in the table below for Mask 3 Then use the up down left right arrows to select and set the X values shown for Left Right Bottom and Move Sometimes a setting stops changing and you have to set another one first You may have to readjust values until you get all the values set
15. plication from Remote VideoAstronomy com 1 Download the MallinCam Micro Extended Control application zip file from the Downloads tab at Remote VideoAstronomy com Unzip the file and click on setup exe in the extracted folder Click on the Install button when the Application Installation Security Warning window is displayed The MallinCam Micro Extended Control application will automatically run when the installation is complete The first time you click on the Connect button an End User License Agreement window will be displayed After you close the Agreement window it will not be displayed again Upgrading or Reinstalling NOTE If you are upgrading from a prior version of the MallinCam Micro Extended Control application your existing presets will remain unchanged If you get a message that it is already installed from a different location go to the control panel and uninstall Micro Extended Control and then install the new version Your existing presets will remain intact This version has some modifications to the Object Presets from the previous version If you wish to use the new Preset values delete the folder C MicroSettings and it will recreate a new one containing the new Preset values You may want to make a copy of C MicroSettings before you begin altering any of the presets in case you want to return to any of the original values Page 12 18 Troubleshooting Sometimes clicking on Connect does not connect
16. s set to high and Lens is set to x16 You can click EE on Center slew to a bright star and initially adjust your focus Then place a Bahtinov focus mask on the end of your telescope click on Custom 1 fine focus finish focusing and remove the mask 4 Click Center slew to an object center it on screen and then click the object s Preset type The Center Preset is useful anytime you slew to a new object to enable you to use your mount controls to easily place the object in the center of the image this Preset uses a fast update rate Then click on the object s Preset This will send a series of commands to the Micro to set its Exposure amp Enhance settings for the type of object selected e g DSO Moon etc The amount of time between clicking an object Preset button and the seeing the first image of the object will vary Bright objects such as the Moon and Sun will appear quickly Exposure will be set to WDR for the Moon and HLI for the Sun The first image of a DSO will appear after about 17 seconds the DSO preset turns AGC off and sets Lens to X1024 Use this custom preset Se EES Whenever you click on a Custom preset a Yes No prompt will provide a short description of that preset Setting for fine Focusing before using it Page 3 18 5 Click Adjustment to further fine tune setting if needed this will display the Adjustments window allowing fine tuning of the Exposure or Enhance settin
17. section that sets the mirror setting The Custom 6 file uses the following Set mirror to off Down Left 4 As previously noted you can add several setCustomN txt files A custom preset should be named setCustomN txt where N 1 2 3 etc e g setCustom3 txt Custom presets can either be in the standard preset format easier or this manual preset format involved Standard presets can only modify Exposure or Enhance settings But Manual presets can modify any item on any menu selection DISCLAIMER Care should always be taken when creating manual custom preset files Test each step of your manual custom preset using button presses and watch the screen before trying using it with the MMEC application If you create the wrong sequence in your manual custom preset file you may wind up changing the wrong settings Remember To Err is Human to really foul up requires a computer Actually you cannot really harm anything If things did not go the way you planned and the On Screen Display menu is still on the screen use the Manual control virtual buttons to move to Exit and exit the menu by selecting EXIT not SAVE EXIT so it reverts to your previous good settings otherwise you may have to manually adjust some settings back to their normal values Page 9 18 Using Crosshairs You can turn crosshairs on and off from the Adjustments window if you have previously set them up The privacy function of the Micro allows you to create masks o
18. the on screen menu then select a slower Preset Menu Speed Try setting to 5 if using Bluetooth communications Click Crosshair On Off and then click Save to turn crosshairs on or off if you have them set up Page 5 18 Standard Preset Customization You can customize any of the standard presets to better match your equipment by making changes to the appropriate preset text file The following standard preset text files can be found in C MicroSettings setMoon txt setSun txt setPlanets txt setDSO txt setCluster txt setFocus txt setCustom 1 txt setCustom2 txt setCustom 1 1 txt setCustom12 txt setCustom13 txt setCustom20 txt The valid values for each of the standard preset parameters are shown below These values can also be found in the ValidValues txt file Exposure Normal BLC WDR HLI SenseUp Off this setting should not be on for Astronomy use AGC Off Low Medium High Lens x1024 x512 x256 x128 x64 x32 x16 x8 x4 x2 Auto 60 100 120 250 500 1000 2000 4000 10000 100000 Brightness 0 99 Gamma 0 3 0 45 0 6 1 0 3D DNR 0 5 Monitor CRT LCD DPC Off Auto If no value is specified for a setting or OK is used the current setting will remain unchanged A comment describing the preset can be added at the end of the first line in the file after a dash Standard Presets can be modified to tailor them to your equipment You can find the settings used in each of the supplied Presets and Custom
19. uttons to move to the Exit selection and Exit the On Screen Menu Exposure Adjustments Clicking on Adjustment in the menu bar of the main window displays a window with controls for adjusting the Exposure and Enhance settings Click an exposure button on the left or an Enhance button on the right and then use a the left right buttons to adjust that setting Multiple settings can era be selected and adjusted before saving Observe the display Gan Cone i screen as you make adjustments to immediately see the effects of your changes You can also turn on off crosshairs if you have set N s them up as described later in this manual When finished click se doscrbed n ho man SAVE to set the changes in the camera this will cause the Adjust Css camera to reset using the new saved settings If you do not want to keep the setting changes you just made click on Cancel and the camera will revert to the settings prior to your adjustments Manual buttons Manual x The manual button window simulates pressing the up down left right enter buttons on the back of the Micro Page 2 18 Typical Operation O MMEC 1 Select COM Adjustment Manual Contro Help 2 Click Connect MC Micro Extended Control 3 Click Center this will send a series of commands to the E EA a Micro to set its Exposure settings to aid centering and D CE coarse focusing on a star at the beginning of your session gO AGC i
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