Astro IIDC" is an astronomy, microscopy, high speed imaging, machine vision and scientifically oriented OS X application developed from the ground up to make FireWire camera imaging easier on the Mac.
Major Features:
Simple and easy to use interface in a single camera control window as shown in the screen snap shot to the right. All camera control adjustments are done with a full size scrollable live preview image so there is none of this modal QuickTime tiny 160x120 pixel image approximations nonsense, pure WYSIWYG.
Works with most high end 640x480 to 8192x8192 size, 8 and 16 bit per pixel, monochrome or bayer color FireWire 400 and Firewire 800 cameras (see list at page bottom for details).
Utilizes ASC's industrial strength, preemptively multi threaded, Altivec / SSE3 enhanced IIDC/DCAM framework code, with no dependency on QuickTime or other FireWire drivers for camera control. "Astro IIDC" directly accesses the FireWire camera and extracts the raw bayer or monochrome CCD data. No YUV color aliasing as we decode the bayer color data using our own custom 2x2, 3x3 and 5x5 kernels.
For inexpensive FireWire cameras provides extended CCD exposure times from as fast as 1/3000th of a second down to 1.029 seconds, without any hardware modifications. That is 31 times more light gathering capability than anyone else's software and adds a new dimension for lower light imaging.
For high end FireWire cameras provides CCD exposure times from 1/10000 of a second to 60 minutes (depending on the camera), Region Of Interest and records movies as fast as 240 frames per second.
Supports user definable Average and Spot Color Balance, allowing you to balance against any color you want, not just white.
Single click to Grab a frame, Grab a user defined burst of frames and average them (for noise reduction) or Grab a burst of frames and sum them (for enhancing low light imaging). Supports frame grabs in TIFF (Mono8, Mono16, RGB24 or RGB48), PNG (8 or 16 bit), BMP, PhotoShop, PICT, JPEG and FITS (Mono8 or Mono16 bit) file formats.
Provides Auto Guiding on stars, planets, lunar craters and solar sunspots utilizing KeySpan's USB to Serial Port converter or Shoestring Astronomy's GPUSB ST4 converter for mount control. Supported mounts include Meade compatible (including LXD55, LXD75, ETX90, ETX125, LX200, RX400, SkySensor 2000 PC etc.), Losmady, Celestron, Meade, Temma, Vixen, SkyWatcher and other mounts that have a ST4 type Auto Guider port and hacked hand controllers (Orion EQ2/3, CGE5 etc.).
Supports Altivec / SSE3 enhanced Flat Frame division and Dark Frame subtraction to provide for real time removal of optical imperfections (i.e. dust, hairs, vignetting etc.) and to reduce CCD noise.
Provides live Sharpness estimators using pixel edge detection or FWHM / HFD for a focussing aid and can also be used to exclude air turbulence blurred images from being grabbed as frames or recorded in a movie.
Logs all your camera settings for every frame grabbed or movie recorded to a text file, so that you can easily recall exactly what settings were used when each image image was captured. Also allows you to enter user notes notes for each frame grabbed or movie recorded.
Records QuickTime Movies at frame rates up to 240 frames per second down to as slow as 1 frame per minute, user selectable. All movies are recorded with a Greenwich Mean Time relative Time Code track, so that the time for each recorded frame can be determined within 1 frame duration.
Provides a 16 bit LRGB64 bit Altivec optimized real time Image Processing Module, featuring multi radii spatially dependent sharpening, log square root curve stretching, RGB level adjustments, RGB gain adjustments, RGB Saturation, R and B color channel spatial offsets for atmospheric correction, multiple noise reduction algorithms and zoom.
Provides multi - threaded real time automated alignment and stacking of video, both for live image capture and post with recorded 8 or 16 bit per pixel movies. All Altivec enhanced stacking, sharpening, aligning and processing is done at a full 32 bits per color channel (Mono32 or RGB96) so that no image data is lost or compromised.
Allows you to automatically or manually select which frames are included for stacking. Provides up to 500 user selectable areas of interest for Multiple Area Processing (MAP).
Supports display and capture in color, monochrome, binned 2x2 color, binned 2x2 monochrome, binned 4x4 monochrome and individual red, green or blue color channels modes.
Support external hardware trigger modes 0 and 14, which allows you to externally trigger frame delivery (on GPIO0 or GPIO3 inputs) to the monitor, for frame grabs and recording movies.
Saves and restores up to 10 user definable camera settings, so you can apply camera specific parameters at a key stroke or via an AppleScript.
Allows you to measure differential or absolute Photometric magnitudes and generate sub arc second Astrometric positional measurements on stellar objects from imported images or over time from movies. Now you can measure variables star brightness changes, identify positional changes of asteroids or comets and search for extra solar planets on your Mac.
Provides support for Digital SLR camera users to create RGB48 bit movies from their images, do dark frame subtraction, apply flat frame correction or stack and align your 16 bit movies.
Apple Script support for starting or stopping Video Play, starting or stopping Movie Recording, Grabbing Frames, Dark Frames, Flat Frames and programatically changes settings.
Downloads and Installation:
Download the English Astro IIDC Installer
(version 4.05.04, 9.1 Megabytes released November 23, 2009) disk image, double click on it and then follow the "Read Me First" instructions. Version 4.05.04 is a Universal Binary for both PowerPC and x86 Macs and is Tiger (10.4.11) , Leopard (10.5.08) and Snow Leopard (to 10.6.02) compatible. In the "Legacy" folder is a PowerPC only version of Astro IIDC that is built with CodeWarrior, which supports G3, G4 and G5 Macs and runs on Panther (OSX 10.3.9) and higher.
Note that until you purchase an unlock key(s) the "Astro IIDC" application will run in "Demo Mode" which disables some features. This allows you ensure your camera works properly with the software before making a purchase. If your camera does not work in "Demo Mode", then it won't work in the Full version either.
Version 4.05.04 adds finer (+/- 0.10 millisecond) control of exposure, enhances text log files and works around a bunch of Apple induced bugs for Leopard (10.5.x), Snow Leopard (10.6.x) and QuickTime 7.5.x. Please reviews the "Read Me First" document on the disk image (.dmg) for complete listing.
Purchasing:
Before you can place an order for Astro IIDC 4.x, you need to download it so that that Astro IIDC can extract the Mac or Camera serial number(s) you wish to register. You will not find the 17 character serial number on your Mac or on the camera or printed anywhere else, so please let Astro IIDC extract it for you. Once it's installed, double click on the "Astro IIDC" application, then select "Astro IIDC" from the menu bar and then choose the "Registration Options..." menu item.
You can then purchase unlock keys for $110.00 USD each by Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Cheque or Money Order using our Secure Kagi hosted online store here.
To upgrade from version 1.x, 2.x or 3.0x of Astro IIDC to Version 4.x , please follow these instructions.
To take advantage of our reduced price second copy offer for Astro IIDC 4.x, please review this information.
To meet the needs of the majority of our customers, the unlock keys can be specified for particular FireWire Camera or for a particular Mac when you order them.
If you purchase an unlock key for a camera then you can use that camera on multiple Macs, simply by copying the unlock key to those other Macs. This is intended for a Lab situation where you have many Macs with one or a few shared camera. Please note that the Astro IIDC application will need this camera attached to the Mac each time the application is launched to verify the unlock key. Once it's verified, you can unplug the camera and continue using all of Astro IIDC's non camera features until you Quit the application.
If you purchase an unlock key for a Mac then you can use any of the supported FireWire cameras with it. This is intended for people that have access to multiple FireWire cameras and want to use any of them with a specific Mac, such as a work station situation.
Support and Contacting Us:
If you find any bugs or observe behavior that does not seem correct in the Astro IIDC 4, please report them via e-mail to:
We can't fix bugs that we don't know about, so your feedback helps make this a better product. Please include information on the Mac model
(i.e. Single CPU G4 733), amount of Ram, OS version (i.e. OS X 10.4.11), what Camera model this applies to (i.e. Unibrain Fire-i color) and detailed description of the problem will help us diagnose and correct it in far fewer e-mails than if you omit it.
If it's a crash, please include the "xxx.log" for the "xxx" application that crashed. Crash logs can be found in ~/Users/yourcomputernamehere/Logs/CrashReporter/. For Astro IIDC specific crashes, the crash log file is named AstroIIDC.crash.log.
Also please check out the Astro IIDC Yahoo Group where users can ask general questions, post comments, share tips and show off their own images taken with Astro IIDC. For registration, support or specific problems, please use the support e-mail address above.
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions:
I just downloaded it and the Grab frame, Record Movie buttons and other options are disabled. Why??
Until you purchase an unlock key(s) the "Astro IIDC" application will run in "Demo Mode" which disables all disk related features (grabbing frames, recording movies, tracking, scope control etc.). This allows you to try the basic functions before purchasing it and to ensure your camera works with the software. You can purchase unlock keys from our Kagi Hosted Secure Online Store.
Does Astro IIDC work with the DFG/1394-1 FireWire converter or USB Cameras from TIS, PGR and other Astronomy / Microscopy / Machine Vision?? companies
No. Astro IIDC only works with FireWire IIDC Cameras, which follow the open IIDC FireWire camera protocol. By following this robust industrial certified standard, Astro IIDC can support dozens of manufacturers and hundred if not thousands of compliant cameras. Almost all higher end USB cameras use manufacturer specific proprietary non standard protocols for camera control. This means we would need to have the company provide us with low level technical information (which most will not do) and then write specific code for each manufacturer and in some cases each camera. The Mac market place is simply too tiny to make it cost effective to support all these non standard proprietary USB cameras.
My Intel Mac only has a FireWire 800 port, can I use the FireWire 400 cameras with it OR I have a FireWire 400 port on my Mac, can I use a FireWire 800 camera with it?
Yes. You can purchase a FireWire 800 to FireWire 400 (known as a Bilingual 9 pin to 6 pin) cable like this or purchase a FireWire 800 to 400 adapter like this. These also work if you wish to use a FireWire 800 camera with a FireWire 400 Mac too, although you will not get the through put benefits of FireWire 800 performance.
My Intel Mac has no FireWire ports, is there anything I can do?
There is no workaround. The only thing you can do is to avoid Macs that either lack FireWire ports or are non expandable and lack a PC34 slot. If you only purchase Macs that have FireWire, then Apple will get the message that FireWire is an essential feature. This will effect sales of future Macs and they will be forced to add it back in, so Vote with your Wallet. You can also tell Apple they are going down the wrong path here.
I want to use the "Registration Options..." under "Astro IIDC" Menu for registering the application, but it is disabled. Why??
You need to close (click in the red gumdrop on the left side of the window's title bar) the "Camera Controls" window first before the "Registration Options..." will be enabled. The Registration module may need to access a camera for registration purposes and it can not do so if you have it already open. Once you have closed it, the "Registration Options..." item will be enabled.
I just recorded a color movie and when I try and play the movie in QuickTime Player or stack and align it, I get a warning about a codec being missing and it does not play. Why??
You may not have installed our Bayer Codec to play back or process the color movies your recorded. Double click on the "Astro_IIDC_Installer40501.dmg". Now locate the "BayerInstaller" package on the disk image, double click on it and let it walk you through the install. No re-start is required after the codec is installed either.
I need to use multiple cameras on multiple Macs, but I don't want to have to manually register the cameras on each Mac. Is there an easy way of doing this?
Yes. You simply use the "Register Options.." in "Astro IIDC" with all your purchased camera unlock keys on one Mac and then copy the "ASTRO_IIDC_REG" file (located at "/Library/Application Support/") from this Mac into the "/Library/Application Support/" on each Mac that may be running the "Astro IIDC" application on. Then all those Macs will registered to use any of those cameras.
How do I connect a FireWire camera to a Telescope or Microscope??
You can either make your own adapter from plastic parts bought at your local hardware / plumbing store (some assembly and modification required) or you can buy existing products that screw into the lens holder (most use a M12x0.5 thread) from companies like WebCaddy. You may want to also check out WebCaddy's MOOG focal reducers too, which will increase the field of view of your scope. Also try using your favorite search engine with the key words "c-mount adapter" for C-Mount adapters and use the key words "m12x0.5 adapter" for M12 x 0.5mm mounts.
I have a "AF" or "BF" series camera from "The Imaging Source" that does not display video on a Mac but works fine under Windows. Why?? Some models of the The Imaging Source's cameras have a firmware bug that prevents it from transmitting video frames on a Mac, with any Mac software or drivers not just Astro IIDC. Please contact the Imaging Source about it at:
You need indicate the exact model of camera that you have (i.e. DMK 21BF04, DFK 41AF02 etc.) and that you need a firmware update for Mac OS X.
Are their any example images taken with the "Astro IIDC" software??
Some of our better images (taken with an Orion MAK 127 mm aperture or Celestron 8 SCT 201 mm aperture telescopes) are:
A 1062 x 900 pixel collage showing the changes of the sunspot morphology over a 4 hour period, taking with an 8 bit UniBrain FireWire camera.
A large color enhanced 1156 x 2936 pixel composite of the first quarter Moon, taking with a 16 bit per pixel Color Flea FireWire camera.
A 1384x1036 DSO image of NGC6946 the FireWorks Galaxy , taken with a 16 bit per pixel Monochrome Grasshopper FireWire camera and AstroDon LRGB Filters.
A 1384x1036 DSO image of M1 Crab Nebula, taken with 16 bit per pixel Monochrome Grasshopper FireWire camera and AstroDon LRGB Filters.
A 1384x1036 DSO Color image of M27 Dumbbell Nebula, taken with a 16 bit per pixel Monochrome Grasshopper FireWire camera and AstroDon LRGB Filters.
A 1384x1036 DSO Monochrome image of M33 Triangulum Galaxy Core, taken with a 16 bit per pixel Monochrome Grasshopper FireWire camera and AstroDon LRGB Filters.
A 640x480 image of Comet Machholz, taking with an 8 bit Color FireWire camera using a 50 mm SLR lens.
A large monochrome 1314 x 2303 pixel composite covering the The Domezilla area and Copernicus, taken with a Grasshopper 16 bit monochrome camera.
A monochrome 1317 x 1055 pixel image of Luna covering the Sinus Iridum area, taken with a Grasshopper 16 bit monochrome camera.
A QuickTime movie showing the changes across Mars during 2005 close approach to earth. The movie chronicles the changes to Mars during October and November 2005, including the dust storm of October 21st, 22nd and 23rd.
Information on these images and movies can be found at here and images taken by users can be found in the Astro IIDC Yahoo User Group Files section.
System Requirements, Compatibility and Limitations:
Requires a PowerPC (G5 or at least G4 500 mhz) Mac or x86 MacIntel FireWire equipped desk top, Mini, eMac, iMac, iBook or Power Book, MacBook, MacBook Pro or Mac Pro models with a minimum of 128 megabytes of Ram. Astro IIDC 4 is a Universal Binary and runs natively on both PowerPC Macs or x86 MacIntels. We also provide a "Legacy" version of Astro IIDC which supports G3, G4 and G5 Macs under 10.3.x to 10.6.2.
Requires Tiger OS X 10.4.x or higher (up to and including Snow Leopard OSX 10.6.2) and QuickTime 7.x or higher. Legacy PowerPC version requires OSX 10.3.9 or higher and QuickTime 7.x or higher.
Supports the following inexpensive low end 640x480 IIDC / DCAM FireWire cameras, listed by manufacturer and camera model:
NOTE: If your Low End camera is not on the list above, it will not be recognized and is not currently supported. Apple's FireWire iSight will never be supported as it lacks IIDC modes we need and is not capable of doing extended CCD exposure times. Lastly image quality with any of the above cameras that uses the Texas Instruments TSB15LV01 image processing chip will be of poorer quality due to bugs in the chip, especially monochrome cameras. We recommend you look at The Imaging Sources "DMK 21AF04 / DFK 21AF04"cameras which are much better products.
Works with any compliant IIDC DCAM camera that support one or more of Format 0 (Modes 5 and 6), Format 1 (Modes 2, 5, 6, or 7), Format 2 (Modes 2, 5, 6, or 7) and Format 7 (monochrome or Bayer color modes). For best usability, the camera should support the absolute shutter register. A non exhaustive list of cameras includes:
DAGE-MTI Excelv (640x480 Color or Monochrome 8/16 bit, exposures to 60 minutes per frame, Trigger, Kodak Sensors) DAGE-MTI Excelv(640x480 Color or Monochrome 8/16 bit, exposures to 60 minutes per frame, Trigger, Kodak Sensors) DAGE-MTI Excelm(2048x2048 Color or Monochrome 8/16 bit, exposures to 60 minutes per frame, Trigger, Kodak Sensors)
Optronics MacroFire (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1600x1200, 2000x2000 Monochrome 8 bit only, exposures to 20 minutes per frame) Optronics MicroFire (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1600x1200, 2000x2000, Color 8 bit only, exposures to 20 minutes per frame) Optronics QuantiFire (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1600x1200, 2000x2000 Monochrome 8 bit only, exposures to 20 minutes per frame, Cooled)
Point Grey Research FireFly MV (640x480 Color or Monochrome, 8/16 bit, maximum exposures 0.133 seconds per frame, Trigger), only good for bright field Lunar, Solar +/- Planetary imaging Point Grey Research DragonFly (640x480 or 1024x768 Color or Monochrome 8/16 bit, exposure to 60 minutes per frame, Trigger) Point Grey Research DragonFly 2 (648x488, 1036x776, or 1296x964 Color or Monochrome, 8/16 bit, exposure to 60 minutes per frame, Trigger) Point Grey Research DragonFly Express (640x480 Color or Monochrome 8/16 bit, exposure to 60 minutes per frame, FireWire 800, up 200 fps, Trigger) Point Grey Research Flea (640x480 or 1024x768 Color or Monochrome, 8/16 bit, exposure to 60 minutes per frame, Trigger) Point Grey Research Flea 2 (648x488, 1036x776 or 1392x1032 Color or Monochrome, 8/16 bit, exposure to 60 minutes per frame, Trigger, FireWire 800) Point Grey Research Flea 2G (648x488, 1036x776 or 1392x1032 Color or Monochrome, 8/16 bit, exposure to 60 minutes per frame, Trigger, FireWire 800) Point Grey Research Scorpion (640x488 or 1392x1040 or 1600x1200 Color or Monochrome, 8/16 bit, exposure to 60 minutes per frame, Trigger) Point Grey Research GrassHopper (640x40, 1384x1026 or 1624x1224 or 2448x2048 Color or Monochrome, 8/16 bit, exposure to 60 minutes per frame, Trigger, FireWire 800 - EXHAD CCD)
Sony XCD-SX710CR (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 Color 8/16 bit, exposures to 17 seconds per frame )
Sony XCD-SX710 (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 Monochrome 8/16 bit, exposures to 17 seconds per frame)
Sony XCD-SX910CR (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960 Color 8/16 bit, exposures to 17 seconds per frame)
Sony XCD-SX910 (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960 Monochrome 8/16 bit, exposures to 17 seconds per frame)
Sony XCD-SX910UV (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960 Ultraviolet 8/16 bit, exposures to 17 seconds per frame)
Sony XCD-V60CR (640x480, Color 8/16 Bit, exposures to 16 seconds, FW800, Trigger)
Sony XCD-SX90CR (1280x960, Color 8/16 Bit, exposures to 16 seconds, FW800, Trigger)
Sony XCD-U100CR(1600x1200, Color 8/16 Bit, exposures to 16 seconds, FW800, Trigger)
Sony XCD-V60 (640x480, Monochrome 8/16 Bit, exposures to 16 seconds, FW800, Trigger)
Sony XCD-SX90 (1280x960, Monochrome 8/16 Bit, exposures to 16 seconds, FW800, Trigger)
Sony XCD-U100(1600x1200, Monochrome 8/16 Bit, exposures to 16 seconds, FW800, Trigger)
Unibrain Fire- I 520B (640x480, Monochrome 7.4 micron pixels, 8/16 bit max 65 seconds, trigger) Unibrain Fire- I 521B (640x480, Monochrome 9.9 micron pixels, 8/16 bit max 65 seconds, trigger) Unibrain Fire- I 620B (1024x768, Monochrome 4.65 micron pixels, 8/16 bit max 65 seconds, trigger) Unibrain Fire- I 720B (1600x1200, Monochrome 6.45 micron pixels , 8/16 bit max 65 seconds, trigger) Unibrain Fire- I 820B (1600x1200, Monochrome 4.6 micron pixels , 8/16 bit max 65 seconds, trigger) Unibrain Fire- I 520C (640x480, Color 7.4 micron pixels, 8/16 bit max 65 seconds, trigger) Unibrain Fire- I 521C (640x480, Color 9.9 micron pixels, 8/16 bit max 65 seconds, trigger) Unibrain Fire- I 620C (1024x768, Color 4.65 micron pixels, 8/16 bit max 65 seconds, trigger) Unibrain Fire- I 720C (1600x1200, Color 6.45 micron pixels , 8/16 bit max 65 seconds, trigger) Unibrain Fire- I 820C (1600x1200, Color 4.6 micron pixels , 8/16 bit max 65 seconds, trigger)
