Smart Project and Smart Update
Turn a folder of deep-sky frames into a project with Smart Project, and add each new night with Smart Update: how files are sorted, the File prefix, and the settings each capture program needs.
Smart Project turns a folder of deep-sky frames into a project in one step. It finds every image file in the folder and its subfolders, sorts them into datasets by frame type, filter, exposure and gain, names the datasets after their filters, and, with Auto Calibrate ticked, picks the matching darks and flats from your calibration library.
Smart Update is for imaging a target over several nights, or for adding frames while you are still imaging. It looks in the same folder again and adds every file the project does not have yet: a frame of a filter, exposure and gain that already has a dataset joins that dataset; anything else starts a new one (for example OIII on the second night, or Ha_60sec when you change the exposure). You can run Analyze and Stack after each night: the frames already analyzed keep their results, ticks and reference frame, and the next Analyze measures only the new ones.
Both work with any capture program, as long as each target has its own folder and every night of that target goes into that folder. Most programs do this by default. N.I.N.A. and SharpCap need one setting changed, and Dwarf sessions need moving into one folder (see the table below).
Quick Start
- In your capture program, save each target to its own folder, the same folder every night (see Setting up your capture software).
- In BiggSky, untick Simple GUI, tick Load Directory and Auto Calibrate, and set the file format beside Smart Project to FITS (it also finds
.fitfiles). - Click Smart Project and choose the target's folder — the one named after the target, not the capture root and not one night's folder.
- In the dialog, check the project name, leave File prefix empty (see below) and click OK.
- Check the datasets on Project › Summary: one row per filter and exposure.
- After the next night, open the project and click Smart Update, then OK. The message lists what was added, for example "Ha +24, OIII (new) 36".
How files are sorted into datasets
Smart Project reads the FITS header of every file:
| What | Where it comes from | Dataset |
|---|---|---|
| Frame type | IMAGETYP (LIGHT, Light Frame, Flat Field, Dark, Bias, Offset …) | lights by filter; flats, darks and bias get their own datasets, such as FLAT_Ha |
| Filter | FILTER; if empty, the file tags on Project › Filters (_Ha_, _Luminance_ …) | one dataset per filter, named after it |
| Exposure | EXPTIME (or EXPOSURE) | a second exposure of the same filter becomes Ha_60sec |
| Gain | GAIN | a second gain becomes Ha_Gain200 |
Files in a folder called BiggSky (BiggSky's own output) are skipped. Everything else that is an image file of the chosen format is taken, so keep stacked results, test shots and other targets out of the target's folder.
A one-shot-color camera with no filter wheel gives one dataset, named after the frame type (Light) or the filter in the header (Seestar: IRCUT).
The File prefix
The File prefix box limits Smart Project and Smart Update to files whose names start with it. It is empty unless you type something: every image file in the folder is taken, and Smart Update remembers what you typed.
Leave it empty unless you need it. Capture programs name files after the target as you typed it that night, so a later night can start differently — NGC_2244_... in a folder of NGC_2244A_... files, or Ekos's star_Light_... when a job had no target name — and a prefix would leave those frames out. Flats added later are named Flat_... by some programs and would be left out too.
Use a prefix only to leave out files you keep in the same folder on purpose.
Older projects saved the start of night 1's file names as their prefix. Smart Update shortens it to the target name (for example IC_443C_Light_Ha_300_secs_ to IC_443C) and shows it in its box: clear the box if a night is missing.
Setting up your capture software
| Program | Default folder for a target's frames | Does it work as is? | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| N.I.N.A. | <date>\LIGHT\ — one folder per night with every target of that night; no target name in the file name | No. A night's folder mixes targets, and later nights are in other folders | Options › Imaging › Image file pattern: start it with $$TARGETNAME$$\, for example $$TARGETNAME$$\$$DATEMINUS12$$\$$IMAGETYPE$$\$$TARGETNAME$$_$$DATETIME$$_$$FILTER$$_$$SENSORTEMP$$_$$EXPOSURETIME$$s_$$FRAMENR$$. Give the target a name in the sequence. Point Smart Project at the target's folder |
| KStars / Ekos | <target>\Light\<filter>\ | Yes | Point Smart Project at <target>. Use the same target name every night |
| ZWO ASIAIR (Autorun or Plan) | Autorun\Light\<target>\ | Yes | Point Smart Project at Autorun\Light\<target>. Flats go to Autorun\Flat\ (not the target folder): add their masters to your calibration library. Use the same target name every night: a new name starts a new folder |
| SharpCap | <date>\<target>\ (date first) | No. Each night is in another date folder | Settings › Filenames: choose Target Name and then Date, and type the target name before capturing. Point Smart Project at <target> |
| CCDciel | <target>\Light\<date>\, with Bias, Dark, Flat beside Light | Yes | Point Smart Project at <target>. Keep the File prefix empty, or flats taken later are missed |
| Sequence Generator Pro, APT, Voyager, MaxIm DL, TheSkyX | set by your file and folder pattern | If the pattern puts the target first | Make the target name the first folder level (for example <target>\<frame type>\...) and check that your files carry IMAGETYP, FILTER and EXPTIME |
| ZWO Seestar | MyWorks\<target>_sub\ | Yes | Point Smart Project at <target>_sub. Keep the same target name for every session |
| Dwarf II / 3 / mini | DWARF_RAW\DWARF_RAW_<target>_EXP_.._GAIN_.._<time>\ — a new folder every session | No, for more than one session | Make a folder for the target and move each session's DWARF_RAW_... folder into it, then point Smart Project (and Smart Update) at that folder |
Calibration frames
Auto Calibrate takes darks and flats from your calibration library (Use Library) and from the project's own masters (Use Project). Darks and flats in the target's folder become their own datasets (FLAT_Ha, DARK_300sec, Bias). To use them, click Create Cal. Masters on the Calibrate tab and confirm the bias, dark and flat datasets it suggests in turn; the masters go into the project's library. Then click Apply Calibration. Flats you take on a later night are picked up by Smart Update as long as they are in the target's folder.
Multi-night and live imaging
- Run Smart Update after each night, or while imaging, as often as you like: a file the project already has is never added twice, and frames you deleted from disk are deselected at the next Stack, not added back.
- A new filter, exposure or gain gets its own dataset; the existing datasets keep their names, so their stacks keep their file names too.
- With All Projects ticked, Smart Update runs on every project in the Projects list, one after another, without asking for the prefix (each uses its own saved prefix).
- The stacked results (
Stacksdataset) are never mixed with new frames.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "Smart Update: no new files" after a night of imaging | the frames are in another folder (NINA, SharpCap and Dwarf defaults), or their names do not start with the File prefix | set up the program as in the table; clear the File prefix in the Smart Update box |
| A second target's frames in your datasets | the folder holds more than one target (NINA's default date folders, or a target saved inside another target's folder) | give each target its own folder and start the project again |
One-frame datasets such as Ha_0sec or Luminance | a stacked result or a test shot in the target's folder | move it out of the folder, or delete the dataset |
| All frames in one dataset though you used several filters | the files have no FILTER keyword and their names have no tags from Project › Filters | add your program's filter names to the Filters table |
| Flats in the folder were not applied | Auto Calibrate uses masters, not raw flats | Calibrate › Create Cal. Masters, then Apply Calibration |
See also the Stacking settings manual and the full BiggSky manual.