Multilanguage Lunar/Solar/Planetary Autofocus V 2.9

🚀 What's New in V2.9 (Updated)

• Dual Dropdown Controls for Step Configuration: Replaced the manual text field with two intuitive dropdown menus for Step Size (5, 10, 15, 20) and Steps Count (10, 15, 20). This allows precise control over the scanning range, balancing V-Curve precision and execution speed while avoiding excessive out-of-focus excursions that could break FireCapture's auto-alignment tracking.
• Dynamic & Symmetric Autofocus Routine & Backlash: Automated scan radius sizing based on the selected step configuration, paired with a robust mechanical backlash recovery sequence (moving back by radius + a reduced safety margin of 50 steps, then advancing by margin) to guarantee a perfectly symmetrical V-Curve without losing planet tracking.
• Real-time Scan Progress Counter: Live visual feedback displaying Step X/20 (or matching total steps) in the status label during the scanning routine across all 12 localized languages.
• Built-in GitHub Update Checker: Integrated online version verification with secure TLS protocol handling, allowing users to check for updates and access the download page directly from the GUI.
• Enhanced Stability & Localization: Further optimizations for multi-threaded calculations, robust fitting under poor seeing, and instant UI language synchronization.

Enjoy your automated high-resolution imaging sessions! 🔭✨

Multilanguage Lunar/Solar/Planetary Autofocus V 2.8 (check newer releases!!!)

Professional autofocus plugin for FireCapture, developed by Stefano Romani, designed
specifically for high-resolution planetary, lunar, and solar imaging with motorized focusers. 12 languages available with real-time UI synchronization (English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, and Dutch)

📜 Version History (Changelog)

*** PLEASE READ MULTILINGUAL PDF GUIDE AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD ***

All important changes and updates to the Lunar/Solar/Planetary Autofocus V2 plugin for FireCapture are documented here.

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[2.8] - 2026-10-01

🎯 Seeing Optimization & Smart Sub-ROI

• "Difficult Seeing" Mode: Introduced the new advanced option featuring Smart Stacking & Robust Fit to stabilize and improve sharpness analysis even under poor seeing conditions.
• Active (Anchored) Sub-ROI: Implemented support for the anchored software calculation sub-area, allowing precise millimeter-level isolation of planetary or lunar targets.
• Stability & Interface: Further optimizations for the V2.8 build and real-time calculation workflows.

[2.7] - 2026-09-29

✨ New Features & Interface

• Moon/Sun Mode: Renamed and expanded the classic "Moon" option to "Moon/Sun" to officially reflect full compatibility and optimization for solar imaging (H-alpha and white light), complete with localization across all 12 supported languages.
• Dynamic UI Update: Real-time synchronization of the calculation mode dropdown menu when switching languages on-the-fly directly from the GUI.

[2.6] - 2026-09-29

🚀 Advanced Optimization & Lucky Autofocus

• Lucky Autofocus Anti-Seeing Algorithm: Revolutionized step sampling by introducing multi-frame capture during the stabilization pause. The plugin analyzes the stream and automatically selects the maximum score (the frame where seeing momentarily stabilized).
• Dedicated Settle Time Selector: Added a dropdown menu for custom configuration of focuser stabilization time and Lucky AF sampling window (with selectable intervals from 500ms to 3000ms).

[2.5] - 2026-09-29

🛠️ Architecture & Stability

• Version Update & Structure: Consolidation of the V2.5 build with background calculation thread optimization and seamless integration of multilingual graphical components (12 languages).

[2.3] - 2026-09-29

🚀 New Features

• Automatic CSV Export: Added automatic saving of all V-Curve points and data to a .csv file inside the system's home directory (user.home) upon completion of the autofocus routine.
• Dummy Cam Compatibility: The log export system is fully operational even during bench simulations with the virtual camera (dummy cam).

[2.2] - 2026-07-xx

⚡ Optimizations & Performance

• Settle Time / Throttling Management: Introduced temporal control over frame sampling (e.g., adjustable intervals at 500ms or 1s). Reduces calculation load while keeping FireCapture's video stream 100% fluid.

[2.1] - 2026-05-xx

🛠️ Improvements & Stability

• ASCOM Driver Reset: Optimized focuser management and initialization procedure to prevent hardware communication lockups.
• Interface and Localization: Perfected dynamic Sub-ROI selection and stabilized multilingual support (12 languages).

[2.0] - 2026-03-xx (First Stable Release)

✨ Initial Release

• V-Curve Engine: Implementation of least squares parabola calculation ($y = ax^2 + bx + c$) for high-precision focus vertex detection ($X_v = -b/2a$).
• Dual Calculation Mode:
  • Moon Mode: Absolute spatial gradient analysis ($dx, dy$) pixel by pixel.
  • Planet Mode: Hybrid weighted analysis with normalized average intensity to isolate planetary details while reducing seeing impact.
• Native Integration: Direct communication with FireCapture's focuser instance via SystemSettings.getCurrent().getFocuser().