This section contains information about changes to MaxIm DL.
Notes
Most equipment, including cameras, require the manufacturer's drivers to be installed. We strongly recommend installing the latest drivers available from the manufacturer; usually these are available on their web site. For video capture we recommend installing DirectX 9, available from Microsoft.com.
Version 4.61
Added support for the Canon EOS 40D.
Added Quantum Scientific Imaging camera plug-in.
Added support for new features of Apogee Ascent cameras. Added support for new Apogee filter wheels. Changed the names of the Apogee camera and filter wheel plug-ins, to be more consistent with newly available models.
Added support for Orion StarShoot Autoguider. Updated driver for Orion StarShoot Deep Space camera to support new monochrome version.
Updated Meade DSI plug-in to support the DSI III. Please note that you must update the Meade Autostar Suite in order to use this plug-in, even if you are using an older DSI model.
Improved Roper PVCam (Princeton/Photometrics) camera plug-in.
Improved Andor camera plug-in.
Updated SBIG Universal and SBIG w/AO drivers. Fixed problem with shutter operation on SBIG AO, and improved guide star display. Fixed problem with triggered exposures on SBIG cameras. Added 4x4 binning. Added ST-4000 to the model selector. Updated Help to indicate that the SBIG AO-8 is supported (no change to the software).
Minor improvements to SX Universal driver. Improved guide star display. Updated supported camera list; now includes Lodestar autoguider.
Removed FLI redistributable files from installer, to prevent version conflicts.
Increased permitted filter focus offset range.
Added more slots to the Optec IFW driver, to support new version of wheel.
Minor fixes to Combine Files, Command Sequence, Curves, Bloom Removal, camera scripting error reporting, main menu bar, Telescope Control window, rings cursor display.
Version 4.60
Added Windows Vista support for cameras supported by Canon Eos 2, with the exception of the 400D and 30D models.
Added support for Nikon D40. Please note that at this time, Nikon has not made Windows Vista camera control available for their DSLR cameras.
Telescope Control window Setup tab now uses ASCOM Chooser, to ensure compatibility with upcoming updates to the ASCOM Platform.
Fixed Lumenera subframing in binned mode.
Various minor fixes and improvements.
Version 4.59
Added support for Orion StarShoot Deep Space Imager 2.
Image calibration now automatically compensates for flipped or rotated images.
Added support for DSS-7 spectrograph in SBIG Universal driver.
Fixed a problem in the Video DS driver that affected AVI capture under Windows Vista.
Improved display of PinPoint roll angle information.
Window positions on dual monitor system are now remembered and restored properly.
Minor internal improvements to Convert CMY command. Added support for converting images from the Orion StarShoot Deep Space Imager 2.
Updated Olympus driver installation.
Updated DSLR drivers. Beta support for Nikon D100 has been discontinued due to unreliable API.
Improved installation process under Windows Vista.
Various minor fixes and improvements.
Version 4.58
Added Andor camera support.
Added ASCOM filter wheel support.
Added Starfish (fishcamp engineering) camera support.
Updated DSLR plug-in drivers. (DSLR Plug-in only)
Added new features to scripting interface for AO support. User can now get status on guider calibration, and can control the mirror/motor axis swapping. An event was added to indicate when guider calibration is complete. A new audible alarm was also added for guider calibration complete.
Image processing plug-ins can now be sequenced automatically, rather than forcing manual interaction each time. Also improved Add/Remove Plug-In to better recognize plug-in DLLs produced by different versions of the compiler tools.
Minor updates to the Apogee Alta and Video DS drivers.
Zoom combo box now has more range.
Various minor fixes and improvements.
Version 4.57
Time Delay Integration (TDI) support (also known as drift scanning) has been added for SBIG cameras.
Added new Canon EOS 2nd Generation driver, which supports all USB 2.0 camera models. This includes the new Canon EOS 400D / Rebel XTi and 30D cameras. All USB 2.0 camera models that were supported by the 1st Generation driver have been moved over to the new driver. The USB 1.1 camera models are still supported by the 1st Generation driver. (DSLR Plug-in only)
Added Nikon D80 and D200X support. (DSLR Plug-in only)
DSLR control now includes a Save RAW to Disk option. This will directly save RAW files from the camera to disk, without first converting to FITS. Images will not appear on-screen when this option is used, but file transfer may be faster. (DSLR Plug-in only)
Canon EOS driver now supports DSLRStar. (DSLR Plug-in only)
Improved the RAW file reader. Adds several new supported file formats including Sony DSLRs. (DSLR Plug-in only).
Added new Optronics Macrofire driver.
The Video DS driver now supports modified webcams with serial port exposure control.
Combine Color has some improvements to the L*a*b color combine mode, and adds a new HSL combine mode.
Added new Levels command. Allows for on-the-fly histogram-based adjustment of image contrast and brightness, color balance, and gamma.
Added new Range auto-stretch mode, which stretches from the minimum pixel value to the maximum pixel value.
SBIG AO driver (AO-7 and AO-L) now allows the Remote Guide Head to be used as the autoguider. Also fixed problem reading out large camera arrays.
Photometry command can now output records in AAVSO format.
Astrometric Resynchronization "Correct via Slew" option has been improved to ensure solves work quickly even after large amounts of drift.
The image processing plug-in interface was enhanced for use with .NET projects. Plug-ins can now be executed by Command Sequence.
Minor improvements to the Command Sequence window, Lumenera camera driver, ASCOM camera driver, Starlight Xpress driver, Roper camera driver, Calibration error displays, and Annotation.
Version 4.56
Added ASCOM camera driver support.
Added option to internally bin images prior to astrometric resynchronization solves. This allows you to use the feature with one-shot color cameras operating in RAW format.
Cooler On is now disabled if both the autoguider and main camera have no cooler control capability.
Modified SBIG filter wheel driver to retry filter wheel commands if the device does not respond.
Fixed a problem with the Pan Window when operating on Windows 95/98/ME.
Version 4.55
Time Delay Integration (TDI) support (also known as drift scanning) has been added for Apogee Alta cameras.
New kinetics mode and expanded triggering capabilities are now available for Apogee Alta.
Added new Pan Window, which helps the user navigate the currently selected image.
The imaging auto-save format can be selected between FITS and TIFF.
Sequences can now select between color and monochrome for one-shot cameras, when neither filter wheel nor ISO is present. Similarly, calibration frames can now be captured in color mode if desired.
Auto tricolor via filter wheel and CRI Micro*Color matrix weighting is now supported.
Fixes for various problems including version number in Check for Updates, a problem in scripting align/combine, calibration pedestal handling, updating FITS headers for auto-color on one-shot cameras, Leave on CF handling, Command Sequences for Realign Planes, and ASCOM PulseGuide completion handling. Orion Starshoot driver abort handling has also been improved.
Version 4.54
Added Help menu Technical Support command.
DSLR Raw file reader now extracts the ISO, exposure time, and start time of exposure from the file header, and transcribes it to the FITS header. (DSLR Plug-in option only.)
Simple Auto Dark now updates the CALSTAT FITS keyword, to prevent repeated calibrations.
The Information window now displays diagonal size and angle, in either pixels or arc-seconds.
Added Nikon D200 (beta) support. (DSLR Plug-in option only.)
Added Shoestring DSUSB support. (DSLR Plug-in option only.)
Added support for Lumenera SKYnyx cameras.
SX Universal driver was updated to permit 3x3 binning (except with M25), and to fix a minor glitch with certain camera models.
SBIG AO driver was updated to ensure that AO-L home commands are sent to the correct camera, and to fix a problem with long exposures terminating prematurely when the AO-7 is guiding at very high rates.
SBIG Universal driver was updated to report the correct EGAIN value when operating in spectroscopic binning mode.
Updated Meade DSI driver to support the DSI II and DSI Pro II. Added ability to display and record CCD sensor temperature. Also now supports using two DSI cameras simultaneously, one as main and one as autoguider.
Updated Apogee driver.
Added new scripting properties for the autoguider, including the ability to control minimum and maximum move times, the Control Via selector, and aggressiveness separately on each axis.
FWHM calculation was improved to remove dependence on aperture radius.
Several scripting methods were adjusted to throw an exception when certain incorrect parameters were supplied. This behavior was added to support correct operation with the Python language, which needs a little help recognizing the difference between properties and methods.
Fixed a bug in File menu Save As command, which caused problems with the file format selector when the DSLR plug-in was installed.
Fixed bug in undo for image processing plug-ins.
The Starlight Xpress SXV-H9/H9C driver has been deprecated. Please use the SX Universal driver instead.
Version 4.53
Added an option for DSLR cameras to leave DSLR images on the Compact Flash card, instead of downloading them to the PC. This is currently supported by the Canon EOS driver. A small JPEG thumbnail image is downloaded after saving to the CF card, so the user can monitor the operation of the camera. The thumbnail is not autosaved during Sequence mode. (DSLR Plug-in option only.)
Version 4.52
Added Scheduled Sequence mode, which allows you to specify a long list of exposures with various settings. Each exposure can be configured to take place at a specified time, at a specified delay from the previous exposure, or at a specified delay from the start of the sequence.
Added ability to create AVI movies.
Added support for Canon EOS 5D. Added preliminary support for Nikon D50 and D100. (DSLR Plug-in option only.)
Fast mode is now available for exposures triggered from the Telescope Control window.
Astrometric Resynchronization has new option to slew telescope but not resynchronize it. This allows the feature to be used with mounts that do not support synchronization or where it would cause problems with third party mount modelling software.
Enhancements were made for reliability and robustness for the Starlight Xpress AO.
Calibration tools now handles DSLR ISO setting; it replaces the Temperature Setpoint for DSLR images. Raw DSLR images now default to Developed Color or RAW monochrome depending on the setting in the main File Open dialog box. Various minor internal improvements were also made.
Added CCDCamera.CameraStatus to provide more camera status information to controlling scripts.
Added support for the new SBIG large format AO accessory.
Added support for SAC10 camera.
SBIG one-shot color cameras can now have color conversion performed on the fly during imaging.
Updated Orion StarShoot driver to fix problems with 2x2 binning.
Expose tab mono/color mode selector now works for more camera models.
Added support for the Shoestring Astronomy GPUSB autoguider output device and LXUSB long exposure webcam output device.
Autostretch during file saving now works differently for 12-bit and 16-bit images. It now adjusts the stretch for the full range of data in the file, rather than using the screen stretch. This helps preserve data. Screen Stretch is still applied as before for 8-bit images.
Increased maximum number of files that can be combined simultaneously.
Improved mapping between SBIG Type 3 header data and FITS keywords.
Improved declination compensation code behaviour when calibrating at high declinations.
Improved mouse manipulation of screen annotations, especially at high zoom levels.
Added new Lumenera models and fixed a compatibility problem with the latest version of Lumenera's drivers.
Fixed a glitch that made Save As default to SBIG format if the DSLR plug-in was installed.
Fixed a problem with the frame size controls in the VideoDS driver that affects cameras which use Bitmap format with a negative height. Also improved long exposure modified webcam operation.
Fixed problem with background leveling for Convert CMY command in Meade DSI and Orion StarShoot modes.
Fixed problem with Yes to All option of Save All command. Previously, if files had data exceeding the allowed limits for the file format, the Save As dialog box would pop up anyway.
Minor internal changes to SX AO and SBIG AO-7 controls.
Fixed problem with Combine Files command when loading DSLR RAW frames (DSLR Plug-in option only).
Version 4.51
Added support for Olympus E-1, E-300, and E-500. (DSLR Plug-in option only.)
Added support for the Nikon D70S. (DSLR Plug-in option only.)
Added selector to read DSLR cameras in RAW/monochrome or color mode. Fast mode selector (Focus tab) now selects JPEG versus RAW image download. A Fast Mode selector was also added to Settings tab, for use with Expose and Sequence tabs. (DSLR Plug-in option only.)
File Open command now allows you to select whether DSLR RAW files are opened in RAW mode (monochrome with Bayer pattern) or in color using built-in debayer algorithm. (DSLR Plug-in option only.)
Convert RGB now has improved debayer algorithms. A selector is available for fast or high quality conversion.
Increased the number of bad pixel maps supported.
Fixed a problem with filter wheel initialization.
Various minor improvements.
Version 4.50
Added extended memory handling capabilities, which permit loading of image buffers beyond the nominal 2GB maximum memory allocated to Windows programs. This is useful when working with very large images.
Added support for the optional DSLR Plug-in. This includes drivers for Canon EOS and Nikon D70 cameras, as well as support for reading "raw" files from these and other popular DSLR cameras.
Added support for AVI video capture to the Video DS camera plug-in. Also added the ability to extract individual frames from an AVI movie, and either save them as BMP files or open them as image buffers.
Added Orion StarShoot Deep Space Imager support.
Added a mechanism to directly connect to an ASCOM driver from the Guide tab setup, for PulseGuide operation. This allows MaxIm DL to connect to a separate telescope driver for PulseGuide operation, and to work with drivers that support only PulseGuide and not GOTO.
Mouse wheel now zooms the image in/out, centered on the position where the cursor is pointed. SHIFT and CTRL can now be used in conjunction with the mouse wheel to scroll vertically and horizontally.
Set Calibration now includes an Advanced settings page. Options include automatically running the bad pixel removal algorithm upon calibration, and user adjustment of the pedestal value added to calibrated images.
Added improved star recognition code for autoguider calibration. To prevent problems when the target star is not near the selected point (due to drift or user error), a larger area is now searched and the brightest star in the vicinity is used.
Added altitude, azimuth, and hour angle keywords to the FITS header.
The Lumenera driver now supports additional camera models and higher binning levels where available.
The SX Universal driver was modified to improve speed performance for MX models in certain operating modes.
Improved camera error messages. Also the Fast check box on the Focus tab is now enabled only if the camera supports a fast mode.
Updated Apogee Alta driver, with new options to adjust vertical binning during flushing and post-exposure shutter delay.
Page Setup for printing can now control landscape/portrait orientation.
Version 4.11
Filter wheels can now act as dark frame and bias frame shutters, for cameras that do not include a built-in shutter. Enabled as an option on the Settings tab.
Camera autoguider relays can now be selected for either the main camera and autoguider camera. This allows more flexibility if the main camera happens to have autoguider relays, but the autoguider camera does not.
Added support for Lumenera cameras (all models).
Added support for Opus I Foveon cameras.
Added support for the new Starlight Xpress AO unit and the Starlight Xpress SXV-H16 camera to the SX Universal driver.
SX Universal now supports progressive readout, and has the ability to flip even/odd rows (certain models reverse the fields). It was also modified to protect against user error in setting the camera model
Added support for Audine cameras running via Ethernaude.
Video DS plug-in driver can now directly acquire color images.
Calibration now works with RGB color images. Calibration wizard now loads more file formats. Increased temperature tolerance slightly so that files lacking the setpoint keyword get grouped together properly. Now loads keywords from TIFF headers. Now uses EXPOSURE keyword when EXPTIME not present.
The Align dialog used in various commands now supports an Auto One Star alignment mode. This method uses only the brightest star in each image, and does not perform rotation or scaling. Some minor fixes were also made for the Combine modes. Also improved handling of Astrometry mode for Combine Files, and improved performance of SD Mask on color images. Combined images now default to IEEE Float FITS format, to ensure full bit depth is saved. File name of generated image is now derived from the source images.
Color Combine now derives the file name of the generated image from the source images.
Line Profile command now supports the display of an image histogram.
Batch Save and Convert now accepts user selection of stretch mode when batch converting files on disk; useful when reducing bit depth of images. User can set any desired stretch mode, or use the current stretch settings for the an open document.
PinPoint scripting commands are now enabled when Full PinPoint is installed. They are disabled for PinPoint LE per usage agreement with DC3 Dreams. USNO SA2.0 catalog has been deprecated; it still works, but a warning message is displayed when it is selected.
SBIG Universal and SBIG w/AO-7 drivers now permit user to select a specific camera model from a drop list.
Added fan control via scripting for SBIG Universal and SBIG w/AO-7 drivers.
SBIG AO-7 driver now displays "locate" exposures in the main window.
Fixed millisecond exposure intervals for interline cameras supported by the SBIG Universal plug-in.
AstroHub autoguider output activation for long moves has been changed to trigger both axes simultaneously.
Camera simulator now displays star when autoguider is binned.
Graphical track log vertical scale has been extended.
SBIG AO-7 plug-in now draws a box around the selected guide star, instead of putting an X through it.
Reading of LZW compressed TIFF files is now supported; Unisys patent has expired.
Updated Apogee.dll file provided by Apogee Instruments Inc.
Added more digits to the JD date/time output for photometry data exports.
Fixed Shoestring adapter guider output mode.
Improved defaults handling for PinPoint. Also removed the POSS/DSS projection type, since it is only used when reading POSS/DSS images.
Version 4.10
Added Meade LPI driver.
The SX Universal driver now supports subframe downloads for the SXV-M25 camera.
Added an external trigger option to the SBIG Universal driver.
Added CFW-10 support to the SBIG Universal driver. Supports both control through an SBIG camera and direct control via serial port.
Minor improvements to Apogee Alta driver, Finger Lakes driver, SBIG w/AO-7 driver, CCD simulator driver, Meade DSI driver installation, Set Calibration, pixel range restriction filters, Pixel Math during Command Sequence execution, Application.LockApp, MaxImDoc.CalcInformation, Documents.Item, and Document.Duplicate.
Version 4.09
Fixed problem in Save As command.
Version 4.08
Added support for integration with Starry Night Pro Plus 5.0.
Added additional columns to the groups definition for Set Calibration. A Name field, which has no effect on processing, has been added for user convenience. The calibration frame Type has been separated out from the Filter designation to help clarify the operation of the tool. An Apply Boxcar Filter check box has been added for flat field frames, to allow for removal of color information from flat fields for Bayer-encoded color CCDs. The right-click menu has also been improved.
Added support for the Meade DSI camera, including color conversion.
Added support for the ST-402ME to the SBIG Universal driver.
Added support for the SXV-M8C to the SX Universal driver. Also added an option for 1x2 binning to better support MX5C cameras. Now allows camera model selector to override the setting in the camera for non-SXV models.
Added support for 16-bit PNG format files.
Improved link reliability for the Meade SCSI driver.
Added control to select exposure abort method for the Audine driver, to accommodate differences between various interface modules.
Added the following COM properties: CCDCamera.AO7TrackBoxCount, Document.StretchedBMP, Document.PinPointStatus, Document.CenterRA, Document.CenterDec, Document.PositionAngle, Document.ImageScale. Document.ConvertColor has been enhanced for Meade DSI support. Document.CalcInformation and Document.CalcAreaInfo now allow for retrieval of information for specific RGB planes.
Minor changes to software binning, AstroHub autoguider output, Split Tricolor, Roper driver, shutter speed calibration, and FITS keyword handling for photometry. Improved COM object persistence handling to ensure proper behaviour on release of COM objects inside MaxIm DL.
Version 4.07
Added a new Windows menu Restore All command. Any minimized windows are restored. This is handy for restoring the images after sorting through good/bad images (minimize good ones, close bad ones).
Added support for very short (< 1ms) exposure times for camera models capable of these speeds (currently only Apogee Alta interline cameras).
Improved Apogee Alta driver to improve the external shutter and readout modes. Also added a new dialog to configure the camera I/O port pins, and added automatic color conversion capability.
Added Starlight Xpress Universal driver, which supports all USB-based cameras. It also supports dual SX camera operation. Note that it is considered "experimental" for this release.
Added a new hex file manager for the Starlight Xpress USB camera drivers. This helps the user install the correct HEX file for the Starlight Xpress camera in use.
Modified Audine exposure abort mechanism to prevent communications lockup.
Modified ACE filter wheel driver to accommodate single-wheel configurations.
Changed the Control Via setup to separate COM port selection from the protocol selection. Also added five new output options. The Cookbook option sends out serial port messages compatible with Cookbook autoguiders. The LX200 Protocol option sends out standard LX200-style pulse guide commands. It is useful for Astro-Electronic and similar relay boxes, which do not support the full LX200 GOTO protocol. The "MicroGuide" option allows guiding using "goto" commands sent to the telescope mount. This is useful for mounts that are capable of sub-arcsecond slews. Note that ASCOM Platform Version 4 is recommended for use with TheSky, and you should turn off "slew-start delay for CPU-hogging cameras" in the driver setup. The AstroHub Direct option works with Aquest's AstroHub product. The Shoestring option works with Shoestring parallel port guider adapters. Also fixed a timing interaction that can degrade autoguider performance in some output modes.
Added a control in the Options for the Telescope Control Setup tab, which turns on/off Tracking.
Added a control in File menu Settings to permit either SBIG-style or IRAF-style usage of IMAGETYP FITS keyword.
PinPoint astrometric analysis now displays computed image center RA/Dec, position angle, focal length, and image scale.
Align command now marks images that do not have an astrometric solution with a red X.
Fixed a problem with reloading calibration groups containing SBIG format files. Create Master Frames now forces master frames to be saved in IEEE Float FITS format.
Auto dark subtraction is now logged in the FITS header.
Clicking on a guide star to set its position in the Guide tab is no longer affected by the image scroll bar position.
Improved file extension handling.
Fixed image processing plug-in handling under Windows 98.
Fixed minor problems with Command Sequence window
Deconvolution control now lets you inspect other images while it is operating, to make it easier to inspect the PSF window, etc. When you start deconvolution the active image is forced on top to avoid user confusion.
Deconvolution is now available through the COM Automation (scripting) interface. Added Guider.ReverseY property.
Added properties and methods to extract basic PinPoint plate solution parameters, and to run a PinPoint solve on an open document. Also added Document.StretchedBMP property to permit capturing a bitmap of the current image as displayed on-screen.
Various minor changes, including a new folder picker dialog box with faster performance, corrected pedestal handling in SBIG format files, improved preview handling for some processing features, adjusted guider fade limit, fixed improper rounding of exposure time settings, improved error handling in align command, improved Starlight Xpress camera installation, fixed ghosting problem for short exposures on SBIG interline cameras, fixed guider calibration when Pier Flip check box is set, allowed Pixel Math to work automatically for command sequences, and improved error handling on some scripting objects.
Version 4.06
Maintenance release. Improvements to FITS file handling, calibration, guider calibration, guider status display, combine images, auto-center, and image processing previews.
Version 4.05
Maintenance release. Fixes a problem with the calibration tools.
Version 4.04
Many calibration tool enhancements were made. Batch Save and Convert command can now calibrate images on the fly as they are transferred. Set Calibration now includes built-in master frame generation, which automatically replaces the calibration groups with the corresponding master frames. Generated master frames are now tagged with FITS keys to indicate whether they have already been bias/dark calibrated; this information is used when they are loaded to determine whether they need to be calibrated or not. The heuristics for automatically selecting the groups to use have been improved.
FITS history data has been enhanced. Header information is now stored in TIFF files as well (in a proprietary TIFF tag).
Command Sequence has been extended so it can work on disk files as well as images already in memory. This allows a large number of images to be processed automatically.
Undo can now be optionally disabled, to minimize memory consumption. This is to ease memory limits when working on very large images.
A limit on the maximum number of open images has been increased.
The Curves command now supports saving and importing curve definitions, and supports "precision" curve files (useful for importing linearization look-up tables).
Information window now shows the sum of all pixels in Area mode.
The Sequence Tab now allows up to 9999 exposures in a single sequence. Exposure sequences can now be paused and resumed. The subframe range error checking for sequences has been improved. A glitch that could cause intermittent sequence stalls when sequencing with a filter wheel has been fixed. A problem with aborting sequences has been fixed.
Starlight Xpress drivers now allow the user to select whether download progress is displayed or not. An autoguider relay timing problem in several SX drivers has been fixed.
The included Apogee Alta drivers have been updated.
Various other fixes have been made, including problems with astrometric resynchronization; full-screen preview interactions with the color balance, filter, digital development, and rotational gradient commands; fractional pixel guide star location; SBIG Universal driver fan control and single-chip autoguider camera support, and short exposures on SXV-H9 driver.
Version 4.03
Added option for Audine driver to operate with a KAF-3200 sensor.
Fixed a problem with the SXV-H9 driver, and with the autoguider outputs in some operating modes.
Improved error checking code in the autoguider settings.
Version 4.02
DirectShow video capture driver now has configurable support for integrating webcams. Allows the user to configure various parallel port pins for controlling integration time and the readout amplifier. The default configuration works with SAC7 cameras.
Guide tab can now be set up to adjust the exposure duration depending on the filter selected. This is useful for dual-chip cameras where the autoguider sensor is behind the main camera's filter wheel.
Guide tab now permits independent adjustment of the Aggressiveness on the X and Y axes.
Full image calibration is now supported for the autoguider. This is now possible because the calibration tools can be set up to calibrate multiple different cameras.
Added independent guider aggressiveness controls for both axes. Initial guide star position can now be set to fractional integer position, to reduce startup transients.
Guider Move dialog is now fully "modeless"; you can keep it open while working with other controls.
Added new night vision mode options to File menu Settings: red screen, blue screen, or dim. Added the ability to trigger night vision mode only while exposing or to blank the screen while exposing (to reduce stray light from the screen).
Added ability in File menu Settings to change the default file extension for the various file formats.
Added fan control to AO-7 driver. Also added CCDCamera.AO7TiltX and CCDCamera.AO7TileY, which allow direct control of the mirror position. A new CCDCamera.AO7MirrorHome property was also added to enable/disable the automatic homing of the AO7 mirror.
SBIG drivers now check for minimum version number and warn user if old version is present.
Convert RGB and Convert MX commands now include a check box for turning on automatic background leveling, instead of requiring the user to hit a button each time. These commands have also been improved in their subframe handling.
Improved pedestal handling in image calibration, and changed handling for missing files.
Fixed minor problems with Sequence Wizard, Document.StretchMode, AO-7 dithering, simultaneous dual-axis corrections, SBIG Universal driver, a potential filter wheel/guider conflict, certain progress bars, guider settings dialog, FLI 1st Gen driver, exposure time readout with certain filter wheels, and various other minor fixes.
Version 4.01
Added Application.TelescopeConnected and Application.FocuserConnected properties to the COM Automation interface. This is useful when operating MaxIm DL solely from the COM Automation interface and want to output guider corrections via the telescope interface, or offset the focuser for different filter positions.
Apogee Alta drivers were updated.
Improved autoguider star detection, and autoguider output error display. Fixed minor glitch in guider settings dialog. Fixed interaction between mosaic function and automatic exposure after slew.
Calibration now works with non-FITS files. Fixed problems with deconvolution, sigma clipping, scripted bloom removal, calibration, PinPoint defaults, guider pier flip option, ghosting on SBIG interline cameras, and Optec IFW driver.
Version 4.00
Baseline release.