Add Custom Nebula Textures Plug-in

[ultrapre]

For amateur astronomers to parse their own nebula images and use them as textures.
By inputting photos and Astrometry.net's API to Plate-solve images online, and calculating the four corner coordinates, finally rendering textures of custom nebula images.

The project is work-in-progress, welcome guiding and joining.

Plan:

Initial functional points:

• 1. Online solving.
• 2. Local solving. (Deferred)
• 3. Calculate the RA Dec J2000.
• 4. Goto the identification.
• 5. Render and undo the image.
• 6. Add the image to management.
• 7. Management and deleting.
• usage manual and debug.

[github-actions]

Great PR! Please pay attention to the following items before merging:

Files matching src/**/*.cpp:

• Are possibly unused includes removed?

Files matching guide/**:

• Did you remember to update screenshots to match new updates?
• Did you remember to grammar check in changed part of documentation?

This is an automatically generated QA checklist based on modified files.

[ultrapre]

@10110111 @alex-w @gzotti Do you have any suggestions for conflicts between custom texture rendering and original texture rendering? Should we let users choose to turn off the original texture and then display the custom texture, or use some algorithm to detect and compare the texture area and then turn off the conflicting texture?

Should it add a json for custom configuration? Or can it directly modify the original texture json and add a key to distinguish between the original and customized ones?

[alex-w]

Please fix compilation of the code

[gzotti]

I am not sure: Can we handle user catalogs independently? There is probably infrastructure for more, but just one "default" nebula catalog. Maybe users could make (manually) a copy of default and then replace whatever they want to replace. Or they just want to use this welcome plugin to then contribute their own images of so far not included DSOs. Given the very latest developments, you need this plugin to platesolve/fit the image with stars, and then apply some de-starring filter to extract the nebula alone. (Unless image is of a cluster of course.)

[ultrapre]

I think it would be cool for astronomical photographers to be able to map their images in the software without having to deal with complex file editing. Rather than just giving developers predefined tools

It would be better to have separate user-defined json and image storage and management, and allow users to choose to hide conflicting original textures (by algorithm).

Another question is that the following formula still has a slight position deviation when calculating the four corners based on wcs fits. Does it also involve the calculation of parameters such as A_0_0, B_0_0, AP_0_0, BP_0_0? Maybe it is related to field of view distortion? I just started to get started, so it would be great if you could help me take a look.

delta_col = x - crpix1
delta_row = y - crpix2
RA = crval1 + (delta_col * cd1_1 + delta_row * cd1_2)  / cos(crval2)
DEC = crval2 + (delta_col * cd2_1 + delta_row * cd2_2) 

[gzotti]

Sorry, will be of no help here. Not my field. For fitting, you may want to disable aberration (to show mean positions). Small-angle (telescope) images should usually be OK, for large images it is not enough to have the corner coords, but need to take lens distortion into account.

[ultrapre]

Perhaps another use is to allow users to analyze their own images and then locate the position in Stellarium, which would be a very practical function

Small-angle (telescope) images should usually be OK, for large images it is not enough to have the corner coords, but need to take lens distortion into account.

This can of course be explained to the user in advance, my plan is that most of the image (within 2-3 degrees) can be displayed accurately

[alex-w]

From the log:

gui/NebulaTexturesDialog.cpp:226:70: error: call to member function 'arg' is ambiguous
   QString contentType = QString("multipart/form-data; boundary=%1").arg(boundary);

Compilation the qt5-based edition is broken

[ultrapre]

wcslib works well for converting pixel to RA/Dec. Stellarsolver is also good for it.
I plan to introduce one of them

New:
Oops, I seem to find the simple formula to solve it, no need for things above.

[ultrapre]

Accuracy of the algorithm as follows:

It works well even at a large scale.

[github-actions]

Hello @ultrapre!

Thank you for proposing of the feature.

[ultrapre]

@alex-w @gzotti @10110111
Sorry, it seems that StelSkyLayerMgr::loadSkyImage is deprecated? The rendering result of the call is different from what I debugged using textures.json. The code of StelSkyLayerMgr and StelSkyImageTile is hard to read and understand for me.

[gzotti]

I fully agree this is hard to read and follow. To me it appears even more features were planned but then not completed.

[ultrapre]

Anyone know how to disable rendering a selected image in the default texture?

[gzotti]

Alexander invented some trick to hide M1 before 1054. Maybe you can go a similar way based on other conditions? Or you will have to add a scriptable function setVisible(QString imgName_or_JSONkey, bool visible). Sorry, I am not enough familiar in this section and would have to study the code again myself.

[sunshuwei]

It is best to have a UI that can manage turning each texture on or off.
Since the Crab Nebula can be turned off under certain conditions, I think perhaps every texture should be able to do the same.

[ultrapre]

The display of M1 is not related to the method of manipulating the display separately, as this also uses the filtering criteria in the data

stellarium/nebulae/default/textures.json

Line 14 in 3c8d3c4

"birthJD": 2106215.0

[gzotti]

If there is no built-in way and you need it, you may need to add a key "visible" which should default to true. Then add the setVisible() command as outlined above. While you are exploring, everything about minResolution and probably other fields need better documentation IMO.

[ultrapre]

Please review the code changes in core.
Does multi-language support only require q_ to wrap the strings that need to be translated?

[alex-w]

Does multi-language support only require q_ to wrap the strings that need to be translated?

Yes, it's enough

[sunshuwei]

Could we consider adding an option in the future that is turned off by default, but can be turned on after consulting with the user, giving the image to Stellarium, using CC BY 3.0 or CC BY 4.0 copyright, and then the official can use these images as materials. It is even possible to develop a community in the future, similar to the Creative Workshop in Steam games, where users can freely choose mods provided by others.

[ultrapre]

Could we consider adding an option in the future that is turned off by default, but can be turned on after consulting with the user, giving the image to Stellarium, using CC BY 3.0 or CC BY 4.0 copyright, and then the official can use these images as materials. It is even possible to develop a community in the future, similar to the Creative Workshop in Steam games, where users can freely choose mods provided by others.

This requires server storage and a multimedia community, although uploading to a designated interface is easy to achieve. Anyway, such functionality can be envisioned in the future, as it is not currently required for this standalone software and the first version of the plugin.

[alex-w]

Is it that the image cannot be solved using astrometry, or is the coordinate information resolved but cannot be rendered?

It was troubles for rendering

[alex-w]

OK, I've checked the plugin at linux now and it works without problem, but the GUI of plugin is need to improve and information in the log should be human readable :)

[ultrapre]

Is it that the image cannot be solved using astrometry, or is the coordinate information resolved but cannot be rendered?

It was troubles for rendering

Ensure that the image is not mirrored!

[ultrapre]

OK, I've checked the plugin at linux now and it works without problem, but the GUI of plugin is need to improve and information in the log should be human readable :)

Suggestions for GUI? What log?

[alex-w]

What log?

Part of the log:

Creating scene FBO with size 2048x1152
"{\"status\": \"success\", \"message\": \"authenticated user: [email protected]\", \"session\": \"9d7ikex3j7ah7jetchzo9wtsp1jujg0v\"}"
"{\"status\": \"success\", \"subid\": 11622137, \"hash\": \"4ee193603050ff8d8b1405c7c1e171c34773ce14\"}"
"{\"user\": 7267, \"processing_started\": \"None\", \"processing_finished\": \"None\", \"user_images\": [], \"images\": [], \"jobs\": [], \"job_calibrations\": []}"
"{\"user\": 7267, \"processing_started\": \"2025-01-26 12:15:12.317675\", \"processing_finished\": \"2025-01-26 12:15:13.819688\", \"user_images\": [11875730], \"images\": [29048028], \"jobs\": [null], \"job_calibrations\": []}"
"{\"user\": 7267, \"processing_started\": \"2025-01-26 12:15:12.317675\", \"processing_finished\": \"2025-01-26 12:15:13.819688\", \"user_images\": [11875730], \"images\": [29048028], \"jobs\": [null], \"job_calibrations\": []}"
"{\"user\": 7267, \"processing_started\": \"2025-01-26 12:15:12.317675\", \"processing_finished\": \"2025-01-26 12:15:13.819688\", \"user_images\": [11875730], \"images\": [29048028], \"jobs\": [12450540], \"job_calibrations\": []}"
"288.49131767"
288.491
"14.4912103439"
14.4912
"800.5"
800.5
"534"
534
"-5.34221405892E-06"
-5.34221e-06
"-0.0002923011779"
-0.000292301
"0.0002923011779"
0.000292301
"-5.34221405892E-06"
-5.34221e-06
"1600"
1600
"1067"
1067
Initializing planets GL shaders... 

[ultrapre]

NebulaTextures Plugin Test Report Outline

1. Functional Testing

• Follow guide steps: ✅ Passed
• Different datasets (Astrophotography/Hand-drawn images): ✅ Passed
• Polar images: ✅ Algorithm validated
• Cross-equatorial and cross-meridian images: ✅ Algorithm validated
• File management: ✅ No invalid images left
• Restore default: ✅ Passed

2. Negative & Boundary Testing

2.1 Invalid Operation Steps

2.2 Empty Input & Length Limits

• Invalid file path : ✅ Handled
• Multi-language filepath support: ✅ Supported
• Invalid API key: ✅ Login request handled
• Invalid coordinate format: ✅ Bounded within -90~90, 0~360

2.3 File-related Issues

• Invalid file type ✅ (Basic extension filtering, actual format verified via network parsing)
• Invalid image ✅ (Determined via network parsing)
• File size limit: ❓ No restriction set
• Image flipped: ❌ No image editing functionality, unhandled

2.4 Network Response Errors

• Disconnecting network during parsing: ✅ Retry limit & cancellation implemented

3. Performance Testing

3.1 Frequent Uploads

• ✅ UI restriction applied

3.2 UI Responsiveness

• ✅ Rapid button clicks

4. Compatibility Testing

4.1 Cross-Platform Testing

• ✅ Windows 11 21H2, Qt 6.8.1 MSVC2022 64-bit

• ✅ Ubuntu 24.10-desktop-amd64, Qt latest

• ✅ MacOS 14.0, Qt 6.9.0 Desktop

4.2 Installation Testing

• ❌ Not conducted

5. Security Testing

• ✅ API key visibility settings
• Configuration stored in plaintext: ❌ No security measures applied

6. Regression Testing

• ✅ No issues after rebase

[ultrapre]

Changelog

• GUI changes readable
• Log output format fix
• Restore functionality
• Corrections based on the test checklist
• Brightness control
• Double-click centering
• Cancel solving function
• Multi-system testing

GUI Form