No Timelapse Videos

[Trev-NI]

From update to latest I do not have any timelapse videos. There appears to be up to date images in the folder allsky images but no video in html videos - I have startrails ok which is just at test stage right now.

[EricClaeys]

The Troubleshooting -> Timelapse Documentation page has some info that may help. You can also run grep ERROR /var/log/allsky.log to look for error messages.

If you have an RPi HQ camera you almost certainly need to decrease the resolution of the video.

[Trev-NI]

Yes Eric - I think I have got the timelapse sorted by reducing the resolution as suggested.
I feel I am making good progress and even managed to fix moon phase not showing on my own!
A few tweeks and if I can get it on the internet - I will vey very pleased! Thanks for all your help - so far!
Just one thing I noticed when checking the timelapse was there OK - the overall window on the website seems very small.
I do not see how to make this bigger - really just the text is quite small - can you point me to where I can improve the overall size.
Test grab here

[EricClaeys]

The imageWidth setting in the remote_configuration.json file determines how big that image is.

[Trev-NI]

Something is going very badly wrong with my allsky

Now when I try to access the Editor there is nothing there - just the heading and the dialogue button and Save Changes beside

My disk usage is showing 100% looking like I need a bigger SD card - thing are getting worse I am afraid!

[EricClaeys]

How big is your SD card?

I would stop Allsky if it's running, until you free up some disk space. A lot of things can break when you're out of space.

[Trev-NI]

I have ordered a bigger card - 512 - here on Friday - I had a 128 in there. It might be an idea to touch on this subject in the docs. ie storage requirements before you begin. I see there are a few having issues with full cards. I had no idea of what size files would be created. I would also like to attach an ssd or similar for more storage - but not a clue as to how to implement that on this system.
However I am determined to get this working! I see there is an inbuilt sd card copy feature in the Pi so hope I can use that - the thought of having to use that darned code terrifies me. I was sooooo close to completion then it all went pear shaped. Hope I can weather the changeover and hope to get most back to how it was.

[EricClaeys]

A 128 GB card should not have filled up that quickly, especially since you are just starting to use Allsky. I have one and can easily keep a couple weeks of images.
A few things to try:

1. Attach a screenshot of the WebUI's "System" page. It's possible not all of the card is being used.
2. Run cd ~/allsky; du -s -h * and attach the results. That will tell us how much disk space each directory in allsky is using.
3. Run df -h and attach the results. That will tell us how much disk space is used overall.

If you are running v2024.12.06_01, it's very easy to move the allsky/images folder to an SSD by running allsky-config move_images.

[Trev-NI]

OK Eric here are the 3 things you asked for.

I know I have an old allsky on there but did not want to dump it to see if i needed any files from it to get my overlay items back.
I am gonna put the 512 card in anyway. What is the best way to go about this.
Do I just clone the card and then update the software?
Thanks

[EricClaeys]

Thanks for the screenshots.
You currently have 8.4 GB of disk space free.
103 GB are being used; if that, Allsky is using only about 32 GB (31 are images).
Please run:

cd ~/allsky/images
du -s -h *

Please copy/paste the results (don't attach a screenshot) so I can determine an average per day, which will tell us how many days of images you can store on the 512 GB card.

To use the 512 GB card see number 2 at this page.
If you don't have a micro SD card to USB adapter, I strongly suggest getting one. This will allow you to connect the 512 GB card to the Pi using USB so you can copy files to it.
If you can't get one of those, do you have a USB thumb drive? If not, can you get one that's at least 64 GB?

[Trev-NI]

OK I have managed to load up the 512 SD Card and I can boot up fine.
I cloned the disk as I got totally lost with the file structure on the Pi.
Anyhow. I have loads of free space now but I am back to my original position.

Allsky UI is all there and Live view is fine.
I purposely retained the old allsky version from before I had problems with the overlay disappearing
and
No info showing in Editor

I assume I can recovever what I need from the Old version?

When I go into overlay - I have a message saying you are using a default daytime overlay
I can not get past that no matter what I enter

and I asssume I can replace the config .json file from old

Can you point me to the files I need to copy over to get me back on track

Thanks

[EricClaeys]

You are making good progress. Congratulations!

Before I tell you how to copy files I want to make sure I know where everything is.
Please run:

cd
ls -FC
ls -FC *allsky*

[Trev-NI]

Thanks Eric - feeling quite good again about it all.
Re the remote website - I am going to move my site to Ionis later - can't be bothered with all that locking and unlocking.
One step at a time!

here is the output as requested

[EricClaeys]

@Trev-NI,
thanks for the update.

I am going to move my site to Ionis

GREAT!!!!!

---

Can you point me to the files I need to copy over to get me back on track

Since your allsky-OLD directory has an allsky directory in it, I'm not sure where your old settings are so you'll need to compare some files to determine which old one to use.

Does ~/allsky/images have all your images? If not, see if there are any in ~/allsky-OLD/allsky/images. If there are:

cd ~/allsky-OLD/allsky/images
mv * ~/allsky/images

---

All the configuration file are either in ~/allsky-OLD/config or ~/allsky-OLD/allsky/config somewhere.

Allsky stores the name of the overlay configuration file in the settings.json file.
If you ever changed the default overlay Allsky stored the updated configuration in a file in ~/allsky/config/overlay/myTemplates.
What we need to do is find those updated file(s).

Run grep overlay ~/allsky/config/settings.json and you'll see a line for daytime and one for nighttime. Assuming you haven't changed the overlay yet, those files (they may be the same) are probably in ~/allsky/config/overlay/config.
Check if they are: ls -FC ~/allsky/config/overlay/config.

To get the correct file(s):

cd ~/allsky-OLD
grep  overlay  config/settings.json   allsky/config/settings.json
ls -l  config/overlay/myTemplates  allsky/config/overlay/myTemplates

Compare the file name(s) from grep to the list of files in the myTemplates directories. I suggest using the newest file.
If, for example, the config/overlay/myTemplates/xyz.json file is the newest, run:

cp config/overlay/myTemplates/xyz.json  ~/allsky/config/overlay/myTemplates

then modify the current settings to point to that file:

cd ~/allsky/config

• If you don't know how to edit a file, ATTACH settings.json and let me know the name of the overlay configuration file, and I'll edit the settings. Then skip the remaining steps and wait for my reply.

If you know how to edit a file, open settings.json and search for overlay. You'll see the two lines you saw earlier. Change the values to the name of the overlay configuration file.
Save settings.json and get into the Overlay Editor. You should see your prior overlay.

Were there any other settings that are still wrong?

[Trev-NI]

Thanks Eric.
Images appear to be OK.

Way out of my comfort zone now.
I have run the lines as requested and attach the output- sorry I don't know how to proceed/what I'm looking for.
T

[EricClaeys]

This is good, and what I hoped for.
The first command in your screenshot tells us which overlay configuration file you are using: overlay-RPi.json. Notice that's just the name of the file, and not its location.
I had you run the second command ("ls -FC ...") to determine where the file was, and the output of the command included that file and several others. Those default configuration files are for popular cameras and come with Allsky. They cannot be changed as you saw with the "you are using a default daytime overlay" message. On January 26 you clicked OK and added things to your overlay, then saved the file, which Allsky put in ~/allsky/config/overlay/myTemplates/overlay2-RPi_HQ4056x3040-both.json. You can see that in the second half of your screenshot.

In summary, that screenshot verified what configuration file you were using and told us which file you were using before the upgrade, and hence, which file to restore.

[Trev-NI]

Eric - some success.

I did some copy/paste from old to new config files and I can report that I have my overlay back to how it was.

The only thing missing now is Part 2 of the original problem . . .
Nothing in editor when I open it
Think if I can get this sorted I am well on the way!

[EricClaeys]

Great job!

The WebUI's "Editor" page looks for 2 files which don't exist right now but used to. Like the overlay file, we need to find the old files and restore them.

The Editor page looks for the local Website's configuration file in ~/allsky/html/allsky/configuration.json and the remote Website's file in /allsky/config/remote_configuration.json. If you have a remote Website, a copy of the configuration file is there as well.

Restoring the files is easy - copy the file in ~/allsky-OLD/... to the correct location in ~/allsky.
You will then need to enable the Website(s) in the WebUI.

[Trev-NI]

More success!
I now have my editor text back!
I tested changing some items and they will appear OKk

however
local website - allsky/allsky - is not showing live image. I just have "Allsky Starting up" in large green lettering and it just sits there.
Startrails are there OK. Timelapse are up to date and OK. Popout from right is OK and change I made showing OK.

Public Page is showing OK
Just this one item and I think I am almost done then I can tackle the last part - the remote website!

Question - at what stage does the remote allsky website dropdown become available - I have never seen it?
Thanks again for getting me this far.

[EricClaeys]

Try refreshing your browser when on the local Website by pressing SHIFT-F5.
If that doesn't work, check the imageName setting in the Editor's configuration.json file. It should be image.jpg.
If it is, then press F12 in your browser on the local Website, then go to the Network tab and refresh the page. Anything in red couldn't be found.

[Trev-NI]

Sorry Eric, nothing happening still have that green text box.
Is there a way for me to reset or delete the config file to start afresh with the website?
also
I am getting this message re Multiple consec. bad images.
Settings are low = 0.1 and hight 0.9
I have images for last night but no timelapse

[EricClaeys]

Does the WebUI's Liveview page show the correct image?
Did you check the imageName setting?

For the other problems, please attach /var/log/allsky.log.

[Trev-NI]

Yes all is OK in Liveview
Yes all is OK in Public.php
Editor - Line 5 - Image name is image.jpg

log file -
allsky.log

[EricClaeys]

Ok, thanks. Please upload ~/allsky/config/settings.json.

[Trev-NI]

Here you are

settings.json

[EricClaeys]

Thanks.
I believe this is a summary of your current problems. Let me know if there is anything else:

1. local Website showing "Allsky Starting up" instead of image. My bad on what imageName should be. For the LOCAL Website it should be /current/tmp/image.jpg. For the REMOTE Website it should be image.jpg.
2. Multiple consecutive bad images. Is the camera inside or outside? I noticed some images are too dark then some are too bright, which happens when cameras are indoors during testing and, for example, you turn the light on or off. Run grep 'File is bad' /var/log/allsky.log to get a summary of the bad images. Many of them are just slightly below the minimum of 0.1, so you may want to change the minimum to 0.5.
3. No timelapse (I assume on local Website?) Check in the WebUI's "Images" page - if it has a timelapse for yesterday then we know they are being made but not being copied to the local Website. While we're trying to get everything working, in the WebUI please set the Debug Level to 3.
4. remote_configuration.json (remote Allsky Website) not appearing in the "Editor" page drop-down. It appears after a successful run of remoteWebsiteInstall.sh, which I believe has never worked for you since there's still a mis-match between where ftp uploads files and where the remote Website URL points.

A few things I notice in the files:

1. You have an RPi HQ camera but are making timelapse at full resolution. This usually doesn't work. I suggest setting the Daily Timelapse Width and Height to 2028 and 1520, which is half the sensor resolution. Having said that, your timelapse ARE being created, but I still recommend changing the resolution.
2. Did you recently disable the remote Website? There are a ton of entries in the log file saying it couldn't upload, and yet in settings.json the remote Website is disabled.
3. Did you recently disable keograms? They were created but are disabled.
4. There are a ton of "Login failed: please verify the username ..." messages in the log file, and then they stopped. Do you remember what you did to get them to stop?

[Trev-NI]

Eric - thanks for this very detailed reply. I am going to print it off and read through and action best I can.
I appreciate the time you are taking and I do hope I can report back with some good progress.
With a bit of luck I will soon be out of your hair!
Regards
T.

[Trev-NI]

So - more progress I believe!

1. The change of file name you gave has killed the green starting up text and I have the image back!
2. Multiple bad images. Yes the camera is inside for testing purposes as it is not yet installed in the case/dome etc. Yes. the lights do be on and off as I have to connect the Pi etc to keyboard and Monitor for changes etc. I set minimum to 0.5 as you suggested but in the light of the room the bad count went mad and after some 20 consecutive bad images I switched off the lights and entered 0 and appears to have calmed down.
3. I think I will point the cam out the window again here in my office tonight - lights off and check how the timelapse is doing.
4. Yes - understand re the remote website and the remoteWebsite dropdown - that will be the final part of the puzzle when things calm down.

other notes

1. width and height - I have set the width and height on the website settings to Resize upload image width to 2028 and the Height to 1520 as you suggested.
2. Yes I did disable the remote website setting as I was getting nowhere with that.
3. Yes disabled Keograms - not really interested in those.
4. Login failed - sorry don't know what I did to make those stop.

I will report back to let you know how things progress.
Again Thanks - Trevor

[EricClaeys]

Good to hear.

2. Multiple bad images: what you are getting makes total sense since the camera is inside. You may want to set the Low and Hogh thresholds for bad images to 0 when the camera is indoors. Zero tells Allsky not to check the brightness.

3. The timelapse doesn't care where the camera is pointed; it uses whatever images you have.

other notes

1. There are several Width and Height settings. The camera always takes a full-resolution image, regardless of what your settings are. As soon as the image is saved with a temporary name, Allsky does post-processing steps like resizing, cropping, and stretching the image, then adds the overlay. It saves this final image as image.jpg with a copy in ~/allsk/images. These two images are never modified.
   The resizing that was done used the Image Resize Width and Height settings. That final image is uploaded to the Websites, and if the Resize Uploaded Images Width and Height are set, it resizes and uploads a COPY of the image.
   The daily and mini timelapses use the images in ~/allsky/images, which may already be resized. The timelapses have their own Widthand Height settings that apply only to the timelapse.
   I suspect that few people resize the final saved image; instead, they resize the image that's uploaded and they resize the timelapse.

2. Login failed - sorry don't know what I did to make those stop. When you disabled the remote Website Allsky stopped trying to upload files to it, so it no longer tried to log in to the remote Website.

[Trev-NI]

Update- I set the cam up at window pointing up last night round midnight - all lights off and nice n dark.
I checked I could see what was going on on iPad (local website) and could see images updating - rare clear sky and stars!
Went off to bed. This morning I first checked the iPad again to check on allsky/allsky and screen was blank.
Checked same on main computer - blank.
Hooked up the Pi to kbrd. and monitor - nothing - blank screen. Checked plugs etc. nothing. Had to power Pi down.
Restarted and it came on ok! Quite odd?
Checked allsky ui and live image ok
Checked allsky/allsky and all was there ok
Checked timelapse - not there for last night
Checked Startrails - yes ok
On Pi went to allsky/images and set of images there ok from about midnight right through to the morning which is correct.
Video file there but no content when attempted to play - just the holder frame showing the cone.
That is where I am at. I need to let it run again another night and hope it was just a blip.
Any thoughts on the Pi mysterious shutdown and the video there but no content. In all the time I have left the Pi running
this past few weeks it has not done anything strange.

Sense we are getting close to success!
Regards T.

[EricClaeys]

Please attach /var/log/allsky.log and ~/allsky/config/settings.json.
And run ls -l ~/allsky/images/20250224/allsky*mp4.

The only thing I can think of to cause the "blank" screen is that the Pi froze while creating the timelapse because the timelapse is too big.

The startrails are created before the timelapse, so it makes sense that you have a startrails.

[Trev-NI]

Many thanks Eric you are one of a kind. I will let it run tonight and check the results in the morning. Yes I did suspect the video creation  could be the culprit with the Timelapse. I will know more in the morning. Thank you so much for your dedication and help. T

[EricClaeys]

@Trev-NI,
Like you, I can't wait until you have everything working like you want, and you are enjoying the fruits of your efforts!

If you could attach /var/log/allsky.log and ~/allsky/config/settings.json I would appreciate it. It may give me a better idea what happened so I can try and make sure it doesn't happen to other people.

Thanks - Eric

[Trev-NI]

OK Update - Let allsky run all day and night. All looked ok on local web browser from time to time.
Checked browser 8am GMT (this morning)
Got this screen

Hooked up Pi - it was off (as last time)
Power on and started up allsky - refreshed local site on other computer - main view Looks good
Check Timelapse - NO
Check Startrails - YES (very nice one!)

Check files on allsky on Pi
Images - YES full day and night worth average size 1.6/2.6MB each
checked jpegs odd one throughout day and opening and looking OK
Video file - YES but again no content.

Here are the files requested
I had 2 log files one small one large 13.7MB dated 23 Feb?
Post will not allow me to attach the other log file named allsky.log.1
and the settings

allsky.log

settings.json

[EricClaeys]

@Trev-NI,

For the timelapse problem, which is causing your Pi to freak out, do the following in the WebUI's "Allsky Settings" page:

1. In the "Timelapse Settings" section, change the Width to 2028 and the Height to 1520. A full resolution timelapse was still being created, which causes the problem.
2. In the "Websites and Remote Server Settings" section, change the Resize Uploaded Images Width and Resize Uploaded Images Height to 0. Those settings only impact the image.jpg file that's uploaded.

I am 99% sure that will fix that problem - it has for everyone else that's reported their Pi freezes or freaks out after the night-to-day transition.

---

For the Website problem, I assume the screenshot is from your LOCAL Website?
Please do the following:

1. Attach ~/allsky/html/allsky/configuration.json
2. Set the Debug Level in the WebUI to 3. Once everything is working you can set it back to 1.
3. Run sudo truncate -s 0 /var/log/allsky.log
4. Wait a until after a night-to-day transition, and if the Website is still giving those messages, attach /var/log/allsky.log (just the 1 file).

This will not fix anything but will give me (hopefully) the information I need to determine what the problem is.

---

For your comment:

checked jpegs odd one throughout day and opening and looking OK

Are you saying you checked some random jpegs and they looked ok, or there were some odd jpegs?

For your comment:

Post will not allow me to attach the other log file named allsky.log.1

GitHub only allows certain file types to be uploaded, including .txt and .log. For other files, like command.sh and allsky.log.1, simply append .txt to their file names, and upload that file. We do that all the time.
FYI, if you ever respond to a GitHub post via email, note that GitHub ignores email attachments.

[Trev-NI]

Hi Eric
Pi was on this morning! as expected no timelapes - startrail OK again a nice clear night - rare!!

1. Timelapse Settings changed width/height to 2028 - 1520
2. Changed uploaded height/width to 0
   Saved changes - noticed this blue warning
   

website problem
Yes I am still local website

1. attached config file
   configuration.json
2. set debug to 3 took a bit of time to find that - it is in day/night Debug was 1 changed to 3 (is this correct?)
3. ran sudo truncate .... as requested
4. willl run another day/night cycle and report back

comments
Sorry my grammar - when I said -checked "odd" I mean checked a few of the images at random to see if they were ok - all good.

Regards - Trevor

[EricClaeys]

@Trev-NI, Trevor,
You can ignore the blue messages. It's fixed in the official release (I seem to recall you have a pre-release version of v2024.12.06_01).

If you are STILL not getting a timelapse, I'm glad I didn't say I was 100% sure resizing it would fix things.
I'll look for the log file tomorrow.

[Trev-NI]

SUCCESS - I have a night & day timelapse from yesterday - and a fine clear one it is too!
This is a great leap forward.
Think I just need to bench test for a while - before I attempt remote website as I have to order up a plan.
Then I can case it up and mount it.
Apart from that. The only other real problem I am having is remote connection to the PI from my Mac.
The WebUI is great for accessing the settings for allsky
but
access to the Pi is a different matter
The built in Pi Connect is a bit hit and miss.
Real VNC Viewer will connect but my mouse will not action - just get a small square dot - it moves but no click action.
My camera setup is on ethernet cable as wifi where it will be is out of range.
Would be handy to pull off video files from time to time and of course access files on the Pi
Many thanks for your help and guidance - so far Eric!

[EricClaeys]

If you run allsky-config samba it will install software that will let your Mac mount your Pi's home directory. You can then drag and drop files. Very convenient.

I use tigerVNC and realVNC to log into the Pi. RealVNC doesn't work well with Bookworm though.

[Trev-NI]

Thanks I loaded up tiger and got some scary messages re security and not to connect? T .

[EricClaeys]

Can you attach a screenshot of the messages?
If this is your home network and it's not accessible via the Internet, I wouldn't worry about the messages.

[Trev-NI]

Thanks understand T

[Trev-NI]

Had a go with Tiger and it worked fine. Thanks again for all you do. T.

[Trev-NI]

All seems stable at this time. Daily Timelapse being created OK. The Tiger VNC Viewer is a game changer.
Thanks too for the samba code line - it too is great - nice to have a drag 'n drop feature to my Mac.
Next is the remote website. Case it up and get it out there!
Again Eric - thanks so much for all your help.
T.

[EricClaeys]

My pleasure. I'm glad it's working for you.

[Trev-NI]

Quick question - re samba
I have forgotten my password to log in on my mac (forgot to write it down)

Is there a way to reset it please or start again

I did find
sudo smbpasswd -a
but it is giving me
Missmatch - password unchanged
?

Regards
T

[Trev-NI]

SORRY Eric - found it!!!

All good!
Trevor

[EricClaeys]

What did you use to change it?