The FIMS Tool

What is FIMS?

The FORS Instrumental Mask Simulator (FIMS) is a SkyCat plugin to specify the FORS instrumental setup (e.g. the 19 slit positions in MOS) during Phase II Proposal Preparation. FIMS creates and manages the instrumental setup by Target Setup Files (TSFs). These TSFs can be loaded by the P2PP tool to become part of an Observation Block (OB) for FORS. For further information, see the FIMS User Manual.

Late news

14/02/2008: It is recommended to use the new version 2.52 (P81 version) of FIMS also for the preparation of masks for P80 runs.
Visitor mode users can directly use FIMS version 2.52.
Service Mode users who have P80 runs and still need to prepare their masks using FIMS, should contact usd-help@eso.org.

31/07/2007: a bug has been identified with version 2.50 of FIMS, which prevents to load a pre-mosaiced image using the normal command "File > Open...". The following workaround is recommended (we assume your file is named image.fits), which allows to load the image from the command line:

fims.sh 2 "-file image.fits"

Important Note concerning Releases

The latest public release of FIMS is labeled P80, and corresponds to version 2.50 of the tool. This version can be used for Period 80 Observing Programmes (see below). Users of period 79, please check the page for the previous version of the tool.

FIMS is released as a tarball which also includes the appropriate SkyCat version (2.7.3) and an additional plugin for making ESO-compliant finding charts.

Supported Platforms

The latest version of the FORS Instrumental Mask Simulator (FIMS) is available for Linux platforms only. If you do not have access to a PC or workstation running this operating system, please contact the USD for assistance.

Downloading and installing FIMS

NOTE: Version "P80" can be used for FORS1 and FORS2 observing runs of Period 80.

Installation kit

Version "P80" (FIMS 2.50):

this version of FIMS is discontinued, please see the "Late news" section at the top of this page.

Installing FIMS

Once you have downloaded the FIMS tarball, Unpack it by executing:

gunzip -c fims-<version>.tar.gz | tar xvf -

This will create a directory called fims-<version>.

You may now remove the gzipped tar file:
rm fims-<version>.tar.gz
Execute the command sequence:

cd fims-<version>
./fims_install.sh

Follow the instructions on the screen. The installation script will first ask you where you want to install the FIMS tool. The default directory is the one created when you unpacked the tarball, but you can specify any other directory provided you have write access to it.. The script will complain if this condition is not met.
It will then try to guess where the Perl interpreter is located on your machine, so as to adapt two auxiliary scripts to your local configuration. If it doesn't find the perl executable in your path, the script will offer you to provide this information by hand. However, the script language Perl is not mandatory for FIMS. The two scripts are only to create Postscript files from a MXU setup of FORS2. You can thus choose to skip this step if you do not need this functionality.

The script will then proceed with the installation of the tool. At the end of the installation, the full path to the startup script needed to launch FIMS (fims.sh) is displayed. Depending on your preferences, you may want to create an alias to this script, or add the directory in which it is contained (i.e. <fims-install-directory>/bin) to your PATH variable.

Environment variables for FIMS

FIMS uses a number of environment variables, and provides defaults. They are all defined in the startup script <fims-install-directory>/bin/fims.sh Only FC_DIR can be overwritten by the setenv (or export in bash and ksh) command. All other variables are hardcoded in the <fims-install-directory>/bin/fims.sh startup script. Running this script for the first time will create the directory INS_USER and its subdirectories, LOG_DIR, SET_DIR, and PREP_DIR with the defaults given below, if these do not exist already.

FIMSROOT: points to the FIMS installation directory
INS_ROOT (default is $HOME): this is the root directory for all FIMS output
INS_USER (default is .fims): this is the project (user)-related subdirectory
LOG_DIR (default is $INS_ROOT/$INS_USER/LOG): the directory where FIMS writes the log-file and the control file for automatic positioning
SET_DIR (default is $INS_ROOT/$INS_USER/SET): the directory where FIMS writes the acquisition files. This path variable can be redefined during a fims session [SetUpDir].
PREP_DIR (default is $INS_ROOT/$INS_USER/PREP): the initial directory to select FITS files to be loaded by SkyCat. The initial directory to select local catalogs be loaded by SkyCat.
FC_DIR (default is the directory from which SKYCAT was started): the directory in which the finding chart tool saves the jpeg files. This variable is not mandatory.

How to Use FIMS

User Manual

The use of FIMS is described in the FIMS User Manual. It is indispensable for you to read this document, particularly if you are not familiar with the tool yet.

Quick start

FIMS can be started with fims.sh [instrument number] [skycat options] [DEBUG]

instrument number is one digit and controls the menu bar.

skycat option is a list of SkyCat command line options embedded in a pair of ""-characters
DEBUG is an optional flag to print all environment variables of fims.sh This flag is only suitable in case of installation errors.

Examples are (for user smith):

fims.sh 1 (for FORS1 only)
fims.sh 2 (for FORS2 only)
fims.sh 2 "-float_panel 1 -file /home/smith/.fims/PREP/test.fits -cat /home/smith/.fims/PREP/objects.ptl" DEBUG
Starts FIMS for FORS2 and specify the command line options for SkyCat. (Here SkyCat loads a fits image and a target catalog). Don't forget to use the double quotes. Additionally all environment variables are shown.

When "fims.sh 1" is used, the following output will appear :


Calling FIMS for FORS1...

Remember to copy any MXU technical masks to /home/smarteau/.fims/SET



  W E L C O M E     T O     F I M S
 -----------------------------------

 +----------------+                +------------------+
 | FIMS      2.50 |----plugin----> | SkyCatTool 2.7.3 |
 +----------------+                +------------------+

 +------------------------------------------+
 | last checkin : 2007/05/25 GD 16:58:24 UT | INPUT : /home/smarteau/.fims/PREP
 | now is       : 2007/06/14 GD 12:16:36 UT | OUTPUT: /home/smarteau/.fims/SET
 | FIMS requires: SkyCat 2.7.3              | LOGS  : /home/smarteau/.fims/LOG
 +------------------------------------------+


skycat -with_grid 1 -scrollbars 1 -rtd 0  ...
Loading the graphics features plugin...
Loading the FIMS plugin...for FORS1

A FITS image taken with FORS2 (tar.gz file; 5.0 Mbytes) is available for practising with FIMS.

Verification of FIMS

Verify the SkyCat version: Press [Help] [About SkyCat]. SkyCat version number must be 2.7.3
Verify the FIMS version: Press [Help] [About FIMS]. FIMS Version number must be 2.50 (version P80).
If not done so far, load a FITS image with World Coordinates, e.g. with [Data-Servers] [Image Servers] [DSS] and a image size of 7 arcmin.
With FIMS started for the FORS2 intrument, press [FORS2] [Enter Mode] [MOS] to create the FORS mask for MultiObjectSpectroscopy.


NEW MODE -->SkyCat V2.7.3 -->  FIMS V2.43 2004/06/17 23:04:31 for FORS2
FORS2 at UT1
Executing load_instrument ...
load FORS2.isf
executing load_gris_filt_disp ...
20 gris-filt combinations read from  FORS2.isf

line_org =>CCD.SLAVE_XSR.RANGE       "-135.2777 135.2777"      <
line_org =>CCD.MASTER_XSR.RANGE      "-135.2777 135.2777"  <
line_org =>CCD.SLAVE_YSR.RANGE       "17.6957  152.9573"      <
line_org =>CCD.MASTER_YSR.RANGE      "-120.0196 14.796" <
line_org =>CCD.SLAVE_XHR.RANGE       "-67.5840 67.5840"      <
line_org =>CCD.MASTER_XHR.RANGE      "-67.5840 67.5840"  <
line_org =>CCD.SLAVE_YHR.RANGE       "9.062 76.646"      <
line_org =>CCD.MASTER_YHR.RANGE      "-60.282 7.302"  <
line_org =>FIELDXRANGE.VALUE           "-109.609 106.279";<
line_org =>FIELDYRANGE.VALUE           "-108.512 107.165";<
modus: mos with mask mos
label: 0
BPM: 0
width: 1.0
length: real
lslit: 0.5
filter:         none 20  2 >> OS filter found ok
INS_DISP: 5.00
FOCSCALE: 1.901679
PIX 0.024
CCDscale_standard 0.2
CCDscale_highres 0.1
FORS2 CCD Frame
 >> 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0
 >> 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 none none
 >>DISP  50.0 A/mmCD   1.2 A/pix   6.0  12.0 A/''   3.2   6.3 A/mmfc
 >>BLU    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>RED    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>USD    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>SPE    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>Field Stop total range = 2519.8 A (SR) = 2435.0 A (HR)
 >>CCD total range = 3087.1 A (SR) = 3084.6 A (HR)

WAVE CONFIG MASK
Ok     : Filter does match Grism
grism :         none 20  2
INS_DISP: 5.00
FOCSCALE: 1.901679
PIX 0.024
CCDscale_standard 0.2
CCDscale_highres 0.1
FORS2 CCD Frame
 >> 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0
 >> 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 none none
 >>DISP  50.0 A/mmCD   1.2 A/pix   6.0  12.0 A/''   3.2   6.3 A/mmfc
 >>BLU    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>RED    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>USD    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>SPE    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>Field Stop total range = 2519.8 A (SR) = 2435.0 A (HR)
 >>CCD total range = 3087.1 A (SR) = 3084.6 A (HR)

WAVE CONFIG MASK
colli: COLL_SR+6
FORS2 at UT1
NOMI SCALE : 0.250124''/p = 6.947889e-05 o/p  0.125063''/p = 3.473961e-05 o/p  1.901679''/mm ff
world2:    RA            DEC asec/pix (PXcen)  (PYcen) SizeX SizeY rot Epo equi proj
world2: 10:00:00.074 -25:00:00.72 1.00729 208 208.5 416 417 0.464912 2000 2013.24 TAN
reference pixel : 1.5000030695640E+02 -2.5000199157596E+01 207 208.5
>208.0<  >208.5<  >1.5000030695640E+02<  >-2.5000199157596E+01<
try CD notation ...
CD1,1,2,2, =  -2.8047435299591E-04 -2.2758897802210E-06  -1.9360359034102E-06 2.8046566279961E-04
sign(CROTA2)         = CRO = 1.0
sign(CDELT1*CDELT2)  = CSO = -1.0
flag 3
world2: BONSAI ON
world2: frame / WCS -> rotated
plotsEDIT_REF_TARG ..
k
plotsEDIT_REF_TARG ..
k
Ok     : Filter does match Grism
grism :         none 20  2
INS_DISP: 5.00
FOCSCALE: 1.901679
PIX 0.030
CCDscale_standard 0.250124
CCDscale_highres 0.1250626
FORS2 CCD Frame
 >> 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0
 >> 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 none none
 >>DISP  50.0 A/mmCD   1.5 A/pix   6.0  12.0 A/''   3.2   6.3 A/mmfc
 >>BLU    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>RED    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>USD    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>SPE    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>Field Stop total range = 2518.5 A (SR) = 2433.8 A (HR)
 >>CCD total range = 3085.5 A (SR) = 3083.0 A (HR)

WAVE CONFIG MASK
INS_DISP: 5.00
FOCSCALE: 1.901679
PIX 0.030
CCDscale_standard 0.250124
CCDscale_highres 0.1250626
FORS2 CCD Frame
 >> 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0
 >> 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 < 500.0 none none
 >>DISP  50.0 A/mmCD   1.5 A/pix   6.0  12.0 A/''   3.2   6.3 A/mmfc
 >>BLU    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>RED    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>USD    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>SPE    0.0 A =    0.0 pixel =    0.0 '' =  0.000 ' =     0.000 mm(fp)
 >>Field Stop total range = 2518.5 A (SR) = 2433.8 A (HR)
 >>CCD total range = 3085.5 A (SR) = 3083.0 A (HR)

plotsk
EDIT_REF_TARG ..
mask initialized

Problem and Bug Reports

Please report all FIMS problems and bugs to the ESO User Support Department (USD).

WCS keywords in wide field mosaics

At present FIMS does not support WCSs where the CRPIXn keyword value is outside the range 0 < CRPIXn <= NAXISn (ie. outside of the field of view). This is ONLY important for you if you, instead of having obtained new pre-imaging with FORS, are going to use a sub-image extracted from a large field, for instance from a mosaic or from wide field imaging.

This means that despite the fact that the global image may have correctly set WCS, if the mosaic is split and only part of it used for mask preparation with FIMS the error message "Error: out of coordinate range" will appear if that part of the mosaic does not contain the reference pixel of the center (CRPIX1 and CRPIX2 keywords).

We are working on a new release of FIMS common to FORS1 and FORS2 which will resolve this issue.