Messages

1

General / Re: Process Question: When to Debayer

« on: 2012 January 25 06:48:19 »

Thanks Sander and Pfile. Your thoughts make perfect sense. Now if I can just get some clear skies....

2

General / Re: Process Question: When to Debayer

« on: 2012 January 24 21:39:29 »

This thread is useful for me, as I just purchased a QHY8PRO and will soon need to learn a new workflow. Of course, the weather has been bad since it arrived-- after several months of beautiful weather. I'm moving to OSC because of the time demands with my work.

So why wouldn't it be? Capture, Debayer, Calibrate... Of course, you'd have to Debayer the flats in this flow, correct? Just curious.

3

Release Information / Re: New Reference Documentation Released

« on: 2011 November 25 19:57:49 »

If you see the documentation already written for other processes such as HistograhTransformation, ColorCalibration, Curves, etc. I think it's clear that the "level" of documentation you saw for DynamicPSF is the "standard" level for PixInsight's official documentation, and not an exception.

Rogelio,

I never meant to imply that it wasn't. I've read every bit of 'documentation' there is-- including all of your great stuff .  I was just adding my thoughts on which modules should be worked on.

My personal view is that I've learned the most from the 'how to' pieces that Juan, Vincent, you, Harry and others have done. What the official documentation does for me is to provide the conceptual foundation for a feature or process-- which will, in the long run, help me use it to the best advantage. What I never liked about having to use PhotoShop is that I never really understood how it worked, it was more like using 'voodoo magic'. With PI I have the opportunity (if I choose to take it) to dig deep into mathematics, etc and to place what I'm doing into the context of CDD imaging as a whole. As an example, after I really made the commitment to understand the wavelet-based features, I dug out my copy of Berry & Burnell's 'The Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing' and studied the chapter on wavelets (which I had glossed over before).

-- John

4

Release Information / Re: New Reference Documentation Released

« on: 2011 November 22 07:23:06 »

The DynamicPSF documentation is a paragon for how documentation for technical software of this type ought be written, and so rarely is. In contradistinction to some competing software with copious documentation; this is actually useful.

... I think this kind of documentation is exactly the kind that befits the level of sophistication and precision I've come to expect from you and your team.

I completely agree with Erik's comments. The DynamicPSF documentation is first rate, and will be very helpful. Until that tool was released I had very little success with Deconvolution, and the documentation will give me a firmer conceptual foundation. Personally, I'd like to see this same level of documentation for DBE, Deconvolution, MT, and the wavelet-based tools.

Thanks so much,

John

5

New Scripts and Modules / Re: PCL: CosmeticCorrection module

« on: 2011 November 12 01:22:47 »

Thanks Nikolay,
real time preview is a nice addition. 

Absolutely. A very nice piece of work. Thanks!

6

General / Re: Lum data in HaRGB?

« on: 2011 October 20 04:43:09 »

Anyone have thoughts on this?

7

General / Re: Blue stars but no yellow or red stars

« on: 2011 October 14 21:49:28 »

Thank you both!  I appreciate all the explanations and it's obvious that I have a ton to learn.  By the way, what is the best way to find out which tools are used for linear vs. non-linear images?  Is there some kind of reference?  Thanks for all your help!

Harry Page has a nice page on his website: http://www.harrysastroshed.com/pixuser/glossery.html

To that I would add:

Deconvolution: Linear only
ATWT: Linear or Non-Linear

Lately I've been using Juan's process for ATWT on linear images to reduce noise. It works beautifully.

-- John

8

General / Re: RGB + L and black edges

« on: 2011 October 10 23:48:44 »

I normally use exactly Miguel's technique. Sometimes I even create the Dynamic Crop process before creating the RBG image (using Channel Combination). It's often easier to determine the exact area to crop on a single master color image or even the luminance image.

-- John

9

General / Re: Lum data in HaRGB?

« on: 2011 October 09 17:10:45 »

Terry,

The script can be found here:

http://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=3446.0

and is based on Vincent Peris's work here:

http://www.pixinsight.com/tutorials/narrowband/theory/en.html

Harry Page also has a video explaining how to implement the approach with PixelMath-- which Silvercup's script implements in a more automated fashion.

I think this will really help you.

John

10

General / Lum data in HaRGB?

« on: 2011 October 07 05:25:42 »

I've been having fun using Silvercup's new HaRGB Combination script, as well as studying Vincent's tutorial and previous posts (and Harry's video) on the subject. So far so good. But my question is what to do with the Lum data I've gathered? My options seem to be: 1) discard those images (seems like a waste), 2) create a non-linear LRGB image and combine that with the Ha, or 3) or combine the linear HaRGB image with my Lum data. Preliminary testing doesn't seem to favor options #2 and #3. My best results seem to be just sticking to R, G, B and Ha frames. Going forward, I can change my acquisition strategy for those object I plan to merge Ha data into-- but what should I do about the Lum data I've already gathered?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

-- John

11

New Scripts and Modules / Re: HaRGBCombination Script

« on: 2011 September 29 14:41:41 »

Take in consideration that you must select a preview of the background in the RGB but you must take care of Ha, so do not select a preview where the final image has Ha.

That did the trick. Thanks, Silvercup. Also, I seem to get better results by running the script on linear images, and not stretched-- which I had tried initially.

-- John

12

New Scripts and Modules / Re: HaRGBCombination Script

« on: 2011 September 29 03:22:10 »

Take in consideration that you must select a preview of the background in the RGB but you must take care of Ha, so do not select a preview where the final image has Ha. If this fail, uncheck color calibration and calibrate manually.

Okay, I'll try that, thanks.
- John

13

New Scripts and Modules / Re: HaRGBCombination Script

« on: 2011 September 28 20:57:14 »

I tried this LATE last night after I read the original post about the script. WOW. It worked great. Thanks so much. This past summer I've taken a lot of Ha data with the goal of eventually adding it to my LRGB images. Unfortunately, I just haven't had the time to study the Forum threads  and videos on the various techniques.  Now I have something to keep me busy this winter when the weather gets more iffy!

One question. The resulting image seem to have too much in the blue channel. What's my best approach to tone it down-- Curves?

John

14

New Scripts and Modules / Re: Classic Star Mask Script

« on: 2011 September 13 06:27:14 »

Works like a charm! Thanks so much.
-- John

15

General / Re: Star Elimination

« on: 2011 September 08 20:52:26 »

This is fantastic, Rogelio. I knew the basics of MT, but learned some new tricks, especially 1) using HDR to tone down the galaxy before creating the star mask, 2) using the contours option to actually create the star ask, and 3) using ATW for sharpening the stars afterwards. Good stuff here.
Thanks, John