STF in image window and Image Calibration set up

[mattssporre]

Dear all,

On my wishlist for the next version I have one small (??) item and one slightly (??) larger.

The small one is the addition of the "A" button in the screen transfer function (automatic) to the image windows. I end up doing the same thing every time I load an image - open the STF and hit the "A" button. Having that "A" button on the image window itself would save me time.

The other item is how to handle image calibration. I normally image the same object on several nights. Using a DSLR I can not control the temp so I end up with more than one set of flats and more than one set of darks. I could also easily imagine shoting with more than one camera meaning that I end up with more than one set of Bias frames. It goes without saying that I also then would have more than one set of lights.

Since the dialogue boxes in PixInsight is really objects it should be possible (?) to implement the following. In one box set the number of light frame sets, bias frame sets, dark frame sets, flat frame sets. This would then make a number of drop down menues appear. In these drop down menues the user indicate the location of the light frame sets, etc.

An example. Two sets of light frames, one set of bias frames, two sets of dark frames and two sets of flat frames. Indicating these numbers I will get two drop down menues for light frames, one for bias, two for darks, two for flats. In each of these drop down menus I can give the location of said frames respectively.

I have noticed that Nebulosity (Craig Stark) have this easy set up implemented, but with fixed number of sets for each image type.

Just a wish :-)

BR
Matts

[Nocturnal]

Hi Matts,

it was nice to meet you at MWAIC! Really impressive that you flew all the way from Sweden to come see my talk

I think your first request has merit and I think I asked for something similar some time ago. Unfortunately I suspect Juan will say STF is just a process like all the other ones and does not deserve special shortcuts to make our lives easier. Maybe he'll change his mind this time I'd settle for a menu/keyboard shortcut instead of a button on the image window.

Being able to group images together with appropriate flat/bias frames etc. is something every self respecting stacker should do. I think the goal of PI's calibration and stacking at the moment is to provide building blocks, waiting for someone to write a new module or script to build an actual stacker. So hopefully someone will step forward and build this integrated stacker module and your feature request will be implemented. I agree what Craig showed was interesting but the group feature in DeepSkyStacker is even easier to use. Only an option for PC users of course

[mmirot]

 Perhaps even an auto sft on/off for all images. Keyboard or in the image window .

Yes a way to handle calibration of multple sets of data is 1 on my wish list.

Jack Harvey started a thread asking today asking for a poll on new features.
So far at least three other have put this high on the wish list.
I have beating the drum for this feature for sometime now.

Max

[mattssporre]

Hi Sanders,

it was sure nice to be at the MWAIC - my first imaging conf ever.

Since it seem to be many users wishing for an STF A "button" in the image window no one can say that it "is just a process like all the other ones". Obviously it is one of the most frequently used ones which sets it apart from the rest. As with any software you want to save time on things you do very frequently. A keybord short-cut would also do the trick of cours.

BR
Matts
PS liked your talk! 

[mattssporre]

Hi again,

regarding the tool to calibrate multiple sets of images with multiple sets of flats and darks, I saw a presentation at the MWAIC by Craig Stark in which he presented his software - Nebulosity 2.

It had this multiple - multiple calibration tool - so it can be done.

BR
Matts

[mmirot]

Yes, I saw it too.
 Nebulosity 2 has nice dialog to set this up. Perhaps Juan is in the mood to help with this monster?

Max

[Nocturnal]

I actually like DeepSkyStacker's group concept better. Just drag and drop all the files into DSS, tell it what kind they are and it automagically does the right thing.

One big advantage of DSS over other solutions is that you can save an entire stacking project and re-open it later. Indeed, I asked Luc to implement that a few years ago. You see a trend here? I like being able to save my work and continue later on I certainly hope that an integrated PI stacking solution has a comparable feature where you can save your file lists and settings. Then again I'm still happy with DSS so I won't be pushing that hard for this. I have other fish to fry

[mattssporre]

I used to use DSS before but found it a little confusing to set up the groups when I had multiple-multiple sets.

Put the Bias frames in Group 1 - that is easy since Group1 is "common" for all subsequent groups. But I frequently have Darks that can be used for night 1 and 2, but not night 3. When I used DSS it could not handle that. Maybe a newer release can?

Anyway - I am hoping for PixInsight here :-)

BR
Matts

[Nocturnal]

Hi Matts,

join us at the Y! group deepskystacker if you're not already a member. We can discuss it there. Since I work with OSC imaging with a camera without dark current I don't use groups, ever, but I know people do.