Author Topic: Easier access to STF and minor improvements  (Read 4645 times)

Offline bitli

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Easier access to STF and minor improvements
« on: 2009 February 08 11:19:24 »
Hello,
The interface of PI is very systematic and complete, I keep discovering new functionalities. However, as a new user, I found a couple of points not obvious (to me) especially regarding STF and process (for process I need to study a little bit more).

- The menu item 'Image/STF/enable STF '(F12') does not show the current state of the active window (I would expect a check mark if it is currently enabled).
- IMHO it should be labelled 'Enable STF: Active Window', as there are other menu entries labeled Active Window or All Views, and the scope of the enable is not clear.
- I did not find an obious way to see if the STF is active on a window, I think that it should be something clearly indicated, as it is easy to forget when one use multiple windows and previews.
- If the STF is in 'monochrome' (all channels linked) mode, and an histogram with separate RGB values is draged to it, the result is incorect (it should switch to color mode or reject the drop, I think it just take one of the values as the global value).
- Having the STF as a process is consistent in a sense, but it has a pattern of use that is different enough from other process (it does not produce anything, it can be enabled/disabled anytime like the RT preview) that I would very much have direct way to call it with its currrent value on an image, may be via some icon or mark that also indicates if it is active or not.

It is also possible that I missed something altogether.
Bitli

Offline Nocturnal

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Easier access to STF and minor improvements
« Reply #1 on: 2009 February 12 15:29:36 »
Hi Bitli,

I agree it would be nice to see if an image has STF enabled. What I do is enable the STF toolbar. This has a toggle button to enable STF for the active window (f11 shortcut I think). When you switch windows it will update the state of the toggle button so you can see it. Of course there's only limited real estate in the toolbar so you have to pick and choose your tools carefully.

An STF improvement I'd like to see is a toolbar button to bring up the STF dialog. Right now it's modeled like a process but since it affects the display only it really doesn't fit in that category. Maybe there's a keyboard short cut I've overlooked.
Best,

    Sander
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Offline Juan Conejero

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Easier access to STF and minor improvements
« Reply #2 on: 2009 February 16 15:52:58 »
Hi Bitli and Sander,

Quote
- The menu item 'Image/STF/enable STF '(F12') does not show the current state of the active window (I would expect a check mark if it is currently enabled).
- IMHO it should be labelled 'Enable STF: Active Window', as there are other menu entries labeled Active Window or All Views, and the scope of the enable is not clear.


Agreed. I'll try to make these menu options clearer.

Quote
- I did not find an obious way to see if the STF is active on a window, I think that it should be something clearly indicated, as it is easy to forget when one use multiple windows and previews.


Again you're right. I'll think on a way to inform about the current STF state on image windows. Maybe something special on the window icon, or a label in the information tool bar. I have to find a good way to provide some feedback.

Quote
- If the STF is in 'monochrome' (all channels linked) mode, and an histogram with separate RGB values is draged to it, the result is incorect (it should switch to color mode or reject the drop, I think it just take one of the values as the global value).


This is actually a bug. Thanks for discovering it.

Quote
- Having the STF as a process is consistent in a sense, but it has a pattern of use that is different enough from other process (it does not produce anything, it can be enabled/disabled anytime like the RT preview) that I would very much have direct way to call it with its currrent value on an image, may be via some icon or mark that also indicates if it is active or not.


Quote
An STF improvement I'd like to see is a toolbar button to bring up the STF dialog. Right now it's modeled like a process but since it affects the display only it really doesn't fit in that category. Maybe there's a keyboard short cut I've overlooked.


Here I disagree. The concept of process is very rich and sophisticated in PixInsight. A process is any transaction of data or any transformation of data, or based on data; it doesn't have to produce changes in any images.

The screen transfer function is a property of every view. The ScreenTransferFunction process is just a tool that provides access to that property. In this sense, there is no difference between ScreenTransferFunction, HistogramTransformation and Statistics, since histograms and statistics are also properties of any view object. For example, a developer can design and implement a completely different interface to modify a view's STF, and it would (should, if well designed) coexist with the current ScreenTransferFunction tool. The PCL framework provides full access to STF properties:

http://pixinsight.com/pcl/doc/html/classpcl_1_1View.html#4ce0c3c004dcafe41c829a9bfe7fa347

http://pixinsight.com/pcl/doc/html/classpcl_1_1View.html#9ce826d960e3d74a3c2aa855cc8b75c7

This is PixInsight's modular, object-oriented design.
Juan Conejero
PixInsight Development Team
http://pixinsight.com/