Documentation lacking

[jegsav]

I'm a new user and, frankly, struggling a bit to ascend the learning curve.
I see that nearly 70% of the processes completely lack documentation.
Sifting through this forum, it seems that there has been little progress on documentation for some years.

PixInsight looks great and I really want to use it, but how can one use it without documentation of the functionality?

[Geoff]

http://www.harrysastroshed.com/pixinsight/pixinsight%20video%20html/Pixinsighthome.html
http://mike-wiles.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/a-crash-course-on-pixinsight.html
http://www.pixinsight.com.ar/en/

[jegsav]

Geoff, Thanks for pointing me to these tutorials. I will peruse them once I have some time.
But, my point is still valid - tutorials are fine to get you started and as "how to" guides. However, the prime "go-to" location should be the program documentation itself, especially in software which sells as being "professional" and purporting to be well-documented. What's there is excellent, but the documentation job is less than 1/3rd done.
Having done software development and application planning myself, I would never have dreamt of releasing software without user-friendly documentation.

[Warhen]

Hi gents, I always reserve my commercial posts for the Tutorials section of the forum, but with Juan's permission, I'll make an exception here. I think you'll find some of the most comprehensive tutorials at www.ip4ap.com. In fact, Rogelio, Pete and I have given away the first 5 Primer chapters absolutely free http://www.ip4ap.com/pixinsight_part1.htm. Please enjoy!

[jkmorse]

Jegsav,

I have put together a cribsheet that I share with others as I update it.  Here is a sample, though due to space limitations I have to leave out a bunch of stuff from the original.  If you are interested in the latest full Word version, just drop me a line at jkmorse57@gmail.com.

Best,

Jim

[MortenBalling]

@Jim

Excellent! Thanks for sharing 

@Jegsav

It's a process we all go through. Honestly it's a pain, and it's often debated. On the other hand, I have to admit, that getting my telescope to work, with ascom drivers, autoguiding, strange "angles" on the mount etc. was a bit of a challenge as well, and that was part of what inspired me to keep going. Also remember that to keep PI affordable to amateurs, and a much smaller customer base than Excel and Word, there has to be a few compromises here and there. So, forget about rocket science! This is the real deal

[jegsav]

jkmorse (Jim) Thanks for your crib-sheet. I have downloaded the version you posted. Looks very good and helpful. No doubt I will contact you for the latest version soon, when I have digested what I have now.

Warhen, Actually, I did purchase your excellent DVD some time ago and am slowly working through it. I see you collaborate with Pixinsight; can't they ask you to help fill the documentation void?

Yes, the tutorials are great, but, at the risk of becoming tiresome, I would reiterate my plea for proper documentation.
Perhaps, especially where documentation is missing, there could be links to the relevant online (or other) tutorials.

I see there is no official bug reporting or enhancement request facility - I guess this forum is it?

[jerryyyyy]

Hi, just to chime in hear as a new learner too, I think the basic problem is that this is professional software used by us amateurs.  So we are aspiring to a higher level of processing, which is god-awful complex.  So my approach, like with many programming problems, is to have a good general algorithm, like Jim's and when that works, add complexity. 

Also, the basic approach will vary depending on the type of image, so in fact, there are basic approaches for type of data collected (LRGB versus narrow-band) and multiply that by type of object (nebula vs galaxy etc.).  So, when you get a basic approach that works on a galaxy in LRGB, that does not mean it will work on a narrow-band nebula. 

Good luck. 

Oh, I use Jim's general algorithm, with numbers... in pixel icons down the right side of my main window.  This makes it so you do not have to rediscover the standard settings for each procedure every time you do a new image.  I save the icon set.  I have my latest enclosed... if it looks complex... sorry... but there are many variants included.