Mure denoise, TIFF, and STF

[eganz]

Juan,

I suggest:

Incorporate Mure denoise as a normal process. This would speed the use of this very important process. More people should use this in the linear stage of processing.

Add a button or hotkey to the screen transfer function window to enable stretching. Currently one needs to drag the process to the histogram transformation tool etc., and this is a function that one does repeatedly. One button on STF could improve efficiency at this point, there should be no need to involve the histogram tool at all.

Increase the range of values for the global scaling parameter to allow a larger range of Windows 10 scaling parameters on 4K screens.

Improve the ability to output files into tiff format. Currently the defaults are all incorrect for most people, and must be reset every single time you output a file. Instead, either make the default 16 bit integer, and zip, or allow the user to change the default settings. In any case the program should remember the settings that the user is using. This does not need to take so many steps.

thanks,

Eric

[Juan Conejero]

Add a button or hotkey to the screen transfer function window to enable stretching. Currently one needs to drag the process to the histogram transformation tool etc., and this is a function that one does repeatedly. One button on STF could improve efficiency at this point, there should be no need to involve the histogram tool at all.

This is contrary to several design principles of PixInsight. STF is not intended as a histogram transformation to be applied to images for production purposes on a regular basis. It is just a screen visualization feature whose purpose is to reveal the true contents of the image. It is actually a diagnostics and analysis tool, not an image processing tool.

Increase the range of values for the global scaling parameter to allow a larger range of Windows 10 scaling parameters on 4K screens.

The UI scaling factor is the ratio of physical screen pixels to logical pixels. A UI scaling factor smaller than one does not make sense, simply because a physical pixel is atomic. In other words, we cannot represent a logical pixel with less than one physical pixel on any platform. The UI scaling factor has a physical meaning; it is not an arbitrary multiplying factor applied to enlarge or reduce the UI as desired, as your request suggests.

In PixInsight, a UI scaling factor of one corresponds to 109 dpi, which is the pixel density of a 27 inch monitor working at QHD resolution (2560x1440). This setting was chosen as the most representative resolution for PixInsight working on a normal density monitor, on a typical desktop workstation for production purposes. To accommodate higher screen densities, one needs to increase the UI scaling factor, not to decrease it. I don't understand why you need a UI scaling factor less than 1 on a 4K monitor. For example, on a 27" 4K monitor, the nominal UI scaling factor is 1.5. On Apple Retina displays, the UI scaling factor is always 2.0, irrespective of the screen resolution, since this is the ratio of physical to logical pixels imposed by OS X on Retina displays by design. On X11 and Windows platforms, there is no fixed physical-to-logical pixel ratio for applications.

Improve the ability to output files into tiff format. Currently the defaults are all incorrect for most people, and must be reset every single time you output a file. Instead, either make the default 16 bit integer, and zip, or allow the user to change the default settings. In any case the program should remember the settings that the user is using. This does not need to take so many steps.

Open the Format Explorer window. Double click the TIFF item on the left column. Set the desired parameters and click OK. From now on these will be the default settings when you save a TIFF file.

Please note that the pixel sample format (for example, 16-bit integer or 32-bit floating point) depends on the image. For this reason, there are no default pixel sample format settings for any file format.

[eganz]

Juan,

Thank you for the quick reply.

It looks like I've developed some bad habits regarding STF for stretching, but in my defense I got this method from Harry's Astro videos, and often works well.
The root of the problem is that on my machine the histogram box has many bugs and problems drawing, and so is actually quite difficult to use in the proper standard method. I need to constantly go to the top of the box and move it to get it to redraw the images properly. For this reason, having the quick and easy STF method available solves a problem that I'm having. Certainly for more important or challenging images I will try to use the official methods.

regarding the image scale issue, this also relates to the problems that pix insight and counters on my 24 inch 4K screen and Windows 10. For whatever reasons, at my standard scaling factor of 350%, the image window is much too large and does not fit, leading to many memory errors as we have discussed previously. So in this case, either the bugs need to be fixed, or I have a need for smaller image scales.

thank you for the tips about the TIFF files. This solves two of the three problems, although I still think that it would be desirable to have the option to output 16-bit TIFF files by default (even though I am operating with 32-bit float .XISF files and data) so that most other outside programs can read them. This 16-bit format is necessary for Windows to recognize the file, for lightroom to read the file, or for uploading to the web. This could be a simple option added to the global settings, and I think would be helpful for others as well.

Actually, what would be ideal would be to "export" instead of "save as" for TIFF, JPEG etc. images. After all, usually I do not want to operate on this file/data as a TIFF, I just want to export the image to the outside world. Ideally, a hot key would be assigned to do the export with minimal intervention.

Eric

[mschuster]

Eric,

Sometimes I do apply an STF, and usually follow up with a CurvesTransformation (Ha astro), or nothing (non-astro assets for export).

Here is a script that does this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/109232477/PixInsight/ApplySTF/ApplySTF.1.2.zip



Choose a view, click Apply, the script will apply the appropriate histogram transformation. You can undo if you wish (but note after undo the original STF is lost and you will need to reapply it).

To install: Scripts > Feature Scripts... > Add, choose the folder containing the unzipped script, Done. It will appear in the Utilities section.

Regards,
Mike

PS: I have considered a MureDenoise normal process, it would speed things up, but lack of time and worry about long term multi-platform C++ maintenance needed.

[Juan Conejero]

... worry about long term multi-platform C++ maintenance

This will change once we have an integrated C++ compiler in PixInsight. Hopefully next Winter.