PixInsight 1.8.8 Released

[Juan Conejero]

Nice features in this release! Thanks!

I get an error using the new real time preview window. To reproduce this, open an image, open MLT, click the real time preview button, then after the preview appears close the RTP window, then close MLT, then close the image and I get the error. No need to do anything with MLT.

This is a small bug that I am fixing right now. The warning message is exaggerated in this case; just ignore it. I'll release an update with this bug fixed ASAP. Sorry for the trouble.

[mschuster]

Juan, thank you for ESD. I tried it on a couple of my projects (darks, flats, and lights). It is working really well. I am thinking now that I no longer have to spend time tweaking rejection thresholds, as ESD appears to get things right automatically.

Here is an example on a 33 frame, 40 minute Ha exposure set. ESD gets very close to my trial and error optimized thresholds, a bit less aggressive which IMO is a good thing actually (ie SNR++). A couple star core differences stand out, but on investigation this is a non-issue for me.

My optimized Sigma Clipping:



ESD with default parameters:

[Juan Conejero]

Nice features in this release! Thanks!

I get an error using the new real time preview window. To reproduce this, open an image, open MLT, click the real time preview button, then after the preview appears close the RTP window, then close MLT, then close the image and I get the error. No need to do anything with MLT.

Just a note to say that I have fixed this bug today (not an easy one). It was a small memory deallocation error with a tiny memory leak of 32 bytes per image. I'll release an update to the core application tomorrow for all platforms. Thank you for your patience.

[Juan Conejero]

Hi Mike,

Juan, thank you for ESD. I tried it on a couple of my projects (darks, flats, and lights). It is working really well. I am thinking now that I no longer have to spend time tweaking rejection thresholds, as ESD appears to get things right automatically.

Thank you! That's a very nice example, and I am glad to know it is working so well for you.

ESD rejection is quite different from the rest of rejection algorithms in several important aspects. One of them is the fact that it does not apply fixed rejection thresholds, as sigma clipping and its variants do. ESD applies different thresholds adaptively (known as critical values) as a function of the sample size, as new outliers are being detected and removed from the sample. Another important difference is the use of a Student's t distribution, instead of a normal distribution, which is also adapted to the sample size through the distribution's degrees of freedom parameter. I plan on implementing a Studentized variant of the linear fit clipping algorithm, which I hope will work better than the current one. We have a lot of experimentation work ahead here.

[photonhunter1]

Juan,
Thank you and congratulations on the release of 1.8.8. The updates and new features are what make PI the absolute best astro-processing software available - period. Of course I know I'm preaching to the choir here...

Short term, I'm looking forward to using ESD and the new R-T P functionality.

Mike

[Alfredo Beltran]

I agree. Pixinsight is by default THE BEST software for Astro imaging. Thank you very much to Juan and all of the development team for the effort of improving it constantly.

Best regards,

Alfredo

[sloz1664]

Congratulations on such a great update on what is, without doubt, the finest astro processing software currently available. I am astounded on how fast the software now loads on my Dell precision laptop.

Steve

[llpastro]

I can't find ESD in 1.8.8.  Has it not yet been released to the general user?
Larry

[bulrichl]

ESD is a new Rejection algorithm, you'll find it in ImageIntegration/Pixel Rejection (1), see appended JPG.

Bernd

[jeffweiss9]

Juan-
What happened to print?  I just noticed after updating to 1.8.8, that there was no print option in the file menu.  Checking, 1.8.7 didn't have it either.  Is it no longer possible to print from PI?
Tnx.
Jeff

[mmirot]

Mure denoise has lost the ability to automatically load the number of images and the variance scale from the integration.

Can we get a up date to preprocessing scrpit to include ESD ? Perhaps large scale rejection functions too.

Thanks

Max

[bulrichl]

See https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=14196.0 .

Bernd

[dave_galera]

Juan-
What happened to print?  I just noticed after updating to 1.8.8, that there was no print option in the file menu.  Checking, 1.8.7 didn't have it either.  Is it no longer possible to print from PI?
Tnx.
Jeff

Jeff, It is still there and there was a post explaining how to get at it some time ago, looked back thru' old posts but can't find it, sry.
Maybe someone else can remember?

[mschuster]

Mure denoise has lost the ability to automatically load the number of images and the variance scale from the integration.
Max

See https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=14196.0 .
Bernd

A fix is ready, it should appear soon as an auto update. Load variance scale now loads from metadata only, the old process log file loading feature is no longer available. (Please PM me if this is an issue with you, I can help.)

This release has a couple other changes, I will say more about them later.

[Warhen]

The command to turn print on is in my book Inside PixInsight. Can’t wait to debut ESD for AIC!