Ending DBE

[robhawleyastro]

This is a newbie question, but how do you close DBE processing?  After I have set up the samples and execute I wind up with a new window with DBE applied and the old window with the samples still showing.  If I try to close the old window I get an error that DBE is still active.

The video example of DBE just minimizes the process icon and continues.  That is pretty much what I have done to date, but I would like to know the proper way to complete the processing.

[Simon Hicks]

Just click the X in the top right hand corner of the DBE process window.

[Carlos Milovic]

Cancel the active session of DBE. Dynamic processes when are active create a link with the current image, You can see that the link has been stablished at the tool bar, where the "Dynamic Operation Mode" has been owned by DBE (or any other dynamic process).

To cancel the instance, close the process window with the top right X (a dialogue will ask you if you want to cancel it), or just click on the red X at the bottom.

[robhawleyastro]

OK I was having trouble getting my head around using "cancel" which usually means "don't do this" as a means of ending the function.

[Niall Saunders]

Hi Rob,

I am sure that Juan explains this in a more 'correct' way but, basically, in PixInsight you have 'Images' and you have 'Processes'. An image need not have any process applied to it, and a process need not be associated with any image (unlike the scenario in PhotoShop, for example).

In other words, you can define, or set-up the parameters of, a Process without that Process actually being 'tied' to an image (with an exception, see later). You can also save a copy of that 'Process Definition' as a 'Process Icon' - either on your Workspace, or actually onto your PC hard-drive, etc. All without ever actually having 'used' the Process itself. More importantly, if you HAVE used the Process, then you can save (temporarily, or permanently) a copy of 'how' the Process was configured, for later use (perhaps even on a different image). Again, very different to the likes of PS.

But, back to the 'exception' - and this concerns those processes considered to be 'Dynamic' - such as DBE. Here, the process, alone, is somewhat 'meaningless', because any parameters that need to be defined are usually 'dynamically linked' to an image - and also they must usually confine their 'link' to one image, and one image only, whilst they remain 'active'.

Take the simplest example of such a Process - Dynamic Crop. You can't really consider setting a crop area without prior knowledge of the image you actually want to crop in the first place. Well, you could, but that would be a 'static crop', rather than a 'dynamic crop'. The Dynamic Crop process acually allows you to set the process parameters 'in real time' by 'interacting' with a chosen image, Once you have pushed and prodded the cropping margins to your satisfaction, only then do you 'apply' the DC to the image. Of course, you CAN still 'save' the Process Icon for that application - and can therefore re-apply exactly the 'same' crop to any other image (assuming that the cropping area was 'meaningful' when associated with a different image!!). However, this subsequent re-application is now really a 'static crop', as you are no longer 'interacting' with the process.

Finally, the 'dynamic link' remains active between that process and the target image, unless YOU 'break' the link by closing down the currently active dynamic process. Moreover, PI will only support a single active dynamically-linked process at any one time. In other words, if you want to change from Dynamic Crop to Dynamic Background Extraction, you MUST close down DC first.

Unfortunately, this is one of those instances that takes far too many 'words' to explain, but about five minutes to 'understand' once you take the time to 'figure it all out'.

Hope this helps.