Paulo,
For #2, I don't know of anyway to save the STF setting so the image always opens with it and really don't see a reason for it. You may be using it differently than I do but I only use two functions with STF. The first is the automatic "A" button and if it is a rgb combined color image then I will most likely use the "RGB" button at the top to either see the current rgb color balance or hit it again to have a more balanced RGB rendering. Often times my color balance is way off and just hitting the "RGB" key shows the image with a strong color bias. See "RGB-on" and "RGB-off" for an example of this. Hitting the RGB button again, resetting the STF settings, and then hitting the automatic button again "A" gives me a more color balanced image, but only on screen display. It hasn't changed anything but the screen display and is not a permanent change to the data. If I close the image and re-open it would be back to it's native state and I would have to re-do the steps taken to get that display back again. This can't be saved to my knowledge because every image would be different.
As for #3, I haven't used this feature so you'll need input or try and see what happens. To my knowledge, it is similar to the PSD feature in Photoshop where you are saving the image with all layers, masks, and so on. This would allow you to go back in time and pick any point in your processing and change processing directions. A search for this on PI Forum would be suggested. Juan has a great description. Here is the post from Juan back in April of 2011:
"Hi All,
The upcoming version 1.7 of PixInsight introduces the new project functionality. This is a long awaited feature most PixInsight users have been requesting during the last months (years?), and the plans are for exceeding all expectations
Projects are running extremely well in the current development version of PixInsight 1.7. We have extensively tested them and, except perhaps a few last-hour refinements, they are 100% functional now. You can (should!) watch a movie we have just uploaded to PixInsight Studios:
http://www.youtube.com/user/PixInsightAlso directly at YouTube by following this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U8jw3ZjcywA PixInsight project is a special file in XOSM format (XML Object Serialization Module) along with an associated folder where all image data (main views, previews and all existing states) are stored. PixInsight projects are completely self-contained, position-independent structures. You can move a project (that is, a .xosm file and its associated .data folder) to any location and even copy it to removable media or share it with other users.
A project can include, among other objects:
- The states of all workspaces.
- Images and previews, with full preservation of processing histories and their associated states.
- Icons, including process icons and ImageContainer icons.
- Screen transfer functions for all stored images.
- Masking relations, including image masks and masks related to stored processing histories.
- The states of all process interfaces, including their instances and GUI states (positions, sizes, shaded positions, etc.).
- All text documents from the Script Editor window.
- Project metadata: Date and time of creation (UTC), author and a description with optional HTML contents. Project generation features are also stored.
- A filetime-based object versioning system (similar to the make utility) that prevents accidental replacements of newer versions of existing image and text files.
What a project does not change:
- The current user preferences. Projects don't store preferences, readout options, toolbar states and other user-defined elements of the PixInsight platform.
- The current color management settings. These are not stored nor changed by projects as color management is hardware-dependent and hence installation-dependent.
- Existing workspaces are reused as possible and new ones are created if necessary, but workspaces are never destroyed when a project is loaded.
Enjoy! (and have a bit of patience... )"
#5, when you do a HST stretch you are changing the data and if you save the result and open that image again it should be as you had before closing the image. This is a permanent change but you can use the undo button if you find you've gone too far. I suggest using the live preview option for all tools that offer it.
#6, I think you are missing the way STF works. Each image will have a different amount of noise and signal. STF bases the display on the level of data in each image and no two are the same. Some will have more and others less so the levels would be different for each. At least this is my understanding of the tool. If you look at the mean background level of your images you will see that the values are different for each image. Some may be close but seldom very close as the sky conditions are always changing unless you are extremely fortunate. A good way to see this would be to open a series of images and use the STF tool on one and then use one of the choices of "Image | Screen Transfer Functions" and then either the next to last or last choice for the remaining images. Doing so would stretch them all the same as the first image and then you should clearly see the difference between each image. Some will be lighter or darker then the first. At least this is my experience. This will be especially true if you are shooting through color filters with a mono camera as each filter allows a different amount of light through based on it band pass range.
Keep in mind I'm no expert with PI and I use dedicated CCD mono cameras (STL-11000M and ST-10XME) with filter wheels. Harry's videos are a great resource and one I've used many times when I was getting started with PI. It is clearly my choice of software for image processing and well worth the time and effort to learn. It won't be long before you're helping a beginner. I just replaced my old laptop computer and the new laptop was chosen on it ability to process my images using PI. That's how much I enjoy and use this program.
-Steve
