Hi all,
A new version of PixInsight has been just released and is now available to all users: 1.8.4.1170 for Linux and Windows.
Version 1.8.4 is a big step toward a revamped PixInsight platform, which will be released next Fall with new image processing tools, new software development tools, and important improvements to the graphical interface. We encourage you to update your installations as soon as possible.
No OS X and FreeBSD Versions - For NowUnfortunately, building working 1.8.4 versions for OS X and FreeBSD has been impossible for this release. They will be available in September. In the case of OS X, a number of bugs in the current versions of the Qt5 platform have made impossible to complete the necessary adaptation of our code. We have tried very hard, but right now version 1.8.4 for OS X is not production-stable, so we won't release it. As for the FreeBSD version, the problem has been also Qt5 and lack of time because some components are difficult to build on this operating system.
As we have said, we plan on releasing OS X and FreeBSD 1.8.4 versions in September, once we complete the necessary adaptation and testing work. Sorry for the inconvenience, and please be patient!
How to Install the ReleaseThis version is not available through the update system. You have to download the appropriate installation package(s) for your platform(s) from our Software Distribution system:
https://pixinsight.com/dist/Linux: Uncompress the .tar.gz archive on a directory under your home directory, then run the installer program as root from a terminal. Answer "yes" to the confirmation question and you're done. The old version (if any) will be removed, and version 1.8.4 will be installed on the /opt system directory by default, as usual. Graphical shortcuts will be created automatically on most X11 desktop environments, including GNOME, KDE, Xfce and LXDE.
Windows: Uninstall the current version if you have it installed (this is absolutely necessary!), then run the new installation package, and follow the instructions. Once installed, you'll have a new entry on your Start > All Programs menu (or equivalent item on Windows 8), namely PixInsight Platform, where you'll find an option to launch the PixInsight Core application.
See also FAQ Section 3 for important information about installations and updates:
http://pixinsight.com/faq/index.html#3_InstallationNew FeaturesAlong with hundreds of bug fixes and stability improvements, PixInsight 1.8.4 introduces important new features. This is a partial list with the most relevant ones:
- Support for high-dpi screen resolutions. PixInsight 1.8.4 is able to work at native resolutions up to at least 10240×5760. This includes Retina monitors, 4K (3840×2160), 5K (5120×2880) and 8K (7680×4320) monitors. The application is able to detect the current monitor density automatically in most cases on Windows, OS X (when released) and X11 (with the latest versions of GNOME and KDE). In the cases where automatic monitor density detection does not work (or does not give the wanted results), the Preferences tool provides suitable options to define interface scaling factors and font resolutions manually in a flexible way.
- Universal user interface. Starting with version 1.8.4, the graphical user interface of PixInsight is identical on all supported platforms. The same interface style sheet, fonts and icons work now identically on FreeBSD, Linux, OS X, and Windows. There are only two exceptions, namely: (1) the possibility to use a native menu bar on OS X (enabled by default) and (2) the possibility to render workspace window buttons to the left sides of window title bars. Besides this, dialog frames are different because they are generated by the underlying windowing system, and hence are out of our control (although this will change in version 1.8.5).
- Migration of the whole PixInsight platform to Qt 5 (specifically, Qt version 5.5.0 in this release; version 1.8.3 used Qt 4.8.6). This provides compatibility with Windows 10, OS X 10.10 and future versions.
- New color management system. PixInsight 1.8.4 has a completely rewritten color management system, faster, more accurate and more flexible. The system monitor profile is detected automatically on OS X and Windows by default, as before, but now it can be changed manually with the ColorManagementSetup tool (note that this option has always been available on Linux and FreeBSD).
- Real-time swap file compression. Swap files (which, in case you don't know, are temporary working files generated under the hood to support undo/redo operations) can now be compressed/decompressed in real time with the LZ4 compression algorithm. This option, which is disabled by default, is available on the Directories and Network section of Preferences. Swap file compression can save significant disk space at the expense of some computation time. For moderately sized images on fast machines, the impact on I/O throughoutput is normally negligible, especially when parallel swap storage is being used (that is, several swap storage directories).
- Project compression. Data blocks stored in projects are now compressed by default using the Zlib/deflate lossless algorithm. The LZ4 and LZ4HC lossless algorithms are also available for faster compression, at the price of smaller compression ratios. Project compression can be spectacular in terms of disk space savings. Typical size reductions are between a 40% and a 75%, depending on project contents. For example, most masks can be compressed to just a 10%-20% of their original sizes.
- Resolution-independent projects. Starting with version 1.8.4, projects also support high-dpi screen resolutions. This is achieved by storing all coordinates and dimensions in a resolution-independent coordinate system. This means that you can save a project working with a 4K monitor, for example, and open it later on a standard monitor without major problems. Without this feature, sharing projects between high-dpi and low-dpi platforms would be very problematic.
- Improved project robustness. The new version 1.1 of the XOSM format is even more fault-tolerant than before.
- Improved icon description management. Instance descriptions are now edited with ScriptEditor instances, including specific syntax highlighting and advanced editor features.
- Improved XISF format. The XISF support module implements now many advanced features available in the XISF Specification Draft 7 document (still unpublished). This includes high-performance lossless data compression using the Zlib/deflate, LZ4 and LZ4HC codecs with byte shuffling, block checksums for improved data integrity control, storage of display functions (aka screen transfer functions), storage of RGB working spaces, and generation of image thumbnails.
- Extensive use of the XISF format. The XISF format is now used by default by all tools and scripts working with disk image files, providing a more consistent user experience and all the advanced features and benefits of XISF over legacy formats.
- Integration of the latest
dcraw version 9.26 (revision 1.476, released 2015 May 25) by David Coffin.
- Integration of the
LittleCMS color management engine version 2.7.
- Updated ImageSolver, MosaicByCoordinates, AperturePhotometry and AnnotateImage scripts by Andrés del Pozo, with high-accuracy plate solving based on surface splines and distortion correction.
- New software development tools. The
PixInsight Class Library (PCL) has been rewritten almost entirely with many new classes, much more features, more efficient implementations, and a substantial support of C++11 features. New features include support for resolution-independent resources and high-dpi screen resolutions for interface definitions and interactive GUI code.
- Redesigned
GitHub PixInsight repositories with the whole
PCL C++ source code, more
modules released as open-source products, more
JavaScript scripts, and a new
Reference-Documentation repository with the PIDoc source codes of all existing reference documents.
- Improved JavaScript runtime (PJSR), with new properties, methods and objects to support resolution-independent resources and high-dpi screen resolutions, in a similar way to PCL.
- New ElapsedTime PCL class. ElapsedTime is a platform-independent, monotonically nondecreasing high-resolution time stamp based on hardware time resources that are independent on any external time reference. It allows for high-precision measurement of time intervals (at the nanosecond level) on all supported platforms.
- New ElapsedTime core JavaScript object, with the same functionality as its C++ PCL counterpart.
- New PDF core JavaScript object. PDF is an abstract painting device with the same functionality of SVG or Bitmap. This means that PixInsight scripts can now generate PDF documents, along with SVG graphics and bitmap renditions.
Advance of Next Versions (Fall/Winter 2015)I can anticipate a few new features that we have already implemented, or are working on currently, which will be available in the next versions:
- Property Explorer. This is a specialized browser/editor component for image properties, which will be a useful tool for developers and advanced users. This component is basically finished.
- Project Explorer. A browser/editor component useful to explore, organize and control all the elements in the current project: images, icons, properties, documents, scripts and modules accessible on a centralized interface. This is under design.
- Integrated C++ compiler. This will make it possible to release PCL-based, open-source modules in source code form, which will be deployed with automatic compilation and building on the user's machine. We are still evaluating several options, but with high probability we'll integrate the
clang compiler.
- New tools based on total generalized variation (TGV).
- Improved image calibration tools, including a new, much more efficient dark frame optimization algorithm.
- Improved project generation with XML digital signature support.
- Improved XISF format implementation with more compression codecs, more image properties and XML digital signature support.
- More extensive use of the XISF format. XISF data and image properties will replace FITS keywords by default throughout the whole platform, so that no tool chain will depend necessarily on FITS keywords anymore. Use of FITS header keywords will be optional.
- Official implementations of unofficial tools; for example, revised/improved versions of
Carlos' development modules.
I hope you enjoy this new release. Thank you for your continued support.
