PixInsight 1.6.0 - New Top-Level Windows

Juan Conejero

Juan Conejero

PixInsight Staff
Staff member
Hi all,

The upcoming version 1.6.0 of PixInsight introduces a very important feature: top-level windows. This new feature is going to change (and improve) the way you work with PixInsight more than you may think at first sight. You can see an example below.

TopLevelWindows-tn.jpg


<Click here to enlarge>

A top-level window is not a subwindow of a workspace. However, top-level windows are children of workspaces in the structural/hierarchical sense, which means that each workspace owns its own set of top-level windows. When you select a workspace, only top-level windows pertaining to that workspace are shown on the screen.

In PixInsight 1.6, top-level windows are used for all process interfaces by default. On the screenshot above you see several standard PixInsight tools open as top-level windows. This feature allows you to use PixInsight with multiple monitor configurations much better than previous versions. You can distribute your tools on different monitors to avoid screen clutter and leave more free space available to images on the primary monitor. This obviously makes PixInsight a much more flexible and adaptable environment.

Individual top-level windows can be moved across workspaces, or made visible on all workspaces. Special compositing graphical effects such as window transparencies and shadows (as shown above) are available, along with new and very nice screen animations specific to top-level windows (which I won't disclose until the date of release, of course <g>).

I hope you'll like it. More pre-release information to come, stay tuned!
 
Looking good Juan, you have obviously been 'busy' ^-^

I'd like to make the following suggestion here, rather than on the Wish List, simply because it is tied in so closely with multiple workspace/multiple monitor working.

Is there any chance you could incorporate the saving/loading/merging of PSM icons on an 'as selected' and a 'per Workspace' basis?

In other words, say a user has three PSM icons on Workspace02. These are the ONLY icons that they want to save. They select these icons only, and they save them in the normal fashion. They have not included any of the PSM icons from any of the other Workspaces, and they have only included those three PSM icons in Workspace02, even though others might be present.

When they come to reload these at a later date, they want to be able to decide which workspace the new icons should be loaded into - even if that decision is controlled purely by loading the icons into the currently active workpsace.

And they want to be given the option of either renaming the incoming icons (with the standard PI approach of incrementing suffix digits) or cancelling. In other words, MERGE is the default operation for PSM icons when they are loaded.

Loading and saving of PSM icons should be as intuitive as when working with images - for example, when you decide to load an image, it loads into the workspace that you are currently working in; it doesn't delete every other image already loaded in PI; and when you want to save an image, you don't have to save every image already open in PI.

Any thoughts folks?

Cheers,
 
Thanks Jack and Niall.

What you ask for is already implemented in 1.6:

SaveSelectedProcessIcons.jpg


Asking for features, getting answers!  8)
 
Hi again Juan,

Yep - it looks like we are heading in the right direction - yet again!!

And, as always, I defy anyone to name another piece of leading-edge software that is so finely tuned.

However, do NOT rush this release Juan. By all means drop these pre-release notifications to us via the Forum. Gauge our response, consider our feedback, tweak your interfaces, re-jig your algorithms.

Let's all make 1.6.0 a really special release. Not perfect - it will never be that, nor should it be. But just make it yet another big step forward.

Thanks in advance for all your efforts - on behalf of all of us.

Cheers,
 
No you can't Harry  ::)

Like me, you will be given 'perfect', and will (almost immediately) be posting a message along the lines of

"Fantastic Juan. Thanks. Really, really great, but . . . ."
Click to expand...

Which is OK - because Juan doesn't mind us, not really ::)

Cheers,
 
If CUDA is not in 1.6 yet may be it will be the major thing and theme in 1.7? ;)
Even more, it could be released as add-in for extra cost, I'm ready to pay some extra money for super speed...

Besides that looks like new features are for good.  8)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top