Deep Sky Stacking Programs For Mac
Light frames may now have alpha channels. This is important for users of RAW converters that always include an alpha channel even if there is no mask. (For example, ON1 and Photos alway include an alpha channel). It is strongly preferred to use tiff files without alpha as the files are 33% smaller and more than 33% faster to read.
Linux Deep Sky Imager v.0.1.1 This project is intended to develop a suite of tools that enable use of the Meade Deep Sky Imager in This project is intended to develop a suite of tools that enable use of the Meade Deep Sky Imager in LINUX. Deep Sky Stacking Programs for Digital SLR Cameras Last Updated: 23rd October 2015 A common approach to astrophotography has become the use of Digital SLR cameras (DSLR).
There is a new restriction—if all of your images have an alpha channel and you want to supply a mask that marks the whole image as sky, that mask file must be a monochrome bit map. Fixed some problems with handling of the boundary between sky and ground.
Image quality in this area is much better. Fixed some errors with computing and reporting required temporary file space. Fixed a problem dealing with incomplete EXIF data from some older cameras. 1.6.1 May 10, 2018.
If you have an image where you like the way the stars are lined up with things on the ground you can select this image to be the one that the others are aligned with. Four different compositions are computed and can be saved. This makes it easier to include satellites and meteors in a final image created with an image editing tool. There is a check box at the bottom of the open panel to force classification table to be displayed. In the classification table, clicking on a column heading now changes the classification of each image that can be change to that classification. Improved efficiency of memory usage-typically more than a 50% reduction in peak memory usage. Performance improvements-typically more than 2x faster alignment than SLS 1.4.5. Huge improvement in redraw performance resulting in much faster scrolling, zooming, painting, erasing and adjustment of viewing parameters. The alignment algorithm is much more tolerant of widely varying sensor and lens characteristics.
Other minor improvements and bug fixes. 1.4.5 Sep 27, 2017. The automatically generated file name for the image with the mask has been changed to.-mask. I made this changed because sometimes you will generate a file with the stars in the sky aligned and another file with the stars in the reflections aligned. The old naming made it difficult to name the image files and the mask files unambiguously. Starry Landscape Stacker will now refuse to align images where the elapsed time is greater than 20 minutes as attempting to align these images requires huge amounts of memory and usually exceeds system resources.
Alignment is now faster when there are more than 5 light frames and there are regions of sky that are difficult to align due to fog, clouds, etc. Peak memory usage during alignment has been reduced at least 20%. In some cases, such as images that are difficult to align or taken over a long period of time, the reduction can exceed 50%.
(Processing 14 images of 50Mpixel each that are easily aligned now uses a maximum of 14.3 Gbytes. Processing the same files with version 1.4.4 requires over 21 Gbytes). More detail is provided in the progress reporting during alignment.
1.4.4 Sep 11, 2017. Added compensation for the color shift with dark frame subtraction when using cameras with a strong color cast to the dark frames.
Improved image classification when there are strong bursts of light in some light frames such as a car driving through the scene illuminating trees. Improved image alignment in cases of low contrast or small areas of sky (e.g., gaps through trees or bridges).
This improvement comes at the cost of increased time to align images with low contrast (e.g., fog, haze or very bright sky) or few stars (less than 100 visible). In extreme cases the time to align the images can increase by a factors of as much as 5. This cost is likely worth it as it can make the difference between an unusable image and a usable image.
In the typical case there is no change in run time. 1.4.2 Jul 7, 2017. Improvements to the classification of light and dark frames based on feedback and samples from users.
Changed the size of the table used to view/correct the classification of images so that it was not exactly 6 rows tall. Because it was exactly 6 rows tall, it was easy for the user to not know that there was a 7th (or 8th.) row to check or correct. The 'Make' tag has been removed from the EXIF information to try to work around a bug in Affinity Photo. The information from the 'Make' tag is embedded in the 'Description' tag that is added by SLS. Fixed a problem where it was possible to cause a crash by failing to load any images.
Changes to some error and warning messages to try and improve clarity. Other bug fixes. 1.4.0 Mar 27, 2017.
Added ability to make and use master flat-field frames. Better classification of light, dark and flat-field frames with fall back to manual classification. Better handling of pre-made masks, in particular a file saved from Starry Landscape Stacker with a mask can be used as a mask in a later invocation of Starry Landscape Stacker. More accurate alignment in a range of difficult cases. Faster alignment in general but particularly noticeable when when the time between images or total time between first and last image is large. Reduced memory usage during alignment.
More thorough checking of input files for consistency and correctness. Better progress indication. 1.3.1 Jan 19, 2017. Added a popup menu that appears at the 'Adjust Stars' stage that allows the user to select from 4 densities of red dots, from 'Many dots' to 'No dots'.
The red dots represent automatically detected stars. By choosing the best dot density the time spent hand-editing the red dots or the sky mask can be significantly reduced. Changed controls for brush sizes to make it easier to control small brush sizes without using the ' and ' keys. This is particularly useful for users who do not have ' and ' keys on their keyboard. Fixed some issues with consistency of brush size when zooming in and out. Fixed an error that would cause a crash when attempting to align some images that are difficult to align.
Fixed a problem where undo did not behave as expected after clicking on 'Adjust Sky'. 1.3.0 Dec 16, 2016. The output from this version has less noise than previous versions due to improved image processing. Input files may now be a mix of regular images ('light frames' in astrophotography terms), optional dark frames and an optional mask. Dark frames are averaged and then subtracted from the light frames to reduce fixed-pattern noise. The user can supply a mask created with a photo editor (e.g., Photoshop, Affinity Photo) instead of working with Starry Landscape Stacker to create a mask for the sky.
The mask should be non-zero for sky and 0 for ground. Starry Landscape Stacker automatically recognizes light frames, dark frames and masks in the collection of input files. Changed the averaging algorithm used to make the final composite from a simple mean to an algorithm that uses two passes of outlier deletion based on standard deviation from the median followed by median. (Similar to 'sigma-clipping' found in some applications used in astro photography). This change improves image quality and automatically removes airplane tracks, satellites and meteors. If the number of images supplied is 3 or less, an arithmetic mean is used as the new algorithm needs at least 4 images to work and works best with 10 or more images. If you want to leave in meteors (or airplanes) Starry Landscape Stacker has never been an appropriate tool.
Changed the algorithm used to generate the initial composite that is presented during drawing of the red dots and generation of the mask. It used to be simple mean of all input images. Now it is max of all the images. This makes stars brighter and more obvious. The stars that must be included in the mask are now short, bright, 'dotted' lines.
This makes it easier to distinguish lights on the ground or towers which with be single points, from stars which will be small arcs. The workflow button “Re-Find Stars' has been changed to 'Adjust Stars'. This allows the previously found set of red dots to be edited. Much faster and more useful than the previous behavior. If you want to start over from scratch, use the file-open (command-O) command and reload the files. The workflow button “Re-Find Sky' has been changed to 'Adjust Sky'. This allows the current sky mask to be edited.
To delete the current sky mask and create a new mask select 'Adjust Stars' and then 'Find Sky'. Improved alignment quality and speed in difficult cases such as narrow strips of sky or lots of clouds. The placement of red dots is more aggressive.
The red dots are placed where stars are found and are used during creation of the sky mask to indicate roughly where the sky is. By placing more red dots the sky mask should more accurately follow horizons with a complex shape. Fixed problem with brightness and contrast sliders getting out of sync with the values used to generate the display. Made window title dynamic with more information when opening files. (Really minor change that most users will not notice.) - Modified the metadata written into the output TIFF files to try get around a bug in Affinity Photo. 1.2.1 Sep 14, 2016. This release is mostly about improvements in the quality of results.
There are minimal changes to the user interface and operation of the program. User interface changes: - The default file name offered by the save dialog is now based on the first source file name when sorted in alpha-numeric ascending sort. This makes it easier to keep track of composited files when working with several images in one directory, it also is convenient when importing the composite images back into Lightroom or Aperture. The first redraw after toggling the zoom level shows a low-resolution proxy of the image, without overlay.
This makes display update more responsive. During scrolling and window resizing a low-resolution proxy of the image, without overlay, is shown. This makes display update more responsive. It is no longer possible to scroll while painting. It used to be possible to accidentally scroll while painting with some mice, making it difficult to paint at times.
Scrolling with spacebar and mouse no longer has inertia. If the images being processed were taken over a period of more than 10 minutes, the user is warned that the quality of the result might not be good and the time to generate the result might be long. The user is given the option to continue or quit.
If Starry Landscape Stacker cannot retrieve the image capture time (found in the Exif data) from the images, it will issue a warning. Results alignment is faster and better when the image capture times are available.
Improvements to image processing: - The star finding process does a better job of finding stars that are good hints about what is sky for the sky finding process. The process that generates the initial mask for the sky is better at distinguishing sky from ground. The alignment process is much better at aligning stars when conditions are difficult such as bright sky, few stars visible in sky, thin clouds, very noisy images, sensor noise or errors that are consistent from shot to shot. The speed of the alignment process is affected by image quality. The alignment process now does a very good job on difficult images, but at the cost of additional processing time.
Images that are easier to align are processed much more quickly than images that are difficult to align. The alignment process is much better at aligning stars in images that are taken over a longer period of time. This comes at the cost of increased processing time, but only when the images were taken over a long period of time. The alignment process is now faster for images taken over a short period of time.
Performance improvements: - Initial finding of stars is faster on multi-core systems. Sky finding is faster on multi-core systems. Painting red dots (stars or hints to the sky finder) and painting the sky mask are faster and more responsive. The alignment process uses less memory-for 14 images of 50M pixels each on a system with 8 virtual cores the reduction in memory usage is between 20 and 25%. Processing more images or using a system with less processor cores will result in a greater reduction in memory usage compared to version 1.1.2.
Deep Sky Stacking Software Mac
This will likely result in a performance improvement on systems with less available memory. Display update is faster during scrolling and window resizing.
A low-resolution proxy image is displayed without the overlay during these operations to improve the display update rate. Bug fixes: - Fixed a problem where changing the current image while zoomed in resulted in a confusing display. Fixed an error that may have caused a crash on rare occasions just after starting the alignment process. Fixed an error where a crash would sometimes occur when aligning images of certain sizes (the Nikon D810A can generate images of a size that would cause a crash). Fixed an error where attempting to align images that are very difficult to align (e.g., very few stars or fully black) could cause a crash.
1.1.1 Oct 1, 2015. The maximum brush size is now much larger. When zooming in to view actual pixels, if the brush size is really big, it is automatically reduced so that it is visible (it can be so large that it is drawn outside the bounds of the window and possibly the screen, making it hard to see). Erasing stars is now done with an explicit eraser brush. The size of the brush can be changed with a slider or and keys just like brushes in sky mode. Some concurrency issues that came up in Yosemite (OS X 10.10) have been fixed.
The display indicating which images is being displayed has been changed to a drop down menu, allowing faster navigation. Progress feedback when loading images and finding stars has been improved. Tracking of cursors when painting has been improved-the cursor is much less likely to disappear when painting or erasing close to the edge of the window. Some minor inconsistencies in the user interface with respect to painting sky vs.
Ground have been fixed. The color of the cursors for painting and erasing have been changed to try to make them more visible. The cursor for the sky is a brighter blue. Neat desk for mac. The cursor for the ground is green instead of grey.
Large brush cursors now have a dot in the center instead of just an outline. 1.0.6 Apr 25, 2014.
Deep Sky Stacker Software For Mac
Pnplibi Very happy I have used this only 2 times and it works flawlessly. My first attempt was with the Milky Way and mountains in the foreground. My second usage was with the Orion Nebula. I had phenomenal success with the Milky Way shot and am struggling with my Orion shot. I am quite sure my struggle with Orion is the pictures I’m dealing with, not this software. The difference in dark areas between a raw shot and using this software to combine 10 images is amazing.
Snow fields are quite grainy in the individual shots, smooth as silk in the final output. Does exactly what I wanted it to do. Pnplibi Very happy I have used this only 2 times and it works flawlessly. My first attempt was with the Milky Way and mountains in the foreground. My second usage was with the Orion Nebula.
I had phenomenal success with the Milky Way shot and am struggling with my Orion shot. I am quite sure my struggle with Orion is the pictures I’m dealing with, not this software. The difference in dark areas between a raw shot and using this software to combine 10 images is amazing. Snow fields are quite grainy in the individual shots, smooth as silk in the final output. Does exactly what I wanted it to do.
DeepSkyStacker is for astrophotography that simplifies all the pre-processing steps of deep sky pictures and is specialized in dealing with RAW files from DSLRs. Main features: automatic registration of a set of light frames, sub pixel registration, automatic derogation, automatic creation and use of offsets, flats and darks frames, sub pixel alignment and stacking. Supported bitmaps formats RAW files from DSLRs, 8, 16, and 32 bit color and monochrome TIFF files, 8, 16, 32, and 64 bit color and monochrome FITS files.
Stacking method average, median, kappa-sigma clipping, auto adaptive weighted average, entropy weighted average. Full Specifications What's new in version 3.3.2 Version 3.3.2 has fixed the No Alignment option was looking for stars and was failing when less than eight stars were detected, now it does need stars to work. General Publisher Publisher web site Release Date October 09, 2012 Date Added October 09, 2012 Version 3.3.2 Category Category Subcategory Operating Systems Operating Systems Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7 Additional Requirements None Download Information File Size 10.26MB File Name DeepSkyStacker.zip Popularity Total Downloads 8,701 Downloads Last Week 11 Pricing License Model Free Limitations Not available Price Free.