PixInsight
PixInsight: Automatic Background Extraction
Dec 14 08 23:47 Filed in: PixInsight
We all end up with gradients in our images. Sure,
flat-fielding (if you do it well) will take out the
optical issues like vignetting, but skyglow gradients
will still make it such that you’ll often
really want an artificial flat. PixInsight has both
an automatic tool and a manual tool for doing this.
Here, I go over using the automatic one.
PixInsight: Preview Windows
Dec 14 08 23:48 Filed in: PixInsight
The intensive processing done by PixInsight can take
up a lot of CPU time and it’s really nice to be
able to quickly see how things will look on a
representative portion of the image. PixInsight lets
you define any number of Preview images --
portions of your main image -- that you can use for
this. This video shows how to make them.
PixInsight: Screen Transfer Functions
Dec 14 08 23:49 Filed in: PixInsight
Your screen has only 8 bits of intensity resolution
and your astro-images probably have 16. That’s
256 shades of intensity vs. 65536. Before actually
stretching the data, it’s nice to see
what’s inside there. PixInsight’s version
of the “B” and “W” sliders in
programs like Nebulosity is the Screen Transfer
Function. It’s a lot more powerful that
simple black and white points and it’s at least
as nice as having a temporary adjustment layer in
Photoshop. Here’s an introduction to them.
PixInsight Tutorials
Dec 14 08 23:50 Filed in: PixInsight
PixInsight has recently been
released for the Mac. While it’s not very
Mac-ian in its look and feel (OK, it’s
about as non-Mac as you can get), it’s an
incredibly powerful program with a lot of
high-end routines. It’s also got a built
in programming language to let developers build
their own tools, leveraging off of what it has
built in. Who knows ... perhaps some day the UI
will be more refined (keep in mind that OS X is
really BSD Unix with a great UI riding on top).
Until then, I’ve decided to put up some
video tutorials to help others get over the
initial hump in using PixInsight. As new
tutorials get done, they’ll go up here
with this blog entry serving as the master.
1) The Screen Transfer Function: 12/14/08 (click here).
2) Preview windows: 12/14/08 (click here)
3) Removing background gradients (vignetting) with the Automatic Background Extraction tool: 12/14/08 (click here).
1) The Screen Transfer Function: 12/14/08 (click here).
2) Preview windows: 12/14/08 (click here)
3) Removing background gradients (vignetting) with the Automatic Background Extraction tool: 12/14/08 (click here).