StarTools

Hello,

first of all, I am a new user of StarTools and up to now are very impressed by the new and user-friendly approach to Astrophotography-Image-Processing.

Unfortunately, my first attempts to do it all with StarTools did not succeed. The first attempt was performed with V1.3.3.224, where I read in my DSLR-Stacked-Picture as a fits file and had a problem with Auto-MaskGeneration in the Sharpening-Module: The progess-Indicator did not progress any more, it stayed still at the original position.

I have read in the forum that this bug is already fixed, so I downloaded the latest version, V1.3.5.260 beta. But this version revealed other problems. The 64-Bit-Version did read in my pictures (linear, bayered, not white balanced) in a horrible colour: Very red. I was not able to correct this with the Wipe module. So I reverted back to the 32-Bit-Version and got a good result of the first AutoDev and Crop steps. But then, the Wipe Module either crashes ( terminates after error message from windows) (Correct Color and Brightnes) or I get out of memory errors (Correct Color Only).

Am I doing something wrong?

Since I am from Germany and have some "weird" characters in my name, I could also imagine that there is still a problem with the license key?

One further thing I am experiencing: The tool seems to work relatively slow. I checked if the CPU usage is the limit, but there, only 15% of my QuadCore are used. And it is not like a single Core is used 100% and the rest is idle - no, about 4 cores are used, but only partially. This makes me wonder: Where is the bottleneck? Is it Disk I/O? But then, why is Disk I/O necessary on a 16GB RAM System?

A lot of questions, and the hope of a little bit of help.

Best regards
Michael

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your in-depth post and welcome to the forums!

astromr wrote: Unfortunately, my first attempts to do it all with StarTools did not succeed. The first attempt was performed with V1.3.3.224, where I read in my DSLR-Stacked-Picture as a fits file and had a problem with Auto-MaskGeneration in the Sharpening-Module: The progess-Indicator did not progress any more, it stayed still at the original position.
I have read in the forum that this bug is already fixed, so I downloaded the latest version, V1.3.5.260 beta.

Actually I've become aware of a bug recently that is very similar, which I'm hoping to fix today. It is reproducible like this; if you launch the Mask editor from the Sharp module and the spinner hasn't stopped, then the mask generator will yield strange results (doesn't seem to work, or work after clicking a button or canceling).

But this version revealed other problems. The 64-Bit-Version did read in my pictures (linear, bayered, not white balanced) in a horrible colour: Very red. I was not able to correct this with the Wipe module. So I reverted back to the 32-Bit-Version and got a good result of the first AutoDev and Crop steps. But then, the Wipe Module either crashes ( terminates after error message from windows) (Correct Color and Brightnes) or I get out of memory errors (Correct Color Only).

Out of memory errors indicate the data set was very (too) big for the 32-bit version, however I'm a little puzzled as to why the Wipe module would behave differently between versions. I would *love* to get my hands on your data to see if I can replicate the problem and fix it.

Am I doing something wrong?

Michael, my philosphy in software and UI development is that the user is never wrong (especially when it comes to instabilities or crashes). If the software or UI is clunky or produces unexpected behavior, then it's my problem as a developer, not yours as a user.

Since I am from Germany and have some "weird" characters in my name, I could also imagine that there is still a problem with the license key?

Good suggestion! (you've been reading the forums I see and you also think like a developer ) This should now be fixed and specifically pertained to control characters. For the record, I'm Dutch (Käsekopf) myself so don't think of a ringel-ess or accents as weird...

One further thing I am experiencing: The tool seems to work relatively slow. I checked if the CPU usage is the limit, but there, only 15% of my QuadCore are used. And it is not like a single Core is used 100% and the rest is idle - no, about 4 cores are used, but only partially. This makes me wonder: Where is the bottleneck? Is it Disk I/O? But then, why is Disk I/O necessary on a 16GB RAM System?

Which tool are you referring to in particular?
There are many, many different algorithms at work in the different modules at different times. Most are created to take advantage of multi-core environments, but multi-core processing is not always appropriate, indeed due to different bottlenecks (mostly memory acccess). That said, it shouldn't take much to see your 4 cores all spike to 100% during processing (try Decon or the Bin module for example).

Other than that, StarTools is unapologetically heavy on CPU, RAM and disk I/O (especially on large images). Its algorithms (and thus results that it produces) are much more advanced than found in other software, but you pay the price for that in system requirements. That said, keep the datasets small and use preview windows and things should be manageable even on lesser specced systems (my Android smartphone lets me process images just fine for example).

A lot of questions, and the hope of a little bit of help.

I'm working on the Sharp bug, but if if it is at all possible for you to share your data with in the meantime, that would be fantastic! (I could even do a personalised tutorial on it while I'm at it).

Cheers,

admin wrote: I'm working on the Sharp bug

This is (hopefully) now fixed as of 1.3.5.262 beta. Let me know how you go!

Hi Ivo,

just to be clear: The sharpening tool error occured with the older Version (1.3.3.224), not with the latest beta. I did not proceed as far as the sharpening tool with my attempt to do image processing in the latest version of ST. Maybe it works already. But if there was another bug you fixed - hey, good news, one bug less that might come into my way.

Have a nice week
Michael