StarTools

Posted: **Mon Aug 26, 2019 12:56 pm**

Help!

So, I messed up when collecting data yesterday. I have a luminance stack which is binned 1x1, and Ha and Oiii stacks binned 2x2. Unfortunately, all of my my flats and darkflats are binned 1x1 -- I made a mistake in configuration, and forgot to bin the flats for the Ha and Oiii filters as 2x2. Of course, DSS cannot stack them together.

So I thought to myself, StarTools can bin them for me -- if I stack the flats I have and bin the master flat, that will probably be better than just resizing it, right? And then I can stack using the binned master flat and all will be good. Yaay! Situation rescued!

Except...I do the following:

Code: Select all

-----------------------------------------------------------
StarTools 1.5.364
Mon Aug 26 13:13:10 2019
-----------------------------------------------------------
File loaded [E:\TARGETS\RING\FLAT\MasterFlat_Ha.tif].
Image size is 5440 x 3648
--- 
Type of Data: Linear, was not Bayered, or was Bayered + white balanced
--- Bin
Parameter [Scale] set to [(scale/noise reduction 50.00%)/(400.00%)/(+2.00 bits)]
Image size is 2720 x 1824
File saved [E:\TARGETS\RING\FLAT\MasterFlat_Ha_Binned.tiff].

Which seems right -- but then when I import the MasterFlat_Ha_Binned.tiff into DSS, it says that it's RGB 16bit/ch. It was a Gray 16 bit tiff when I gave it to StarTools!

So then I tried this:

Code: Select all

-----------------------------------------------------------
StarTools 1.5.364
Mon Aug 26 13:26:42 2019
-----------------------------------------------------------
File loaded [E:\TARGETS\RING\FLAT\MasterFlat_Ha.tif].
Image size is 5440 x 3648
--- 
Type of Data: Linear, was not Bayered, or was Bayered + white balanced
--- Bin
Parameter [Scale] set to [(scale/noise reduction 50.00%)/(400.00%)/(+2.00 bits)]
Image size is 2720 x 1824
--- Color
Parameter [Cap Green] set to [Sliders Reduce Color Bias]
Parameter [Bias Slider Mode] set to [Scientific (Color Constancy)]
Parameter [Style] set to [Straight CIELab Luminance Retention]
Parameter [LRGB Method Emulation] set to [UNKNOWN]
Parameter [Dark Saturation] set to [2.00]
Parameter [Bright Saturation] set to [Full]
Parameter [Saturation Amount] set to [0 %]
Parameter [Blue Bias Reduce] set to [1.00]
Parameter [Green Bias Reduce] set to [1.00]
Parameter [Red Bias Reduce] set to [1.00]
Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [1.0 pixels]
Parameter [UNKNOWN] set to [0 %]
File saved [E:\TARGETS\RING\FLAT\MasterFlat_Ha_Binned.tiff].

Thinking that if I just set the Saturation to 0 it might save it as a Gray 16 bit tiff. But nope, it's still RGB 16 bit/16 according to DSS.

What am I doing wrong and/or misunderstanding?

-simon

Posted: **Tue Aug 27, 2019 6:47 am**

StarTools' TIFF output is indeed always RGB no matter the color saturation. I wouldn't think that'd be an issue in DSS though?

Posted: **Tue Aug 27, 2019 1:55 pm**

admin wrote:StarTools' TIFF output is indeed always RGB no matter the color saturation. I wouldn't think that'd be an issue in DSS though?

DSS refuses to stack a 16bit Gray light against an RGB flat. I guess I could use StarTools and then convert somehow to Grayscale in say Gimp?

Posted: **Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:04 am**

szymon wrote:
admin wrote:StarTools' TIFF output is indeed always RGB no matter the color saturation. I wouldn't think that'd be an issue in DSS though?
DSS refuses to stack a 16bit Gray light against an RGB flat. I guess I could use StarTools and then convert somehow to Grayscale in say Gimp?

Imagemagick (command line tool) is useful to have as well.

I think you'd do something like this;

Code: Select all

convert input.tiff -depth 16 -grey output.tiff

StarTools

Save as 16bit greyscale tiff

Save as 16bit greyscale tiff

Re: Save as 16bit greyscale tiff

Re: Save as 16bit greyscale tiff

Re: Save as 16bit greyscale tiff