Understanding the Wipe module

[thewormofautumn]

yeah I get that Ivo. I've tried too many combinations of things to figure out what's going on here. I can post images of every single combination, but I tend to post just "defaults" that I've used. But no tweaking is having any impact. Even your suggestion above (to redo the Autodev) I'd already done, which looks like this once I get to the Colour module

I know this is likely just me not understanding the software. I don't get half of it. I liked the videos you made explaining stuff, that's what got me onto the software in the first place, as I followed along and got good results.
Maybe I'm just used to Photoshop (20 years as a "terrestrial" photographer) and ST is too much of a shift for me to understand.

No disrespect to your software, obviously many are getting great results with it and that's awesome, but I'm not anymore.
I remember the first edit I did with ST (Orion) and was stoked with how that turned out, with mostly just defaults. Carina (my second image) was the same.
Everything since, nope. Not having an ounce of luck.

Hi again,
even though still think the previous image needs Flats.
I have downloaded again your previous image and made a short video on how I would process it more or less...
Disclaimer: I'm not an advanced user! haha and still learning too but well : )

Haven't done a full workflow...and did binning to 25% (got slow PC and your file is too big for me ) so didn't use
sharp nor decon.. but end result is "OK" I guess. Full resolution or even only 50 ~70% bin would give better and
clearer image I guess

hope it helps

https://mega.nz/file/81FjSaIb#NxvGoCi4Q ... o88RrxFtB4

Carles.

Hi Carles

Before I answer your other question re flats, I just want to start off by offering my sincere thanks for making that video. I learned so much from watching it! Things I didn't even know existed.
A genuine and heartfelt thank you to you; you didn't have to do that, but you've really helped.

I copied your video down to the pixel (might have been a couple of pixels off on the crop) and noticed something straight away. I guess you chose "Linear" and not "Linear not white balanced" at the beginning, as you seem to be editing in colour. Is there any reason for that? I edited in B&W for the entire video (mostly).
Also, is there any reason you went to Film Dev after doing the Autodev? (and the revisted the Autudev/Film Dev again later?)

I now have enough to play around with and experiment with.
You really rock for doing this

Hi
was that stack been corrected/calibrated with Flats ? judging by the brightness around
and that "circle" on the lower left of the last image, I would say either it wasn't calibrated or
the flats were too bright.

On this point. yes there were definitely flats. In fact, I took 40 of them (and dark flats) but noticed that 22 of them were either yellow, pink or blown out white. I don't know what happened, but I binned those and just kept the flats that were good at the beginning of the sequence (I used NINA's Flats Wizard).
Perhaps there's something wrong with how the Wizard is taking flats or something weird happened to my iPad (which I use for flats). I will be doing some tests on them in the coming days to see what's going on, but to cut a long story short, flats were taken and applied in DSS (no darks yet though).

[thewormofautumn]

Just wanted to add that I tried another target (Dragons of Ara) using your video and tweaked a few things. This was a 20minute edit.

I'll revisit it to map the colours differently later, but I'm really pleased with this.

Thanks again

[Carles]

Just wanted to add that I tried another target (Dragons of Ara) using your video and tweaked a few things. This was a 20minute edit.

I'll revisit it to map the colours differently later, but I'm really pleased with this.

Thanks again

Hi!

I am really glad it was of help! And also you're getting more out of the software
That last pic is awesome too! Off course, every data set will need different ways to approach it
but as you can see, tweaking a little bit the defaults can help too.

oh, and your two questions;

1- about the FilmDev and AutoDev.
I usually use, after Wipe, Filmdev first, and try to get a "decent" look extracting details and not much noise, and then i move to AutoDev and try to get it at least the same or better. Sometimes depends on the object I might stay with FilmDev result.. but I always try to compare and play with AutoDev to get similar results (similar in terms of "noise" and details, but usually AutoDev gives better dynamic range and non bloated stars too! )

2- At the end of the workflow, after Denoise, if I don't use Layer or something else, I go FilmDev for two reasons; 1- is because just by entering there it darkens a bit and gives more contrast (automatically ) and 2- because when the image is "ready" I might want to reduce influence of one of the 3 color channels and I do it in post in FilmDev. Doesn't mean is right, but I do use it sometimes ^^

Hope you can get used to StarTools and enjoy processing with it too

Regards

Carles.

[Carles]

OH and forgot,

Yes I usually process in color, as I choose "linear" .
Since, at least for my camera (not having RGGB matrix for instance) seems the right option.

Also on the video I had done "Shrink" perhaps too early, but it didn't affect much to the colour module later on.

Entropy wise, then again, depending on the object, and depending on the SNR too, you can perhaps pull more. I start by 50% or so, and even lower it down sometimes.

Anyway ^^ Happy to help!

Carles Rabassa.

[thewormofautumn]

thanks Carles. Yes Filmdev seems quite good. Once I got in, things seemed to be a bit more intuitive to use. But that's probably because I watched your video and understood what was happening

The saying "show me don't tell me" is a powerful way to teach.

[Carles]

thanks Carles. Yes Filmdev seems quite good. Once I got in, things seemed to be a bit more intuitive to use. But that's probably because I watched your video and understood what was happening

The saying "show me don't tell me" is a powerful way to teach.

glad it help
now keep experimenting until you find the right settings for yourself and depending on the object


Carles.