[Sticky] Welcome to the Astro Pixel Processor Forum

Hi, I am using a STL 11000 camera on a Tak FSQ106,

Here is what I have for files ,

Bias Frames,

LRGB - Flat Frames with matching Darks

LRGB - 500 second Lights all the same exposure  with 500 second Darks

questions, should I use the the darks that go with the Flats?

should I then make master calibration frames?

finally make master LRGB  light files and combine ?

Thanks for any help.

Richard

Hi Richard ( @richard85392 )

In this case, yes, use the matching darks for the flats, they need to have the same gain and offset, temperature and exposure time as your flats. From those darks, make a masterdark and use that masterdark in calibrating the flats.

I would also recommend to make a Bad Pixel Map from your flats and darks, that will improve calibration results for your lights significantly:

https://www.astropixelprocessor.com/community/tutorials-workflows/creating-a-bad-pixel-map/

Make the integration per channel and yes, then load them into the RGB combine tool.

Be aware, that you need to have the channels registered to each other as well. There are several ways to do this.

Let me know if you need more help 😉 

Kind regards,

Mabula

Hello.  I cannot seem to upload PNG files.  Any ideas?  It no longer seems supported.

Hi @jaufurallygmail-com,

I have just checked, uploading PNG files in forum messages is perfectly possible after your first forum message. So if you try again it should work 😉

Mabula

Just heard about this program last week and came home to download the free trail and check out. Watched Mabula's video on processing the Pelican Nebula and just went for it. The picture attached, NGC7000, came out as the BEST processed pic I have ever done! Even after using PI for a year, I've never had a program so easy to use and only spent a little under two hours processing compared to multiple hours and days using other's. I even just uploaded a video on YouTube processing some old data that PI would not even load and I was able to get a picture that could be usable...especially if I spent more time on it. 

You have made a huge fan here and plan on getting to know this program to the best of my ability so I can share this information to others and let them see how easy and amazing APP is! Great Job Mabula!

CJ Wagner

Roswell Astronomy

Just starting to use APP.  Where can I see my FITS header when I open an image?  Thanks,  neyle

Posted by: explorer7377

Just heard about this program last week and came home to download the free trail and check out. Watched Mabula's video on processing the Pelican Nebula and just went for it. The picture attached, NGC7000, came out as the BEST processed pic I have ever done! Even after using PI for a year, I've never had a program so easy to use and only spent a little under two hours processing compared to multiple hours and days using other's. I even just uploaded a video on YouTube processing some old data that PI would not even load and I was able to get a picture that could be usable...especially if I spent more time on it. 

You have made a huge fan here and plan on getting to know this program to the best of my ability so I can share this information to others and let them see how easy and amazing APP is! Great Job Mabula!

CJ Wagner

Roswell Astronomy

Dear CJ Wagner @explorer7377 ,

Thank you very much for your compliments and your nice feedback 😉 It's my pleasure !

Beautiful result 🙂

Thanks for sharing and welcome to the APP forum ,

Mabula

Posted by: ansollee

Just starting to use APP.  Where can I see my FITS header when I open an image?  Thanks,  neyle

Hi Neyle @ansollee ,

You can see the FITS header (or any other metadata) by sliding the left side of the image viewer:

Welcome to the APP forum 😉

Mabula

After a month of testing several stacking suites I decided to buy the owners version of APP. I'm a beginner astrophotographer and APP helped me tremendously during my first month of shooting! Thank you for this wonderful piece of software. 😀

Posted by: Cyb3rR0gue

After a month of testing several stacking suites I decided to buy the owners version of APP. I'm a beginner astrophotographer and APP helped me tremendously during my first month of shooting! Thank you for this wonderful piece of software. 😀

Hi @cyb3rr0gue,

Thank you very much for your purchase 😉 That is great to hear and it's my pleasure !

Mabula

Hi Mabula, Just wanted to say a very big thank you for putting together the multi channel processing video and Diego's fine data. I downloaded the data and followed along with my recently purchased APP. Simple to follow, step by step instruction to produce a stunning finished multi channel integrated colour image. I ran it in a separate window along side to the APP program....RESULT!  Until I found your program, as you were aware from my emails to you last year,  processing the data was really complicated for my small brain, APP IS the missing link for me and I'm sure many other wanting to achieve good final images in astro photography. Anyone taking the 30 day trial version along with this tutorial will surely invest in it...i'm so happy I did. Thank you for all your hard work...you deserve a medal!

Posted by: Astrodog

Hi Mabula, Just wanted to say a very big thank you for putting together the multi channel processing video and Diego's fine data. I downloaded the data and followed along with my recently purchased APP. Simple to follow, step by step instruction to produce a stunning finished multi channel integrated colour image. I ran it in a separate window along side to the APP program....RESULT!  Until I found your program, as you were aware from my emails to you last year,  processing the data was really complicated for my small brain, APP IS the missing link for me and I'm sure many other wanting to achieve good final images in astro photography. Anyone taking the 30 day trial version along with this tutorial will surely invest in it...i'm so happy I did. Thank you for all your hard work...you deserve a medal!

 

Hi @astrodog,

That's really great 😉 thank you very much for your feedback and your nice compliments !

It's my pleasure 😉

Mabula

I also have to acknowledge this awesome SDK software thats make RGB +L     a breeze ....

no more running every filter separately aside from Darks flats and BIas for those who use them.  

just load ALL OF THEM into APP and sit back and have a tea..VOILA  Done!!!

now for a suggestion, if we could load the subframes and run through them like a (Blink)  module in the Main  image viewer pane with a NEXT arrow that would be real help full . i know you can go down the list and verify your FWHM and SNR but you cant really see clouds of jets or gamma Ray burst that way... just an idea , and perhaps im just to new to this ...  🙂

Mabula,

just watched The Astro Imaging Channel presentation. great job! Looking forward to the next release! Keep up the awesome work and thank you for releasing us from 'that other program'!

CJ

After testing the trial version, I finally decided to buy the owner version of APP. Thank you for the great work you are doing with it. Thank you for bringing to the world of OSx a software like yours and the one we are so in need of.
Greetings from Spain.

Just downloaded the trial and really like what I see. I noticed in the top of this post a mention to the Quick Reference Guide.  I have been looking for documentation beyond forum posts and videos.  Where is this guide. Can’t seem to find it.  

Many thanks.  

PS.

I really like the approach you take with calibration of background, light pollution and Star color.  After the first test I pulled my LP filter for the first time in two years from my imaging setup.  I shot a series of images from a bortle 5 sky and the calibration process was on par with using an LP filter for the ring nebula. 

Yes, documentation is a bit lacking I agree, this is being worked on though. Can't give any more details besides that, but as APP is just 1 year old, the focus has been on getting the basics to mature fully. After Mabula settled on that, the focus will shift to post-processing and docs.

Hi, I just downloaded the trial version. I am a quite seasoned astrophotographer, and I started processing with PixInsight. Then, six years later, I moved onto CCDStack and Photoshop, with much better results. Now, I heard of APP and want to try with some images and a couple of difficult mosaics.

The issue here is that, when setting the Working Directory, it is readily accepted, but the HDD number remains at 0 (zero) GB ( by the way, that folder is located in an external drive with a free space of 5TB) and I cannot perform any process because it says that I ran out of space. I have not found any indication of this in the Quick Reference or in the video tutorials. How can I get the program correctly identify the real free capacity in the disk?

Thanks, 

Josep

Hi down loaded app , files download but when I press calibrate I get the following message

we need more information on what you had for calibration files .... in order to help you.

I had 30 darks and flats

What i meant was , Camera ? DSLR , ZWO QHY or other?

and at what step do you get the error ? which tab?

Hi ,I use a canon 2000d ,when I load image preview I get the following tab when I press ok the image comes up

Then when I press tab 2 to calibrate I get the following

.

                                          Many thanks Bal

Mm, those are a lot of errors which shouldn't normally happen as I don't think many people have this at these steps. Could you try to uninstall and reinstall APP just to rule out a problem with the installation?

Vincent , should he drop down to 1.073 and see if it still occurs?

is he using ADMIN at the installation.. 

Yes those are things to try as well, but it's the first with errors at these points I've seen and this version has been in use for some time also on Windows now.

Hi Vincent

                     uninstalled and reinstalled still the same problem .

                                                                                                                   Regards Bal

Mmm, that is annoying for sure. Are you able to uninstall and re-install Java on your machine? And you can also try out 1 version earlier of APP, just to see if it's related to that.

Sorry for the inconvenience, this needs some investigation unfortunately.

Are you willing to let someone logon to your PC to verify a few things?

Via  Anydesk.exe ?