2023-09-16: APP 2.0.0-beta23 has been released !
Improved performance again, CMD-A now works in macOS File Chooser, big improvement for bad column cosmetic correction, solved several bugs
We are very close now to releasing APP 2.0.0 stable with a complete printable manual...
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I've had several requests for my basic workflow for splitting R, G, B frames from my OSC and combining them with the Ha and OIII extracts from the L-eNhance filter. I'm sure there are other and some better ways to do this, but this workflow is what I gleaned from other posts here and combined with my own experience with the filter. If you can make improvements to this workflow or have a better workflow, please share it.
Extracting Ha & OIII files and combing with R, G, B files using an OSC and Optolong L-eNhance filter.
RGB Integration
1. Stack and integrate the color files as you normally would but do no post processing on it yet.
2. Clear the input files out of APP (or close and restart it) and load in the stacked integrated color file as a light file.
3. Click on the Calibrate tab (tab 2) and scroll to near the bottom and check the "Split Channels" and click on Save Calibrated Frames. This will then split your composite color image into 3 RGB images that have all been preprocessed. These are the three files you will combining with the NB files
Ha and OIII Integration
4. Now for the narrowband images. Clear everything out of APP and on Tab 0 (Raw/Fits), click on your correct debayer pattern (mine is RGGB).
5. For the algorithm, select Ha-OIII extract Ha.
6. Click on Load (tab 2) and enter your lights, etc. for your L-eNhance frames and appropriate calibration frames.
7. Click on Register (tab 4) and select Use Dynamic Distortion Correction.
8. Click on Integrate (tab 6) use the automatic parameters. Click on Integrate.
9. Once the integration is complete for the Ha file, clear the data once more, go to tab 0 and select the Ha-OIII extract OIII algorithm. Reload the same data, but now for the OIII signal. Click integrate in tab 6 and this will integrate your OIII data.
10. When the OIII is complete you now have 5 files: R, G, B, Ha, and OIII. Now the files must be registered and normalized together so that you can combine them.
R, G, B, Ha, OIII Registration/Normalization
11. Restart APP and in the Load tab (tab 1) load in the R, G, B, Ha, and OIII files.
12. Click on Analyze stars (tab 3) and click on the Analyze Stars button.
13. When Analyze stars is complete, Click on Register (tab 4) and then click on Start Registration.
14. When registration is complete, click on Normalize (tab 5), click on Normalize lights. When complete, click on Save Normalized Frames.
Combining R, G, B, Ha and OIII
15. Click on Tools (tab 9) and select Combine RGB.
16. Add each file, one at a time. R for Red, G for Green, B for Blue, Ha for Red, OIII for Green and OIII again for Blue. At this point you have 6 files designated.
17. Go ahead and click on Calculate and get a starting image.
18. Tune the top slider for each frame as desired. I usually start with something like Ha slider 2.0, OIII Green 1.0, OIII Blue 1.5, Red 2.5, Green 1.0, Blue 1.5 and then go from there. Keep in mind, you do not want to overpower your image with Ha and OIII or you will destroy your natural star color.
19 When you have finished tweaking your color, click create and then cancel. This takes you out of the Combine tool.
Final Tweaks
20. Select the combined fits file you just saved. Now you are ready for your initial crop, light pollution reduction, Star Color and HSL Color. Then you can adjust your saturation, contrast and sharpening.
21. Do any final cropping and/or rotating and save your Tiffs and JPEGs as desired.
Randy Roy
Great! Many thanks! Vincent, it could be a sticky!
I think that makes sense to do yes, thank you AhBok! When I'm back to full moderator business I will take my comb through the older worflows that aren't relevant anymore.
Hi,
Using @ahbok flow (and parameters), this is what I get for the IC 1396A (with ASI294MC Pro and L-eNhance filter). Surely improvable (and would love to receive advices on how to do it because the "final tweak" is the most complex part once you do 1 to 19).
Thanks,
Very nice Philippe! I’m not sure you can improve on this much. Mabula has an excellent video tutorial on using the Star Color Correction and HSL color tools, but I think you nailed this!
Thanks for the kind compliments guys. I hope as you all use this that you will post any improvements, etc. If this is a sticky, it would be great if we made it “Our” collective process by updating it with improvements or better alternatives. I’m sure some of this can be streamlined for example.
Thanks for your nice words. I have a doubt: in step 1, would you integrate selecting "Ha-OIII color" (which is what I did) or the normal "Adaptive Airy Disk"?
I don't know if it makes sense but I tried the same method, adding the original RGB file to the other files. I thought of using it as Luminance. Now when normalizing the 6 files, I get an error:
Encountered an error in module OverlapBetweenTwoImageObjectsCreatorWorker
Error message: java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException
Cause: null no trace
I tried that as well. That led me to split the RGB file into individual R, G, B frames which will normalize properly with the NB frames, Neat idea though if we could make it work,
That seems to be a java error which can be a lot of things unfortunately. Are you using the latest beta version? Some of these errors were tackled in it.
I tried your workflow and i like it! However, how do you get rid of stack artefacts, since my Ha&OIII data (L-Enhance filter) was captured a month later than the OSC RGB (ASI294MC) it has a rotated field of view. And the MBB is at the integration tab (6), so how does this work? Or better, how can i fix this?
I tried your workflow and i like it! However, how do you get rid of stack artefacts, since my Ha&OIII data (L-Enhance filter) was captured a month later than the OSC RGB (ASI294MC) it has a rotated field of view. And the MBB is at the integration tab (6), so how does this work? Or better, how can i fix this?
@vincent-mod any ideas? I’m kind of stuck now😭 can’t figure it out myself.
Hi Michel, sorry for the delay!
Rotation of the FOV should not be an issue when you register all the frames to each other, did you do that?
After splitting the rgb master into the R G and B channel and then extracting the Ha and OIII data so I have five files I'm running into a Java error.
I've reloaded the 5 Light images (R, G, B, Ha and OIII), analysed the stars, registered them and then when I try to normalise the 5 images I get this error.
Encountered error in module:
NormalizeBufferedImageWorker
Error message:
java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 1
Cause:
1
m.a(Unknown Source)
m.doInBackground(Unknown Source)
javax.swing.SwingWorker$1.call(SwingWorker.java:295)
java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong?
I have noticed the R G B images are grey scale (as expected) but the Ha and OIII images are 3 channel rgb images if that makes sense?
regards
Kev
How did you extract the Ha and OIII?
How did you extract the Ha and OIII?
Morning Vincent 🙂
I ran APP using the AAD algorithm for the RGB image and then split the channels to RGB
Then used the Ha-OIII extract Ha algorithm and the Ha-OIII extract OIII algorithm in the Fits setup prior to running the Lights/Calibration frames through APP again
fwiw camera is a ZWO ASI533MC-Pro with the Optolong L-enHance filter
regards
Kev
Fwiw,
After calibrating/analysing stars/registering/normalising/integrating the Ha using the Ha extract algorithm in tab (0) I just went back to tab (0) and change to OIII extract algorithm, said yes to the re-normalising warning, jumped to tab (6) and hit integrate, this forced a normalising routine before re-integrating for the OIII. I then did the same for the Ha-OIII colour algorithm and then split the channels of the third integration into R,G and B.
For First light with the ZWO ASI533MC-pro camera and EAF and only 30 minutes of lights I can live with this result and it's good practise for real sessions
regards
Kev
Excellent. I have decided to go into multiple workflows with data we have on our servers to practice these cases more, sometimes one is so used to a certain workflow that I might miss others struggling.
It looks like once you have run all your data through the APP steps from load to integrate you can simply drop into tab (0) change the algorithm and then say Yes to the renormalising dialogue box.
If you then go straight to tab(6) and hit the Integrate button again APP will re-normalise and integrate the data using the changed algorithm. No need to clear and reload the image and calibration files
Kev
Yes, I think that's indeed possible. I simply kind of forgot about it as I rarely use this type of data, which I will now address. So thanks for making that quite clear. 🙂
The rotation works fine, however the stack artefacts will remain because there is no option of MBB when using the combine RGB tool (tab 9).
Today I also got several java errors during star an analysing (tab 3)….. All frames are calibrated but around 70% star analysis it gives the JAVA error. Never had this issue before…. Tomorrow i'll try again and will post the java error message.
thanks for your help.
Sorry to hear that Michel, APP 1.076 will have quite a few updates to the star analysis algorithm, it will come out as a beta soon. This week Mabula and I will be in London for Astrofest, I think Mabula will work to release a beta somewhere this week still but can't guarantee.
I too have been experiencing various Java errors when following the OPs workflow, sometimes during the star analysis and others in the normalisation. I discovered it was because I manually setting and forcing the Bayer CFA pattern under the '0 RAW/FITS' tab as I normally do for my standard integration workflow. By leaving the patten as 'supported' and the 'force Bayer CFA' box unchecked I no longer experienced the errors.
Hi Vincent
I have followed your workflow precisely and everything has gone fine until I have gone to combining the 6 files in RGB combine and I got the java error. I added each file and when I went to calculate, the error message appeared?
Are you able to give me any advice please as to how I can combine them? I am running APP V 1.079.
Thank you
Well, that's a bit hard to judge without the data. Would you be able to send it to me to have a go as well?
You can upload some to our server (<- click that link) with username/password: appuser
Please create a directory called "julian-rgbcombine" and I'll have a look asap.
Thanks, Vincent
Thank you for posting this workflow. It is my understanding that what is happening here is that you're combining 2 sets of OSC data, 1 broadband RGB and 1 multi-narrowband OSC data. What if I wanted to combine e-Nhance data with true Ha and Oiii mono data? Would the workflow be the same? Is it even possible?
Of course, the optolong data that's where you use the "extract Ha" and "extract OIII" features. That creates mono data, Ha and OIII. You can then combine that with other mono data, if that's another set of Ha and OIII data then you just add that to the same set.
In assembling a 6-panel Mosaic, I'm hoping to be able to combine my NB (Ha & OIII) data from my L-eNhance filter with my RGB data taken with my OSC camera. I have integrated all of the RGB panels and created an RGB mosaic, then split the channels into Red, Green & Blue files and saved. I'm stuck at the NB filter files. In step 6., (Click on Load (tab 2) and enter your lights, etc. for your L-eNhance frames and appropriate calibration frames.), do the NB files need to be the raw uncalibrated, unregistered files? Or can they be calibrated and integrated into panels before extracting the Ha & OIII?
Thank you,
Dale