Workflows for STC Astro DUO Filter

Posted by: @chris_16

Loaded Ha to the Ha channel (x1,000 bg 0,8 - 100%R 50%G 0%B) in Combine RGB, OIII to the OIII channel (x5,000 - 0%R 50%G 100%B)

@deeko76

Well, as written in my post above, I used the combine RGB tool after the extraction of Ha and OIII (like Mabula described above, too). I did not use PS to process this palette - it's all done in APP.

Chris

Thanks Chris, I imaged NGC7000 last night and struggling to get the colours close to yours, using same filter. Followed the guide at top of page 3 of this thread, which looks like a more detailed step-by-step guide that builds on Mabula's. Wondering if I am missing something. This is what I see when I use the combine RGB tool with the settings you suggested.

. When I apply the other settings with the combine RGB tool as suggested in the other posts in this thread it looks like this

@deeko76

Perfect! Now switch to PS (or LR) and enhance brightness, contrast and saturation further (e.g. with camera raw filter) and you're done!

@mabula-admin

Hi!

How would I modify this workflow for integrating my RBG Lights with the Duoband Lights?  Would I extract the Ha and OIII frames through the Calibration step and then multi band process using the three sets of Lights?  (Ha, OIII, RGB)

Thanks,

Mark F

Philadelphia PA

What you can do is to load the RGB result in the combine tool, it'll load the 3 channels into R,G and B. Then add the OIII and Ha to one of those channels and mix them in the ratio you want. They have to be registered to each other first.

Another way is to split the RGB first into seperate channels (all the way down in tab 2, calibrate) and work with those.

@vincent-mod

Hi Vincent.  Thanks for the fast reply.

I think my question is more how to register the two sets of light frames and separate the Ha and OIII prior to using the combine tool.  I'm starting out with 60 light frames with a UVIR filter and 60 light frames from a DuoBand (Ha/OIII) filter plus a MasterDark and MasterBias under the same settings as the lights.  When do I split the DuoBand data into Ha and OIII?  At the beginning or the end?

I am using a color CMOS camera

Glad to be of service. 😉

At the beginning, you split them, extracting the OIII and Ha. Save those, then load in the RGB integration, split the channels in the calibrate tab, load all Ha, OIII and split RGB channels and register and normalize them together.

( I might miss a step maybe as I never did this particular worflow before, sorry if that's the case).

@vincent-mod

Thanks.  As I understand your process:

1. Load the Duoband lights
2. Under Tab 0 choose algorithm Ha-OIII extract Ha
3. Under Tab 2 Save Calibrated Frames (to a folder labelled Ha)
4. Under Tab 0 choose algorithm Ha-OIII extract OIII
5. Under Tab 2 Save Calibrated Frames (to a folder labelled OIII)
6. Under Tab 1 Clear all data
7. Load the RGB lights
8. Under Tab 2 check the split channels box then Save Calibrated Frames (organize each of the three channels in separate folders (R, G, B)
9. Under Tab 1 Clear all data
10. Load the five channels of Lights with the Multi-Channel/Filter processing box checked and assign each channel to the appropriate choice
11. Load the MasterDark and MasterBias (apply to all channels)
12. Process Steps 2 through 6 which should result in an Integration file for each of the five channels

Should I also generate a luminance stack?  If so, how?

Sorry if I'm a little slow.  I'm new to APP and this is my first attempt at Narrowband

Let me know if it would help to share a sample set of Lights plus my MasterDark and MasterBias

Regards,

Mark F

No this sounds like a great step by step flow actually. Please let me know if it worked out. 🙂

Luminance is possible, though you don't have actual luminance data so it won't provide as good results I think. But you can create a luminance by loading all data as you do with the above workflow and selecting to "integrate all" in the integrate tab (for the multi-channel options). This will stack all data into 1 mono result.

@vincent-mod

Thanks.  That is kind of what I had in mind for luminance.

I'll let you know how it turns out

Thanks!

@vincent-mod

Hi Vincent,

I followed the process through Registration but when I started Normalization, I immediately got this error message.

Also, when I examined the registered files, the RGB frames looked different but the Ha frames looked the same at the OIII frames

What more information can I provide to help you see what is happening?  (I am leaving the house in 15 minutes so I will respond when I return.

Thanks

Mark F

@jazrunner

I too have been experiencing various Java errors when following a similar workflow, sometimes during the star analysis and others in the normalisation. I discovered it was because I was 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. Perhaps try that and check back with your results?

Well, now that's unfortunate. 🙁 Could you try doing the same but leaving out the calibration files? Just to see if they are causing an issue which sometimes happens.

Thanks Deeko fo that insight. If that works, please let me know Mark as that shouldn't just happen like that. I'll then report it to Mabula. Please try this workflow as well with 1.076, the beta should come out probably tomorrow.

@deeko76

Hi!

It's not that...

Here are my Tab 0 settings

Here are the rest of my settings (mostly default)

@vincent-mod

Hi Vincent,

All of my light frames were captured on the same night with the same equipment.  Could you explain when you would use multi-session processing?  I assume it would not apply for this dataset...

Also, cmd-A and ctl-A doesn't work to select all files in a folder when loading.  Is there a trick to select all on a Mac?

@vincent-mod

I tried what you suggested.  Everything the same but without the calibration files.  I still get a Java error message at the beginning of Normalization

Also, it appears that each time a re-try the processing, it is not redoing the calibration.  It says it is reloading calibration files it found.  Perhaps this is an important clue...

Multi session is indeed different nights basically. Regarding selecting all, I could actually do it using ctrl-a..

Sorry for hitting this java error. Could you try in 1.076 to make sure this is still an issue in the latest version? Mabula is working on getting the download ready for macOS as we speak, so my guess is tonight or tomorrow it'll be available. If the error still occurs, I'd like to have a look at the data myself if you'd be so kind to upload some subs to our server then. If it still is an issue we will identify why and possibly fix it for the stable release of 1.076.

@vincent-mod

Hi Vincent,

I am trying to narrow down what conditions trigger the error.  Here is a summary of what I have learned and what I still plan to test.  I'll send an update after I complete the last two tests.

I can upload twenty light frames each from each filter (UVIR, Duoband) plus the MasterDark and MasterBias.  Where should I upload them?

Another thing I noticed when I extracted the Ha and OIII data - the file names did not change.  The first Ha frame was named

"Light_IC342_120s_filter-2_frame0001_bin1_2020-02-02-203335_-20.6C_gain250-cal.fits"

The first OIII frame was also

"Light_IC342_120s_filter-2_frame0001_bin1_2020-02-02-203335_-20.6C_gain250-cal.fits"

Would this confuse the calibration processing?  Should I try changing the filter part (i.e. filter-Ha and filer-OIII)?

It should have the Ha and OIII mentioned yes. Interesting; maybe I should first just try your data myself. You can upload them to our server. Please create a directory with your name and "-DUOWorkflow" added to it, then upload the frames into there. Thanks a lot and sorry for the inconvenience, we'll get it sorted.

@vincent-mod

Hi Vincent,

I think the two tests below show what the problem is with the process I am using.  The first process (Test #1) is not equivalent to the second process (Test #2).  The idea was to create two sets of Lights from the original DuoBand frames using the extraction algorithm.

I uploaded ten Light frames from each filter plus the MasterDark and MasterBias

Thanks!

@vincent-mod

The server is not accepting my userid and password...

Oh shoot, sorry about that, I think I need extra coffee today. The username and password for the server is: appuser 

@vincent-mod

Hi Vincent,

I gave this another go this morning.  Comments?

@vincent-mod

Hi Vincent,

I have never downloaded a beta before.  Where do I look to see when the MacOS beta version 1.076 is ready to download?

@jazrunner

Thank you for the clear write-up. So I think you shouldn't integrate the seperate frames that fast, you can just seperate the RGB in 3 channels, save those to their folders (that works right?). Then load all frames into their appropriate filters in the multi-filter section and only then start the integration. That should produce masters for each filter seperately and then you combine those. After combination, you can go ahead with light pollution correction etc, that's always advised to do afterwards as correction on each filter separately could still produce uneven results when combining.

@jazrunner

Posted by: @jazrunner

I have never downloaded a beta before.  Where do I look to see when the MacOS beta version 1.076 is ready to download?

It will be announced very loudly by Mabula. 😉 On the right hand side there is a downloads section and it will have 1.076 there when it's available. I got word it might be today, hopefully he doesn't hit any bumps.

@davm

Hi Dave,

NOT a dumb question!  Could you help me better understand your suggestion?  Could you break down exactly what this means?  

I think I understand the SAVE split channels (Tab 2 check split channels then click "save calibrated frames")

What are the step by step instructions for the rest?

• is there a Load step in there?
• Do I remove the RGB lights and replace with the calibration frames after the save split channels step?

Posted by: @davm

"SAVE split channels". Then Register and Normalize Ha and OIII plus the red, green and blue channels. Hit combine channels and add the NORMALIZED red, green, blue Ha and OIII.

Thanks!

Hi Mark, I nearly always use the writeup from Randy Roy, here's the link

https://www.astropixelprocessor.com/community/tutorials-workflows/combining-r-g-b-with-ha-oiii-data-using-an-optolong-l-enhance-filter/#post-7610

Dave

@vincent-mod

Posted by: @vincent-mod

Thank you for the clear write-up. So I think you shouldn't integrate the seperate frames that fast, you can just seperate the RGB in 3 channels, save those to their folders (that works right?). Then load all frames into their appropriate filters in the multi-filter section and only then start the integration. That should produce masters for each filter seperately and then you combine those. After combination, you can go ahead with light pollution correction etc, that's always advised to do afterwards as correction on each filter separately could still produce uneven results when combining.

Hi Vincent,

I modified my process flow per your suggestion and I still get the Java error.  I've tried to better document what I did and what I observed in the attached PDF

Thanks

Mark F

Ok, so this would be the point where I'd need some of your raw files on the server to check it out. We can then test it straight away in 1.076. Sorry for the inconvenience!

And the above mentioned workflow is a bit different, maybe that works out? There they split RGB at the end, so first RGB integration and then splitting the channels.