StarTools 1.0 image processing suite released

[irwjager]

Hi all,

I'm proud to announce the public release of StarTools 1.0 (http://www.startools.org)!

StarTools is an astronomical image post processing suite focused on the unique needs of the amateur ‘sidewalk astronomer’ in urban areas.

StarTools tries to make up for a lack of professional equipment and imaging in less-than-ideal urban skies by leveraging this new era of cheap 64-bit CPU power and powerful off-the-shelf imaging hardware, such as modern Compact Digital Cameras, Digital Single-Lens Reflex cameras and webcams. Consequently StarTools contains features and algorithms that are not commonly found in traditional software packages for professionals, who typically have access to semi-professional equipment and dark sky sites.

StarTools has grown from being a loose collection of command-line utilities to a GUI operated integrated post-processing suite with *fangs*. I believe it's fair to say that, in some aspects, it gives the likes of PixInsight, Maxim DL, GradientXTerminator, StarSpikes Pro, Carboni's PS Actions, etc. a run for their money (at a much lower price!).

You can find version 1.0, along with manual in the download section of the StarTools website (http://www.startools.org). Try the free demo as long as you like. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask through the ST forums or by contacting me through the website.

Huge thanks go out to the many IIS members that have been beta testing the software over the last few months. Your reports, comments and contributions have been invaluable and have made ST into what it is today. You rock! :thumbsup:

Clear skies,

[allan gould]

Ivo
An excellent suite of astrophotography tools. Thanks so much for making them available to the community.
I for one really appreiate your efforts and ability.

[irwjager]

Thank you for your kind words Allan.

All that remains is getting the word out there & convincing people that checking out the demo is really worth their while; ST contains a heap of functionality (especially for amateur imagers) that they're not going to find anywhere else!

[tlgerdes]

What is good is that Ivo has written the program so that it doesn't need to be installed, you just run the exe. This makes trying it out easy.:thumbsup:

[Garyh]

Looks like a nice little software package....
Downloaded to try but none will run on my xp machine?
Startools has encountered a error and closes?

[irwjager]

Hmmm.... Haven't had this problem reported before...
Did you extract everything, including the 'resources' file into its own folder? Running straight from the zip file will not work if, perhaps, that is what you're trying to do?

[Garyh]

Thanks for the pm`s to try to get it up and running...:thumbsup:
cheers Gary

[Screwdriverone]

Hi Ivo,

I have the same problem as Gary with Win XP pro SP3.

I have extracted all into a folder and run the 32 bit app but it errors immediately after the program window appears.

When you say resources "folder" it actually appears as a "file" in the zip package, not a folder like the StarTools.app folder, could this be the problem?
Pleased to take this offline if you prefer...

Cheers

Chris

[irwjager]

Thanks for the headusp Chris. Such a pain when I can't replicate it on any of my systems!

I'm PM'ing you guys shortly with the link to a special download and instructions on how to pinpoint the problem.

[Yoddha]

Hi Ivo,

Congratulations and good luck! I was waiting for weeks to see the demo :)

I ran very quick tests on my laptop but maybe it is little bit weak for the program. On the desktop PC it crashes by the way the others describe. Both machines are with XP SP3. I'll be happy if can help you to resolve this issue.

[Screwdriverone]

Thanks Ivo,

I will advise via PM of info collected.

Looking forward to some of these excellent features.

Cheers

Chris

[irwjager]

Hey guys,

I'm starting to suspect (but do correct me if I'm wrong!) that the systems you're having trouble on don't support SSE3 CPU extensions. Gary - I don't believe your Athlon XP supports it (if memory serves me right, SSE3 is supported as of the Athlon64).

Ivo, Chris, what specs do your machines have?

StarTools was designed for multi-core 64-bit architectures with plenty of RAM and performs best on a quad core or higher. The rationale being that a CPU and memory upgrade is the cheapest and most versatile investment you can make when it comes to astrophotography (and many people already have very capable machines available without having to invest a cent!).

The 32-bit versions of the app have to emulate 64-bit instructions (basically by performing multiple 32-bit operations instead) which is quite a bit slower, they still rely on SSE3 to optimize some of the floating point operations. Please note that if you're running a 32-bit operating system on a 64-bit capable processor, this is still the case - you can only start to take full advantage of the native 64-bit capabilities of your CPU with a 64-bit operating system.

I will include a version that does not rely on SSE3 in the distribution - new download should be up in the next hour or so. Please let me know if that resolves your issue. I will also investigate doing a special 32-bit version of StarTools which should (hopefully) be less taxing on 32-bit architectures (however less accurate).

EDIT: Download is now up (http://www.startools.org/download/StarTools_1_0_14.zip).

[irwjager]

Bit offtopic; I was wondering if APT does capturing as well? I was looking for some capturing solutions to recommend in the ST manual.

[irwjager]

As of 1.0.14 (http://www.startools.org/download/StarTools_1_0_14.zip), the distribution includes a special lower quality (but less taxing) 32-bit signal path version for those on 32-bit legacy (Pentium III and up) systems with relatively low memory (1Gb or less). :thumbsup:

[Garyh]

Hi Ivo,
Find attached a print screen of the debug window. Might help, but you probably nutted it out in what you have mentioned above..
Shall give your new backward compatiable 32 bit version..:thumbsup:
cheers Gary

[irwjager]

Much appreciated Gary!

I'm hoping the 32-bit legacy version takes care of the problem, if not I'm going to have to send you another debug version and get you to do the same thing...

[Screwdriverone]

Hi Ivo,

From what you have said, it seems my problem is a 1Gb ram laptop running an older x86 32 bit with a basic CPU structure.

I would say the "legacy" type win32 app would be more up my alley.

I will give it a go tonight and let you know the results.

Cheers

Chris

[Yoddha]

Ivo,

My notebook is Core2 (T7200) @ 2GHz, the desktop is P4 @ 2.8 GHz both with 2 GB RAM.

[Yoddha]

Ops, just saw your question about APT. :) Its main goal is to manage the all aspects of the capturing.

[Yoddha]

Sorry for the flood :( Just checked and the P4 is with Northwood core so there is no SSE3...

EDIT: 1.0.14 is working on it, but gives Out of Memory...

[irwjager]

Great! It was the SSE3 then. The StarTools-Windows32-Legacy-LQ.exe version should give you a bit more mileage with regards to memory due to the reduced accuracy of the signal path. Some modules are just very memory hungry though and can run out of memory quick on a less well endowed system - especially when using larger images.

Instead of bluntly saying 'out of memory' and exiting I definitely need to code something more graceful though.

[Yoddha]

I tried both legacy versions with 6.7MB file, but can't make levels :confused2:

[irwjager]

Are you saying it runs out of memory before you can even launch the Levels module? :eyepop:

[Yoddha]

I open the file and then go to Levels. It thinks for a while, gives error (not the out of memory one) and closes the app :shrug: Looks like Access Violation error...

[irwjager]

Ok. It seems keeping a 64-bit signal path is a bridge too far for 32-bit systems. All 32-bit systems now run a 32-bit signal path.

New version here (http://www.startools.org/download/StarTools_1_0_19.zip).

I've succesfully tested this on a machine with 192Mb, opening a file 3000x2000 and processing it. It's hella slow with that little memory, but it works... :)

[Yoddha]

Ivo,

1.0.19 works fine on both CPUs :) Thanks! I was able to play only a bit but looks very good!!!

[irwjager]

That's awesome news - thanks for that Ivo. I'm getting reports from other users ST is now working quite well on similarly specced machines (Athlon/P4 1Gb+)! :thumbsup:

[irwjager]

Hi all,

Thanks for all your support so far - I've been getting some awesome feedback! :thanx:

I just uploaded 1.0.24, with a ton of new features. It includes an additional sharpening algorithm, again, especially designed for astrophotographical subjects. Also spicing things up in the Layer module are new capabilities like SMI & PIP (old favorites), Median filtering and automatic luminance mask generation. There's heaps more, but I'll leave it to you to discover them.

Also, if any of you have any challenging images that you think are beyond repair, I'd be very interested in giving it a go in StarTools. I'm always looking for new 'typical amateur' problems to tackle... :P

Cheers,

[h0ughy]

i just tried to download the software to try before i purchase it and i got this message from my virus software

[mithrandir]

AVG and Symantec don't see a problem with it.

[irwjager]

:lol: I'm pretty sure that's a false alarm - the file was cross compiled on a Linux machine which is incapable of running Windows viruses, let alone infect freshly compiled programs!

[h0ughy]

ok so if i am to get this do i need to rename it when downloading?

[mithrandir]

Almost Ivo - Wine can run some Windows viruses. ;)



David, Your screenshot seems to say it is IE that is infected.

[irwjager]

Simply unzipping the contents of the zip file to any location on your computer should do it. Then simply run it from there. Do use the 64-bit version if you can - it's better, faster, etc. :)

Just to put your mind at ease - no version of Windows was involved during the creation, compile and release of this program.

[irwjager]

:lol:
I wish the Wine devs would stop spending so much time on virus compatibility and more on getting something like NotePad++ to work properly! :P I used to love that editor but it just freezes as soon as a file gets updated. I reported that bug 2 1/2 years ago.

[h0ughy]

i will have to use another PC to get the file - bULLGUARD WONT LET ME GET IT

[irwjager]

Bugger.

I actually found a bunch of posts on false positives from Bullguard. All relating to Gen.Trojan.Heur.XXXX

http://www.webuser.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=89460
http://forums.techarena.in/vista-help/1187293.htm
http://conceptex.co.uk/site/index.php/2010/09/bullguard-false-positives/

Apparently these false positives even happen with genuine Microsoft downloads... :shrug:

[mithrandir]

I might be a bit (lets not quibble - seriously) biased but NEdit is my preferred X11 editor. It needs a ***good*** version of Motif - which lets out any distro which demands you use LessTif. If you are interested I can supply a 32 bit version that is built with a static OpenMotif library.

Andrew

[irwjager]

Aha! One of the long time contributors I see. I'd definitely give that a go. Can't be worse than gedit (yes, I'm a masochist :P).

[irwjager]

Hi all,

Just a quick update on the many changes and features that have gone into ST in its first month of being public. I just released a new module called 'Wavelet' which does... ...near real-time wavelet sharpening. :) Actually it does it quite well and the de-ringing (i.e. black halo suppression) seems to perform better than that of most other software I've been able to compare it to.

Please note that the Japan appeal offer (full proceeds will be donated to the Australian Red Cross Japan appeal) is still open until March 28th.

Anyway, without further ado here is a recap for this month;

1.0.1
* Initial Release

1.0.3
* Made changes to Windows and Linux eventloop to reduce CPU usage in UI thread.

1.0.6
* Made some multi-core CPU specific optimizations
* Optimized Gaussian filter code

1.0.8
* Added second pass function to heal module for more accurate star removal.
* No longer crashes when 'resources' file is missing, instead shows error message.

1.0.10
* Added refractor and newtonian presets to Synth's PSF generator per feature request.

1.0.13
* Added PNG read support
* Overhauled Color module and added new, more effective color balancing algorithm.
* Added pre-SSE3 legacy 32-bit executables to distribution.
* Small UI tweaks.
* Small performance tweaks.

1.0.14
* Added 32-bit signal path version to distribution for faster performance and lower memory usage on legacy systems.

1.0.19
* Revamped Color Module
* Added average RGB readout to color module for color correction guiding.
* Removed superfluous per-channel saturation controls.
* Rewrote
* Made fixes to 32-bit signal path version and made this version the standard for 32-bit systems.

1.0.24
* Revamped Layer Module
* Added new modes Screen, Power of Inverse (PIP), Desaturate Average, Desaturate Luminance and Invert.
* Added luminance masking (prerequiste for SMI).
* Added new Median filter type.
* Added filter type selection (Gaussian or Median).
* New scrolling behavior
* Now capable of a huge amount of added functionality; SMI, PIP, many new noise reduction methods)
* Revamped Sharp Module
* New highly effective general purpose StarTools Sharp algorithm.
* Enhanced StarTools Definition algorithm.
* Added new De-ringing option.
* Removed Highpass algorithm in lieu of new Deringing option (De-ringing converts Unsharp Mask into Highpass).
* Added Sobel edge detection to Mask's Auto feature.
* Rewrote median filter code.
* Added presets to HDR module.
* Added presets to Wipe module.
* Normalization filter in Levels now only applies to bottom end.

1.0.26
* Added new Definition/ST Sharp hybrid sharpening algorithm to Sharp.
* Improved Wipe's pre-filtering.
* Improved Contrast's pre-filtering.
* Added Minimum filter to Layer.
* Added Maximum filter to Layer.
* Added 4th order (e.g. steeper response) option to Luma Mask generation in Layer.
* Added Color Extract mode to Layer.

1.0.28
* Added new Wavelet module for wavelet sharpening
* Added histogram to Color module
* Color ratio in color module no longer affected by luminance retention
* Added lightness filter to Layer module
* Added Multiply Luminance mode to Layer module

[irwjager]

1.0.29
* Added new Repair module for star repair and rounding
* Fixed major bug in Synth (didn't work at all on bigger stars!)
* Made numerous UI fixes and enhancements across several modules
* Added icon to Linux version

If you have images with stars which have been adversely affected by guiding errors, incorrect polar alignment, collimation issues or mirror defects such as astigmatism etc., give the new Repair module a go.

It's a real step up from the usual Offset filter/darken hack - it actually beats (warps) the stars into shape without affecting any other pixels or properties of the star and its surroundings.

Your mileage may vary depending on the star mask you give it, but I have been able to achieve some pretty cool results with images I though were *way* beyond repair using any other method.

http://startools.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/elongated.jpg

http://startools.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/elongated_fixed.jpg

[gregbradley]

That is an amazing repair of those stars. Really excellent.

But of course one problem with that is that the actual image will be smeared as well as the stars. Does it correct for that or is that not feasible?

As you say your result is far superior to the darken layer/offset tool technique.

Greg.

[irwjager]

Thanks Greg! I'm pretty happy with that result too. :) I've been meaning to add this module for so long as it's one of the first I wrote along with StarWipe.

The Repair module certainly works when you have tracking issues (like in the example before & after) but indeed doesn't correct the rest of the image.

However, if all you have is a distortion in your image (i.e. subtle field warping but no blur), then the Repair module makes your stars look correct. No one will notice that the rest of the image is slightly warped, but everyone will notice that your stars aren't round as they are often the only geometrically perfect objects in your image.
The only proper way to correct smearing due to tracking issues is to use some sort of deconvolution.

However, decon only works reliably when your field is perfectly flat and the image is uniformly convoluted by the same point spread function throughout the whole image (for example when you have tracking issues). Sadly, localised lens and mirror aberrations (coma, chromatic aberration, etc.) often mess this up making stars appear different throughout the image, making it impossible to apply just a single corrective PSF.
Like decon, the offset filter technique also has the problem that it is applied uniformly to the image (e.g. the whole image is corrected by the same amount). You'll have no luck applying this old favorite to a full image that suffers from any form of distortion. I have seen people apply it selectively to different parts of the image though as a workaround.

[irwjager]

1.0.31
* Added new Deconvolution module
* Fixed small bug in Heal module
* Fixed bug in Layer module (would ignore background & foreground swap when using mask and/or creating luma mask)
* Fixed multi-threading issues on all platforms
* Fixed memory zeroing bug in Gaussian filter

It's been a crazy few days, but the brand new van Cittert and Landweber deconvolution module works really quite well! I've been testing it on lunar, planetary and DSO images alike with excellent results. It's up for download (http://startools.org/?page_id=97) now.

2:00 now. can't code anymore. need sleep. :zzz2: