I was going back over limited old data to see what I could get I StarTools worked from previously stretched images, using both the Isolate tool in the Life module (which meant I've got better at masking, although noise still makes this hard) and noise reduction. I've put up the original and the reprocessed versions. Was happy to lose some noisy detail for darker backgrounds and a smoother, less clumpy look. Comments as always more than welcome.
In StarTools it's in the Life module (the heart shaped icon on the side menu) and it's up the top as an option (Moderate, Heavy, Less=More, Shroud and Isolate). You need to generate a mask to identify the object you'd like to isolate which for me is the tricky bit with noisy nebula images. Basically I found that if I process the images (including noise reduction) I can make a mask by highlighting the back ground using the similar colour option and then invert the mask. A bit hit and miss but worked okay for these.
