Autostakkert 2.6.8 User Guide or Manual

[Startrek]

Cannot find a user guide or basic manual on the latest version of Autostakkert which is v 2.6.8 (June 2016 )



I am going to start using it soon and want some basic background knowledge before I use it



Everything on the internet are old versions 2.1.3 etc... dated 2012 /13



Appreciate any advice



Thanks

[Nikolas]

youtube has many tutorials

[Merlin66]

I use AS3! For my solar .....
Just start with the defaults.

[Startrek]

Ken,

I will try AS3 but you still have to understand all the ancillary functions to find out what they are and their outcomes ( the brief info when you hover over a button is not enough I believe for a novice, ok if you have a number of years experience under your belt )

It’s got me buggered why there isn’t basic user guide with the software ( it’s a lot more than just Open, Analyise and Stack)

All other Astro software have basic user guides,manuals and start ups eg DSS, PHD2, BYEOS,Startools,EQMOD, Stellarium, StellariumScope, etc etc .....

Tried a few YouTube’s as well on AS2 but I can’t find anything for AS3 or is it the similar

Grumble , grumble .........

[Merlin66]

Martin,
The basics are the same between AS2! and AS3!
https://www.autostakkert.com/wp/guides/

The "Open " box will allow you to load an AVI or SER video file...
Image Stabilization - Select "surface" for solar/ lunar and "Planet" for planets (!)
Quality Estimator - leave as default, set "Local" to stack on an object, ("Global" to stack on the whole frame -never used it..)
Then press "Analyse" - it will go through your video file, find the best quality frame and then sort all the others to produce a green curve on the graph.
This gives you some idea about the quality/ quantity of "good" frames worth stacking to an image.
(Each line is 25% - ie top left hand "box" gives the best 25% images, you can estimate how many frames -10%, 15% or 25%. Use this to set the Stack options...
Output normally to a tiff file, # of frames (or percentage) as per the graph..
If you select "sharpened" this applies wavelets (similar to Registax) and outputs two images, one "as stacked" and one as "sharpened" so you can select the un-sharpened image to process yourself in Registax if you thank you can improve on the AS3! outcome.
I don't use "drizzle" but some say it can help....
Go to the image screen - set the target area (Ctl+left click) then select the Alignment points - I use the "AP grid" - you can try various AP sizes - 24/48/104 etc - I use the 24 or 48 the most with the ASI 1600.
Press "Place AP grid" and you'll see an array of grids on your images...
Then finally, press "Stack" and wait until the message area at the bottom shows "done"

The trick if any is to select the best quality frames and the AP sizing to give the best stack result.

You'll find the processed images in an "AS" folder within the original video folder.
Hope that helps.

[Startrek]

Ken

Thanks for going through the trouble of providing a clear and concise user guide

When the weather clears late next week I try and image Jupiter and Saturn with BYEOS planetary capture AVI file and run it through AS3

Thanks again

Cheers

[Startrek]

Ken,


I found some single frame moon images (12 off ) on my old desktop that I took a while back so decided to run them through Autostakkert 3 tonight and see the result ( attached single frame photo and A3 stacked photo )



The A3 stacked image definitely looks clearer and sharper than the light frame especially around the impact crater zone on the south western side


The edge of the moon is more defined as well ( a sharper curve against the blackness of space ) and the mare regions are more pronounced



Although only 12 frames were used, Autostakkert 3 was far more easier than 2 , at least for Lunar stacking. Planetary stacking will probably need a bit of tweaking I would imagine plus I will be using AVI files instead of single frames


Once again thanks for your advice and information



A great help



Much appreciated


Martin

[Merlin66]

Martin,
Glad I could help..
A couple of other programs worth having:
PIPP
https://sites.google.com/site/astropipp/

and ImPPG
http://greatattractor.github.io/imppg/tutorial/tutorial_en.html

[sil]

I would add after this line in merlin's helpful list:
-the "best" frame is now being displayed in the preview window. If you had drift and cut a planet in half it could get picked as the best frame because the cutline is sharp, so scroll across until you get the first intact target frame in the preview.
-select place points near edge and multiscale points, change points size to lowest setting, then press autoplace APs.

-now continue with merlins list

additional tip: I use PIPP to process my SER recordings to debayer plus center my target and crop the frame (it can ignore frames without intact targets (ie cut at edge)). and generate a new SER file that I drop into AS3! This rids me of planets that drifted off the edge plus cropping speeds up the AS3! processing (generally for planets you dont have anything to see and crop it out anyway.No need to bother with quality organising in PIPP, AS3! will do anyway so it often wastes time.

[Malang_Darwish]

Great threat, really useful for me right now. Thanks all!

[Startrek]

Gee that’s one of my old posts , glad you found it informative
I wrote my own procedure for Autostakkert 3 last year so maybe it will be of help too
Attached
Clear Skies
Martin