Photoshop FITS or PIC question

[sheeny]

I've just had my first play with my Staranalyser. VisualSpec requires the spectra in either FITS or PIC format - neither of which seems to be available standard in PS CS3.

What plugins do I need to get, or is there a simpler way?

Just for interest I've attached my first spectra images of Antares and Achernar.

Al.

[sheeny]

Hmmm... I have a little work around going at the moment, but I'd be happy if anyone can suggest a better way...

What I'm currently doing is this:

Capture the spectra using K3ccdtools, etc
Stack in Registax
Rotate, crop, desaturate and save as a BMP in PS CS3 (because the spectrum is too wide for the Toucam so it has to fit diagonally, and rotate in Registax loses the star image)
Open BMP in Registax and save as FITS
Open image (one channel only as they are all the same) in VSpecAl.

[RB]

EddieT has written 'fitsplug', is that the plugin you need to do your work Al in PS?

He talks about it in this post.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=372697&postcount=24

:shrug:

[Dennis]

Hi Al

Here is a free FITS plug in from ESA/NASA.

ESA/ESO/NASA Photoshop FITS Liberator (http://www.spacetelescope.org/updates/html/update0607.html)

Cheers

Dennis

[sheeny]

Thanks Andrew and Dennis! I'll give FITS Liberator a whirl... if not then FITSplug:thumbsup:

Al.

[Dennis]

Hi Al

That’s good news – let me know how you get on, as I have a query. When I first installed the FitsLiberator, I just executed the downloaded file and accepted all the defaults and everything worked just fine.

When I previously double-clicked a FITs file in Adobe Bridge, it then opened a very useful FITs dialogue where you could adjust several parameters before opening the FITs file in CS3.

However, something has now changed and when I double-click a FITs file, it now opens directly in CS3 and I don’t get the intermediate FITs dialogue panel. The only changes I made were to install the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw and an Astra Image Plug In?

Cheers

Dennis

[RB]

Maybe try changing the association for the FITS files Dennis to point to A.Bridge instead of CS3.
Is that possible?

:shrug:

[Dennis]

Hi Andrew

I had a look at the file associations in Adobe Bridge (Edit; Preferences) and couldn’t see an entry for FITs, so maybe that’s the problem?

I’ll have another poke around and see if I can add a file association entry in there.

Thanks

Dennis

[sheeny]

I think RB is talking about the file associations in windows, Dennis. That's where I'd look...

Al.

[Dennis]

Thanks Al.

I just guessing here, but think that the problem started when I installed the Astra Image Plug-ins in CS3. In the Filters Folder, they appear above the FITS Liberator entry and so may have muscled in on the old process?

Whilst I did experiment with the FITS Liberator dialogue when it used to open, I stopped using it in favour of the native dialogues in e.g. MAXIM so its more of a niggling issue that a true loss of functionality.

Cheers

Dennis

[sheeny]

Should FITS Liberator allow you to save FITS files from PS CS3?

I've just installed it, and it allows me to open a FITS file, but FITS doesn't appear in the file type list in Save As...:shrug:

Al.

[sheeny]

Ahhh... don't worry guys... I just read Eddie's post about FITSplug... it's all clear now.;)

Al.

[Dennis]

Hi Al

In CS3 I have the option to Save as FITS, although it then seems that this may have resulted from installing the Astra Image CS3 plug ins (?), which I installed after I installed FITS Liberator.

Cheers

Dennis