PixInsight Series

[Warhen (Warren)]

Hi Ice friends,
Here is a formal announcement of the PixInsight series we're working on. Our moderator thought it would be OK to share this news with members.

This time out, we board a new vehicle called PixInsight for which there is tremendous interest! Warren has teamed with PixInsight expert Rogelio Bernal Andreo, an APOD imager and recipient of AIC's prestigious Pleiades Award. PixInsight is the brainchild of Juan Conejero, a Spanish software developer who has led the 'PTeam' since 2004 in PI's development. If you're new to image processing, PixInsight is a very powerful and much less expensive alternative to Photoshop. New modules are being added all the time, eliminating the need for astro-specific, 3rd-party plugins as with Photoshop. Because it was specifically designed for Astrophotography, it has definite advantages over Adobe CS.

We're confident that IP4AP's succinct and to-the-point format will deliver the much needed 'context and chronology' to the existing information available on PixInsight- the what to do and when to do it. As with previous series, we are offering a Special Introductory Price on our Rolling Release. As each chapter is completed, it will be made available in streaming format. When the entire series is finished we will produce a DVD.

Once you are comfortable navigating in PixInsight, you'll learn how to harness its powerful, multiscale processing environment. ATrous Wavelets will enable you to treat large and small scale structures independently of one another. You'll learn how to Reduce, Align, and Combine quality master files; and while still in the linear space: restore sharpness with Deconvolution, repair Gradients with ABE and DBE, achieve proper color balance with Color Calibration, and perform noise reduction with ACNR. Later, we'll perform permanent, nonlinear stretches with the Histogram Transformation tool, develop amazing detail with HDRMT, and perform other enhancements such as selective Saturation and Morphological Transformation to reduce star sizes. Down the road, Rogelio will demonstrate his super-mosaic techniques.

Please be patient with us as quality authoring and production is time consuming. PixInsight tutorials require a Flash enabled browser. Tutorials cannot be downloaded. Would you please be so kind as to help us pass the word? Thank you very much all!

PixInsight

[stevous67 (Steve M)]

I've been trialling Pixinsight and I really do not like the work flow. On the other hand, I have identified two tools that are excellent, whilst many other functions I can achieve the same results in other programs with easier work flow.

I've watched I think all the online videos, and these are absolutely essential to get anywhere. The various masking tools are reasonably good, and simplify their creation. But I particularly do not like the constant comparisons to Photoshop - this is a particularly poor advertising strategy.

I appreciate being able to try this product in advance.

Steve

The PixInsight tools were ACDNR and DBE - Excellent. To expand, I am very familiar with PS, ACDNR is superior to Noise Ninja, a PS plugin, providing very good control of target area selection and visibly, on coarse mono noise, repeatidly showed better smoothing results.

DBE - provides superior background gradient removal, superior in my opinion to Gradientxterminator and various PS techniques.

Will I buy PI, damn, I just did...

[multiweb (Marc)]

I've been using PI for a little while now too and as you've already mentioned it the workflow is a little odd at first with the processes hierarchy. It takes a little getting used too. It has some powerful tools but I still use CCD Stack and Photoshop extensively. My favourite noise reduction is still Noiseware Professional by Imagenomic. I've used Noise Ninja, PS native noise reduction, NeatImage, PI ACDNR. Maybe I'm using them wrongly but I never got a better result than using Noiseware with very small incremental passes.

I love PI DBE. It does a great job at salvaging pictures plagued by gradients. Gradient exterminator still has its place in my bag of tools though as it is easier to use. I also like HLVG in PS to get rid of green casts. PS is also THE application to blend layers. I know the PI purists make a point to say painting is a crime but I still use that a lot: layering, masking, etc... It's easier and more intuitive than using PI masks and clone viewports.

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

PI works for me. I rely on Maxim for camera control, then it's PixIsight all the way from calibration to colour managed printer output.
Geoff

[Warhen (Warren)]

Hello my astro-imaging friends,
Hope you are well and happy new year to you! Just a quick note to let you know that Part-1 of my PixInsight series is now complete. The final chapter will be posted to the website by the weekend.

2.5 hours of excellent information is contained in 22 chapters which have been thirteen months in the making, and carefully produced by myself, with tremendous help from Rogelio Bernal Andreo and as always, Peter Proulx.

I would greatly appreciate you sharing this with your imaging friends and
acquaintances. Several free samples are available for viewing. Thanks for your support, please enjoy, and thanks for your time

Best, Warren

[stevous67 (Steve M)]

Looking forward to it, thank you.

Steve

[h0ughy (David)]

will this be made available on DVD?

[netwolf]

Great news been waiting for this.

[Warhen (Warren)]

Dear folks,
Our new PixInsight Part-1 tutorial DVD is finally ready to ship! The streaming version has been a very hot ticket for us. The disc contains 2.5 hours of pure information in twenty-three, highly produced and scripted flash tutorials by myself w/ consultation by Rogelio Bernal Andreo.

Samples are available linked from here

Here too is some verbiage from the press release-

This time out, IP4AP boards a new vehicle called PixInsight for which there is tremendous interest. Warren Keller has teamed with PixInsight Expert Rogelio Bernal Andreo, an APOD imager and recipient of AIC's prestigious Pleiades Award. IP4AP's succinct and to the point format delivers the much needed 'context and chronology' to the existing information available on PixInsight- the what to do and when to do it. If you're new to image processing, PixInsight is specifically designed for Astrophotography, and is a very powerful and less expensive alternative to Photoshop. Part-1 of the series will get you comfortable navigating in PixInsight. You'll learn how to Reduce, Align, and Combine quality master files; and while still in the linear space: repair Gradients with ABE and DBE, achieve proper color balance with ColorCalibration, and restore sharpness with Deconvolution.

Here is the Table of Contents


PixInsight Part-1 DVD will be available from OPT, Ian King, Teleskop-Service and other fine shops, as well as Directly

Thanks so much for your kind attention!

Best, Warren, Peter, and Rogelio

[h0ughy (David)]

great news - just ordered it. Harry's tutorials are great so these will be the bees knees to fill in the blanks