PixInsight Help

[TheDecepticon]

Howdy!

I was wondering if some of the guys that use PixInsight might be able to give me a bit of assistance. If some one doesn't mind, could I please give them a ring to get a few basic questions answered. Please advise by PM. I know what I want to do and can do it, but how do it get to see the result of a curve etc?

Thanks.

[h0ughy (David)]

to get you on your way - watch the videos that Harry page has done - see them here

now basically going through you need to select your view to change with the histogram, then select the real time preview, then after that you look for the triangles below, grab the middle one, now you can move that up or down - as shown.

after you have had your play around you then select the new instance button, grab that and then drag it over the top of the image you then want to change and drop (after you close down the real time preview)

[TheDecepticon]

Thanks, Ill give it all a whirl.

[h0ughy (David)]

are you using a demo or have you purchased the software?

[TheDecepticon]

Houghy, it is a demo. It will not apply any transformations, it just doesnt seem to work. It is an older version that I never got around to installing and using, so I put it on yesterday with the number I was given.

After using your tips this morning and finding it doesnt work, I uninstalled it before I went to work, so I will request another trial, if I am able, and have another go.

[h0ughy (David)]

yes get yourself the latest - older versions pre 1.6 are not going to do you any favours

i will let you in on secret - i stack in DSS and do all of my processing in Pixinsight - i dont use photoshop at all except to resize for the web

[TheDecepticon]

To be honest, I am quite happy with photoshop, except for one or two tools that pixinsight has, like dbe. I calibrate, stack, align, etc in maxim, then finish in PS.
I should really try to use maxim more as that cost me enough and photoshop CS3 as well, not to mention noise ninja, gradient exterminator, etc, etc.
If I decide not to go with pixinsight, are there any other background tools that will plug into PS that you know of?

[h0ughy (David)]

no where near the quality or capability of DBE in pixinsight

[RobF (Rob)]

+1 for what David said re Harry's videos - they're invaluable and give you an idea of the power of this beast. It certainly takes a bit of getting used to after PS and I still find myself doing some things in PS although I should force myself to stay in PI probably.

IMHO PI is worth its price tag just for:
- DBE (correcting for gradients, poor flats, etc)
- great noise reduction routine with built in masking
- very powerful deconvolution tools
- curves for colour saturation
- blinking script (done by a User)
- Cumbersome but powerful stacking

The programmer continues to power ahead and the online community is very supportive and helpful. I believe the latest version now has some decent documentation, but I haven't had a chance to explore it yet this year...

In the end it is another collection of tools. You need to invest the hours to learn how to get the best from it (I'm only in the foothills of Everest at the moment...)