Oh .... my gawd!! ... Noooooo!! ...

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

.... I bought Pixinsight in a moment of weakness. I started it up, looked at the interface and my left eye started twitching and mouse hand started shaking. I may even have had a few palpitations!! What ARE all these strange buttons, processes, options and three letter acronyms??!!! Aaaaargh!!! I'm going to need therapy I think.

So why did a hard core PS / CCDStack man buy it? For its star registration which seems to be best in class (and includes ability to deform - better than Registar), and it's "DBE"-ing (gradient removal) capability - also best in class. I tried both of these at a rudimentary level (there are 1,000 options to choose from) and they worked well. I may also try it's calibration capabilities after my first therapy session. No, it won't be supplanting my beloved (and easy to use) PS for post processing - that's a bridge too far!



Cheers, Marcus

[PeterEde (Peter)]

Yep downloaded the demo and took one look.: eyepop:

[Octane (Humayun)]

Mate, if I could spit out a mosaic after one day of using it, you can do anything.

H

[pluto (Hugh)]

Just watch Harry's vids and you'll be fine:
http://www.harrysastroshed.com/pixin...sighthome.html

[multiweb (Marc)]

Anyone seen that movie 'Ender's game'? That's what using PixInsight the first time feels like. The pain subsides after the first week though

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Photoshop is completely unintuitive for astrophotography. Who would think that a key process in star selection is to use the dust and scratches filter? On the other hand, PI uses "StarMask" which makes much more sense. Spend an intensive week seriously exploring PI and you'll love it!

[lazjen (Chris)]

"One of us. One of us..."

Yeah, PixInsight I think is going to be one of those tools that will continue to surprise you and give you much to learn over a long time.

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

I think part of the problem people have with PI is that most people are comfortable with their current processing package, so there is always a fallback. It's easier to say "this is just too hard" and go back to the comfort of what you know. In the old days you HAD to learn PS if you were serious about AP, so you just knuckled down and learned it. The pain of learning PS has long been forgotten, but think back and recall the first time you opened Photoshop. PI is no more difficult than any other comparably powerful software package.
Geoff

[h0ughy (David)]

a tool, is a tool, is a tool, but Pixinsight is is more than a tool, its tradesman made for tools to use, er um it a tool for the trade i meant to say.

welcome to the fold Marcus

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

..No, it won't be supplanting my beloved (and easy to use) PS for post processing - that's a bridge too far!



Cheers, Marcus

I wouldn't bet on it if I were you Marcus. PI can become seriously addictive!
Geoff

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Originally Posted by ghsmith45

Photoshop is completely unintuitive for astrophotography.

Nah - PS is easy peasy!! Been using it for years and I've never had to pick up an unintuitively labelled icon from a popup and drop into into an image frame ... and then wonder what it actually did

Originally Posted by lazjen

"One of us. One of us..."

Oh nooooo ... does that mean ... resistance is futile??!!

Originally Posted by h0ughy

a tool, is a tool, is a tool, but Pixinsight is is more than a tool, its tradesman made for tools to use, er um it a tool for the trade i meant to say.

Well said Dave It certainly will just be another tool in my kit bag ... no more, no less - it will compliment my PS processing ... All hail Photoshop!!!

Originally Posted by ghsmith45

I wouldn't bet on it if I were you Marcus. PI can become seriously addictive!
Geoff

I can always quit!

[Paul Haese]

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

.... I bought Pixinsight in a moment of weakness. I started it up, looked at the interface and my left eye started twitching and mouse hand started shaking. I may even have had a few palpitations!! What ARE all these strange buttons, processes, options and three letter acronyms??!!! Aaaaargh!!! I'm going to need therapy I think.

So why did a hard core PS / CCDStack man buy it? For its star registration which seems to be best in class (and includes ability to deform - better than Registar), and it's "DBE"-ing (gradient removal) capability - also best in class. I tried both of these at a rudimentary level (there are 1,000 options to choose from) and they worked well. I may also try it's calibration capabilities after my first therapy session. No, it won't be supplanting my beloved (and easy to use) PS for post processing - that's a bridge too far!



Cheers, Marcus

Mate this is my very reason for not buying it either. I took a look at it and wondered where the hell everything was. If you ever get it sorted out for registration and stacking let us know. I would be interested.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

got to admit, I gave PI my very best shot. I watched and processed alongside the tutorials for hours and got no joy from it at all.
The work flow for me is not intuitive, what takes me a couple of minutes to achieve in PS took 15 minutes in PI.
Maybe down the track I'll give it another go, but for now I prefer PS.

Is it just me or can you tell when an image has been processed in PI? It has that HDR look to it.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Hmmm?...well if you've bought it...maybe I should too I've only used Astroart and PS for years now too....Doh! I watched Houghy use it at IISAC a couple of years ago and thought the same as you Marcus..ie..huh? That just seemed wrong ... will it fix my professionally diagnosed fobia of dark frames and leaving noise in an image

Mike

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

...
Is it just me or can you tell when an image has been processed in PI? It has that HDR look to it.

I've noticed that too. The trick with using any tool is not to overuse it as I fear some people do with DBE. My plan initially is to add bits of PI (including DBE) to my workflow to do things I can't currently do (well).

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

... will it fix my professionally diagnosed fobia of dark frames and leaving noise in an image

Ooohhhh - for that you'll need the MRLLDSPIM tool (Morphological Random Low Level Digital Signal Psycho Insensitivity Mitigation) tool. Beware though - it has 278 options!

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Ooohhhh - for that you'll need the MRLLDSPIM tool (Morphological Random Low Level Digital Signal Psycho Insensitivity Mitigation) tool. Beware though - it has 278 options!

PMSL yeah, it's like that.

[RobF (Rob)]

The trouble is what it spits out is damned good. You'll gradually get brainwashed further into finding it intuitive.

Resistance is futile!
You will be assimilated!

(err, getting a bit carried away with Star Trek Borg quotes....ahem)

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Simon Walters from the ASV did an introductory video to processing in Pixinsight, you can see it here...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rGp6UdC09us

Chees
Andy

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Welcome to the light side Marcus! Once you get used to PI you'll never look back. Registration and stacking routines are superior to anything else I've tried, including Maxim. On top of that it is loaded with cool operations that allow you to do things that are just impossible in Photoshop. Yes you do need to play with all the options etc but you'll soon get a feel for what settings to use in which circumstances.

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Is it just me or can you tell when an image has been processed in PI? It has that HDR look to it.

I think that's generally the result of applying HDRMultiscaleTransform too strongly.

Cheers,
Rick.