AIP4win

[Ric]

Hi all,
I am considering buying the AIP4Win image processing software and was wondering what any members that use it think of it. I am in no hurry at the moment as I still have to save the pennys first.

cheers

Ric

[leon]

Sent You a PM Ric

[Dennis]

Hi Ric

I purchased the original book and SW (V1) just to educate myself on the whole topic of ccd's and ccd imaging, and it was worth it for that alone. I use the software occasionally and it is very powerful and rich in features and advanced functions that I have yet to try out, so I can't really say much more than that. Just checking that you know the latest is Version 2?

Cheers

Dennis

[Ric]

Hi Dennis,
Thanks for your thoughts
Version 2 was the one I was looking at.
I think the problem is that there is so much good software around you tend to get a bit bogged down as to which one to choose.
I've also got the thirty day free trial of Maxim DL at the moment and I dont think thirty days is enough to fully check it out.
I also dont think that I've seen any one in Australia advertising it either.

Ric

[Doug]

Ric,
I have AIP4Win v2 and well it is ok for what it is intended for, but might not be of any lasting benefit. The book is very very deep and will load the reader with gobs more info that most would ever use or digest. But that is not to say it has no value. The S/W is meant more for demonstration of various processing routines rather than being user friendly. Many of the tools will not work with RGB colour so you need to be prepared to work with individual colour channels and recombine later. There seems to be a serious memory usage problem with the S/W in that I have found that I can run a process on a small file ok, but am garanteed a 'program not responding' result with larger files.
Astroart 3 is good.
CCDstack is a program that I have heard rivals MaxIm, though I have not tried it You can get a 30 day trial period for that as well.
Some others that you might want to look at are; PixInsight and Iris.
Depending on your imager, you might also want to look at Images Plus.
cheers,
Doug

[Ric]

Hi Doug,
Thanks for the info, I shall have to have a look at the software you have suggested. I have been doing some processing in the trial Maxim and I am quite happy with the results I have achieved but the price is a bit scary at around $700 Australian.

all the best

Ric

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

I agree with Doug's comments. AIP4Win really seems to be very slow when dealing with images from a Canon 350D (8mp). I have never really used it for this reason, which is a pity, because ther seem to be some really good features if only one could get them to work at a reasonable rate.

The book is, however, is well worth while. In fact I would say that it is obligatory reading for every aspiring astroimager.

BTW I use imagesPlus for the initial raw conversion, calibration and stacking and the switch to Photoshop.

Geoff

[Ric]

Hi Geoff,
I have actually ended up buying MaximDL instead. I had the thirty day trial version and was very happy with the way it was presented and the ease of learning to use it, then as it started to run out my wife offered to buy the full version for me as a late birthday present. The pressure is now on me to find her something nice for her birthday, maybe an ultra wide eyepiece LOL.