AstroPixel Processor. Who’se using it.

[pmrid (Peter)]

I’ve downloaded a trial version and given it a spin with some OSC data on M8.

The PC I’m using is a 64Bit Win10 OS with an i5 CPU and 16GB RAM.

I’m a bit non-plussed by it so far and thought I’d see who else has any familiarity with it.

[Nikolas (Nik)]

Most of my images were worked with astropixel Processor but I also use photoshop and siril to finalise them, all stacking and ha extraction etc is done with APP

[mldee (Mike)]

Been using it for about 3 months, mainly to stack each night's images and have a quick look at the result, which can be kept as a FITS or TIFF linear file suitable for my intended future final processing, which I can then do at my leisure.

I like its workflow, basically load files in step 1 then Integrate in step 6, and the ability to fiddle with the stacking parameters should you wish, courtesy of a bunch of YouTube tutorials. You can then also further process if you wish, but I prefer to learn StarTools for that as it seems to have more tools and features.

TSRD: Good quick and easy to use stacking, a nice step up from Nebulosity, with stretched/unstretched images and jpg available on completion. 8/10.

[Dave882 (David)]

Yep it’s been really good for me over the last 5-6months. Quite easy to use and very intuitive. Lots of great stacking features and can handle poor data too. For instance, some of my data had terrible vignetting due to incorrect filter size and it still manages to do the stack where as dss will just cause problems. One thing that I’m particularly impressed by is the fact you can easily add data from different nights, different fov, different scopes or image trains and it just works it out! Mosaics are so simple it almost feels like you’re cheating. The light pollution removal tool is absolutely brilliant - which is fantastic if your shooting in the suburbs or with any moon around or even if your flats aren’t perfect.

It’s weakness is it’s post processing. Besides the Lp removal and colour calibration, Other tools are quite poor. Star reduction always seems to leave bad results, HSL is stupidly complex, sharpness/contrast/saturation are also very basic and can sometimes do more harm then good. For this reason I found it handles galaxies better than nebula projects, and I’ve found it’s much better to just import the stacked/corrected fits file into PS or startools for further processing.

Perhaps the main other weakness is the time it takes to process. Some of my bigger stacks are an overnight affair (but bit better now with latest release)

Having said all that, it’s stacking and simple basic processing was what sold me. Also the fact that it works on Mac i should mention. I’ve No regrets in paying for the licence.

[pmrid (Peter)]

First thing I stumbled over was the time factor. I wanted to give it a solid test so I threw 120 OSC subs at it and it took forever to get to integration. 5 hours or so. OK! I need more RAM. I got it! Tomorrow I will upgrade from 8:to 32 GB. That will give it a boost. Then I’ll try again but in the meantime, I’m pondering Mike’s comment about loading the subs and leaping straight to Step 6. Is that right, Mike?

And finally, do you integrate into 32 Bit FITS.? I have to figure out how to load those into PS. At the moment, it’s giving me the finger!

[Nikolas (Nik)]

Originally Posted by pmrid

First thing I stumbled over was the time factor. I wanted to give it a solid test so I threw 120 OSC subs at it and it took forever to get to integration. 5 hours or so. OK! I need more RAM. I got it! Tomorrow I will upgrade from 8:to 32 GB. That will give it a boost. Then I’ll try again but in the meantime, I’m pondering Mike’s comment about loading the subs and leaping straight to Step 6. Is that right, Mike?

And finally, do you integrate into 32 Bit FITS.? I have to figure out how to load those into PS. At the moment, it’s giving me the finger!

More ram will work better, I also integrate straight to step 6

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Originally Posted by pmrid

First thing I stumbled over was the time factor. I wanted to give it a solid test so I threw 120 OSC subs at it and it took forever to get to integration. 5 hours or so. OK! I need more RAM. I got it! Tomorrow I will upgrade from 8:to 32 GB. That will give it a boost. Then I’ll try again but in the meantime, I’m pondering Mike’s comment about loading the subs and leaping straight to Step 6. Is that right, Mike?

And finally, do you integrate into 32 Bit FITS.? I have to figure out how to load those into PS. At the moment, it’s giving me the finger!

PS knows nothin about FITS, that's why there's an entire industry based on that gap. Convert to 16 bit TIFF 1st and PS will become useful again . I went to an Adobe show once. Asked "what about FITS", everyone shrugged, no idea what that was, nuf said. I should've given them the finger .

[Dave882 (David)]

Originally Posted by Nikolas

More ram will work better, I also integrate straight to step 6

You can integrate straight to step 6. That’s pretty much how I always do it. You can just stick with all the default options or change the settings on the other tabs to integrate subs with different optics, variable illumination or fov, or specify how to rank the subs on quality parameters.

[mldee (Mike)]

As previous posts say, yep, load in step1, then go to step 6 and hit integrate. When the church bell rings, Viola! You can then save the finished product as unstretched FITS, stretched TIFF or stretched png/jpg for happy snap use. Oh,and yes, you can turn off the bell in settings...

You need to have a linear unstretched TIFF to plop into Startools.

Some of my stretched integrated files from my 2600mc finished up at around 300MB, so RAM is your friend. The 'Tools' tab on the LHS is also a handy one for cropping and other basic tasks. eg; You can click on the directory label above the tabs to move to a different folder for your next job.

Lots of little shortcuts in there, best way is to dive in for a week or two and watch the YouTube videos for tips. Don't waste any time on the RHS tabs, they still confuse me and I'd rather learn Startools, as APP doesn't seem to do any sort of masking etc, which I think is a really handy tool. Startools seems good value as well, 9/10.

I must admit, Nina with Autofocus, plate solving, remote desktop and APP make a very comfortable setup for a happy snapper like me. I'm doing all the open clusters around Eta this week. IC 2602 tonight.

10.15pm and still more beautiful starry nights out here in the valley, 6c at the now-tamed RC8 outside, 24 inside with the wood fire providing the necessary ambience and comfort.

Cheers and good luck with APP.

[pmrid (Peter)]

My thanks to you all. I’ve doubled my available RAM and done a few trial runs on the advised workflow. I agree with the consensus view of APP and plan to starting a yearly lease arrangement to begin. It’s still not a quick procedure but it does seem to produce superior results.
Now - because fate always throws us curve-balls, I have today been told I need to have cataract surgery on both eyes starting in about 2 weeks. Whooppee!
So I expect we can look forward to clear skies for at least the next couple of months.

[mldee (Mike)]

As thanks for the coming weeks of cloudless nights, I'll offer a few words of encouragement re the impending cataract surgery:

Haven't had it done personally, but one of the local town characters here who did, said the results were almost unbelievably good, says his eyesight now is like a teenager's.

So perhaps you'll be able to save a lot of money in future and go back to visual astronomy

Second 'glass half full' is that you picked the right body parts to have repaired, some of the lower extremities would be far less pleasant in their outcomes.

Best of luck and hope all turns out well.

Btw, I processed last night's open cluster work in APP today, the stacked files from my 2600mc were 317MB, so RAM and more RAM! One of the shots took about two hours to integrate, but that was with 190 60s 50MB subs. An i7 -9700 16GB tiny pc Lenovo does the work.