Hi all,

1.6 is now the new stable version of StarTools. The list of innovations, new functionality, improvements, optimizations and enhancements is very, very long (see CHANGELOG file). 1.6 also includes improved, integrated documentation and support.

We're also very excited to announce and release the first 1.7 alpha, making StarTools the first fully GPU accelerated AP-specific post-processing application available. Watching a high-iteration Decon finish in almost real-time is something to behold! :)

Lastly, we cannot thank enough our users, and the many generous alpha/beta testers, translators, dataset providers, and signal processing enthusiast who continue to actively contribute to StarTools development and innovation.

Without you, StarTools, nearly 10 years in, would not be where it is now; at the cutting-edge of astronomical image signal processing and fidelity!

You can find the new versions in the download section on the website.

Clear skies and a heartfelt thank you to you all!

Ivo

Why is there no option to save to Fits? 16bit or 32bit. I got my license today and was very surprised to see this astrophotography software not supporting real astrophotography files. Maybe OK with all who share to internet, but not to those who catalogs their files using Fits Header information.

I wanted to try Star tools and attempted to run both the stable and beta versions, but the the same thing for both (below) on mac OSX Mojave 10.14. I attempted to run from both a system location (Applications) and a location owned by my user. Also attempted a `sudo open StarTools.app`. I get the following for everything mentioned above.

​

2019-12-26 20:19:53.792 StarTools[862:23831] /Volumes/Electro/StarTools.app/..//

2019-12-26 20:19:53.792 StarTools[862:23831] The application could not start because it could not find the 'resources' file, or the 'resources' file is write protected. Please make sure it is available in the same folder as the application executable and that it the folder and the 'resources' file has read/write permissions set.

logout

Saving session...

...copying shared history...

...saving history...truncating history files...

...completed.

Also, in case it matters, permissions seem fine (should the "R" in Resources be capital?):

startools neon--blue$ ls -l StarTools.app/Contents/

total 16

-rwxrwxrwx 1 neon--blue staff 784 Nov 2 2014 Info.plist

drwxrwxrwx 2 neon--blue staff 102 May 12 2019 MacOS

-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 neon--blue staff 9 Nov 2 2014 PkgInfo

drwxrwxrwx 2 neon--blue staff 102 Nov 2 2014 Resources

Hi all,

1.6.382 alpha previews some major updates to the engine, the application and compilation targets.

Along with a new (additional!) Denoise 2 module, much work has gone into further optimisations and making the engine more CPU data cache friendly. Furthermore, two new executables have been added to take advantage of newer instruction sets found in modern systems (from Intel Haswell, or AMD Excavator and Ryzen CPUs onward). These executables have the postfix 'AVX2'.

Regardless of the executable version you are running, you should notice considerable speedups across the board, especially compared to 1.5 and lower.

Given that this alpha release has a lot of work done under the hood, I am keen to hear from you how the engine is behaving. Thank you in advance!

Hi all,

A 1.5 Maintenance Release has been uploaded with some important fixes. Updating is recommended.

A 1.6 alpha version is also available which implements a number of new features, improvements and a completely rewritten signal-aware multi-scale (wavelet) sharpening module. See CHANGELOG file for details.

Get them here.

1.5.369MR1 Maintenance Release

• Fixed memory leak in Wipe module
• Fixed bug where small screens would not show Rotate functionality in main screen
• Fixed bug in handling edge cases in Decon where Decon would generate pixel artifacts
• Improved Decon deringing of small stars
• Small improvement in overall handling of Tracking fidelity
• MaxRGB mode now shows linear color dominance in "before" mode
• Fixed memory overflow bug in Shrink module

Clear skies!

Hi all,

After a long, long period of R&D and subsequent beta testing, I am proud to announce the next big version of StarTools! It finally brings together everything researched and developed over a period of 4 years, only some of which could be glimpsed in the 1.4.x development versions.

What's new

1.5 is a massive release, jam-packed with enhancements, features and exciting signal-processing innovations;

• Create and process complex composites as if they were simple DSLR datasets. The new Compose mode processes luminance (detail) and color separately in parallel. In a world first, processing LRGB, LLRGB, LSHO and more in one go without combining later is now possible and yields cleaner results to boot due to cross-dataset signal consultation. Video of LLRGB example here and video of LSHO example of the iconic Hubble Pillars of Creation here.
• Multiple years of work have gone into improving the signal evolution Tracking engine performance across all modules. Noise mitigation and signal fidelity preservation is more effective than ever before,
• New presets and a brand a new module video here are now available for quick and intuitive manipulation of narrowband datasets.
• Many other quality-of-life improvements are included, such as pre/post-tweak buttons, hot keys, UI overhaul, optimizations, new docs and videos, STREPLAY support and much, much more. See CHANGELOG file in the download for details.

The trial is still free as always and downloadable now. Any StarTools license ever issued will work with 1.5 and make it fully functional. As a courtesy, this is true even if your license has expired (though if you like what you see, please consider supporting us by renewing your license).

Many thanks to the beta testers and those sending me datasets. I couldn't have done this without you! :D

To be launched in the next couple of weeks, it's a pretty massive update to StarTools. New modules, videos, documentation. Teasing out even more signal with signal evolution Tracking, heaps of narrowband improvements, quality-of-life enhancements.

Contact /u/verylongtimelurker if you'd like a preview of the latest Release Candidate.

I’ve got a ZWO ASI294MC Pro that writes data as “color” FITS files. Can startools debayer these so they can be converted to tiff (or similar)?

Thanks!

Hello everyone, I'm looking to get into astrophotography, I was wondering if you guys can offer tips and tricks and suggestions in terms of gear, DSLR, Tripods, Lens, etc. Money isn't really an issue for me but i would like to have some variation. Thank you all in advance for the help and I can't wait to start taking pictures of our gorgeous Milky Way.

Hello eerie silence...

I am attempting to process my photograph of Cassiopeia in StarTools, and although I am definitely making it better, I'm certainly not making it as good as it could be. I was hoping someone might be able to take a look and see what they can do...

Here is a link to the file. It's a straight autosave from DeepSkyStacker. I have used only light frames, dark frames and bias frames. I didn't have the appropriate gear to take flat frames.

Thanks very much in advance!

Could anyone help me with processing in StarTools? Recently got it, but I just can't produce anything remotely looking like a proper image, only grainy overstretched gradiented monstrosity. Maybe something is wrong with my data (only thing I'm sure of is that the location was light polluted, but currently I can only imagine from my home in city)? I've tried numerous tutorials, no success here. My stacked and callibrated frames are available here if you're sweet enough to help: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rbc36vcc00aonp4/AddOns.rar?dl=0

I am trying startools over using traditional photoshop and I cant figure out what I am doing.

I have a link below of an image of M31 I did to test out some new tools and I feel like there is a lot more information in it than I am pulling out. Any help is appreciated.

Every time I try to do anything in startools I end up with a massive blue mess.

Raw Image (26frames @20sec): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzBgerQBLMCuaUEzbG4wdlZwSHc/view?usp=sharing

What I normally pull out: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzBgerQBLMCuQmg4dER0cExIYms/view?usp=sharing

I have a small collection of astro shots from my recent hiking trip to Wyoming that I am hoping to process with StarTools. I am new to the software and just getting started. I was hoping someone could show me what is possible with this single frame photo I took of the southern portion of the Milky Way. The jpeg came out pretty good, but I was hoping to improve upon it in post-processing, and I'd like to see what's possible with this software.

JPEG: http://i.imgur.com/3Ry9gh1.jpg RAW: https://www.dropbox.com/s/t1sujelyd8s9fuz/DSC_0373.NEF?dl=0

Thanks!

Edit: I thought I should add the photo details. This was taken in the Cirque of the Towers, in the Wind River Range in Wyoming with a Nikon D5500, Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm, f4 and ISO 4000.

I know StarTools does not have a stacking feature, but does anyone know if this functionality will be introduced? I am a Mac user and there doesn't seem to be any good options for me unless I use Parallels or spend a lot of money on Pixinsight.

Hi...

so I just purchased StarTools (although still waiting for the email xD) anyway... I was following the M8 video online with my M45 data, and the bright stars are really ruining the image, I know I'll have some aberration (I was shooting with my guidescope to have a bigger FoV)... but this is just way too much...

I followed the tips here but it did not really help...

Any ideas?

Thanks

EDIT: close up on the disaster.