PixInsight: Preprocessing script or do it manually?

[kirkster501]

Would be interested what folks do...  I've been using the script but are their compromises in doing so?

[harry page]

Hi

Just use the script , the calibrated and aligned frames will be the same as the manual way without the pain

You may need to integrate the calibrated and registered frames afterwards to get the best result though  

the out put from the script may or may not be good enough, you need to inspect the rejection maps to make sure

Harry

[frugal]

I use the pre-process script, and then if I do not get results i am happy with, i just run the integration tool again on the nicely registered files it has given me.

If I have data from multiple nights, then I will use the Pre-process script with the "calibrate only" flag checked separately for each night of data. That way each I can preprocess each nights data with the flats for that night. Then I run the image registration and integration processes manually.

Or, if I am processing something like M42, I will calibrate the whole lot together, and then register them all, but integrate the 30s subs, then the 120s subs, and then the 600s subs into 3 master light files that I can run the HDR tool on to combine.

[johnrt]

Never used the script, not sure what the fuss is about, just takes a couple of minutes to do it all manually.

[swag72]

I use the script and it works well - Nice and easy!

[frugal]

Never used the script, not sure what the fuss is about, just takes a couple of minutes to do it all manually.

True, but given that you should use different integration setting for lights, darks,flats aand bias frames, I find it a lot easier to throw the lot into the script to calibrate and register than trying to remember which settings are optimal for each type of frame.

[lensman57]

Use the script and then you can integrate the registered and calibrated frames manually to see if you get better results by altering the parameters but learning what these parameters are all about is another story.

Regards,

A.G

[johnrt]

True, but given that you should use different integration setting for lights, darks,flats aand bias frames, I find it a lot easier to throw the lot into the script to calibrate and register than trying to remember which settings are optimal for each type of frame.

I only make bias and flats masters for calibration, and do this once a year perhaps for bias and perhaps 2/3 times a year for flats. The only adjustments to integration is change the Weighs and Normalisation then hit go!!

[frugal]

I only make bias and flats masters for calibration, and do this once a year perhaps for bias and perhaps 2/3 times a year for flats. The only adjustments to integration is change the Weighs and Normalisation then hit go!!

I do fresh flats every session (the sensor cleaning on the camera moves the dust bunnies around). I can never remember which kinds of weighting and normalisation you need for each type of frame. I have kept the master bias and master dark I did a while ago, and I just create a fresh master flat for each night (which I then keep in my masters folder in case I need to recalibrate).

[gnomus]

Hi

Just use the script , the calibrated and aligned frames will be the same as the manual way without the pain

You may need to integrate the calibrated and registered frames afterwards to get the best result though  

the out put from the script may or may not be good enough, you need to inspect the rejection maps to make sure

Harry

But what do I do if I am not happy with the rejection map? (I'm a beginner with PixInsight. Even if I wanted to do it manually, I'm not sure what settings I would have to use to compile each of the 'Master' frames. There's so many options!).

Thank you for your video tutorials, by the way. Without them I am quite certain that I would have got nowhere at all.

[harry page]

Hi

After running the script you will some saved calibrated and registered files

You then will use the image integration module and select these files , here you will have the option to adjust the sigma settings on the  pixel rejection

setting ( after selecting a rejection method )

If you need to I have a video somewhere

Harry

[gnomus]

Hi

After running the script you will some saved calibrated and registered files

You then will use the image integration module and select these files , here you will have the option to adjust the sigma settings on the  pixel rejection

setting ( after selecting a rejection method )

If you need to I have a video somewhere

Harry

Thank you for replying.  I assume that you mean your "PreProcessing" video?  (I will re-watch it.)

In the meantime, does this section of an image I have been working on show an example of too much "rejection"?  I have massively exaggerated the effect by using an extreme "curve" in PixInsight.  And I have had to resize it to show what I am seeing.  (It's a portion of M42.)

If this is too much rejection, how do I fix it? I hope I am not hi-jacking the thread by posting this, but it seemed relevant.

[Barry-Wilson]

Would be interested what folks do...  I've been using the script but are their compromises in doing so?

Like may of your responses, I use the BPP script and then use the Image Integration process for my Registered images, adjusting settings as required to reject satellite trails etc, matching number of subs to the reccommended integration algorithm etc.  I use Cosmetic Correction too and the Super Master Bias.  Haven't yet tried Drizzle.  I find this two stage process works well.

Barry