RegiStar tutorial

[lensman57]

Hi,

Does anyone have a decent tutorial for this software. I have tried to get the software to register and align two sets of images of m106 taken with the same scope and camera but one set has the camera rotated by 180 degrees and it just won't do it, the error message says that it failed to make a map of something or the other. What is on the net is very simplistic and brief.

Many thanks in advance,

A.G

[Psychobilly]

If you find one let me know...  I have looked in the past...

There has been no development of the software for a considerable time but when it's playing nice it does a fantastic job...

Peter...

[Zakalwe]

This is the one that I use. I've never had a problem (touch wood, rubs lucky rabbit's foot)

http://www.astromatt.com/Articles/Registar.html

Make sure that your input TIFFs don't have loads of Photoshop layers in them.

[ollypenrice]

Mine seems to handle rotation but not flip. For an easy life, get the images into the same orientation in Ps first. That is, the same way up and none flipped.

As Zakalwe suggests, the other thing can be hidden layers in Ps. Look at your channels as well. Sometimes there will be a fourth channel in there so discard this or Registar won't play. (This had had me a few times.)  

When you do this Registar will do the impossible, such as aligning and resizing a 2.4 metre FL Horsehead onto a camera lens Orion widefield.

Olly

[Zakalwe]

. Look at your channels as well. Sometimes there will be a fourth channel in there so discard this or Registar won't play. (This had had me a few times.)  

Good point Olly

I forgot about Channels. When you create a layer mask in PS it normally holds a copy as an alpha channel. That can trip Registar up.

I think that it's best to register and align before doing any processing (other than stacking). Once you start to apply non-linear stretches, Registar can have problems identifying the star centroids. Stack - Align & Register- Process.

[lensman57]

Thanks for all the replies. I apologise for not replying earlier but I just got the internet back, it has been off due to a provider change since last Friday. I was not loading Tiffs but raw Fits from the image capture software. Will have a go again and hopefully it works this time otherwise it was $150.00 down the drain . Recently I have had a few of these wrong buys not with AP but with my other bottomless pit hobby " Model engineering ".

Regards,

A.G

[Psychobilly]

If you find one let me know...  I have looked in the past...

There has been no development of the software for a considerable time but when it's playing nice it does a fantastic job...

Peter...

Well it was only 11 years since the last update but then today....... An e-mail..... 

It's now 64 Bit .

https://aurigaimaging.com/support/versions.php

[ollypenrice]

Registar is the programme to die for. Fear not. I'm in and out of there like a rat in a cheese shop. You'll sort it.

Olly

[Psychobilly]

If anyones going to see the benefit of the 64 bit versions it's likely to be you Olly...

You can now work on more files and larger images provided you have the  hardware ...

I guess they thought that the UI didn't need an update  - If it ain't broke don't fix it....

[Zakalwe]

I particularly like that it can now check for updates via the Help menu. I can see that particular button getting clicked a lot....