perdrix

https://github.com/deepskystacker/DSS/releases/tag/4.2.2-Beta2

This release is all about performance, though other areas have been enhanced as well.  The main changes since 4.2.1 are:

1. Changes to star registration code to detect larger stars than before.   Star radius of up to 50 pixels is now valid (it was 20 pixels).  This was needed to accomodate higher resolution sensors.

2. Allow larger star sizes to the specified in the Star Mask creation dialogue.   Star diameter of up to 100 pixels is now allowed.   This was needed to accomodate higher resolution sensors.

3. OpenMP speedup of Star Mask image reading code.

4. Huge speedup of final image display by using much larger rectangles and OpenMP speedup of the bitmap extraction code.

5. Speed up star registration by updating progress indicator once every 25 iterations instead of each iteration.

6. Computing Final Picture using Kappa-Sigma Clip processing is now about 50 times faster!

7. Computing Final Picture using Auto Adaptive Weighted Average is now about 43 times faster!

8. Auto-Adaptive Weighted Average now re-written completely.  It should no longer produce whited out images or other strange results. Thanks to Michael A. Covington and Simon C. Smith for their immense help in locating references and getting this working.

9. Update LibRaw to 0.19.3.

10. Reverted Entropy calculation code in CEntropyInfo::InitSquareEntropies() to NOT compute in parallel - some called code wasn't thread safe.

11. Entropy Weighted Average complete stack of 50 lights is now about 20 times faster on my laptop, down from 4hrs 22min to 12min 55 sec.

12. Bug fix - changing "Set the black point to 0" or "Use Camera White Balance" after an image was loaded didn't change the rendering.

13. When loading raw files, check that the camera is listed in the LibRaw supported camera list.  Issue a warning if not.

14. User request to change the file open dialog to default to *all* supported image types including raw files.

15. Three times performance improvement in star registration.

Have fun
David
 

Median Kappa-Sigma should also be somewhere around 40-50 times faster than 4.1.1 but we did that change in 4.2.0(RIP). 

As usual you can get this from:

<https://github.com/deepskystacker/DSS/releases/tag/4.2.2-Beta1>

This release is all about performance, though other areas have been enhanced as well.  The main changes since 4.2.1 are:

1. Changes to star registration code to detect larger stars than before.

Star radius of up to 50 pixels is now valid (it was 20 pixels).  This was needed to accomodate higher resolution sensors.

2. Allow larger star sizes to the specified in the Star Mask creation

dialogue.   Star diameter of up to 100 pixels is now allowed.   This was

needed to accomodate higher resolution sensors.

3. OpenMP speedup of Star Mask image reading code.

4. Huge speedup of final image display by using much larger rectangles and OpenMP speedup of the bitmap extraction code.

5. Speed up star registration by updating progress indicator once every 25 iterations instead of each iteration.

6. Computing Final Picture using Kappa-Sigma Clip processing is now about 50 times faster!

7. Computing Final Picture using Auto Adaptive Weighted Average is now about

43 times faster!

8. Auto-Adaptive Weighted Average now re-written completely.  It should no longer produce whited out images or other strange results. Thanks to Michael A. Covington and Simon C. Smith for their immense help in locating references and getting this working.

9. Update LibRaw to 0.19.3.

Enjoy!

David C. Partridge

This new release fixes the memory leaks found in 4.2.0

It also speeds up the Median Kappa Sigma processing by about 20% compared to 4.2.0.

You can get it here:

https://github.com/deepskystacker/DSS/releases/tag/4.2.1-Release

Clear skies

David C. Partridge

Yes exactly so.

David

Please be aware that we've found a memory leak in the new code for importing RAW files in DSS 4.2.0.

I've sent a test build to the person who reported the problem and will be releasing a fix in the form of DSS 4.2.1 Beta 1 fairly soon

Apologies

David

Not a change I made intentionally ...

D.

7 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I'm struggling! Lots of errors that don't seem to be right - telling me I can't use more than one master flat or dark. I'll start again from scratch in case it's because I'm changing an old file list and note any issues as I go:

First, you need a file in the main group before it will creates a second group - that's OK one bias file will do for all.

Added lights to groups 1,2 & 3

It won't let me put the same file into two groups (I want to use the same dark in more than one group).

I've created a copy of my master flat.

Decided to use the same dark across all groups.

Right... stacking now.

OK - Yes, you are right, you do need a file in Main Group, pick a totally unrelated image and make sure it isn't ticked. Or indeed put you master bias frame there.

No you cannot add the same file to multiple groups.

1 minute ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Brilliant - I may now disappear into a processing hole for several weeks right when I need to get some serious work done!

🤣

Yes the main group can be empty

You should only put in the Main Group those calibration frames that you wish to apply to ALL groups.

If you want to separate lights/darks/flats from different sessions, load then into different groups and don't load into Main Group.

David

I cannot see how you don't have that dll if you are running Windows 10 - unless you've not applied updates.   What version of W10 are you running?

If all else fails, I live in Kenilworth - how far is that from you - is the system with DSS on it a laptop?  Or maybe I can connect using the Windows Assist thingy to see if I can work out what's going on...

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4027243/windows-10-solve-pc-problems-with-quick-assist

David

If you are installing DSS 4.2.0 to a Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 system you may find that it won't start with errors in the event log referring to ucrtbase.dll

If you encounter this problem, please download and install the appropriate version of the Universal C Runtime DLL from here:

 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2999226/update-for-universal-c-runtime-in-windows

David

10 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

I have had a similar problem installing latest version of Apt  I now have  install as administrator  as default on that,I will look again over the weekend , though DSS live opens fine displays 4.2 

Hmm - so the installer ran - is that right?  So when you try to run DeepSkyStacker, what happens?  Do you get any messages at all?   There may be some DLLs that you are missing - take a look at the readme.txt.

David

3 hours ago, bottletopburly said:

I updated bit it won’t load anyone else having problems, I will stick to REGIM  for now 

Do you mean Windows Defender or other Anti-Virus Software bitched because they didn't recognise it?  If so just use whatever "Advanced" or similar buttons are offered to let the install proceeed anyway.

David

The latest release of DeepSkyStacker is now available to download:

https://github.com/deepskystacker/DSS/releases/tag/4.2.0-Release

Welcome to DeepSkyStacker 4.2.0

The main change in this release is to use LibRaw version 19.2 instead of dcraw to capture images from RAW image files.
This should provide support for many recent cameras which wasn't possible using dcraw.

The raw data post-processing code has had some extra performance squeezed out if it by Vitali Pelenjow who took
my initial attempt at using OpenMP to parallelise the code and made it perform as it should (new in 4.2.0 Beta 4).

The resulting images should be very much the same (if not 100% identical) to the results obtained using DeepSkyStacker 4.1.1.

There is one thing that is incompatible with DeepSkyStacker 4.1.1:

The "Use Auto White Balance" white balance button has been disabled.

You can either accept the default which is "Daylight White Balance", or select "Use Camera White Balance".   If you select the latter, and camera was set to "Auto White Balance" when the images were taken, then the camera calculated "Auto White Balance" co-efficients will be used.   We don't recommend the use of Auto WB as each frame gets its own unique white balance which can prevent calibration frames such as flats and darks from working correctly.

We've also fixed a number of problems and made some other enhancements since 4.1.1

1. Support for images from cameras that use the Fujitsu X-Trans sensor (new in 4.2.0 Beta 2).
   The image is converted to a 3 colour RGB image and interpolated using Frank Markesteijn's algorithm using LibRaw::Process().
   Please note that the interpolation is quite slow (about 40 seconds per image on my Core i7 laptop).
   The image is then imported as if it were a Foveon colour image.

2. BSD 3 clause license file added.

3. A fix was made to correct crashes caused by a thread-unsafe assignment in the smart pointer code.

4. The "Stop" button on the progress dialogs should now actually work!

5. The space key can now be used to check/uncheck images in the picture list.

6. The user's default browser will be used instead of IE to open URLs.

7. Miscellaneous code cleanups and performance improvements including Median-Kappa-Sigma processing.

It looks like something went "odd" since I first installed PPA. Possibly related to a Windows 10 install.

Where's the tutorial please?  I was hunting for it and failed.

Dave

Where do I send the files please?

Dave

I tried to use PPA the other night for the first time, but failed to get it to work.

I imported the two png files I had, and it said it had solved them.  But when I clicked on "Find Polar Axis", nothing appeared to happen. I tried to paste in a screenshot here but was told it wasn't supported (how do I do that)?

What did I do wrong?

Thanks

Dave

Do any of you have a contact email address (probably best to PM me) for Juan?  I sent an enquiry via his website and it seems to have  fallen by the wayside.

Thanks, Dave

> Sorry Dave

Grin - just wait till you start singing "Daisy, Daisy ..."

OK I'll get Astrotortilla then.  OK understand the bit about horizontal/vertical now.

Once I've got my PE problem resolved I'll try to have a play with this.

Thanks

Dave

 I've a few questions:

1) Will this run with Python 3.4.3 instead of 2.7.8?

2) Has the issue of a work directory as distinct from install directory been resolved?

3) What is the recommended plate solver for working offline?

3) Does it matter what the orientation of the camera is for the two shots so long as they are approximately orthogonal?

4) What size FOV is needed?  For example would 49.5' by 27.85' (MS Lifecam Studio in ST80) be large enough or is this way too small?

Many thanks

Dave