PIPP - planetary imaging pre-processor software

[cgarry]

Chris,

I've run one avi six time through pipp v 1.5 each one of which fails to select any images.

Maybe I've got conflicting option settings??

I've attached each of the log files

please advise

regards

Tony

Hi Tony,

The issue here is that option qmax has been set to less than option qmin. I had not realised that all the frames would be thrown away if that happened. I have added a check for this for the next version.

Cheers,

Chris

[tonyowen]

the issue here is that option qmax has been set to less than option qmin. I had not realised that all the frames would be thrown away if that happened. I have added a check for this for the next version.

Thanks Chris

Its a case of reading what is there rather than what you think is there !!

regards

Tony

[cgarry]

Thanks Chris

Its a case of reading what is there rather than what you think is there !!

regards

Tony

I know what you mean, it took me a while to spot the error! That was a good catch though, unpredictable behaviour from such a simple typo is never a good thing. Once the program moves over to a GUI interface it should be a lot more user friendly.

Cheers,

Chris

[tonyowen]

Chris

I've run the program again with the correct qmin & qmax figures!

I works okay, thank you.

I notice a number of differences, whether this is due to the program version or the options I do not know.

1) I get a folder of rejected images

2) the pipp acceptable images are coded as (for instance):

0001a, 0001b, 0001c

OR

0379a, 0379b [no xxxxc]

What is the inference, if any, of these codings

3) there is a very instructive quality file

regards

Tony

pipp_log07.txt

pipp_quality07.txt

[cgarry]

Hi Tony,

The folder of rejected images is a new feature so that the user knows exactly what is going on. The same goes for the quality file.

The xxxxa, xxxb and xxxxc naming is because you have the quality weighting (-qw) option selected. This is an experimental function is to give the best quality frames more influence in the final stack than the lower quality frames.

To achieve this the highest quality 25% of the images are stacked 3 times, the next highest quality 25% are stacked 2 times and the remaining 50% of the images are each stacked 1 time as normal.

So, for example, a stack selecting the 100 best quality images (-q=100) with quality weighting enabled (-qw):

Each of the first 25 images is output 3 times as xxxa, xxxb and xxxc.

The next 25 images are each output twice with the names xxxa and xxxb.

The remaining 50 images are output as normal as xxxx.

Therefore our stack of 100 has become a stack of 25*3 + 25*2 + 50 = 175.

As I said this is an experimental idea to try and get a get a slight improvement in the final stacked image. I am not yet convinced myself that it does actually produce an improvement in the final image, but I have had positive reports back from some testers.

Cheers,

Chris

[tonyowen]

Chris,

is it possible to have an option that removes(?) dim frames?

is it possible to have a maxpixel (mp) setting

and

a maxsize (ms) setting?

Sometimes I get both bright and dim frames on an avi and would wish to remove/cancel/bias the dim ones.

Because my setup is manual controlled some frames are blurs and streaks (as I move the 'planet' back to its start point for transiting my computer screen).

Having the option to both specify the max and min pixel and size setting would enable me to box in the desired frames and exclude the streaky and blurred frames.

regards

Tony

[cgarry]

Hi Tony,

That all seems sensible. I shall add it to the to-do list for the next release.

Cheers,

Chris

[Russe]

just tried for the first time and to my surprise - out of 1000 frames of a mars avi, 937 were rejected when I tried -centre because the planet diameter is too small??

What would be typical settings to use for Mars/Saturn/Jupiter?

Cheers

[Russe]

I now tried a file which I ran through Castrator and they didn't process 1000 frames... :?

[cgarry]

just tried for the first time and to my surprise - out of 1000 frames of a mars avi, 937 were rejected when I tried -centre because the planet diameter is too small??

What would be typical settings to use for Mars/Saturn/Jupiter?

Cheers

Hi Russe,

The default for the '-minsize' option is 50 pixels. For Mars this could be a bit high for a set up with a smallish focal length as Mars might not be 50 pixels wide in the captured image.

Try '-minsize=10' for Mars and PIPP should be able to find it. The only planet where reducing '-minsize' can cause a problem is Jupiter, where one of its moons can be detected as a planet if Jupiter wonders off the sensor but the moon is still on the sensor.

Cheers,

Chris

[Russe]

I tried as well a Barlowed version of Mars - 0 output frames.

Will attach all three logs.

pipp_log.txt

[Russe]

got it - had to use

-minsize=5

What do I do, when I have three colour channels in SER format?

[cgarry]

got it - had to use

-minsize=5

What do I do, when I have three colour channels in SER format?

Are your captures quite dim? It is just that a minimum size of 5 is quite small and I was wondering if the auto generated minimum pixel value is not ideal for you.

I assume you have split out the R, G and B channels into 3 SER files. In that case you need to stack and process each one individually and then combine them into an RGB image using Photoshop, PixInsight or some other image processing software.

Cheers,

Chris

[Asimov]

Hi Chris just wondering what algorithm this program uses to debayer DBK/DFK Y800 data. Registax uses a low quality fast algorithm 'nearest neighbour' where as I want to use Bilinear.

Thanks for any info.

[cgarry]

Hi Chris just wondering what algorithm this program uses to debayer DBK/DFK Y800 data. Registax uses a low quality fast algorithm 'nearest neighbour' where as I want to use Bilinear.

Thanks for any info.

PIPP uses the bilinear algorithm, or optionally it can use a smooth hue algorithm but this does slow things down and I do not think it really improves things.

Cheers,

Chris

[Russe]

mhm - got trouble using AS!2 after having three ser files of Mars

e.g. I open the blue channel into AS!2 - settings planet, dynamic background, gradient

click on analyze - analyses the 437 frames I got out of PIPP

works - first clicker ticked (Buffering and Image Analysis)

Now I got to the other pic and put a couple (5) of alignment boxes in - 25 and then press "place AP in grid"

now I want to go for stacking, settings: png, 100% frames used (PIPP before), no tick on normalise or sharpen, tick in save in folder, nothing in prefix, tick for HQ refine, no drizzle

it wips through the file in a split second but doesnt make any new ticks in the middle under ref image, image alignment etc. AND I can't find a file that AS might have processed???

Please help? What happened?

[tonyowen]

mhm - got trouble using AS!2 after having three ser files of Mars ........ Please help? What happened?

Hi Russe

not certain if I can help.

For small images AS!2 likes the following boxes ticked BEFORE processing:

planet, gradient, & dynamic equalization.

With my small (Mars and other) images I found that AS!2 failed if I ticked 'edge' instead of gradient.

The processed AS!2 files are found in the directory from which the bmp/avi/ser file(s) were opened.

The pipp options I use are:

-q= -ctr - ms=5 -mp=10 -qmin=2 -qmax=3 -qinc=1

I then open the directory where the pipped bmp file are saved, I move the rejected folder, the pipp_log and pipp_quality files from that directory (to another).

Then I use cntrl-A to select all of the bmp files and drag them into AS!2. (I find having both the pipp directory with the bmp files and the AS!2 program open helps the dragging).

Hope some of the above helps

regards

Tony

[cgarry]

V1.7 of PIPP has been uploaded to the website (PIPP Planetary Imaging PreProcessor).

This version has support for writing the processed frames out as a .avi file. It has also had quite a lot of work done under the hood and has lots of minor bug fixes.

Cheers,

Chris

[Russe]

Great!! Can't wait to try!!

[Russe]

Since AS!2 has been updated it works fine btw.

[Russe]

Which software to use to combine LRGB pics?

[cgarry]

Which software to use to combine LRGB pics?

I use PixInsight or Photoshop for this.

Are you capturing LRGB with filters and a mono camera or using a colour camera? If you are using a colour camera I would not bother splitting the colour channels, instead just process the colour image.

Cheers,

Chris

[Russe]

Mono Webcam - a modded SPC900.

I'm wondering - for Mars I have 10 min, which would be a load of time.

For Jupiter it's getting more difficult at 10 fps...

[cgarry]

Okay, so you do need to do RGB combination. I am not sure how many people actually do true LRGB images with planets as the L channel tends not to be very sharp because of atmospheric refraction of the light. Though of course using an atmospheric dispersion corrector does make true LRGB a viable option. Having said that there are many people who do use the red or green channel as an L channel. Anyway, what image processing software do you use?

When I was using my C9.25 with an colour camera I was doing 8 minute captures on Mars without any obvious issues, though I think I was at the upper end of what I would attempt.

I am impressed you are still working with Jupiter, I gave up on it in January!

Cheers,

Chris

[Russe]

Oh, no. I gave up Jupiter in jan as well. Just thinking out loud. Am imaging mars and Saturn right now.

Am using PIPP, castrator, AS!2, reg6 and GIMP. Have downloaded image smth (forgot the name) but haven't got the hang of it.