Anybody using APP?

[steviemac500]

Having gotten a liking for mosaics and after reading Sara's write ups, i have been trying the trial version of APP. I'm having a few issues though.....

1. I find it incredibly slow - the idea of being able to feed it all my frames and then have it generate the mosaic is amazing but as soon as the number of frame increases, the time it takes to process jumps massively. E.g. I am currently building a 6 panel of M31, i loaded the Red frames this morning at 0830 and it has just finished at 1600. Granted there was a total of 137 frames to sort but it still seems a long time.

2. After this large integration, there are loads of issues with seams even though it has clearly made an attempt to improve the joining of the panels. But 8 hours is a long time to wait to find that the end result is this. See below - i have attached the result of this morning one before any adjustments and the other after cropping and light pollution removal and a stretch in PI.

Is anyone having better luck with this amount of data and can offer advice, particularly with the seams?I think this software could be great but I'm struggling to justify the cost at the moment.

[swag72]

When I did the video I put everything in and then let it munch it's way through it. It is MUCH faster if you stack and calibrate EACH pane individually. That way you can have the 6 individual panes in the lower console and merge them testing the LNC and normalisation to get the best results.

Does that make sense?

[steviemac500]

2 minutes ago, swag72 said:

When I did the video I put everything in and then let it munch it's way through it. It is MUCH faster if you stack and calibrate EACH pane individually. That way you can have the 6 individual panes in the lower console and merge them testing the LNC and normalisation to get the best results.

Does that make sense?

Yes, it does Sara. Any tips on getting these seams sorted? I've tried all sorts of variations!!!!

[swag72]

I would look at the MBB settings at the integration stage and play with that..... and also try a few different LNC iterations. Something that I found as a real gotcha with some of my data (although it was when there was loads of nebulosity) was the normalisation stage... I ticked advanced and that sorted my issues.

[steviemac500]

5 minutes ago, swag72 said:

I would look at the MBB settings at the integration stage and play with that..... and also try a few different LNC iterations. Something that I found as a real gotcha with some of my data (although it was when there was loads of nebulosity) was the normalisation stage... I ticked advanced and that sorted my issues.

Thanks Sara. So if I go back and calibrate each panel separately then play with the settings for the mosaic after that?

[swag72]

yes that's what I'd do  

[steviemac500]

4 minutes ago, swag72 said:

yes that's what I'd do  

Thanks. Don't go anywhere.......I can see me needing more help.  Really good videos by the way.

[steviemac500]

16 hours ago, swag72 said:

yes that's what I'd do  

Sara, any idea when i process the stack in APP i get this glow on either side yet when i use exactly same cal frames in PI it comes out perfectly? Is there a setting i have wrong - it looks like a cal issue.

[swag72]

If you load in your calibration frames and then your lights..... if you go to the top right of the image screen you can use the drop down menu and check that the calibration frames should be working by clicking on l-calib (or something like that)

you could stack in PI for now then merge the mosaic in APP?

[steviemac500]

1 hour ago, swag72 said:

If you load in your calibration frames and then your lights..... if you go to the top right of the image screen you can use the drop down menu and check that the calibration frames should be working by clicking on l-calib (or something like that)

you could stack in PI for now then merge the mosaic in APP?

I spent some time this morning doing that with my red data and I have to say the mosaic construction is impressive. Much easier than PI and no pinched stars to deal with. 

[swag72]

If you still have an issue with the over correction in calibration, then drop a line on the APP forum..... Mabula is really helpful and will know what to do I'm sure  

[steviemac500]

34 minutes ago, swag72 said:

If you still have an issue with the over correction in calibration, then drop a line on the APP forum..... Mabula is really helpful and will know what to do I'm sure  

Thanks Sara, I appreciate the help.