PixInsight,,,,,its looks complicated

[paul mc c]

I have just downloaded PI,and to be honest it scares me i little,looks very complicated,or is it just my dumbness......

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Get a book on it. I got the trial license and like you thought it was difficult to grasp but by the end of the trial I got a book "Inside Pixinsight" and it showed what a great piece of software this is.  Since the licence ended I have not had a lot of time to do any imaging due to many reasons and have not bought as yet but I really did like it (Lots) and now I am now back into it and Pixinsight really is at the top of my list for processing software.

Steve 

[Adreneline]

Or as an alternative use these tutorials - they got me going.

https://www.lightvortexastronomy.com/tutorials.html

I took one of my M31 data sets and worked through the example tutorial.

I now use APP as well (for mosaics) but PI is always my first port of call.

[James]

9 minutes ago, Adreneline said:

Or as an alternative use these tutorials - they got me going.

https://www.lightvortexastronomy.com/tutorials.html

I took one of my M31 data sets and worked through the example tutorial.

I now use APP as well (for mosaics) but PI is always my first port of call.

I second that - I've found Kayron's tutorials really helpful

 

[Grierson]

I use Astrodude’s 12 videos for ‘absolute beginners’.  A bit lengthy but well worth the effort to understand many of the basics. Google - AstrodudePixinsight 

[Proietti]

Hi, I am also playing with the PI Trial Version. It is kind of complicated.

The Wareen Keller, "Inside Pixinsight" is a great resource. The LightVortex tutorial

is a must for me.

Good luck, regards, Fernando

[spillage]

+1 for LightVortex. You can find some great guides on youtube though. I think that with pixinsight there are many many steps to follow and its just a case of remembering them.

[sloz1664]

Harry's videos are a great way to learning Pixinsight. They're free and what's more Harry Page is a prominent member of this site

https://www.harrysastroshed.com/pixinsight/pixinsight video html/Pixinsighthome.html

Steve

[han59]

I'm also playing with the PI trial, but I don't see any structure in the menu's. I believe all the external instructions are helpful and nice (and great they are provided),  but there is fundamental something wrong with the program interface if external instruction are required to do something basic. 

Furthermore, why do I have to press all the time ctrl-A to get brightness and contrast of an image correct?

[paul mc c]

Yep,i have being trying to use it and dont think it is for me,in my eyes,way over complicated,i have tried some of the videos and still not getting it right.I will try a few more and see,but i am glad i didnt have to pay anything.

[PeterCPC]

I have it but now use Astro Pixel Processor. I find APP much more intuitive and way less complicated.

Peter

[wornish]

7 hours ago, han59 said:

I'm also playing with the PI trial, but I don't see any structure in the menu's. I believe all the external instructions are helpful and nice (and great they are provided),  but there is fundamental something wrong with the program interface if external instruction are required to do something basic. 

Furthermore, why do I have to press all the time ctrl-A to get brightness and contrast of an image correct?

PI was created as a specific set of tools for professional astrophotographers and this is very different from the approach that more general purpose image processing software like Photoshop have taken.

You ask about the Ctrl-A  (auto stretch) operation.  PI tries to do as much of its processing on your data while its still in its original linear form so that any changes are non-destructive, and also don't add noise to the image.  The stretching allows you to see what the final result might look like.  Once you get used to it, it becomes second nature. 

It does have a steep learning curve but can produce amazing results when you get the hang of it.   It's certainly not a simple click and play image processing app that you can learn in a few minutes.

[sloz1664]

If you feel Pixinsight is not for you. Try StarTools, it's not so icon based and a "no limit" trial version is available. Altough you cannot print with the trial version.

http://www.startools.org/

Steve

[jmel]

I also think Pi is super complicated, and I own a license. I tried Astro pixel processor this year and liked it enough to get a renter's license. The videos online made it super easy to use and understand.

[CrashEd]

Really good step by step tutorials here:

http://alexastro.com/Alex Home Page/Articles/Articlesindex.html

[Ouroboros]

On 2 February 2019 at 19:39, Grierson said:

I use Astrodude’s 12 videos for ‘absolute beginners’.  A bit lengthy but well worth the effort to understand many of the basics. Google - AstrodudePixinsight 

Yep. I completely agree.  Yes, they are a tad lengthy and slow. But that means you can process an image as you watch - well you can if you watch the video on a tablet (say) and use PI on a computer, which is how I did it. 

I think astro dude does a good introduction to the PI user interface in the first video. This is really helpful because PI does seem a bit confusing  when you first see it. 

Important to mention that his first 12 videos only deal with calibrating and processing images form OSC cameras.