DeepSkyStacker 4.2.0 is now available

[perdrix]

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.

 

[Atreta]

Nice, thanks for the update. 

[happy-kat]

That's great thank you

[bottletopburly]

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

[MarsG76]

Thanks for the updates...

 

[perdrix]

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

[bottletopburly]

1 hour ago, perdrix said:

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

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 

[perdrix]

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

[bottletopburly]

2 hours ago, perdrix said:

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

Yes everything ran as normal , launch DSS from desktop shortcut nothing no messages , go into manager DSS running for every time I clicked shortcut but won’t end task have to reboot I will have a look later, I wondered if a recent w10 update caused it because I have never had an issue with apt in the past either .

[perdrix]

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

[bottletopburly]

13 hours ago, perdrix said:

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

 

No update for win10 which i am running only previous windows OS  ,

Task manager  deepskystaker running in processes but can not End Task ,need to reboot 

Edited July 13, 2019 by bottletopburly

[perdrix]

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

Edited July 13, 2019 by perdrix

[Stub Mandrel]

Hi David,

First, thanks for DSS!

Second, I have sometimes struggled to combine data from sessions months or even years apart and get better results than stacking the 'best' of the various nights.

I've noticed that if I have three file groups, each with its own master dark, flat and bias, the dialogue offers the median method of combining the flats. I'm guessing its also combining the other control frames across groups.

I think this is what's degrading the results.

Is there a way to force DSS to only use the darks, flats and bias in each group for the lights in that group?

Thanks

Neil

[perdrix]

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

[Stub Mandrel]

h thanks, does taht mean I can have a main group with nothing in it - or just a bias?

[perdrix]

Yes the main group can be empty

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, perdrix said:

Yes the main group can be empty

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

[perdrix]

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!

🤣

[Stub Mandrel]

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.

[perdrix]

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.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

55 minutes ago, perdrix said:

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.

 

Thanks.

Interestingly, I've noticed that the new version is displaying faint RAW images much better. My Ha RAWS show a lot of red on the camera (presumably it does some scaling automatically) but in windows photo viewer and teh old DSS they only show stars and barely a trace of red.

In the new DSS I can see the nebulosity clearly.

Is this a change - or perhaps because I may have had auto white balance switched on?

(Thanks for your patience!)

[perdrix]

Not a change I made intentionally ...

D.

[perdrix]

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

Edited July 16, 2019 by perdrix
Typo

[Stub Mandrel]

Would a symptom of this be the system behaving as if it's low on memory when stacking files?

[perdrix]

Yes exactly so.

David