DSS DeBloom Stacking Option...?

[Scott Kuchma]

Hello all ,

I've noticed in the DSS Forums a reference to using the DeBloom Option , under Stacking Parameters , to help with bloated Stars . I thought I'd give this a whirl today with DSS 4.2.5 but I don't see a DeBloom Option anywhere including in the Help Files . The conversations did reference the latest version so the Windows not Mac OS type . Can anyone confirm or deny the existence of this Option or how to enable it ?

Cheers ,

Scott........

[wols...@gmail.com]

In DSS  navigate to Settings...Stacking Parameters...Light tab.   Debloom is towards the bottom in the center.  I have never used it.  Let me know what differences you see.

Peter

[Scott Kuchma]

Hi Peter ,

Here I go again , finding new Issues . LOL . Below is a screen Capture of the Stacking Parameters Page , Light Tab...

I know my vision is not the greatest lately but I don't see "Debloom" anywhere . This is v4.2.5 BTW .

For giggles I might reload 4.2.3 as I still can't get the Comet Stacking to work anymore . The DSS Forum said this might have to wait until v5.x.x

Scott............

[Scott Kuchma]

Well , thanks to John M for finding this one . Apparently there are "two" Stacking Parameter Windows . One that can be accessed right after you select Stack Select Pictures and the other from the left side Options window...

I had always thought that the *Settings...* was just the Header for the indented items below it . Laughs on me . When I click the "header" I get the Window I've been looking for .

Luckily any items set on this last main window will appear in the smaller version and vice versa (thanks John) .

So , back to the beginning of my challenge for today , see if DeBloom will make any difference .

Cheers ,

Scott.........

[Scott Kuchma]

OK , just a quick rerun through with the Trifid Nebula with Debloom selected in DSS and all other Processing the same as the previous Workflow...

NO Debloom...

...and with Debloom in DSS...

I'm not sure but the Debloom looks a little softer or maybe less harsh . I only had to "repair" a few Stars in the debloomed Image while the other one took quite a lot of repairing .

So time saved . Maybe the Stars look a little more real ? Rounder ? Jury's out on this one .

Scott.....................

[Scott Kuchma]

Hello All ,

Well , Peter did request I update CaLIGHTs so as to keep Testing the Software . I seem to have found an odd one today .

I've been redoing all my previous Lights through CaLIGHTs 3.10.92 , along with all my Master Frames , and then reprocessing them as per my normal routine .

I've had a few fantastic improvements and few mild improvements but none that were bad , until today . The only set of Lights that are showing a crazy response are my Comet Neowise Images .

My original finished Image using CaLIGHTs 3.10.70 and DSS 4.2.3 looked like this...(DSS stretched only in SiriL)

What I get with CaLIGHTs 3.10.92 and either DSS 4.2.3 or 4.2.5 , 2x Drizzle or no Drizzle , Average or Kappa-Sigma Stacking , with or without DeBlooming is this...

(This was with the DSS Setting of "Comet and Stars" for both the above images )

This Image from DSS after it has Stacked all the Calibrated Frames looks like this ...(from a 3.10.92 Stack ) Don't know what's going on in the Core .

...and then the same DSS final Image BUT from a previous  3.10.70 Calibrated Stack..(this one processes very nicely)

The -92 Stacked Image shows lots of "Colour" but after stretching in Siril I get the Image with the dotted / trailed Stars .

The exact same Light Frames were used through both versions . I even cut out some borderline ones with slightly oval Stars and brought the total number down to just nine Frames to speed things up .

I'm thinking that the Comet Coma is causing the new CaLIGHTs some kind of grief during the calibration . I used 2x binning and SkyGlow Comp for both runs in both versions .

Actually , after looking at two identical Files , #49 , the -70 version is 5Mb while the -92 version is 11Mb . I always have used 2x binning so would the Row Noise Filter increase the File size ?

Let me know if you want me to try something else . I still don't have a method to send large Files . Is there anything provided by this Google Group ? That would be convenient .

Scott................

[Scott Kuchma]

Hello again ,

I went and had a look at a few of the Text files created after CaLIGHTs Calibrates the Light Frames . It appears that CaLIGHTs "identifies" a Comet if present...

This is from the 3.10.90 (actually) version Calibration .

OverallQuality = 42.82
RedXShift = 0.0
RedYShift = 0.0
BlueXShift = 0.0
BlueYShift = 0.0
Comet = 1541.29, 751.83
SkyBackground = 0.0345
NrStars = 10

This Comet entry /Identifier is not present in any of my Galaxy or Nebula or Star Calibrated Frames .

This is from the earlier 3.10.50 (actually) version...

OverallQuality = 45.23
RedXShift = 0.0
RedYShift = 0.0
BlueXShift = 0.0
BlueYShift = 0.0
Comet = 1026.68, 500.18
SkyBackground = 0.0353
NrStars = 8

So , what is CaLIGHTs doing to identify a Comet from RAW Data and is there anything in the recent releases that would account for the change I'm seeing ?

Scott............

[Scott Kuchma]

For Peter...I have Google Drive working for me in case you need me to send you any Files .

Scott...........

[wols...@gmail.com]

Scott,

A few things have gotten confused here.

1)CaLIGHTs doesn't have any code that detects comets.  Those text files you were looking at are created by DSS and it is DSS that is detecting the comet because you told it to stack the images using DSS's comet stacking logic. These comet location entries are only present when you use the DSS comet stacking features.

2)Your 3.10.90 files were binned 2x2  Your 3.10.50 files were binned 3x3.  Your 2x2 binned images are 11Mb and your 3x3 binned images are 5Mb.  Your comment regarding file sizes were my first hint.  Also you can tell that DSS finds the comet at 1541.29, 751.83 in the 2x2 binned image and DSS finds the comet at 1026.68, 500.18 in your 3x3 image.  These two sets of XY co-ordinates are related to each other with a 2:3 ratio.  In other words 1541 x 2 / 3 = ~1026 and 751 x 2 / 3 = ~500.  In CaLIGHTs you should have the "Create HTML Calibration files" preference selected.  This is where the Calibration Progress Reports are stored for every calibration run you perform.  You can always call up your previous calibrated LIGHT frames in CaLIGHTs and find what the image size is.

Just be sure that when you go back and re-do an old image that you always re-register your images and have "Register already registered pictures" selected.  I say this because CaLIGHTs always creates calibrated LIGHTs using the same naming convention.  It will overwrite older calibrated LIGHT frames if you tell CaLIGHTs to use the same subfolder.  When you load your calibrated LIGHT frames into DSS it looks to see if there already exists a *.Info.txt file with the correct name.  If it does then it will assume that the values in the *.Info.txt file are still valid.  In your example, I believe there is a change in binning so the pixel locations for all the stars and comets are vastly different which could really throw DSS for a loop.  Ensuring that "Register already registered pictures" is selected will avoid this situation.

Peter

[Scott Kuchma]

Hi Peter ,

Yes , confusion abounds . The cut and paste from the Text File was from the CaLIGHTs Cal File entries ...

Are you saying that DSS writes back into the CaLIGHTs CAl Folder ? That would be very interesting . The File I cut from above was the CLIMG_0049.Info.txt . Surely this has nothing to do with DSS ?

I'm willing to go back and try again getting ALL the Settings identical but I'm still wondering about the Comet entry in that File .

Scott................

[Scott Kuchma]

Hi Peter ,

I set up CaLIGHTs -92 EXACTLY as it was in -50 and reCalibrated all my Comet Light Frames . I then imported into DSS 4.2.5 and re-Registered and set the Comet Preferences .

DSS refused to accept ANY of the Calibrated Frames . Great .

I'm pretty tired with all this today . I've been at this since 0900 this morning . I do have an "acceptable" Comet Neowise Image from the -50 version so I'll just keep it and dump all the stuff I've done so far today .

I really don't understand why the new version of DSS is being cranky and why I didn't know that DSS writes back into the CaLIGHTs Cal Folder . That's not mentioned anywhere .

Probably not all that important but does explain the Info in the Text Files .

Well , that's me all caught up with redoing all my previous Light Frames under the new CaLIGHTs and new DSS . Just have to wait until Spring to gather some new Data .

Cheers ,

Scott..............

[wols...@gmail.com]

Scott,

CaLIGHTs does not create the .Info.txt files.  Those are created by DSS when it registers the calibrated LIGHT frame.  DSS writes a few different text files into the directory where the LIGHT frames are from.  The CLIMG_0049.stackinfo.txt file contains the stacking info that DSS creates. The filename also indicates that image CLIMG_0049.fts was chosen as the reference frame that all the other LIGHT frames were stacked to.  The Autosave.fts file is the stacked final image created by DSS.  When you close DSS it will ask if you want to save your settings.  You can use these settings files to quickly call up all the LIGHT frames and settings so that you can resume where you left off.  It can be confusing.

CaLIGHTs creates the Calibration.log file and the CL Fri_Dec 18_2020 3_54 PM.html file

Peter