211 replies to this topic

[theaberrator]

Hi All,

 

In the beginning of 2011 I released the latest version of RegiStax. That concluded a long path of software development that started just around the year 2000. Since 2011 I havent been working active in astro-software but I have followed what has happened ever since more or less regularly.

I was hoping RegiStax was 10yrs later a thing from the past

 

But since I do have some free time I can easier spend on developing free software I am planning to split the wavelet-sharpen section of RegiStax into a new separate freeware and whilst doing so also upgrade this into modern 64-bit software. But before I do that I would like to know if there is at all still a platform for such an application.

 

If there is, what are the features that are missing in the current Wavelet section of RegiStax you are really missing ?

 

Please share your thoughts in the comments so I can use this when deciding IF and WHAT I will be building in the coming year or so.

 

cheers

Cor Berrevoets

Edited by theaberrator, 26 October 2022 - 05:10 AM.

[Ittaku]

Great to have you back. A great number of people still primarily use the image processing features of registax for their planetary imaging and I'm sure would love to see an updated version.

[RedLionNJ]

Hi Cor - awesome to see this post from you!

 

Registax has been (and continues to be) a wonderful piece of software for sharpening and is perfectly adequate for color adjustments and mild denoising.  There are many times (admittedly with a good stack out of AutoStakkert) where I have needed no software other than Registax to complete my planetary processing.

 

One wavelet-related feature which would be nice to have is a way to "tame the rind" (the hard, false edge which often occurs on the sunlit limb of Mars, in particular) while leaving all other detail visible. When processing Mars, this is the only step I look to other applications to accomplish.

 

My very best wishes and a thousand thanks for your work,

 

Grant

[bunyon]

I’ll echo the above. I still use registax on every planetary, lunar or solar image. I use wavelets and auto rgb balance. It’s a wonderful program that I’ve enjoyed for years. Many thanks.

Having those two features in an updated version would be awesome.

[Krzysztof z bagien]

Great news!

I prefer stacking pretty much everything in AS!3, but find wavelet editon in Registax the best way to sharpen that stack. While you are working on it, could you maybe make algorithm not autostretch loaded images? In latest version of Registax it always does it for some reason if it doesn't like image brightness and that can't be turned off.

[Borodog]

Wonderful news.

Please, pleas, please: batch processing.

Thanks for the great software.

[dcornelis]

Hoi Cor, in all honestly during the last year I have switched to astrosurface, it handles large files, is fast too, very easy to controll but not as hard-core granular in wavelet settings as registax.

Looking forward to what you will make, as amateur planet and moon photographers we have a large debt with you for all the nice pictures you helped us publish in this last decade.

[Tulloch]

I use Registax on all my images for wavelet sharpening and auto-colour balance, and despite its age it still does a great job. An update would be fantastic, if only to increase the speed of the wavelet sharpening process. I would request that if you do "update" the features, that you keep backwards compatibility with the current version so that all my saved wavelet setups are still valid .

 

I guess what is missing is a user guide that explains how each wavelet layer works - I realise that it's no fun writing these, but it would be really useful for new (and old) users .

 

Thanks for putting this program together and for taking an interest so long after you finished.

 

Andrew

Edited by Tulloch, 26 October 2022 - 06:58 AM.

[dcaponeii]

R6 is still my go-to sharpening and RGB balance software. Would be thrilled to have a modern release of the wavelets portion!! Welcome back.

[RedLionNJ]

Wonderful news.

Please, pleas, please: batch processing.

Thanks for the great software.

Duh me - yes, of course - a batch processing mode (which applies ALL corrections automatically for each image in the list).  That would be so wonderful.  And if it could read in a previously-saved set of operations/settings and use them, even more wonderful!

[Kokatha man]

<"But since I do have some free time I can easier spend on developing free software I am planning to split the wavelet-sharpen section of RegiStax into a new separate freeware and whilst doing so also upgrade this into modern 64-bit software. But before I do that I would like to know if there is at all still a platform for such an application.">

 

Hello Cor - long time no see or hear!

 

In short, "absolutely & without a doubt!" Old Reggie is still an integral element (read "virtually indispensable" ) to ours' & many other people's processing regimen wrt to wavelets applications...any refinements you might enable would be applauded most strongly..!     

[bunyon]

Batch processing would be great.

 

I implied above and would like to now say explicitly that it feels weird that some of my favorite computer software in any field is free. If you have an online tip jar somewhere, I'd love to kick in. Even without an update. If that's not your thing, know that we're all grateful and indebted.

[wargrafix]

I would like to weigh in. Please keep the wavelet section part of the main program. Its extremely seamless. I use your software religiously for my sharpening routine. Some time ago I showed the second RGB align routine to Christopher Go and it was seen as a great processing step after deconvolution.

[theaberrator]

I would like to weigh in. Please keep the wavelet section part of the main program. Its extremely seamless. I use your software religiously for my sharpening routine. Some time ago I showed the second RGB align routine to Christopher Go and it was seen as a great processing step after deconvolution.

Hi,

 

Thats unfortunately not a real option, the full code for RegiStax is so old that I cant get that work anymore unless I start from scratch. So the application I am planning to make (for Linux, Windows and Mac) will be usefull for any image you save after the stacking stage. Its only going to replace the wavelet-sharpener and other tools from that section. You can still keep your workflow the same until the last step.

 

cheers

Cor

Edited by theaberrator, 26 October 2022 - 09:25 AM.

[happylimpet]

Wonderful news.

Please, pleas, please: batch processing.

Thanks for the great software.

Yes! Batch processing! This is one of the main reasons I too have recently shifted to astrosurface.

 

Including deconvolution in the same process (as astrosurface does) woudl also be a real winner. I must be honest, astrosurface for me does everything I need, but I would certainly check your creation out. And thankyou for your software, your contribution is enormous!

 

Cheers

 

Nick

[JMP]

Cor, your software is amazing and I use it every time. I like the hold wavelets function but I need to reset the histogram and white balance for each image in a batch. I do use another program (Astra Image) for deconvolution. But if nothing changed in Registax I'd continue to use it for years to come!

[Sunspot]

Cor! So good to hear from you. I enjoyed the years I spent helping you with Registax! I'm available if you are interested.

 

I can't begin to suggest anything but I know the wavelets are an amateur astronomers gold.

 

Anyway...glad to hear from you again...hope the geese are keeping you busy...

 

Paul M.

[theaberrator]

Cor! So good to hear from you. I enjoyed the years I spent helping you with Registax! I'm available if you are interested.

 

I can't begin to suggest anything but I know the wavelets are an amateur astronomers gold.

 

Anyway...glad to hear from you again...hope the geese are keeping you busy...

 

Paul M.

Hi Paul,

 

Ive switched to Bats Developed with a friend a full-digital batdetector (see teensybat.com) . Nice to see you are also still around. Looking at the reactions it seems a project I might start working on. But I do like to hear wishes and ideas also.

 

cheers

Cor
 

[Sunspot]

Cor,

 

Bats...wow!

 

Anyway I found my notes for suggestions for Registax 7. There was one thing on that list I really was hoping to see. In the wavelets area I was hoping for a "Execute" button where I can input a series of settings and then press the button and have it perform them. Example, lets say I want to set denoise to 0.40, sharpen to 0.16 and the slider to 75% in layer 1. I'd like to input all those those values without Registax updating them real time. Then once they are input, press the "execute" button and have the values applied to the image. There could be an execute option for each layer or one execute all button (or both). I hope I explained it okay.

 

Anyway glad to hear from you.

Paul M.

[Borodog]

Ok, in addition to batch processing, if I had my druthers, here are the additional features I would want in a standalone Registax type application.

 

1. Batch processing

2. Some other common sharpening tools such as L-R deconvolution, multiscale sharpen, convolution filters, unsharp mask, etc. The multiscale sharpen tool in Astra Image is particularly nice; it's sort of like wavelet sharpening in that it works on different scales, but it is particularly good at enhancing fine details without bringing up a lot of noise. 

3. An option to sharpen/denoise luminance only

4. An option to adjust vibrance (as opposed to saturation); the two are similar, but vibrance is focused on the midtones and does not bring up as much adverse color fringing as saturation (e.g. atmospheric dispersion and chromatic aberration look worse with increased saturation than they do with increased vibrance)

5. Up-scaling images with a good algorithm

6. Scripted processing - the ability to record and process scripts for multi-step processing of images.

7. Batch processing

8. Did I mention batch processing?

 

Once again, thanks for the awesome software. 

[RedLionNJ]

To put one of the (what I believe to be) more common requests into context:

 

I don't know if you still image personally, but in the time since Registax 6.1 was finalized, it's become a fairly common process to derotate several stacks using Winjupos.  So the flow for this typically goes something like:

 

Capture your set of successive videos (FireCapture or SharpCap)

Batch-stack each video in AutoStakkert

Sharpen/colorfix each stack in Registax

Combine several sharpened stacks in Winjupos

Final post-processing of single image in 'whatever'

 

Right now, the most tedious part of this process is the individual sharpening and color-fixing in Registax.  If this could be made into a batch process instead (akin to the way AutoStakkert works, but perhaps also reading in a pre-recorded file of actions to be applied), this would be absolutely awesome for those who follow something like the process above and also for those who create animations.

 

Thank you (and p-l-e-a-s-e?),

 

Grant

[theaberrator]

Cor,

 

Bats...wow!

 

Anyway I found my notes for suggestions for Registax 7. There was one thing on that list I really was hoping to see. In the wavelets area I was hoping for a "Execute" button where I can input a series of settings and then press the button and have it perform them. Example, lets say I want to set denoise to 0.40, sharpen to 0.16 and the slider to 75% in layer 1. I'd like to input all those those values without Registax updating them real time. Then once they are input, press the "execute" button and have the values applied to the image. There could be an execute option for each layer or one execute all button (or both). I hope I explained it okay.

 

Anyway glad to hear from you.

Paul M.

Hi Paul,

 

That would simply mean that you could switch between auto and manual processing steps, easy to implement. But thats for when this gets working properly.

 

Cor

[theaberrator]

To put one of the (what I believe to be) more common requests into context:

 

I don't know if you still image personally, but in the time since Registax 6.1 was finalized, it's become a fairly common process to derotate several stacks using Winjupos.  So the flow for this typically goes something like:

 

Capture your set of successive videos (FireCapture or SharpCap)

Batch-stack each video in AutoStakkert

Sharpen/colorfix each stack in Registax

Combine several sharpened stacks in Winjupos

Final post-processing of single image in 'whatever'

 

Right now, the most tedious part of this process is the individual sharpening and color-fixing in Registax.  If this could be made into a batch process instead (akin to the way AutoStakkert works, but perhaps also reading in a pre-recorded file of actions to be applied), this would be absolutely awesome for those who follow something like the process above and also for those who create animations.

 

Thank you (and p-l-e-a-s-e?),

 

Grant

I have the feeling batch processing is a major "want" on the wishlist. Not easy to implement but Ill keep that on the wishlist.

[kevinbreen]

Everything I'd like has been covered above. Thank you so much for this wonderful piece of software.

[Sunspot]

Yes, manual vs auto processing. Why didn't I think of that? That would be great.

 

Paul