From: "Alan Friedman" <alan@greatarrow.com>

Date: May 22, 2005 10:57:15 AM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: First real videos

--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, "Tim" <tjp314@p...> wrote:

But I'm having a tough time processing the videos.  I tried Keith's image stacker and the 

demo of Astrostack, and I can't seem to figure out the first things at the "align and 

stack" stage of either program.

Hello Tim -

I have used Keith's IS to process the videos for most of my images. This is the procedure I 

use:

1. Open the video first in Quicktime. Use the curser keys to forward through the frames 

and evaluate the stream. I like to know how much the image drifts during the stream - if it 

is a planetary image, I will use the parameters of this drift to define the selection box in 

KIS. Find a good sharp frame to use as a reference and then tuck the viewer window to a 

corner of the screen. 

2. Use the Open and Add Movie command from the file menu in KIS. (It is helpful to pre-

evaluate the movies in Quicktime and label the files you plan to work with using the color 

label options in the OSX finder).

3. Turn off the Align on the Fly option. Create a selection region if you are working with 

the planets. It will make the process move faster if you do not need the entire frame. (you 

must make this selection on the first frame.) 

4. Using the A and R buttons, accept or reject the frames from your movie, using the 

Quicktime window as a reference for what is a good frame. This process will take some 

time in the beginning, but it will give you a good sense of a process that you will want to 

automate down the road. My selection percentage ranges from about 35% accepted on the 

finest nights to 20% on average nights. Lower than this I would spend the evening with a 

good book instead.

5. Once you have finalized your selection, follow the instructions with KIS to align, sort 

and then stack the selected frames. 

6. I find the Laplacian Pyramid sharpening routine a great tool for processing - I usually 

save an unprocessed stack and a laplacian processed stack for final adjustments in 

Photoshop. 

I'm sure that the detail offered in Neale's articles will tell you techniques in greater detail. 

This is my most recent image from earlier this month:

http://www.geocities.com/alanfgag/jup050405med.jpg

best wishes -

Alan