From: Alan Friedman <alan@greatarrow.com>
Date: December 21, 2014 8:31:53 PM MST
To: "Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com" <Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] MAP problem
Phil, do you save the individual stacked images and the image selection area map along with your MAP composite? I think it is a good idea. If you look at the individual images and find the stack at which AstroIIDC quit, it will give you an idea where the problem was. Here are the image selection area maps for the two videos that were used to create this image.
The disk worked fine:
http://www.avertedimagination.com/images/imageselectionarea1.jpg
The proms MAP composite processing resulted in a program crash.
http://www.avertedimagination.com/images/imageselectionarea2.jpg
I changed the prom settings so that an MAP composite was not created. Then I batch processed the individual stacks of the proms and made a composite manually in Adobe Photoshop.
I like your moon images. They show the phone camera (iPhone?) artifacts, which give the lunar details a nice plaster of paris feel. I saw this in my own recent attempt to shoot the moon from Adam Block's observatory on Mount Lemmon. Here is a link to an iPhone shot through a 32" scope. Reduced down, it doesn't look too bad:
http://alanfriedman.tumblr.com/post/101782298691/you-should-always-bring-your-iphone-when-you-climb
cheers,
Alan
Alan Friedman
On Dec 21, 2014, at 9:47 PM, Phil Houston pkh111@tampabay.rr.com [Astro_IIDC] <Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Thanks Guys,
I am using version 4.09.03 although I have the same results with earlier versions of Astro IIDC 4. (4.09.00 and 4.07.03) The machine has been rebooted numerous times, even tried safe mode to no avail.
I'm imaging the Moon and assembling the individual stacks. Each video contains about 700 frames and I stack between 70 to 120 frames. I've tried to be quite critical in selecting regions, not using the edge often and using the histogram stretch for some. In the end, if only one region is selected, it always stacks even if the program is set to merge multiple areas.
Alan, I don't quite understand the difference between doing a full disk MAP (which works) and a MAP composite (which doesn't). Imaging the Moon with my tiny telescope, I need many individual shots to achieve any overall detail. ;-) The resulting image size is huge though.
Could the quality of the captured videos (compression) effect only the MAP routines? In the past uncompressed videos were used from a DMK camera and these recent videos are compressed from a phone. Pushing the limits of less than optimal equipment has always been possible using Astro IIDC and I am hoping that solving this issue will be the icing on the cake.
I could send a region selection image and log files if it would be of any help.
Phil
For fun, here are some current examples taken with a 3.5" scope and a phone.
www.astrophil.com/iphone/nov_28_waxing_crescent.jpg
www.astrophil.com/iphone/nov_30_mosaic_large.jpg
www.astrophil.com/iphone/full_hi_cont.jpg
On Dec 21, 2014, at 6:06 PM, Alan Friedman alan@greatarrow.com [Astro_IIDC] wrote:
Hi Phil,
As Milton said, it will be helpful to know what subject you are trying to process with MAP. Doing a full disk Ha image with my 6MP sensor, I have no problem MAP processing surface detail with 150-170 regions selected - even when the selection areas appear to hold very little unique features. I watch the confidence number for each selection carefully - never using a number less than 7.0. Processing the edge prominences is another story. I find that AstroIIDC almost always quits if I try to do an MAP composite. I’ve not found a settings adjustments that succeeds in solving this issue. The confidence number for the regions is harder to evaluate, as the difference between the disk and dark sky background will produce a large number despite the soft and faint detail in the prominences. The individual region stacks work fine so I generally process this subject without making an MAP composite, batch process them in AstyroIIDC and then assemble the components by hand (usually less than 20 regions) in Photoshop. Generally I do not experience the same difficulties in higher magnification captures of prominences - just in the lower resolution full disk data.
I you share more about the type of subject matter that is causing problems, I and others may be able to reply with better suggestions.
clear skies,
Alan
Alan Friedman
On Dec 21, 2014, at 12:11 AM, Phil pkh111@tampabay.rr.com [Astro_IIDC] <Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Happy Holidays Astro IIDC Group,
I have recently started imaging again and have run into an issue that I have not been able to resolve. Hopefully someone here can help. When stacking and aligning frames using multiple alignment areas, Astro IIDC quits unexpectedly. Sometimes it quits while stacking regions and sometimes after stacking all regions. This is new as in the past I could use 30 or more areas without any problem. Same old macbook pro and snow leopard. I've set the alignment parameters to the least stringent requirements, tried various sized and number of areas, and have read the help file numerous times. Trashing the prefs and reinstalling the program had no effect. Obviously, I'm missing something. The curious thing is that it did align and stack successfully three times out of hundreds of attempts. Why??? What did I do right?
By now you are probably smiling at my dilemma but I would really appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks,
Phil
p.s. Milton, was there a Christmas card print this year?
