ImageTOOLSca release notes ========================== Copyright (c) Carsten A. Arnholm Version 3.0 (5. January 2007) =============================== a) Updated manual, describing new Align and Stack feature b) Automatic align and stack implemented. c) Binning information is now maintained in the fits headers from calibration. d) A bug in the "File | Watch Folder ..." feature has been fixed. If a folder was created in the watched folder it previously generated an error. This is now silently ignored. Version 2.8 (24. November 2006) =============================== This version is the first public version since version 2.5 (2.6 and 2.7 were intermediate test versions for the features described below) a) Corrected minor issues with "algoritmic noise" in calibration. These improvements makes the calibration run even faster, while they are also more accurate (at least as accurate as e.g. Maxim DL) - Removed internal offset on flat frames, it caused slightly skewed flats, which left small traces of vignetting etc. - Removed scaling on individual flat frames, it caused very slight algorithmic "fractal" noise. Now, the stack of flats is scaled instead, producing a close to perfect master flat frame. b) Improved usability in calibration. - Introduced sticky check boxes in calibration dialog. You simply check the "AutoName" option once, and it will remain on in this and future runs, until you change it. The sticky controls are + AutoName on/off + Hotpixel simple on/off + Hotpixel value + Output filename name style (Default names/IRIS style) - Introduced smarter master frame default names, i.e. like: Mflat_2x2_20061112.fit, reflecting binning and date of capture Version 2.5 (08. October 2006) ============================== a) Manual updated b) Drag/drop AVIs into the man window and look at the first frame c) Simple AVI player feature. Use View | AVI player, or press the "Play" icon on the toolbar when an AVI is open. It opens a small AVI player control that lets you step through the frames, play the AVI at different speeds, or access a certain part of the AVI via the slider. Notice that this feature is fairly basic, it is really meant for use with e.g. SC modified webcam AVIs where refresh speed is not very important, You can play planetary AVIs, but then e.g. Windows Media Player may show them better. A nice thing though, is that the black/white sliders can be used to stretch the view as the AVI is played! d) New "Export from AVI" dialog, currently it supports 16 bit FITS (unsigned) output. If an AVI is open in the main window, the Export from AVI dialog is initialised with the path to that AVI. You can also drag/drop AVI files directly from Windows Explorer and onto the dialog, or use the "..." button to browse for an AVI. Again, the intended use is with SC modified webcams, you can for example use "Raw_Y" or "Greyscale" channel options. Use "Raw_Y" for SC modified webcams with BW CCD and using RAW mod. For unmodified webcams, use grayscale. Colour output is not supported in this version. When the "Stretch to 16 bit" option is used, then each pixel of the 8bit AVIframe is multiplied with 256 so the max value can become up to 65535. This option combined with the gamma option, can be used to counteract non-linearity in the webcam response (re Q2006), producing linearised webcam frames in 16 bit Fits format. The output can be written for further processing to a subdirectory you define. It is also possible (and very desirable) to check the "Save exposure time" option and enter the exposure time of the AVI frames (assuming long exposure AVIs). The exposure time is then saved to the FITS header, ready for use in calibration! Version 2.4 (27. Aug 2006) ========================== a) Corrected problem with handling of gamma & resampling properly when the 'lock' feature was used to move from image to image b) Added a "Watch Folder" feature. The program opens files appearing in the watched folder automatically. The feature is available via File | Watch Folder ... If an image is open when the menu option is used, the image folder is the default to watch. You can change the watched folder using the "..." (browse for folder) button. Use the "Start" and "Stop" buttons to start/stop the folder watch. Version 2.3 (07. Aug 2006) ========================== a) Correction for bug in the calibration code that prevented use of the options for the master bias/dark/flat frames. This made the system more inflexible than it should have been. b) I found an easy way to read 16bit BMP files. This means you can also convert such files to other formats (including 24bit BMP) using the batch convert feature.Using C/C++ each pixel can be described like this struct pix16 { int b : 5; // 5 bits for blue int g : 5; // 5 bits for green int r : 5; // 5 bits for red bool x : 1; // 1 unused bit }; In total, it is 16 bits. Version 2.2 (03. Aug 2006) ========================== a) Manual updated b) Colour FITS now supported, tested with files from different sources, Meade DSI colour CCD camera included. c) Saving to colour FITS. When saving a file, a new option is provided : FITS [ 48 bit RGB ] (*.fit). This means you can open any colour format and save it to colour FITS. Also, when using the batch convert feature, the "colour _RGB" option combined with the FITS format now produces RGB colour FITS files (obviously). So for example, you can convert from any DSLR RAW format directly to colour FITS, or to 3 separate files as before. d) Addition to calibration feature, one can now generate output files IRIS-style output names, in case you want to process in IRIS. e) Fixed a bug in the File Save as code, where it didn't always remember the previous selection properly. f) Fixed some issues with calibrating a mixture of unbinned and 2x2 binned light frames. This should now work better, including at least partial elimination of hot pixels. g) Fixed problem causing crash when reading corrupt FITS files. When this situation occurs the message is displayed in the image window: "Zero or negative image dimensions, image file may be corrupt" h) Fixed problem with floating point FITS files (bitpix = -32) causing erroneous behaviour with the black/white sliders i) Fixed problem with JPG to TIFF grayscale conversion Version 2.1 =========== a) Batch file conversion, RAW file (de)bayer, with the alternatives as shown RAW_BGGR : No interpolation, use raw BGGR bayer pattern RAW_GRBG : No interpolation, use raw GRBG bayer pattern RAW_GBRG : No interpolation, use raw GBRG bayer pattern RAW_RGGB : No interpolation, use raw RGGB bayer pattern Debayer_bilinear : Debayer, Bi-linear interpolation Debayer_gradients: Debayer, Interpolation using a Threshold-based variable number of gradients Debayer_adaptive : Debayer, Adaptive Homogeneity-Directed interpolation b) Fixed problem with BMP to FITS conversion, causing crash c) Improved Date/Time handling for RAW to Fits file conversion. DATE-OBS is now in Universal time