Jump to content

NoiseXterminator has just been released - it's worth checking out!


paul

Recommended Posts

The guy behind StarXterminator (Russell Croman), has released NoiseXTerminator https://www.rc-astro.com/resources/NoiseXTerminator/for PI and PS. I tried it on my recent M51 (on the final PNG no less) and the results blow me away.

 

(Bonus 😀. If you've already purchased the StarXterminator you can obtain NoiseXterminator for a large discount.)

 

I am sure all you experienced image processors will be able to achieve these results using manual steps but I for one don't want to iterate through the process and spend longer than I need if there is a reliable tool.

 

Before:

 

image.thumb.png.0349767763286667ecbcfe3a6a4f15f8.png

After (with default settings):

image.thumb.png.0110ce2ab435f89fc3e68601dc9830cc.png

 

Edited by paul
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And here is NGC 4725. I initially tried noise reduction on the final PNG but the out limits of NGC4725 looked very sub-optimal. Applying noise reduction to the original XISF produces a much better final image.

 

I am looking forward to applying this tool much earlier in my future processing.

 

Before (8.6KB)

NGC4725_group_before_NoiseXTerminator.thumb.jpg.fc6f4ef79939716eea979ef7fa24f1d8.jpg

After (3.3KB)

NGC4725_group.thumb.jpg.1d78a7c3fab18e8da14873d685d01145.jpg

 

Interestingly, but I guess to be expected, the jpg produced after noise reduction are significantly smaller too (win, win!).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've downloaded it and given it a whirl. I rountinely use EZ Denoise and honestly have been happy with it. However, I am pretty impressed with NoiseXterminator.

Here are three direct comparisons from the same image (cropped, gradients removed, decon). in each, the left panel is no noise reduction, middle is EZ denoise and right is NoiseXterminator. These are from my ASI 2600mc (which is not noisy anyway) but at only 1hr 45 integration was noisier than I would like. These are very tight crops to sho the noise clearly

 

NXC_1.thumb.JPG.3661f947deb98e918ef5f177caf0cd5f.JPGNXC_2.thumb.JPG.432cb28ebaadbee20234caf9da58a1f4.JPGNXC_3.thumb.JPG.6b43242f2c96a7f7c7cdeef659b707e6.JPG

 

My thoughts;

Boy its fast! about 1 tenth of the time of EZ denoise. In my view it is vastly superior to EZ denoise, doing a much better job. It could be argued, particularly in the horsehead, that its oversmoothed but it has an adjustment to allow you to reduce the effect. This was 82%. the default 90% was too smooth for me and 75% would probably have been enough - it was still way superior to EZ denoise but certainly not over smoothed. I showed the 82% as it shows the effect better. It also has an adjustment to recover detail, This was set at 32% in the above but could be tweaked up further - though I did not try it. but it is so quick it would be easy to trial setting to get what you want.

For me this is a definite leap forward.

What do you think?

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Warren Keller has done a quick comparison video review in the Quick Tips section of MastersOfPixInsight using established PixInsight methods such as MLT and TGVD against NoiseXTerminator and noted it comes up with great results.

 

https://www.mastersofpixinsight.com/quick-tips

 

I purchased it from Russell yesterday at the discounted price of $39.95 as I already bought StarXTerminator a while back. Initial results from using it show that NoiseXTerminator gives similar results that I get with Topaz Denoise.

 

I experimented with the settings to retain some sharpness in de-starred images and found this worked well on a typical busy nebula that has a good luminance layer without looking over processed.

 

image.png.b31ab30a9102698f44297d27b154f9a5.png

 

If you use that on an image with stars present you have to be careful about dark halos in the stars if you go too high with "Detail" as noted by Russell in the usage notes "In general, the best value for Detail is a bit lower than a value that produces dark halos around small stars."

 

It is very quick though and I was pleasantly surprised just how fast it works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RC's comment on other AI denoisers is that they are general photography tools but his training data is pure astro so should give as good if not better results. I have Paintshop-Pro with its various anti-noise tools, they made a difference for low res social media posts but they are a blunt tool - even the "AI" version).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I'm a little late on this thread, but have just downloaded NoiseXterminator for a very good price of $39.95. I noticed the AI is now on version 2. A few tweaks seem to be needed to achieve optimal results in Pixinsight.

 

  • If processing a linear (unstretched) image in PixInsight:
  • Neutralize the background first. Don't unlink STFs – actually neutralize the background.
  • Make sure the Linear checkbox is checked.

Make sure PixInsight is configured to use 24-bit STF lookup tables. Otherwise you might see what looks like posterization in your image, when it is really just limitations of the lower-precision default lookup tables.

 

To configure the 24 bit lookup tables, go into global preferences/miscellanious image window settings and check the box marked, use 24 bit screen transfer function LUT's by default.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...