First attempt at using Pixinsight - Be gentle with me!

[mightymonoped]

Well, I finally succumbed to downloading Pixinsight on Friday and have just spent the last couple of hours attempting to use it for the first time following instructions from an excellent Youtube tutorial by Lukomatico (although I did use a few of my own bits as well).

 

I know this may be over the top a bit and there probably all kinds of things wrong with it but I'm feeling happy about the whole thing. 

 

This image is a combination of a linear HOO image integrated in Astro Pixel Processor, then processed as SHO in PI. Have used RC tools for deconvolution, noise and star extraction.

 

All in all, feeling pretty pleased that I was able to produce something and looking forward to learning more, using all of the tools in a best of breed approach.

 

This image is a reworked capture from the ED80, ASI294mc pro and l-eNhance filter during lockdown.

 

Tony

 

[TerryMcK]

Hi Tony glad you are looking at PI and a great first attempt.

I found that there can be a lot of misinformation on the interwebs related to PixInsight although there can also be some interesting stuff. A bit like a family member or friend teaching you to drive. You can pickup bad habits that are difficult to drop later on.

 

I did a bit of research when I started out with PI and bought the very comprehensive book Inside Pixinsight by Warren Keller. It seemed to me that there was a steep learning curve for what initially appeared to be a very complicated product. Then I found out he and 2 others host a website www.mastersofpixinsight.com and they are three official PixInsight ambassadors. All three are experienced astrophotographers and came up the Photoshop route like a lot of people do.

 

MOP host paid for tutorials which cost around £30 each - quite modest. There being around 6 live recorded video tutorials on the “newbie” series which take you from from beginner in PI to advanced. You can choose what you want and don’t have to do the whole thing.

They also host occasional free tutorials for other aspects like NoiseXterminator, StarXTerminator etc. I have attended many of these live workshops and the subsequent recordings, associated course materials, image sets are available to download forever. You will learn such a lot from those guys, as I did, to be up and running in no time.

I bought my courses at the start of the Covid pandemic when I, and indeed many people, had some time on my hands due to lockdowns. I’m glad I did the courses as it’s possible to just scratch the surface of what PI is capable of without proper tuition. Tuition opens it up and clears the fog.

 

PI is constantly changing incorporating new things and the good thing is that every year when Warren and co update their series you get access to the updated current courses that you have already paid for.

Adam Block, another developer and PI ambassador, also has paid for workshops and tutorials which too are excellent. They all work closely with the Pleiades PixInsight team and are very knowledgeable in the product.

 

I don’t work for or am affiliated to any of these but can really recommend them through experience.

 

HTH.

[mightymonoped]

2 hours ago, TerryMcK said:

Hi Tony glad you are looking at PI and a great first attempt.

I found that there can be a lot of misinformation on the interwebs related to PixInsight although there can also be some interesting stuff. A bit like a family member or friend teaching you to drive. You can pickup bad habits that are difficult to drop later on.

 

I did a bit of research when I started out with PI and bought the very comprehensive book Inside Pixinsight by Warren Keller. It seemed to me that there was a steep learning curve for what initially appeared to be a very complicated product. Then I found out he and 2 others host a website www.mastersofpixinsight.com and they are three official PixInsight ambassadors. All three are experienced astrophotographers and came up the Photoshop route like a lot of people do.

 

MOP host paid for tutorials which cost around £30 each - quite modest. There being around 6 live recorded video tutorials on the “newbie” series which take you from from beginner in PI to advanced. You can choose what you want and don’t have to do the whole thing.

They also host occasional free tutorials for other aspects like NoiseXterminator, StarXTerminator etc. I have attended many of these live workshops and the subsequent recordings, associated course materials, image sets are available to download forever. You will learn such a lot from those guys, as I did, to be up and running in no time.

I bought my courses at the start of the Covid pandemic when I, and indeed many people, had some time on my hands due to lockdowns. I’m glad I did the courses as it’s possible to just scratch the surface of what PI is capable of without proper tuition. Tuition opens it up and clears the fog.

 

PI is constantly changing incorporating new things and the good thing is that every year when Warren and co update their series you get access to the updated current courses that you have already paid for.

Adam Block, another developer and PI ambassador, also has paid for workshops and tutorials which too are excellent. They all work closely with the Pleiades PixInsight team and are very knowledgeable in the product.

 

I don’t work for or am affiliated to any of these but can really recommend them through experience.

 

HTH.

Thanks Terry,

this is all really useful info, I appreciate it! 😊👍

[Dmack1]

Thats a good result for first time with PI.  Personally I did not find PI as difficult as it is often made out to be and with the resources Terry pointed out (to which I'd add Adam Blocks Fundamentals - not cheap but money well spent) you'll be flying it soon enough. 

[Astrobdlbug]

Great start Tony, welcome to the world of PI.

 

If you havent already I would highly recommend getting to grips with the Generalised Hyperbolic Stretch function - vastly superior to histogram or curves stretching - it is now an integrated tool in PI, found under Intensity Transforms.

Its integral to all my processing flows within PI. As usual there's lots of videos around that explain what it does and how to use it - I think you are going to have a lots of time on YouTube watching tutorials......

 

Bryan

 

[Dmack1]

2 hours ago, Astrobdlbug said:

Great start Tony, welcome to the world of PI.

 

If you havent already I would highly recommend getting to grips with the Generalised Hyperbolic Stretch function - vastly superior to histogram or curves stretching - it is now an integrated tool in PI, found under Intensity Transforms.

Its integral to all my processing flows within PI. As usual there's lots of videos around that explain what it does and how to use it - I think you are going to have a lots of time on YouTube watching tutorials......

 

Bryan

 

Without meaning to hi-jack Tonys thread, I'm just working up to learning GHS and will search out some tutorials. But I was wodnering if you use GHS with starless images or if you stretch with GHS and then remove stars.

Edited February 7 by Dmack1

[Astrobdlbug]

4 hours ago, Dmack1 said:

if you use GHS with starless images or if you stretch with GHS and then remove stars.

I remove stars while image is still linear, unstretched,  using StarXT which has this capability - but do not use the screen stars option when removing stars from a linear image. This separation of stars and starless image allows more aggressive stretching of the nebula and the stars can be stretched  more simply and then screened back in at end of process flow

 

Bryan

[mightymonoped]

14 hours ago, Astrobdlbug said:

Great start Tony, welcome to the world of PI.

 

If you havent already I would highly recommend getting to grips with the Generalised Hyperbolic Stretch function - vastly superior to histogram or curves stretching - it is now an integrated tool in PI, found under Intensity Transforms.

Its integral to all my processing flows within PI. As usual there's lots of videos around that explain what it does and how to use it - I think you are going to have a lots of time on YouTube watching tutorials......

 

Bryan

 

Thanks Bryan,

you must have read my mind, I was wondering about the whole stretching area next!
 

I had played around with Hyperbolic ArcSin stretching (if I remember correctly) in Photoshop a while back but had left it alone. 

 

As with everything in Astro, it’s great to have someone point you in the right direction! 😊

 

Tony

[MartinS]

Great image Tony for your fist foray into the PI world. The only regret I have since switching to PI is its addiction. The hours then days will disappear once it sucks you in, beware the desire to over process.  The results will make it all worthwhile, that’s what I tell myself while the wife might not agree.