Chapter 16 of book will explain how to blend images
This may be required after adjusting Curves or Colour Saturation
**************************************************************
*** USE AN INVERTED RANGEMASK TO PROTECT HIGH-SIGNAL AREAS ***
**************************************************************
Strength
1. Change the exponent value (far right) to find the best range to be in.
2. Change the coefficient value (middle box / slider) to find the best value.
Edge Protection
1. Create a small preview with no stars or nebulosity.
2. Open Statistics process and select preview as view.
3. If StdDev isn't in the list, add it using the wrench button
4. Set the edge protection of the middle value and power.
Smoothness
1. Default values generally work well, adjust it to combat 'blotchyness' if required.
Iterations
1. Use 250 iterations for testing.
2. Increase to 500-1000 for the actual application.DEFAULT SETTINGS ARE NORMALLY FINE
Chrominance Mask
- This selects more saturated areas of the chosen colour.
Lightness Mask
- This selects the brighter areas of the chosen colour.$PXI_SRCDIR/scripts/ColorMask/ColorMask_0.7.js87a0c5d3773e68c6633b599d4879adf9
minHue
0
maxHue
0
maskType
0
maskStrength
1
blurLayers
0
Use this to remove any bad pixels, satelite trails, etc.
1. Extract Lightness image from original using 'ChannelExtraction'.
2. Create a preview which includes various star sizes
GUIDELINES
- If noise or other non-stellar structures are included, raise the 'Noise threshold'.
- If large stars are not included, raise the 'Scale' amount.
- Under 'Mask preprocessing', raise the 'Midtones' slider to exclude dim stars.
- If needed, raise the 'Shadows' slider to further restrict selection to bright stars.
- Lowering 'Truncation' will also provide a stronger result.
- Deselect galactic cores using the Clonestamp process (Ch 17) or by adjusting the 'Midtones' slider further.
- Structure Growth
> Lower 'Large-scale' to make large stars smaller, increase for the opposite effect.
> Lower 'Small-scale' to make small stars smaller, increase for the opposite effect.*********************************************
*** USE THE PREVIEW TO GET SETTINGS RIGHT ***
*********************************************
Function
- Normally PIP function works well.
- SMI is a bit more extreme
Order
- Mormally somewhere between 0.1 - 1.0 works well.
Smoothness
- Normally somewhere around 1.0 works well.
Lightness Mask
- Leave this enabled.1. Extract Lightness image from original using 'ChannelExtraction'.
2. Create a preview which includes various star sizes
GUIDELINES
- If noise or other non-stellar structures are included, raise the 'Noise threshold'.
- If large stars are not included, raise the 'Scale' amount.
- Under 'Mask preprocessing', raise the 'Midtones' slider to exclude dim stars.
- If needed, raise the 'Shadows' slider to further restrict selection to bright stars.
- Lowering 'Truncation' will also provide a stronger result.
- Deselect galactic cores using the Clonestamp process (Ch 17) or by adjusting the 'Midtones' slider further.
- Structure Growth
> Lower 'Large-scale' to make large stars smaller, increase for the opposite effect.
> Lower 'Small-scale' to make small stars smaller, increase for the opposite effect.***********************************************************
*** USE THIS FOR GALAXIES, OR NEBULA, WITH BRIGHT CORES ***
***********************************************************
1. Layers normally work best at 6 but 3-7 is an acceptable range.
2. Test settings with 'Median transform' ticked then redo with it unticked to see which looks better, ignore any ringing around stars with it unticked. [Unticked = Atrous Wavlet Algorythm (AT)]
3. If AT (unticked) looks better then enable 'Deringing', try to use as low a settinng as possible for both small & large scale sliders. Try default values first.
4. With AT the 'B3 spline' scaling function is normally fine, you can try 'Linear Interpolation' if you are trying to isolate small structures.
5. Keep 'To Lightness' & 'Preserve hue' ticked.
6. Use Lightness mask as first try, if it turns large stars into donuts try using a 'Local Deringing Support Image'0.003906,0.015625,0.023438,0.015625,0.003906,0.015625,0.0625,0.09375,0.0625,0.015625,0.023438,0.09375,0.140625,0.09375,0.023438,0.015625,0.0625,0.09375,0.0625,0.015625,0.003906,0.015625,0.023438,0.015625,0.0039060.0625,0.25,0.375,0.25,0.06250.0625,0.25,0.375,0.25,0.0625B3 Spline (5)1. Use either a luminance or range mask to protect background
2. Use readout mode to check an area of background to ensure all 3 colour channels are properly aligned.
**************************************************
*** USE INSTEAD OR AFTER CURVES TRANSFORMATION ***
**************************************************
If you use masks like starmasks or range masks you can change the saturation of different elements.
*********************************************
*** USE THE PREVIEW TO GET SETTINGS RIGHT ***
*********************************************
Function
- Normally PIP function works well.
- SMI is a bit more extreme
Order
- Mormally somewhere between 0.1 - 1.0 works well.
Smoothness
- Normally somewhere around 1.0 works well.
Lightness Mask
- Leave this enabled.**************************************************************
*** USED TO SHRINK BLOATED STARS OR REDUCE NUMBER OF STARS ***
**************************************************************
***************** ALWAYS USE A STAR MASK *********************
**************************************************************
Operator
- Erosion (Minimum) > Use this for shirnking stars.
- Morpholigical Selection > Shirnks stars more subtly.
Structuring Element
- Use the circular one (Second row, second from the left)
Structure Manager
- Chose 5x5 Circular.
- Chose Size 5 (25 elements)
Selection
- Lowering this value creates more erosion.
- Raising this value creates more dilation.5x5 Circular Structure
**********************************************************
*** TRY NOT TO OVERDO IT, YOU CAN ALWAYS DO MORE LATER ***
**********************************************************
1. In 'L' channel:
- Fix top on top third intersection.
- Adjust middle up very slightly.
- Adjust botton third intersection down slightly.
2. Optionally repeat Step 1 for individual colour channels. To reset adjustments to a single channel, select it and click the red 'X' button.
1. Extract Lightness image from original using 'ChannelExtraction'.
2. Create a preview which includes various star sizes
GUIDELINES
- If noise or other non-stellar structures are included, raise the 'Noise threshold'.
- If large stars are not included, raise the 'Scale' amount.
- Under 'Mask preprocessing', raise the 'Midtones' slider to exclude dim stars.
- If needed, raise the 'Shadows' slider to further restrict selection to bright stars.
- Lowering 'Truncation' will also provide a stronger result.
- Deselect galactic cores using the Clonestamp process (Ch 17) or by adjusting the 'Midtones' slider further.
- Structure Growth
> Lower 'Large-scale' to make large stars smaller, increase for the opposite effect.
> Lower 'Small-scale' to make small stars smaller, increase for the opposite effect.range_mask - star_maskstarless_mask
Standard settings normally work fine
An amount of 0.10 - 0.30 is normally a good range.
1. For RGB image, lock sliders together.
2. Drag middle slider over to bring out all detail required.
3. Optionallu unlock sliders to adjust individual colour channels.
4. Drag left slider over to darken background, not too black.
5. Drag the STF instance into 'HitogramTransformation' then apply to image.
Transfer the STF settings into HistogramTransformation by dragging the 'New Instance' icon from STF into bar at the bottom of HistogramTransformation.
Don't select too much detail, only protect really bright areas.
A value of 0.3 is normally suitable to select galaxies.**************************************************************
*** USE AN INVERTED RANGEMASK TO PROTECT HIGH-SIGNAL AREAS ***
**************************************************************
Strength
1. Change the exponent value (far right) to find the best range to be in.
2. Change the coefficient value (middle box / slider) to find the best value.
Edge Protection
1. Create a small preview with no stars or nebulosity.
2. Open Statistics process and select preview as view.
3. If StdDev isn't in the list, add it using the wrench button
4. Set the edge protection of the middle value and power.
Smoothness
1. Default values generally work well, adjust it to combat 'blotchyness' if required.
Iterations
1. Use 250 iterations for testing.
2. Increase to 500-1000 for the actual application.
****************************************************************
*** USED TO PROTECT LOW SIGNAL AND BACKGROUND AREAS FROM LHE ***
****************************************************************
1. A 'Lower limit' setting of 0.3 is usually right to protect galaxies.
2. To remove large stars try changing te 'Fuzziness' & 'Smoothness' settings.
*********************************************
*** DIFFICULT CASES E.G. DIFFUSE NEBULAE ***
*********************************************
N.B. It's probably easier to combine a RangeSelction & Star Mask using PixelMath.
1. Lower the 'Upper limit' to dial out stars.
2. Adjust all four sliders to isolate strong signal areas while eliminating the majority of stars.**********************************************
*** USED TO REMOVE STARS FROM THE RANGEMASK***
**********************************************
1. Adjust 'Radius' if required.
2. Press 'Ctrl' and click an area of background.
3. Click on a star to paste the background area over the star.
4. Once you have removed all stars, click the 'Execute' button (Green Arrow)
**********************************************************
*** TRY NOT TO OVERDO IT, YOU CAN ALWAYS DO MORE LATER ***
**********************************************************
1. KEEP MASK IN PLACE
Use two passes to enhance small scale then large scale contrast.
Kernel Radius
- Small scale: Use values of 25-75. [50 Seems good]
- Large scale: Use values of 100-150. [125 seems good]
Contrast Limit
- Normally a setting of 1.5 is best
- Can be varied between 1.5 - 2.5 if required.
Amount
- Try somewhere between:
- 0.25 (25% of the original will be kept)
- 0.75 (75% of the original will be kept)
PETE NOTE:
I generally just adjust the %age value to find the best fit.***************************************************
*** USED TO SHARPEN DETAIL IN HIGH SIGNAL AREAS ***
***************************************************
1. KEEP PREVIOUS MASK IN PLACE
***************************************************
************** FOR GENERAL USE ********************
***************************************************
1. Create a mask with RangeMask first.
Detail Layer Bias
- Typically adjust this between 0.012 - 0.075
Deringing
- Start with a value of 0.1, raise if necessary.
Dynamic Range Extension
- Low Setting of 0.25 is normally good.
- High Setting of between 0.25 - 0.50 is normally good.
0.25,0.5,0.25,0.5,1,0.5,0.25,0.5,0.250.5,1,0.50.5,1,0.50.8003,0.2729,0.1198,0.0578,0.0287,0.0143,0.0072,0.0036,0.0019,0.001Linear Interpolation (3)********************************************************
*** USED TO SHARPEN FINE DETAIL IN HIGH SIGNAL AREAS ***
********************************************************
USE THE SAME MASK AS FOR THE PREVIOUS MLT STEP
Standard Deviation
- A value of 1.0 - 2.0 is normally good for fine sharpening.
- A value of 25 - 50 is normaly good for increasing contrast.
Amount
- A value of 0.18 - 0.75 is normally good for a natural looking result.
Target
- Use CIE L*
Deringing
- A value of 0.01 - 0.05 is normally good.
Dynamic Range Extension
- Low Setting of 0.25 is normally good.
- High setting of 0.25 - 0.50 is normally good.