I use Pixinsight with AutoIntegrate to process astro images, heard about GraXpert so decided to try it. I downloaded it and then put it into the update folder and GraXpert works in PI as a tool. I then ran AutoIntegrate with GraXpert checked. I am not sure if I am doing it right or whether it is set up correctly. I ran C67 5 different times with different settings.
The first one I ran it through AI with nothing checked so I could see the gradient
The second one I ran the image through GraXpert as a stand alone
The third I ran it through AI with GraXpert checked, with Background Neutralization and Local Normalization
The Preview was saved before closing AutoIntegrate, don’t see anything about GraXpert
The 4th one was run with AI Background Neutralization, Local Normalization and Gradient Correction on Channel Images and no cropping.
The final one was #4 run through the PI Histogram and then Pixinsight.
As I said how do I tell if GraXpert is working in Autointegrate?
Do you have an OSC (color) camera, or are you using a mono camera with separate filters? If you have a OSC (color) camera then the option ‘Gradient Correction on Channel images’ does nothing. That is, the Gradient correction is not done at all.
Option ‘Gradient Correction on Channel images’ is intended only for mono cameras. Unfortunately that is not checked properly. I have added a check on that which will be in the next version.
If you have a mono camera then it is something different.
It is also good to note that gradient correction is run only when one of the gradient correction options is selected in the ‘Image processing parameters’ section. So selecting just GraXpert does not yet run any Gradient correction.
If none of the above tips do not help then it would be great to get the Autointegrate.log file so I could check it.
And I guess I did not directly answer to your question “As I said how do I tell if GraXpert is working in Autointegrate?”.
If the GraXpert fails to run, you get an error message.
To see if GraXpert was run on your image you can check from the following sources:
If you have Flowchart enabled, it shows GraXpert in a box if it runs GraXpert.
In the AutoIntegrate.log file you can search for GraXpert to see if it was used.
In the latest version you can see in the image FITS header if GraXpert was used. It should be listed as one of processing steps done by AutoIntegrate. But note that not all processing steps are available in the final image FITS header. For example processing steps done on channel images are not listed in the final image.
Jarmo, Thanks for the answer. I have some comments.
First on #1, the flowchart I do have it enabled but that whole preview is so small that I cannot read the boxes and when I try to do a screen shot it is unreadable. I don’t see anyway to make the preview bigger, it is very small, actually when using the final processing in autointegrate such as remove green it is hard to see any result due to the small size of the preview. a nice change would be to adjust the size. But I don’t believe I saw a box for GraXpert.
What I did was run M26 (LRGB channels) through Autointegrate the only option that I used in all runs was Crop.
1st Run was Autointegrate with Crop no other options.
2nd Run was Autointegrate with crop AND GraXpert box checked.
3rd Run was Autointegrate with crop closed AI and ran GraXpert from Toolbox in Pixinsight
4th Run was Autointegrate with crop BN LN and Gradient channel images all checked
5th Run was Autointegrate with crop BN LN Gradient on channel images and then did some basic histogram in pixinsight
6th Run was Autointegrate with crop and then GraXpert run as standalone and then histogram run on it. NOTE: the description is wrong on the pic as histogram was run last after GraXpert
I don’t see any difference between #1 without GraXpert and #2 with GraXpert box checked. Also in the log it says “Use GraXpert” several times but nothing else that looks like it might be running Graxpert.
Graxpert is in Pixinsight because I can run it after closing Autointegrate on the image.
Both picture 5 and 6 were fixing the gradients, #5 was using Gradient channel images in Autointegrate image processing section and #6 was was after closing AI, the channel image gradiant fix shows fainter stars or lighter, while #6 Graxpert after closing AI has more contrast and a slightly darker background.
Is there something I am missing about setting up Graxpert to run as part of Autointegrate? I had downloaded it and it is working fine in Pixinsight as a standalone outside of Autointegrate.
Thanks for your comments. I forgot to ask, are you running the latest AutoIntegrate version 1.70? It has some fixes on flowchart.
I have added some notes below.
If you have screen space available, you can adjust the preview size in the Interface tab and there in Interface settings. I would recommend using Large preview (side preview) unless you already have it. The default preview size is quite small to make sure that the whole dialog fits on most screens. Once you have changed the settings you can save them. So you need to do it only once.
On the top right corner of the dialog there is a maximize button that you can use to temporarily make the dialog as big as possible.
If you still have trouble seeing the flowchart, you can also save it to a file using a save button on top of the preview window in tiff or jpg format.
Note that a text version of the flowchart is written to the AutoIntegratre.log file.
Below are some comments on your test runs:
1st Run was Autointegrate with Crop no other options.
No gradient correction here if no gradient correction option was selected in the Image processing parameters. By default no gradient correction is done.
2nd Run was Autointegrate with crop AND GraXpert box checked.
If you did not check any gradient correction options in the Image processing parameters then no gradient correction was done.
4th Run was Autointegrate with crop BN LN and Gradient channel images all checked
In this case there should be gradient correction on channel images.
I still have some old Slooh T2 data for M26. When using your options it did show gradient correction in the flowchart.
My feeling is I haven’t set up something as after the imageintegration as it goes to invoke GraXpert it says “path is empty” and crashes.
I simply downloaded GraXpert put it at C:>users>Jeffrey Padell> appdata> local> GraXpert> GraXpert
GraXpert shows in the Toolbox in Pixinsight and can used on any open image.
I don’t know if GraXpert is that much better than using the Gradient stuff in the Image processing section.
I am using ver. 1.70 I am sending the log file to you.
You need to set the path to the GraXpert binary. You can set it in the Processing 1 tab and there in the Gradient correction section.
I have improved the error message for the next version so that it would be more clear what needs to be done. I have listed some details here: AutoIntegrate Info
Thank you very much! It took a while and two tries to get the right file into the GraXpert box but it works.
I did find that if I just did the GraXpert with no gradient selected it didn’t so anything but with I selected Gradient on Channels ( LRGB files) it worked like a charm!
Again thank you for all the help! I will buy you a cup of coffee!
Great to hear that you got it working! And thanks!
It may not be clear from the interface that in the Image processing parameters section you choose how images are processed.
In the Tools and batching section you choose which tools you want to use. In some cases like gradient correction you need to select an option in the Image processing parameters to actually use that tool.
