NoiseXTerminator - impressive results already in the first Beta... - Forums

Topic starter

May 2, 2022 · Edited: May 2, 2022

I today saw that the maker of StarXTerminator has created a new tool, NoiseXTerminator, first release is for PixInsight only.
Beta testing has started two days ago, so things might even get better before the product is launched.

I have played a bit with the tool and I must say I am quite impressed, it does what it says, it removes noise without much affecting details of the original picture.
It feels like denoising emphasizes a very little too much for my liking the very faint areas with little tonality differences but I only see this when comparing 1:1. I'd do the same thing manually later to improove micro contrast, so I am not overly stressed by that.

Here's an example of an unprocessed, only stacked image of the Sii channel of Elephant's Trunk, cropped to a reasonable size.

The only steps applied were (in linear mode) StarXTerminator followed by NoiseXTerminator (Denoise 0.7, Detail 0.4) and then a default stretch with Screen Transfer Function to be able to save as jpg.

I also took the stretched Image and let it run through Topaz Denoise, results are pretty much the same, it only needs a very light sharpening to the NoiseXTerminator picture to simulate the sharpening done by Topaz.
So we now can have the noise reduction on similar level as Topaz Denoise in an unstretched image, for me this is something totally amazing....

Original Sii (Crop to a 4000x3000px region):

NoiseXTerminator:

Topaz Denoise:

NoiseXTerminator + little sharpening:

Helpful Insightful Respectful Engaging

Dave Ek

May 2, 2022

The XTerminator tools are pretty good. I've also been impressed by EZDenoise in the EZ Processing Suite for PixInsight–I use that practically every time I process and image. I like the Topaz tools, too, although one must be judicious in applying them. I generally use Topaz at the very end to clean things up just a bit more if needed.

Well Written Concise

Michael Ring

Topic starter

May 2, 2022 · Edited: May 2, 2022

Here's the ez-denoise version:

more noise in ez-denoise version and a good example for those slightly enhanced microcontrasts in NoiseXTerminator...

Robert Winslow

May 6, 2022

Interesting, it does seem to do a good job.

kuechlew

May 6, 2022

For those who care I just reprocessed some of my images with Telescope Live Data with this new tool and I can confirm that the results are impressive to my eyes - in particular given the ease of use.

NGC 2359 - Thor's helmet (LSHO) ( kuechlew ) - AstroBin
NGC 2014 ( kuechlew ) - AstroBin
Centaurus A ( kuechlew ) - AstroBin

For beginners like me it's a no brainer to use it in the future. Experienced PI users may happily get along with their tried and trusted methods.

Clear skies
Wolfgang

Helpful Engaging

Ian Dixon

May 6, 2022 · Edited: May 6, 2022

I have been reprocessing some of my images for the past week, with the inclusion of this method. It works for me, my results have improved beyond what I was achieving previously. As Wolfgang said, its also very easy to use. Denoise 0.7, detail 0.4 works well for me.

Kind regards,

Ian

M104 - https://www.astrobin.com/fjfhmc/F/
M51 and NGC 5159 -https://www.astrobin.com/fpj15z/F/
NGC 7331 - https://www.astrobin.com/c948bh/G/

Helpful

kuechlew

May 6, 2022

I learned about the tool a few days ago by this video which contains a demo of how to use it: NEW! noiseXterminator for PixInsight! - YouTube

So far I use the tool with its default parameters. One may argue that the results are may be a bit too clinical. So playing around with the parameters in the future is certainly advisable.

Clear skies
Wolfgang

Dale Penkala

May 6, 2022

So how much is this beta version? I use and love StarExterminator and have heard this was coming. Considering purchasing it and possibly there GradiantExterminator plugin as well.

Dale

kuechlew

May 6, 2022

Dale Penkala:
So how much is this beta version? I use and love StarExterminator and have heard this was coming. Considering purchasing it and possibly there GradiantExterminator plugin as well.

Dale

There is a free 30 day trial. Actually v 1.0.0 is out now. The final version costs 59.95$
NoiseXTerminator (rc-astro.com)

Clear skies
Wolfgang

kuechlew

May 6, 2022

Dale Penkala:
So how much is this beta version? I use and love StarExterminator and have heard this was coming. Considering purchasing it and possibly there GradiantExterminator plugin as well.

Dale

There is a free 30 day trial. Actually v 1.0.0 is out now. The final version costs 59.95$
NoiseXTerminator (rc-astro.com)

Clear skies
Wolfgang

Tristan Campbell

May 6, 2022 · Edited: May 6, 2022

Here is a quick comparison from a couple of Photoshop noise reduction plugins I have should it be on interest to anyone. From quick test it certainly looks very good and I'll probably buy it to add to the toolbox when funds allow. I really like how it handles around stars. I already have Topaz which I bought for landscapes but it is sometime useful if you are very careful with the settings - usually have all settings at 0 with it.

link to full res: https://cdn.astrobin.com/ckeditor-files/20303/2022/6dd10803-610a-4916-96d6-598940ca045e.jpg

Michael Ring

Topic starter

May 6, 2022

When you have already bought another product then you get NoiseXTerminator a little cheaper, I paid $39,95
I am not sure if today it is still necessary to buy GradientXTerminator, there are some free alternatives like GraXpert

https://www.graxpert.com/

which look promising.

Dale Penkala

May 6, 2022

Michael Ring:
When you have already bought another product then you get NoiseXTerminator a little cheaper, I paid $39,95
I am not sure if today it is still necessary to buy GradientXTerminator, there are some free alternatives like GraXpert

https://www.graxpert.com/

which look promising.

Michael, so are you saying since I bought StarExterminator I’d get NoiseExterminator for 39.95?

Dale

Michael Ring

Topic starter

May 6, 2022 · Edited: May 6, 2022

Michael, so are you saying since I bought StarExterminator I’d get NoiseExterminator for 39.95?

Dale

Correct. Go to the purchage page and click on pixinsight, on the next page you will find instructions how to get the better price:

If you already own a permanent license for any other RC Astro product, you are eligible to purchase a permanent license for NoiseXTerminator at a special price of $39.95. Enter your email address and permanent license key below, then click "Submit."

It is a little unusual to get asked for a license key but it works.

https://www.rc-astro.com/resources/NoiseXTerminator/purchase.php

Helpful

Observatório Astrográfico do Boqueirão

May 6, 2022

Very true my friend. Just did the purchase and I have my head blown out!
The StarXTerminator the same thing. Even better than the Starnet++ V2

Dale Penkala

May 7, 2022

Michael Ring:
Michael, so are you saying since I bought StarExterminator I’d get NoiseExterminator for 39.95?

Dale

Correct. Go to the purchage page and click on pixinsight, on the next page you will find instructions how to get the better price:

If you already own a permanent license for any other RC Astro product, you are eligible to purchase a permanent license for NoiseXTerminator at a special price of $39.95. Enter your email address and permanent license key below, then click "Submit."

It is a little unusual to get asked for a license key but it works.

https://www.rc-astro.com/resources/NoiseXTerminator/purchase.php

Thanks for the info Michael! I’ll check it out ASAP!

Dale

D. Jung

May 7, 2022

Now we just need the EquipmentXterminator. Run a neural network over a black image and we get an astro images without the need for expensive equipment. 😉

kuechlew

May 7, 2022

D. Jung:
Now we just need the EquipmentXterminator. Run a neural network over a black image and we get an astro images without the need for expensive equipment. 😉

Should actually be easy to implement. You point the mobile phone to the sky and based on platesolving the software displays the Hubble image of the most nearby galaxy, star cluster or nebula

Clear skies
Wolfgang

kuechlew

May 7, 2022

Nice review for the German speaking community: NoiseXTerminator PlugIn - Rauschunterdrückung in Astrofotos einfach wie nie. Deutsche Anleitung. - YouTube

Frank discusses current issues of the plugin too. He confirms my impression that noise reduction with the default parameters is a bit over the top and recommends to stay below 0.5 for denoise parameter instead of the default 0.9.

It seems the plugin can be used just for sharpening by setting denoise to 0.

Clear skies
Wolfgang

Helpful Concise

Ulli_K

May 8, 2022

Frank discusses current issues of the plugin too. He confirms my impression that noise reduction with the default parameters is a bit over the top and recommends to stay below 0.5 for denoise parameter instead of the default 0.9.

During the last two days I tested NoiseXTerminator and I also found thats it's better to use Denoise values of 0.3-0.5 instead of the defaults values. I used NXT several times before and after stretching with such smaller Denoise values. With Detail I stayed with 0.15. I'm very satisfied with the results. You can see my results here: https://astrob.in/vxd1j8/0/

The tool is really great, because noise reduction was always the most problematic part in my workflow. However, in some images it made strange artifacts or exaggerated defects that became when stretching the image. That was the case for images with limited amounts of data, but fortunately not in the example I linked.

CS Ulli

Helpful

Michael Ring

Topic starter

May 8, 2022

There's one finding in relation to artefacts in AstroCologne's video, it seems that denoising unstretched images sometimes causes artefacts. He said in his video that he has already informed Russell Crowman and that Russell has aknowledged the issue.
Also, what I saw was that stretching with ScreenTransfer function can create horrible results after denoise was applied.
So for now I switched to first doing a pre-stretch with GHS and then apply denoise.

Michael

andrea tasselli

Frequent contributor

May 8, 2022

I'll second that. Applying NoiseXS to unstretched images causes weird artefacts in stars (ringing) while being not as affective in noise reduction that when the image is stretched (which can only be expected, in a way). I wish it had a way to deal with chroma noise separately.

Helpful Insightful Respectful

Nicla.Camerin_Maurizio.Camerin

May 11, 2022

My two cents in this theme, not having yet the NoiseXterminator but as long I saw several works around testing it, seems really do a nice work and just play with the settings and get what fit better for a given DSO subject, but in the end is also a matter of taste.

From r-astro.com I have the gradient and StarXterminator. As for the StarExterminator I'm very satisfied how perform and do the job but I notice that bright pointed areas that can have some nebulae or local bright areas points is any DSO, can be affected by the software and need to be restored back to the nebula or DSO are you working on. I suggest just after you run the software, do a detailed inspection on the starless version compared to the original.

Also I tested the StarNet ++V2 and for sure it got an extraordinary improvement and the performance is impressive, but let other texture in the starless version that I also like. As happen with the StarXterminator, be aware that bright pointed parts of the DSO can be washed out so you need to restore it back.

CS,
Nicla