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New version of the open source planetary post-processing app LuckyStackWorker, beta testers wanted!

Wilco Kasteleijn LuckyStackWorker Processing Lucky Imaging Solar System
Wilco KasteleijnWalter Leonhard Schramböck
•31 replies•2.4k views
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Hello all, I released a new version of LuckyStackWorker v.3.0.0-beta, an open source planetary astrophotography app for automatic post-processing of image stacks.

It is a beta version in the sense that I have tested this version myself quite well already and it can be used as is, but I encourage anybody to contact me and let me know if you found any bugs, or perhaps you have suggestions for improvements.

Visit the website for download and usage instructions:
 
https://www.wilcokas.com/luckystackworker

Some of the highlights on what is new:
  • The sharpening function has been extended with additional features, such as Luminance only sharpening to prevent color noise
  • Added sliders for suppressing the edge clipping effect on planets such as Mars & Venus.
  • The denoising has been extended with an additional filter based on the very effective Savitzky-Golay image smoothening filter
  • Realtime processing of image stacks. While Autostakkert is busy stacking your video files in a batch, the resulting stacked images are now immediately processed by LSW using the matching profile based on the firecapture object ID in the filename.
  • Support for using the keyboard to control the sliders (left/right arrow key, tab to jump to next/previous slider)
  • Added a setup installer for easy installation. The installer should also no longer be blocked by the windows smartscreen or the Edge download.
  • And various other improvements on the existing functions.


Below some screenshots:

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Neven Krcmarek avatar
Neven Krcmarek avatar
Always great to see a new software emerge. We definitely lack some good apps for editing Planets. 

I've played a bit with Lucky Stack worker and I it produced some nice images. I don't have really nice and sharp image of Jupiter but I give it a go and then compared with the Registax version.



I do have some questions:
Is there any way you could add a RGB align option to have all the channels align for the optimal color calibration?
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Neven Krcmarek:
Always great to see a new software emerge. We definitely lack some good apps for editing Planets. 
I've played a bit with Lucky Stack worker and I it produced some nice images. I don't have really nice and sharp image of Jupiter but I give it a go and then compared with the Registax version.

Thanks for trying it out Neven and interesting to see the comparison. I have done such comparisons myself as well (also using other tools such as Astrosurface & Wavesharp), although I will keep the results to myself to avoid discussion. There is some overlap in functions with these tools but also distinct differences. LSW has a focus on ease of use, saving time, minimizing effort and integration with other applications such as Autostakkert, Firecapture & Winjupos.
I encourage everybody to download and try LSW for yourself and conclude what is your personal favorite application to use.
I do have some questions:
Is there any way you could add a RGB align option to have all the channels align for the optimal color calibration?

I was hesitant so far to give it priority over other functions. I use Autostakkert RGB align which works quite well already for me. Many people now use an ADC. Last year I sometimes had issues with some "left over dispersion" in my recordings but I optimized my usage of the ADC since then and now I don't even need the RGB align option anymore in AS!3.
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Neven Krcmarek avatar
Neven Krcmarek avatar
Wilco Kasteleijn:
LSW has a focus on ease of use, saving time, minimizing effort and integration with other applications such as Autostakkert, Firecapture & Winjupos.

This is the right direction for sure. It runs fast and it's preforming great. 
Wilco Kasteleijn:
I was hesitant so far to give it priority over other functions. I use Autostakkert RGB align which works quite well already for me. Many people now use an ADC. Last year I sometimes had issues with some "left over dispersion" in my recordings but I optimized my usage of the ADC since then and now I don't even need the RGB align option anymore in AS!3.

I understand. Thanks for the fast reply and good luck in further improvements.
Alicia Rossiter avatar
Alicia Rossiter avatar
Wilco Kasteleijn:
Hello all, I released a new version of LuckyStackWorker v.3.0.0-beta, an open source planetary astrophotography app for automatic post-processing of image stacks.

It is a beta version in the sense that I have tested this version myself quite well already and it can be used as is, but I encourage anybody to contact me and let me know if you found any bugs, or perhaps you have suggestions for improvements.

Visit the website for download and usage instructions:
 
https://www.wilcokas.com/luckystackworker

Some of the highlights on what is new:
  • The sharpening function has been extended with additional features, such as Luminance only sharpening to prevent color noise
  • Added sliders for suppressing the edge clipping effect on planets such as Mars & Venus.
  • The denoising has been extended with an additional filter based on the very effective Savitzky-Golay image smoothening filter
  • Realtime processing of image stacks. While Autostakkert is busy stacking your video files in a batch, the resulting stacked images are now immediately processed by LSW using the matching profile based on the firecapture object ID in the filename.
  • Support for using the keyboard to control the sliders (left/right arrow key, tab to jump to next/previous slider)
  • Added a setup installer for easy installation. The installer should also no longer be blocked by the windows smartscreen or the Edge download.
  • And various other improvements on the existing functions.


Below some screenshots:


Is this software compatible with Mac OS?. Thank you
Alicia Rossiter avatar
Alicia Rossiter avatar
Is this compatible with Mac OS? Thank you
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Alicia Rossiter:
Is this compatible with Mac OS? Thank you

Not yet, but I intent to release it on Mac also. It is the highest ranked feature on my app wish list now. I can't promise when it will be available though. 
In the meantime, I recommend using  a windows virtualbox on the mac to run it.
Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
Alicia Rossiter:
Is this compatible with Mac OS? Thank you

Yust wanted to ask the same. 
Currently I am using Planetary System Stacker on mac.
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
I have just released a new major version of LuckyStackWorker again for Windows and MacOS that adds the following new features:
  • The adaptive sharpen tool now has controls for removal of the typical edge ring artefact happening with planet surfaces. This is a different (and often more effective) algorithm than the clipping suppression that was introduced in v3. To show the effect of the dering edge artifact suppression function I've included a 2 image animations with and without the function turned on. In the case of Jupiter the edge artifact was partly introduced by the winjupos video derotation:


  • Added new sliders to control local contrast on fine, medium and large details. The effect of applying local contrast on an image stack is illustrated below. In this case 30% contrast increas on the fine details, 10% on the medium size and 5% on large details was applied:


  • Added a Dispersion Correction tool. This tool is only meant to make some final corrections in case there was any left over dispersion from the ADC not being set optimally.
  • Splitted up the tabs in 3: Sharpen & Denoise, Contrast & Light, Color & Dispersion.
  • Added ability to save individual images in 100% quality JPG format. I have added this now that additional editing in a photo editing app (Gimp or Photoshop) is no longer needed. You can still save to 48-bit TIFF format as before, which is the default.

To download the app go to https://www.wilcokas.com/luckystackworker
Or the github page: https://github.com/wkasteleijn/luckystackworker/releases/latest

This is again a beta version, meaning that the app can be used as is, but I encoruage everybody to give it a good test drive. I appreciate any feedback, also improvement suggestions or any bugs that you might encounter. You can let me know in this thread or via a private message on astrobin.

Enjoy!
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Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
On opening a tiff file it throws an error. It can handle TIFF but not tiff?
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Walter Leonhard Schramböck:
On opening a tiff file it throws an error. It can handle TIFF but not tiff?


Hi Walter, what stacking software was used?
Autostakkert produces files with extension tif (not tiff). If the stack you were trying to open is a 16 bit it should work if you change the extenion to .tif.
But thanks for letting me know because tiff is a valid extension so I will fix it.
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Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
I was using PlanetarySystemStacker 0.9.3. on MacOS 13.3.1 (MacStudio/M1Ultra) I also changed the extention, same error.
Die Launische Diva avatar
Die Launische Diva avatar
@Walter Leonhard Schramböck maybe your application does not support 48-bit tiffs:
Wilco Kasteleijn:
You can still save to 48-bit TIFF format as before, which is the default.

Probably you'll have to export your work as a 16-bit tiff (if LuckyStackWorker supports it) as the error message suggests.
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Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Walter Leonhard Schramböck:
I was using PlanetarySystemStacker 0.9.3. on MacOS 13.3.1 (MacStudio/M1Ultra) I also changed the extention, same error.

@Walter Leonhard Schramböck can you share that tiff file that's causing the problem with me? You can use a personal message here on astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/messages/inbox/ then "Compose message" on the top left corner, Enter "Wilco Kasteleijn" as recipient.
Thanks,
Wilco.
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Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
Hello, the file is too large, it has 32MB, can't send it here.
Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
I sent a link to the file on my google-drive.
Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
Thank you for your great work!
Will there be a batch-functionality for processing a bunch of images the same way? This would be helpful processing 100 or more images for an animation.
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Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Walter Leonhard Schramböck:
Thank you for your great work!
Will there be a batch-functionality for processing a bunch of images the same way? This would be helpful processing 100 or more images for an animation.

Thanks @Walter Leonhard Schramböck. In fact batch processing is already in there, it is one of the core features. 

By pressing the "Apply Profile" button on the bottom left it will process all the image stacks in the same folder (and subfolders) as the opened reference image stack.

The issue with the ".tiff" files not being recognised will be fixed soon. I realise now that on MacOS 4-letters extensions are quite common. 
As a workaround you will need to either directly save the image stacks as ".tif" or manually rename them in finder afterwards. Another option is saving the image as a PNG (16-bit).
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Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
OK, thanks! Did not realize this feature to apply profiles.
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
I have just released a new revision 4.0.1 that includes some bugfixes, including also the ".tiff" extension issue. Thanks @Walter Leonhard Schramböck and several others on other forums who tried out the beta version and reported those issues.
As usual it can be downloaded by following the links below:

https://www.wilcokas.com/luckystackworker

or the github page:
https://github.com/wkasteleijn/luckystackworker/releases/latest

If you still find a bug, or you think that there is a feature missing that would be really nice to have don't hesitate to let me know.

For windows users: as always it may take a few days for microsoft to whitelist the new installer file. In the meantime you will get the smartscreen popup saying "Your pc is protected from an unknown app". If so, select "More info" and then press "Run anyway".
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Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
Walter Leonhard Schramböck avatar
Thank you, it is working fine now.
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Wilco Kasteleijn avatar
Hello everybody, I have released a new version which is available for download on windows or macos (both intel & M1):

https://www.wilcokas...uckystackworker
and press the download button,

or directly from the github open source project site:
https://github.com/w...releases/latest 

I've added the following new features, some of which have been requested by people on this and other fora:

- A histogram indicator window
- Apply profile now saves results in a subfolder called 'lsw_<profile>'
- Added checkboxes to luminance sharpen to include/exclude specific channels (red, green, blue, color)
- Realtime function is now off by default 

Besides these new features I fixed a couple of bugs and did some heavy duty refactoring of the code.
Again I ask anybody who downloaded and uses the app to report your findings.

This version is now in beta phase, meaning that I have tested the app myself already extensively and it can be used as is, but if you find any bugs please let me know via a private message on this forum.
I also appreciate any improvement suggestions, ideas or sample images. 

Clear skies!
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lorna roa avatar
lorna roa avatar
LuckyStackWorker has unleashed its latest open-source planetary post-processing app, promising stellar enhancements. Beta testing invites pioneers to embark on a cosmic journey, pushing boundaries and shaping the future of astrophotography. Join the celestial revolution and elevate your planetary imaging experience with this cutting-edge software. #LuckyStackWorker #BetaTesting #AstroPhotography.
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lorna roa avatar
lorna roa avatar
Wilco Kasteleijn:
Hello everybody, I have released a new version which is available for download on windows or macos (both intel & M1):

https://www.wilcokas...uckystackworker
and press the download button,

or directly from the github open source project site:
https://github.com/w...releases/latest 

I've added the following new features, some of which have been requested by people on this and other fora:

- A histogram indicator window
- Apply profile now saves results in a subfolder called 'lsw_<profile>'
- Added checkboxes to luminance sharpen to include/exclude specific channels (red, green, blue, color)
- Realtime function is now off by default 

Besides these new features I fixed a couple of bugs and did some heavy duty refactoring of the code.
Again I ask anybody who downloaded and uses the app to report your findings.

This version is now in beta phase, meaning that I have tested the app myself already extensively and it can be used as is, but if you find any bugs please let me know via a private message on this forum.
I also appreciate any improvement suggestions, ideas or sample images. 

Clear skies!

thanks for good imformetion.
Boris Štromar avatar
Boris Štromar avatar
I installed the new version on my new laptop with Win 11. When i click "open" it doesn't open an explorer window for choosing a new file, there's just a blue wheel turning and nothing happens. Same version works fine on my desktop PC. I'm lost at to what's going on.