One other method you might try that I have been using from the beginning is to modify the osc script so it does everything but the stacking process. It stops after the registration. I then open the registered sequence and am able to use Siril’s wonderful quality plot - I can reject frames manually based on FWHM as well as blink through the frames one by one following their quality measure on the plot. I then go to the stacking tab choose my method and further define any rejection parameters I wish. By the way if you choose nb of stars it usually works great for rejecting frames with obstacles. Give it a shot!
I do something similar. I run the OSC_Preprocessing script and then switch the Home Directory to the process folder. Now choose the Registered sequence from the list and now you also have access to the Plot graph where you see FWHM values. You can deselect the frames you don’t like and now all you have to do is stack.
Thank you for making these very helpful videos. Please keep making ones on SIRIL . Siril keeps getting better, and it's really helpful to have someone who understands it show me how to use it.
I’ve been doing it this way as well, it is easy to use down arrow look at each file in the sequence and hit the space bar to toggle its enable/disable state as necessary. Using export is cute, I did not know about that function. Instead I use a bash script that looks at the .seq file and deletes those that are disabled. Then I regenerate the sequence. All that said, given that I use N.I.N.A., I have it encode stats in the file name of the .fits file for each shot. So names have components like “-stars=517” and “-hfr=4.2”. It then becomes trivial to delete outliers by name.
Hi Bruce, I appreciate your comment was a while ago now, but I rewatched this video today as I was looking at using Siril to 'blink'. I saw your comment, and as a recent NINA convert, I just said 'wow'! What a big brain idea! I am guessing that you delete images with low star numbers (cloudy?) and/or high hfr (blurry for some reason?) - is that the logic? FYI my NINA settings have already been updated!
@@johnblack9499 Hi John. Yes, you've that right. I just tell the script to filter everything with "HFR > 3.5 && STARS < 300" (or whatever seems appropriate) and then do a "CMD=rm {FileName}" on each. Or if I want to see those files in that set I can do something like "CMD=echo {STARS} {HFR} {FileName}" and I get a nice three column display with star count in the first column, hfr in the second, and the file name in the third. I don't know if you are a linux user (if so you are welcome to the script) or not but it is then easy to pipe that result into something like "sort -n" to get a list sorted by the first column (star count in this case). It probably could run under Windows but I've not looked into what is available for bash in Windows. Yeah, I probably should have written the script in something else (perl, python, or whatever) but I was lazy and used what I had ATM. ;) I am also a Mac user but I've not made it compatible with Apple's very much regressed bash (although there is a new version available via the community).
This is exactly what I needed. I've just switched from using my canon dslr to an ZWO and an ASIAir plus. I used to be able to easily go through my RAW files on the laptop before using Siril. But couldn't with the fits files. The other night I got 204 x 120sec exposure images of the Bodes galaxy. 7.8 hours total exposure time. Started out with 250...... This was exactly what I needed. Have you ever used ASTAP? I like the way it grades my images but I haven't figured out how to stack very well with it. I can't recommend something really good for planetary though. Astrosurface Works really well. I used to use pipp/autostakert/registax/gimp now I go from pipp to astrosurface and I'm done. Takes me 1/4 of the time and the results are far better.
This was very helpful, thanks! Since you are using Siril on Windows, and since the Symbolic Link option is checked while running the Conversion, I would expect he blink* files to be symbolic links (of almost 0 bytes in size) than the actual files to be converted into the lights folder, thereby saving a lot of disk space. And when one opens the fits symbolic link file, Siril would open the actual fits file in the LightsOrg folder. In you case I saw actual original fits files in the lights folder. Is my understanding correct, or am I missing something?
Something I found after doing multiple nights is it names the lights the same. i.e. new_00001. So, what I'm saying is when you try to combine multiply nights you have to rename those nights before you put them together for stacking. Am I making sense? Is there an easier way to do this? I suppose I could put all the original files into the lights folder and reblink them all at once. Or just delete the original files that I'm throwing out and use those and not the new_00001 files. Another question. Does ASI Fits viewer do the same thing? Allow me to review the light files.
Does your acquisition allow you to change the naming conventions of the light frames, as it's acquiring images? You could add the date to the name then they wouldn't be the same across multiple nights.
@@DeepSpaceAstro I do use N.I.N.A. and have my file names setup like that but I was seeing new_00001... as the new file name. And the next night after blinking the new images I get a new set that are named new_00001... I did try ASI Fits viewer and that seems to work as well. Like I said above I'll probably wait till I get all the data together and then blink through everything and toss the bad frames. Just the fact that you find these hidden features means we all owe you. Thanks
Getting better and better at Siril as well. Couple of comments/recommendations: You can do something very close to what you do by using symlinks/soft-links to your files. My method is as follows: 1) my data is collected and stored in a x/Lights/ directory; 2) create a directory for each x/, and in that directory create the x//bias, x//darks, x//flats, and x//lights directory, 3) use symlinks to point all the Lights//xyz.fits files to the x//light/ folder -- I do this using Windows Subsystem for Linux as can easily do multiple file using the "ln -s /*.fits ." command when in the directory. Now, all your source data is in Lights and is "safe", and all your processing is in the x/ directory using symlinks (including symlinks for flats/darks/bias as needed). process using the preprocessing script like normal. if you "blink" to remove you can remove the symlink as is just a pointer and rerun processing if needed.
Hi Rich, Great Videos! Like Eli Ron below, I use the frame list as a "blink" function. I created a script that does all the preprocessing, including registration, but leaves out the stacking. I then I open the list & the plots to see FWHM, background, roundness etc. This helps me set the stacking filters similar to the WBPP in PI.
Was literally looking for a blink alternative just yrsterday. Currently using Adobe Bridge for reviewing my files but that's pretty slow. Will give this a try. Thanks!
@@DeepSpaceAstro I just realized that DSS probably offers the easiest way of reviewing and culling images. After registration of the light frames, it presents all the scoring details (star count, FWHM, sky background %, etc.) per image. You can then easily sort on total score or whatever parameter you like and review the images. By coincidence, the just released a new version which claims to offer "blink" support. What that basically means is that they now cache the last 20 frames from the registration step so these images can more quickly be reviewed.
@@elbass0 Siril offers the same scoring functionality but has a graphical presentation of it. It is - just as with DSS - only available after the images have been registered.
@DeepSpaceAstro this worked like a charm, thank you as always! I’m curious about @elbass0 process as I tried that but Bridge does not recognize fits. Is there a fits plugin for bridge (Mac)? I’ve not found anything thus far.
that is exactly what I do as well. then I have my scripts modified to stop just before stacking and use Sirils plotiing to remove any outliers left as Eli Ron commented. Then I go into stacking and usually set the image rejection parameters to my liking. Depending on the number of subs I have I may reject more or not based on fwhm, roundness or whatever
One other method you might try that I have been using from the beginning is to modify the osc script so it does everything but the stacking process. It stops after the registration. I then open the registered sequence and am able to use Siril’s wonderful quality plot - I can reject frames manually based on FWHM as well as blink through the frames one by one following their quality measure on the plot. I then go to the stacking tab choose my method and further define any rejection parameters I wish. By the way if you choose nb of stars it usually works great for rejecting frames with obstacles. Give it a shot!
Great idea! Thanks!
I do something similar. I run the OSC_Preprocessing script and then switch the Home Directory to the process folder. Now choose the Registered sequence from the list and now you also have access to the Plot graph where you see FWHM values. You can deselect the frames you don’t like and now all you have to do is stack.
@@indysbike3014 Great idea! Love all the different ways people are saying they do this! Thanks!
@DeepSpaceAstro do a video on the second method listed here please...
@DeepSpaceAstro please do a video
Thank you for making these very helpful videos. Please keep making ones on SIRIL . Siril keeps getting better, and it's really helpful to have someone who understands it show me how to use it.
Thank you, I will!
I use ASI Studio and the FITS Viewer to review my images
Yeah someone else mentioned they do that as well. I haven't looked at it, but I assume it wouldn't handle raw files like CR2, CR3?
I’ve been doing it this way as well, it is easy to use down arrow look at each file in the sequence and hit the space bar to toggle its enable/disable state as necessary. Using export is cute, I did not know about that function. Instead I use a bash script that looks at the .seq file and deletes those that are disabled. Then I regenerate the sequence.
All that said, given that I use N.I.N.A., I have it encode stats in the file name of the .fits file for each shot. So names have components like “-stars=517” and “-hfr=4.2”. It then becomes trivial to delete outliers by name.
Now you're just being fancy! 😂 Thanks for sharing!
Hi Bruce, I appreciate your comment was a while ago now, but I rewatched this video today as I was looking at using Siril to 'blink'. I saw your comment, and as a recent NINA convert, I just said 'wow'! What a big brain idea! I am guessing that you delete images with low star numbers (cloudy?) and/or high hfr (blurry for some reason?) - is that the logic? FYI my NINA settings have already been updated!
@@johnblack9499 Hi John. Yes, you've that right. I just tell the script to filter everything with "HFR > 3.5 && STARS < 300" (or whatever seems appropriate) and then do a "CMD=rm {FileName}" on each. Or if I want to see those files in that set I can do something like "CMD=echo {STARS} {HFR} {FileName}" and I get a nice three column display with star count in the first column, hfr in the second, and the file name in the third. I don't know if you are a linux user (if so you are welcome to the script) or not but it is then easy to pipe that result into something like "sort -n" to get a list sorted by the first column (star count in this case). It probably could run under Windows but I've not looked into what is available for bash in Windows. Yeah, I probably should have written the script in something else (perl, python, or whatever) but I was lazy and used what I had ATM. ;)
I am also a Mac user but I've not made it compatible with Apple's very much regressed bash (although there is a new version available via the community).
This is exactly what I needed. I've just switched from using my canon dslr to an ZWO and an ASIAir plus. I used to be able to easily go through my RAW files on the laptop before using Siril. But couldn't with the fits files.
The other night I got 204 x 120sec exposure images of the Bodes galaxy. 7.8 hours total exposure time.
Started out with 250......
This was exactly what I needed.
Have you ever used ASTAP?
I like the way it grades my images but I haven't figured out how to stack very well with it.
I can't recommend something really good for planetary though. Astrosurface Works really well.
I used to use pipp/autostakert/registax/gimp now I go from pipp to astrosurface and I'm done.
Takes me 1/4 of the time and the results are far better.
Glad it helped! No I haven't used ASTAP for stacking
This was very helpful, thanks! Since you are using Siril on Windows, and since the Symbolic Link option is checked while running the Conversion, I would expect he blink* files to be symbolic links (of almost 0 bytes in size) than the actual files to be converted into the lights folder, thereby saving a lot of disk space. And when one opens the fits symbolic link file, Siril would open the actual fits file in the LightsOrg folder. In you case I saw actual original fits files in the lights folder. Is my understanding correct, or am I missing something?
The symbolic link piece only comes into play with fits files. When they're raw files, like they are in this video from my Canon, they're still copied.
Something I found after doing multiple nights is it names the lights the same. i.e. new_00001. So, what I'm saying is when you try to combine multiply nights you have to rename those nights before you put them together for stacking. Am I making sense? Is there an easier way to do this? I suppose I could put all the original files into the lights folder and reblink them all at once. Or just delete the original files that I'm throwing out and use those and not the new_00001 files.
Another question. Does ASI Fits viewer do the same thing? Allow me to review the light files.
Does your acquisition allow you to change the naming conventions of the light frames, as it's acquiring images? You could add the date to the name then they wouldn't be the same across multiple nights.
@@DeepSpaceAstro I do use N.I.N.A. and have my file names setup like that but I was seeing new_00001... as the new file name. And the next night after blinking the new images I get a new set that are named new_00001... I did try ASI Fits viewer and that seems to work as well. Like I said above I'll probably wait till I get all the data together and then blink through everything and toss the bad frames. Just the fact that you find these hidden features means we all owe you. Thanks
why thank you very much youtube recomendations
Haha! Guess I should say thanks to UA-cam as well!
Getting better and better at Siril as well. Couple of comments/recommendations: You can do something very close to what you do by using symlinks/soft-links to your files. My method is as follows: 1) my data is collected and stored in a x/Lights/ directory; 2) create a directory for each x/, and in that directory create the x//bias, x//darks, x//flats, and x//lights directory, 3) use symlinks to point all the Lights//xyz.fits files to the x//light/ folder -- I do this using Windows Subsystem for Linux as can easily do multiple file using the "ln -s /*.fits ." command when in the directory. Now, all your source data is in Lights and is "safe", and all your processing is in the x/ directory using symlinks (including symlinks for flats/darks/bias as needed). process using the preprocessing script like normal. if you "blink" to remove you can remove the symlink as is just a pointer and rerun processing if needed.
Nice! Thanks for sharing your process!
Hi Rich, Great Videos! Like Eli Ron below, I use the frame list as a "blink" function. I created a script that does all the preprocessing, including registration, but leaves out the stacking. I then I open the list & the plots to see FWHM, background, roundness etc. This helps me set the stacking filters similar to the WBPP in PI.
Yeah I really like that idea! Thanks!
Thanks for your videos, I really like the way you get right to the point. Other people waffle on endlessly!
Thank you and you're welcome!
Brilliant!!!
Was literally looking for a blink alternative just yrsterday. Currently using Adobe Bridge for reviewing my files but that's pretty slow. Will give this a try. Thanks!
Thanks! I didn't think about Bridge. Sounds like this should be faster. Let me know what you think.
@@DeepSpaceAstro I just realized that DSS probably offers the easiest way of reviewing and culling images. After registration of the light frames, it presents all the scoring details (star count, FWHM, sky background %, etc.) per image. You can then easily sort on total score or whatever parameter you like and review the images.
By coincidence, the just released a new version which claims to offer "blink" support. What that basically means is that they now cache the last 20 frames from the registration step so these images can more quickly be reviewed.
@@elbass0 Siril offers the same scoring functionality but has a graphical presentation of it. It is - just as with DSS - only available after the images have been registered.
Oh wow! I'll have to take a look at that. Thanks!
@DeepSpaceAstro this worked like a charm, thank you as always! I’m curious about @elbass0 process as I tried that but Bridge does not recognize fits. Is there a fits plugin for bridge (Mac)? I’ve not found anything thus far.
Just use ASI Studio file viewer.
That's what I do. Quick and simple for fits files.
Thanks for the tip!
that is exactly what I do as well. then I have my scripts modified to stop just before stacking and use Sirils plotiing to remove any outliers left as Eli Ron commented. Then I go into stacking and usually set the image rejection parameters to my liking. Depending on the number of subs I have I may reject more or not based on fwhm, roundness or whatever