Planetary-system-stacker

This release fixes all software problems which users reported so far after trying Version 0.8.22.

As to new program features, the most important ones are:
* The option to specify either the number or the percentage of frames to be stacked has been added.
* On program startup a "quickstart guide" is displayed.

If you have installed an earlier version, please uninstall it and then run the new Windows installer below. Users who have installed PSS viy Python 3 pip can upgrade by just entering "pip3 install --upgrade planetary-system-stacker" in a terminal.

This release fixes all software problems which users reported so far after trying Version 0.8.18:
* On sytsems with AMD processors the program crashed at startup.
* If PSS had never been used before, the program did not start (missing .ini file in the user's home directory).
* New postprocessing versions could be created, but deleting them resulted in a program crash.
* If a color image was postprocessed with the option "luminance only", a monochrome image could not be processed immediately after that.

If you have installed V0.8.18, please uninstall it and then run the new Windows installer below. Users who have installed PSS viy Python 3 pip can upgrade by just entering "pip3 install --upgrade planetary-system-stacker" in a terminal.

The most important functional changes since the last release are:
* Automatic / manual RGB channel alignment added to postprocessing.
* Postprocessing re-implemented, new filter types added.
* Configuration import from older PSS versions added.
* RAM de-allocation problem fixed in interactive batch mode.
* Alternative debayering options added for improved color image quality.

Users who have installed Python 3, and then PSS via "pip3 install planetary-system-stacker" can upgrade to the new version by opening a terminal and typing "pip3 install --upgrade planetary-system-stacker".

For Windows users, a traditional installer file is provided below as an alternative.

The most important functional changes since the last release are:
* Addition of a command line interface as an alternative to the GUI
* Addition of an optional GUI dialog to exclude bad frames from the stacking workflow

The RAM management in batch mode was improved. Large objects are de-allocated before the next job starts.

On systems where Python 3 is available, PlanetarySystemStacker together with all dependent libraries can be downloaded from the PyPI server and installed with

`pip3 install planetary-system-stacker`

This provides a simple and platform-independent way to install PSS.

For Windows users, a traditional installer file is provided below as an alternative.

After release V0.6.0 most algorithms have been replaced with more precise and robust ones. As a consequence, the image quality has improved considerably, in particular for planetary imaging and moon videos captured in bad seeing.

Also, support of video formats .ser, .mov and .mp4 should work properly now. The bug which caused the program to crash with large .ser files was fixed. Automatic de-bayering of video images was added, based on algorithms provided by Chris Garry, the author of the PIPP software.

The Windows installer and the software itself have been tested with Windows 10 Professional (1903). The installer places a PDF file with the user guide ("PlanetarySystemStacker_User-Guide.pdf") into the installation folder. This document contains a detailed description of all program functions. Please read it before using the software.

Since the diversity of Linux distributions makes it difficult to provide an automatic installer, the installer which in V0.6.0 was included for Ubuntu 16.04 is not included any more. Instead, Appendix B of the User Guide document gives detailed instructions how the program can be installed on various Linux distributions.

The user guide document can be downloaded separately from the list below.

After release V0.6.0 most algorithms have been replaced with more precise and robust ones. As a consequence, the image quality has improved considerably, in particular for planetary imaging and moon videos captured in bad seeing.

Also, support of video formats .ser, .mov and .mp4 should work properly now. The bug which caused the program to crash with large .ser files has been fixed.

The Windows installer and the software itself have been tested with Windows 10 Professional (1903). The installer places a PDF file with the user guide ("PlanetarySystemStacker_User-Guide.pdf") into the installation folder. This document contains a detailed description of all program functions. Please read it before using the software.

Linux users (Ubuntu 16.04 LTS) find a self-contained compressed tarfile below. It can be unpacked at any file system location. The executable "planetary_system_stacker" and the user guide document "PlanetarySystemStacker_User-Guide.pdf" can be found in the directory "PlanetarySystemStacker". For other Linux distributions please read the installation notes in the user guide document, Appendix B.

The user guide document can be downloaded separately from the list below as well.