How to export the same slice from multiple aligned images

[Didge]

Hi,

I have a stack of slightly mis-aligned images from the recent Lunar eclipse.

If I import the images as a stack, Affinity Photo does an absolutely amazing job of aligning them.

What I want to do is define a crop area and export each image separately using the same crop, so I have a set of perfectly aligned, but separate, images that I can combine into a movie.

I've been experimenting with layers, crops and slices - but still not getting the result I want.

Any suggestions on an easy way to do this - I'm out of ideas

[h_d]

If you crop the Live Stack Group, then ungroup it in the Layer List and Rasterise and Trim each of the individual layers, you can then switch to Export persona and export the cropped and aligned slices.

Unfortunately there's currently no way to Rasterise and Trim multiple layers in one go. I believe it's been mentioned in Feature Requests. You have to do them one by one (or write a macro and run it repeatedly, or create a second macro with multiple instances of the first). 

[Didge]

Thanks HD,

All good - that worked perfectly on a test stack of 10 images 

Unfortunately, I have 1200 images to stack and crop and rasterise and trim, so doing it one layer at a time is not scaleable.

So, yes, as way of performing the process on the whole stack as one operation would be really good

A couple of observations :-

1. If the 'Trim and Rasterise' operation can't be performed on more than one layer at a  time, then AP should not allow the user to select it - in other words, that option should be grayed out if more than one layer is selected;

2. The 'Rasterise and Trim ...' command has an ellipsis after it - which implies there is 'more to come' - such as a dialog box to select other options.

There were no options following selection of that command (or the 'Rasterise' command either), so IMHO there is either something missing, or the ellipsis should be dropped.

Thanks for the tip though - AP is truly amazing - I wish I'd known about it years ago

Many thanks,

Gary

[h_d]

15 minutes ago, Gary.JONES said:

The 'Rasterise and Trim ...' command has an ellipsis after it - which implies there is 'more to come'

I know... 😉 It's one of the little interface glitches that makes Affinity Photo so... charming... ?

[Didge]

Perhaps an 'undocumented feature' - rather than a glitch ?

But - AP is still amazing nonetheless

Would be great if you can get 'Trim and Rasterise' to work on an entire stack

BTW - where can I get the latest beta to test FITS import ?

Gary

[carl123]

21 minutes ago, Gary.JONES said:

The 'Rasterise and Trim ...' command has an ellipsis after it - which implies there is 'more to come' - such as a dialog box to select other options.

You will get another dialogue if you have a FX applied to the layer

[h_d]

 

2 minutes ago, Gary.JONES said:

where can I get the latest beta

The Affinity Photo beta forums are here. Follow the link to the section for your own OS and the announcement for the latest beta will be pinned to the top.

[Didge]

Thanks HD,

OK - I followed that link and it took me to the beta page - which is for PRE 1.9 versions.

I'm keen to try the latest v1,9 beta because it enabled FITS import for creating non-astronomy stacks - which will let me align FITS without stacking them

Gary

[David in Яuislip]

27 minutes ago, Gary.JONES said:

I have 1200 images to stack and crop and rasterise and trim, so doing it one layer at a time is not scaleable

To elaborate on @h_d's first post, here is a macro that Rasterises & Trims then moves down one layer. Once this is in the library it can be called from another macro, my example shows six but there's no reason you can't have sixty

[carl123]

37 minutes ago, Gary.JONES said:

Unfortunately, I have 1200 images to stack and crop and rasterise and trim, so doing it one layer at a time is not scaleable.

There may be another way

Check back later as I have a video conference I must attend now

 

[Didge]

20 minutes ago, David in Яuislip said:

To elaborate on @h_d's first post, here is a macro that Rasterises & Trims then moves down one layer. Once this is in the library it can be called from another macro, my example shows six but there's no reason you can't have sixty

Hi David - yes, I just wrote a little macro and that does the trick !

Thanks for the tip

Gary

[David in Яuislip]

2 minutes ago, Gary.JONES said:

I just wrote a little macro and that does the trick !

Glad you've cracked it, apologies for omitting the macro from my previous post, probably too much coffee or not enough

[carl123]

2 hours ago, h_d said:

If you crop the Live Stack Group, then ungroup it in the Layer List and Rasterise and Trim each of the individual layers, you can then switch to Export persona and export the cropped and aligned slices.

Try this variation...

If you crop the Live Stack Group, then ungroup it in the Layer List and Rasterise and Trim each of the individual layers, you can then switch to Export persona and export the "cropped" and aligned slices.

If you export to a format that supports transparency (e.g. PNG) you will have your cropped images but they will be surrounded by transparent pixels that make up the original uncropped document size. This transparent area can be removed by Document > Clip Canvas

 

1 hour ago, Gary.JONES said:

Unfortunately, I have 1200 images to stack and crop and rasterise and trim, so doing it one layer at a time is not scaleable.

After the above, you can then run an Affinity batch job with a simple macro which does Document > Clip Canvas on all 1200 images created by the export persona. During this batch process you can also specify an alternative file format (such as JPG/TIFF) if required.