mldee Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 I use FITS exclusively in my astrophotography software. I watched numerous Youtube videos and reviews on Affinity before I decided to purchase, foolishly without bothering with a free trial. If I'd known that after two years on the market, you still have not implemented a FITS capability, I would not have purchased the programme. A real Caveat Emptor and I will be making sure all my astro friends here in Australia are made aware that Affinity doesn't do FITS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Patrick Connor Posted March 18, 2021 Staff Share Posted March 18, 2021 @mldee Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums You have posted into a thread that was started long ago, and last posted to just before we released Affinity Photo 1.9.1 which added FITS .fts file format to the AstroPhotography filters (which was itself a new feature for 1.9.0 only 4 weeks earlier). On 2/25/2021 at 9:19 AM, Patrick Connor said: Added .fts extension support Perhaps you are using File Open where this file format is not appropriate, or perhaps I have misunderstood, but the AstroPhotography features have their own persona and it is in there that FITS files are loaded. John Schnupp 1 Quote Patrick Connor Serif Europe Ltd Latest V2 releases on each platform Help make our apps better by joining our beta program! "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self." W. L. Sheldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markusd112 Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 Hi, I have installed affinity photo 1.9.1 on my Windows 10 machine: when I open a FITS file from Windows Explorer with affinity photo an error message appears, that this file format isn't recognized by affinity photo. So it isn't possible to simply open a FITS astrophoto (e.g. that is already stacked by another software) to do some preprocessing with affinity photo in the photo persona... I think a "FITS support" means, that affinity photo can handle fits files as known for other file formats like png, jpg, aphoto, etc. best regards Patrick Connor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Patrick Connor Posted March 18, 2021 Staff Share Posted March 18, 2021 @markusd112 I have seen the same suggestion from another user, but FITS is not an interchange format, and would need careful consideration whether a single file can be opened as you suggest. At the moment FITS files are used as the source files for merging multiple files into a stack, so I will take your suggestion back to the developers, but that is not how it is currently designed to be used, only as a stacking source Chris B and John Schnupp 2 Quote Patrick Connor Serif Europe Ltd Latest V2 releases on each platform Help make our apps better by joining our beta program! "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self." W. L. Sheldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Chris B Posted March 18, 2021 Staff Share Posted March 18, 2021 We would very much like to begin collecting samples of FITS that you have already stacked with other software. Should we ever make FITS available for File > Open, collecting these samples would help enable us to more accurately interpret the FITS files for Affinity Photo. Can I ask anyone who is interested in supplying some samples to drop them into this private Dropbox folder that is only available to the developers - https://www.dropbox.com/request/Ken6g7iyNS2b47X47kl2 Once you've done it, please can you give this thread a nudge so that we know to start downloading and investigating the files. Many thanks! Patrick Connor 1 Quote How to format a bug report | Learning Resources | List of V2 FAQs | YouTube Tutorials Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markusd112 Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 I have upload 4 files (2 x .fit and the same files in xisf format). They have been stacked with pixinsight. Maybe implementing xisf file format would be a good idea, too. Pixinsigh gives a warning that FITS is deprecated and you should save your files in XISF format, which is open source: https://www.pixinsight.com/xisf/ Teo_ and Patrick Connor 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Schnupp Posted March 18, 2021 Author Share Posted March 18, 2021 Chris B and Patrick Connor, So it sounds like Affinity is giving some support to astrophotography. I was super excited to see the astrophotography tools included with v1.9.0. I suspect that most people who want to view/edit FITS files will be using Deep Sky Stacker (DSS) to generate a stacked image. The output from DSS is named autosave.fit. I believe that this file is a 32 bit floating point (rational) file. DSS has additional options to save as 16bit, 32bit integer and 32bit rational, these save have the extension .FTS I'm honestly not sure why the extension is different between the autosave file and the other save options. The other possibility, and personally the main reason I would want to view FITS, is to be able to easily review my all my images and manually choose which ones to have included in the stack and which ones to exclude. This already exists in the stacking persona but I think what most people are expecting is to be able to open/view individual FITS images in the I put some files in the dropbox. They are from a ZWO ASI294MC-pro. This is a dedicated cooled astrophotography camera. It is a color sensor, CFA/bayer matrix is RGGB. These were my very first images with this camera. I had no calibration frames. The strong gradient in the lower right is due to a shadow from my off-axis guider pickoff prism. autosave, 16b, 32b integer and 23b rational are the DSS files. The 4th file with the long file name is a "raw" frame from the ASI294. I can also provide some monochrome files from my ASI1600MM-cool. All of those files were previously stacked in DSS with a TIFF output but I could restack as FITS output. I do have some other suggestions too, would those be better off started as a new thread? I have not checked, is there a forum specifically for astrophotography users? John Schnupp, N3CNL 2007 R1200RT +64,100 (just like Willie Nelson, On The Road Again) 1995 XLH 1200 106,495 (retired) Georgia, VT 44.7675°N, 73.1592° Patrick Connor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Schnupp Posted March 18, 2021 Author Share Posted March 18, 2021 The files are uploading now, it will take a few minutes. The 32bit ones are on the large side (137MB). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mldee Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 Thank you for the prompt response, and I would like to offer my sincere apologies for not delving further into Affinity before making my rant post below. Good to see you are making steps to bring FITS into the fold, hopefully eventually it will also function in the file-open functionality, as most astrophotographers have literally thousands of FITS files on their computers, and their comments, at least to me, clearly explain the need for a simple "file open" function. Again, thanks for bringing FITS capability on board. After coffee time this morning I will upload some FITS files to the Dropbox folder from my various QHY and ZWO folders, plus examples of Raw and processed FITS files from my various astro applications, including DSS, Nebulosity, N.I.N.A. and Astro Pixel Processor. Unfortunately these can be quite large, a few up to 80MB, so please feel free to let me know if you prefer not to have them sent. The intent is simply to allow compatibility checking with the widest variety of astro imaging equipment and software. Finally, my compliments on a very well designed website, very easy to read and use. Mike, Queensland, Australia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirkt Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 As a temporary kludgey solution to open a single FITS file, you can make a new astro stack to access the astro stack dialog, add a single FITS image file to your Lights group, hit the stack button and then open the stack, which will be a single file (the single FITS you put in your Lights list). Kirk The attached shot is the original FITS file in the first post of this thread, opened via the above method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mldee Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 Thanks Kirk for the input, yes, seems OK as a workaround. Small question for all astroimagers; how important to you is having Affinity do actual FITS stacking, in that many capture programs, and DSS as well, do this before one actually wants to sit down and get into the image processing side of things, which may be days later. I guess it's handy to allow you to flip through and find the duds before processing. My feeling is that I would prefer to use something like Astro Pixel Processor (APP) to come up with a final stacked image, which can then be filed away to await image processing with Affinity when ready. But as usual, one man's meat etc........ or YMMV, take your pick. BTW, five FITS uploaded to Dropbox from QHY8 Pro, QHY9 Mono and ZWO183MC pro, plus a sharpcap snapshot. Mike Patrick Connor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Chris B Posted March 19, 2021 Staff Share Posted March 19, 2021 Thanks for the files all. I will inform the developer we have a few samples 20 hours ago, John Schnupp said: I do have some other suggestions too, would those be better off started as a new thread? I have not checked, is there a forum specifically for astrophotography users? There's no dedicated place for astrophotography users but any suggestions, recommendations or feedback should really be left in this forum. There's no harm in starting a dedication thread for astrophotography and inviting anyone else into adding their suggestions. This is one of the biggest new features for 1.9 and granted there are still improvements we would like to make. Any suggestions or feedback (good or bad) will only help improve the feature Quote How to format a bug report | Learning Resources | List of V2 FAQs | YouTube Tutorials Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HasAnyoneSeenMyNebula Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 Was trying to open my FITS file in Affinity and Just found this thread when I looked up if it was supported. Still won't open...it would be a great feature to add. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mldee Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 (edited) You can open FITS using the "New Astrophotography Stack" File menu option. Admittedly nowhere as convenient as a direct "Open" function, but it's a start and we all hope "Open" is soon to be implemented. Take a look at some of the Youtube videos on v1.9 to see how to use the "Astro Stack" feature Edited March 24, 2021 by mldee Grammar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Schnupp Posted March 24, 2021 Author Share Posted March 24, 2021 12 hours ago, HasAnyoneSeenMyNebula said: Was trying to open my FITS file in Affinity and Just found this thread when I looked up if it was supported. Still won't open...it would be a great feature to add. You can't open directly in the Photo persona. You need to open in the Astrophotography Stack first. Select File: New Astrophotography Stack. Then open/add your FITS file as a light frame and you can *VIEW* the image, however, it can't be easily transferred to the Photo Persona. In order to transfer to the Photo Persona you will need to stack it. It sounds like you are trying to open a FITS file that has been stacked with another program (PixInsight, DeepSkyStacker or similar) so you don't need to add any additional calibration frames, but therein is the problem. Affinity can't stack a single frame. If you click the Apply button without having a result in the Stacked Images tab then a null file will be transferred to the Photo Persona. You will need to add at least one additional light (you cannot simply supply the same frame twice) or calibration frame so that Affinity can perform an operation and get a result into the Stacked Images tab, at which point you can click apply and transfer to Photo Persona. If you insist on using this method, the best choice would be to create a dummy dark frame with all the values set to 0, doing so would simply subtract 0 from your previously supplied stacked and calibrated frame. I use DSS for stacking. I do like that Affinity has included stacking but I feel that currently DSS is a bit more flexible with stacking options. I'm not sure what program you are using for stacking, but check and see if you can select TIFF output file type. I have set DSS to output as TIFF. The DSS output is a file called autosave.TIF and is in 32 bit floating point format. You *CAN* open that file directly in Affinity Photo Persona...no need to use the Affinity Astrophotography Stack option. John Schnupp, N3CNL 2007 R1200RT +64,100 (just like Willie Nelson, On The Road Again) 1995 XLH 1200 106,495 (retired) Georgia, VT 44.7675°N, 73.1592°W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brainebula Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 Wait, Walt claims we can import FITS to Affinity Photo on a Mac now, but the manual does't include FITS in its format list and AP only accepts JPEG and TIFF but not my FITS files from my astrophotography work. I need FITS stacking (plate solving) and scaling. If anyone has instructions for that process, please post asap and thank you SO MUCH!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Komatös Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 Hello @Brainebula With version 1.10 it will be possible to load FiTS natively into Affinity Photo. Quote AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (22631.3296) AMD A10-9600P | dGPU R7 M340 (2 GB) | 8 GB DDR4 2133 MHz | Windows 10 Home 22H2 (1945.3803) Affinity Suite V 2.4 & Beta 2.(latest) Better translations with: https://www.deepl.com/translator Interested in a robust (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF Life is too short to have meaningless discussions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpigeon Posted August 6, 2021 Share Posted August 6, 2021 9 hours ago, Komatös said: Hello @Brainebula With version 1.10 it will be possible to load FiTS natively into Affinity Photo. And it does ! Patrick Connor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markusd112 Posted August 6, 2021 Share Posted August 6, 2021 It work's! Thanks a lot for implementing this file format in Affinity Photo!👍 It would be great, if the XISF file format would be supported in the future as well.😊 https://pixinsight.com/doc/docs/XISF-1.0-spec/XISF-1.0-spec.html Thanks! Great work! Teo_ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickHaines Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 I have version 2 on both a windows desktop and my iPad. I cannot get either one to import FITS files. The new version doesn’t have an astronomy stack function I can find, just a new stack function which allows import of TIFF and other files, but not the FITS files. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTO Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 34 minutes ago, RickHaines said: I have version 2 on both a windows desktop and my iPad. I cannot get either one to import FITS files. The new version doesn’t have an astronomy stack function I can find, just a new stack function which allows import of TIFF and other files, but not the FITS files. Any suggestions? Quote Download a free manual for Publisher 2.4 from this forum - expanded 300-page PDF My system: Affinity 2.4.2 for macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, MacBook Pro 14" (M1 Pro) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 @MikeTO, I think @RickHaines is asking where to find the Astronomy Stack function on the iPad version, not on the Mac version like in your screenshot. Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 Affinity Photo 1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTO Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 24 minutes ago, R C-R said: @MikeTO, I think @RickHaines is asking where to find the Astronomy Stack function on the iPad version, not on the Mac version like in your screenshot. He wrote Windows and iPad so the Windows version would have this command in the File menu. Quote Download a free manual for Publisher 2.4 from this forum - expanded 300-page PDF My system: Affinity 2.4.2 for macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, MacBook Pro 14" (M1 Pro) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 From the Affinity Store, under Photo, Technical Specifications: Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickHaines Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 Thanks for the info. I see it is available for the desktop but not iPad. walt.farrell 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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