Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Recommended Posts

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

@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.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"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

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

@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

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"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

  • Staff

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! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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/

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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°

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

FIT.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

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 :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 by mldee
Grammar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

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!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello @Brainebula

With version 1.10 it will be possible to load FiTS natively into Affinity Photo.

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

  • 1 year later...

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?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

image.png.33678095f0da1c21841547b55c82f3df.png

Download a free manual for Publisher 2.4 from this forum - expanded 300-page PDF

My system: Affinity 2.4.0 for macOS Sonoma 14.4, MacBook Pro 14" (M1 Pro)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@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.

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

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.

 

Download a free manual for Publisher 2.4 from this forum - expanded 300-page PDF

My system: Affinity 2.4.0 for macOS Sonoma 14.4, MacBook Pro 14" (M1 Pro)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From the Affinity Store, under Photo, Technical Specifications: 

image.png.a2a900253f8117846e3cee9280d0ab63.png

-- 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

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.