Overview

The stacking is done in three steps:

1. PIPP is used to pre-process the images (sorting by quality, cropping, …),
2. AutoStakkert! does the stacking itself and
3. Lightroom does the contrasting and other corrections.

PIPP

1. Drag-Drop photos to the _Source File_ tab.
2. On the Source File tab select Optimize Option Solar/Lunar Full Disc or accordingly.
3. On the Processing Options tab unselect Convert Colour To Monochrome and Enable Cropping.
4. On the Output Option tab select the Output Format TIFF, check Include Quality Value In Filename and click Select Directory and select the output folder.
5. On the Do Processing click Start Processing.

AutoStakkert!

1. Drag-drop the images created by PIPP to the main Window.
2. Check the Surface radio button in the Image Stabilization section in the main window.
3. Click the 2) Analyse button in the main window.
4. In the image preview window click the Place AP grid button.
   This will place the alignement points and visualizes them in the preview window. The AP Size does not have a bit impact on the result and since we will use Multi Scale APs, a value of 32 ist just fine.
5. In the main window in section Super Resolution turn off the Drizzle.
6. Use only 25% of the images, since this has the biggest impact on the result. The more images used, the blurrier the result.
   But if the images have artefacts, increase the number of images used!
7. Sharpening can be done in two ways:
   1. in AS: by checking Sharpened in the Stack Options on the main window or
   2. in Gimp / Lightroom: it looks like the result is better, when sharpening the image in one of the later tools.
8. Start the stacking by clicking the 3) Stack button.

Lightroom

1. Import the resulting TIFF.
2. In the Develop tool in the Detail section increase the:
   • Amount to 150,
   • Radius to 3.0 and
   • Detail to 100.
3. In the Basic section increase the Contrast* to eg. 100.
4. In the Tone Curve section slide the white value back to increase the contrast even more.

Settings Overview

• PIPP:
  • Source File:
    • Optimise Option: Solar/Lunar Full Disc
  • Processing Option:
    • Uncheck Convert to Gamm Correction
    • Uncheck Enable Cropping
  • Output Options:
    • Output Directory: Select Directory
  • Do Processing: Start Processing
• AutoStakkert!:
  • Main Window:
    • Drag PIPP results
    • Image Stabilisation: Surface
    • 2) Analyze
  • Image Window:
    • AP Size: 32
    • Place AP grid
  • Main Window
    • Stack Options
      • Frame percentage: 25
      • Uncheck Sharpened
    • Super Resolution:
      • Drizzle: Off
    • 3) Stack
• Lightroom:
  • Develope:
    • Details:
      • Amount: 150
      • Radius: 3.0
      • Detail: 100
    • Basic:
      • Contrast: 100
    • Tone Curve:
      • Slide White value in the curve to the left