Hi !

Here is my workflow for editing M17 for example !

S50 Stack .. 648x10Sec

1 — Denoise. Loaded the stack and ran ML denoise at 50%. I could run a second pass with another click, but I skipped it.

2 — Star separation. A few residual stars were still visible, so I went for a second pass (Fresh separation / Second pass / Cancel). It didn't change much here — depends on the image. Stars inside a nebula can't fully be excluded. Why it matters: you can edit the nebula freely without distorting the stars in colour, sharpness, etc.

3 — Rotate + gradient & green cast. Rotated to landscape. Clicked Auto in Image Editing — the algorithm works out the gradient with built-in "auto recipes". Nudged the gradient up a bit and pulled the green cast fully out. Careful with the gradient: looks nice, but you can lose information.

4 — Before/after compare. That's why I use the Compare view (top-center toolbar).

5 — Tone + detail. Auto on tone, Brightness 2, Contrast 18. Detail needs a feel for it. The key slider is BG Smoothing — it brings the nebula structure out but softens the image, which you recover with Detail / HDR.

6 — Crop. Cropped off the corners.

7 — Fine-tuning + Color Punch. Color Punch (I should rename that :)) creates a multiscale chrominance — colour flows along its original path. Interesting effect, as is the one below it.

8 — Palette. First impression when a palette is applied: looks oversaturated — but it isn't.

9 — Palette fine-tuning. You could tone it down via the Intensity slider — but you shouldn't need to.

10 — Narrowband (ML). An ML model I trained myself on 350,000 images for correct colour emulation. Here it emulates the Midnight palette.

11 — Tone curve (Auto). Good result, room for improvement.

12 — Tone curve (Curve mode). Boosted the blue channel in the lower range — and the luminance.

13 — Star Spikes + saving. Added Star Spikes. Note: saving can take a while on deep edits — just wait. The finished image lands in your folder.

That's the full run. Normaly it takes me about 5 - 10 min to get this type of picture .and its very easy if you are getting used to the Workflow !

Happy to answer questions on any step.

edited with Astroforge

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Astroforge 1.1.35

Good evening everyone!

Original text: only AI used for formatting

Over the past few days, I've put in a lot of hard work to be able to present this version V1.1.30 to you. Here's an overview of the most important changes:

1. Loading & Stretch Options

When loading, all common stretch data is now offered – giving you maximum control over the image.

Important: The loaded data is used for star detection. I personally always think dark images look cool – but they're not much use if the star detection ends up working suboptimally.

Quick switch of stretch method: If the image is already loaded and you still want to quickly switch to a different stretch method – no problem. Just click the "Original" button in the top right, and you'll be taken straight back to the respective menu.

1. Star Detection & Star Separation

To optimize star detection, I've expanded the Gaia database. The logic behind star separation has also been significantly improved once again.

Tip: If the core burns out after star separation, it helps to adjust the brightness to find the optimal point.

I've built in nearly dozens of algorithms to reliably separate the core – so it should really help.

1. Auto Mode for Beginners & Pros

The program is meant to be easy for beginners and highly professional at the same time. That's why I've added an auto mode: it provides suggestions, so to speak – the fine-tuning is up to you.

1. Pipelines & Bug Reporting

All pipelines have been thoroughly tested. But there are bound to be some bugs left – if any come up, no worries:

In the top right, next to the fullscreen mode, you'll see a bug icon. Just click on it and post on Reddit – I'm usually quick to respond.

1. New Features in the Top Bar

Please take a look at the bar in the upper middle – new features have been added there as well.

1. Performance Indicator During Layer Editing

Due to the file size of some images, the program requires a lot of computing power. When the individual layers are being edited, short delays are unavoidable – despite the render pipeline having been optimized multiple times.

New: These delays are now visibly shown in the sliders, so you always know what's happening in the background.

1. Manual & Tutorial Videos

I'll be updating the manual step by step, and I'm also planning short tutorial videos:

• Kept small (only 6–15 MB)
• Available in multiple languages

A Personal Word to Wrap Things Up

It's awesome how much you've supported me – thank you for all your feedback!

And honestly: what you're seeing today is the program I wanted to have myself.

As a thank-you for your support, I've extended the trials by one more week – unfortunately, this will be the last time.

Have fun with the new version!

And Yes ... Mac / linux aare on the Roadmap

Guten Abend zusammen!

Original Text : nur Ki zur Formatierung benutzt

Ich habe in den letzten Tagen wirklich viel und hart gearbeitet, um euch diese Version V1.1.30 präsentieren zu dürfen. Hier die wichtigsten Änderungen im Überblick:

1. Laden & Stretch-Optionen

Beim Laden werden jetzt alle gängigen Stretch-Daten angeboten – das gibt euch maximale Kontrolle über das Bild.

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Schneller Wechsel der Stretch-Methode: Falls das Bild bereits geladen ist und ihr trotzdem schnell eine andere Stretch-Methode wollt – kein Problem. Einfach oben rechts auf den Button „Original" klicken, und ihr seid sofort wieder im jeweiligen Menü.

2. Sternerkennung & Sterntrennung

Um die Sternerkennung zu optimieren, habe ich die Gaia-DB erweitert. Auch die Sterntrennung wurde hinsichtlich der Logik nochmals deutlich optimiert.

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Ich habe hier fast Dutzende Algorithmen eingebaut, um den Kern zuverlässig zu trennen – es sollte also helfen.

3. Automodus für Einsteiger & Profis

Das Programm soll einfach für Anfänger und gleichzeitig sehr professionell sein. Deswegen habe ich einen Automodus eingebaut: Dieser liefert sozusagen Vorschläge – die Feinarbeit liegt bei euch.

4. Pipelines & Bug-Reporting

Sämtliche Pipelines sind sauber durchgeprüft. Fehler gibt es aber bestimmt trotzdem noch – falls welche auftreten, kein Problem:

Oben rechts neben dem Vollbildmodus ist ein Käfer-Symbol zu sehen. Einfach draufklicken und bei Reddit posten – meistens bin ich schnell.

5. Neue Funktionen in der oberen Leiste

Schaut bitte auf die Leiste in der Mitte oben – auch dort sind neue Funktionen eingefügt.

6. Performance-Anzeige bei der Layer-Bearbeitung

Das Programm benötigt aufgrund der Bildgröße einiger Dateien sehr viel Rechenleistung. Wenn die einzelnen Layer bearbeitet werden, kommt es – trotz der mehrfach optimierten Render-Pipeline – unausweichlich zu kurzen Verzögerungen.

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7. Anleitung & Tutorial-Videos

Ich werde die Anleitung nach und nach aktualisieren und plane zusätzlich kurze Tutorial-Videos:

• Klein gehalten (nur 6–15 MB)
• Multilingual verfügbar

Ein persönliches Wort zum Schluss

Cool, dass ihr mich so unterstützt habt – danke für eure Feedbacks!

Und ehrlich gesagt: Was ihr heute seht, ist das Programm, das ich selbst haben wollte.

Zum Dank für eure Unterstützung habe ich die Trials wieder - aber leider auch letztmalig - um eine Woche verlängert

Viel Spaß mit der neuen Version!

Good evening everyone,

today was actually a good day. I keep making great progress and with every version I think I'm pretty close to the optimum regarding the formulas and their implementation. Butas it goes — something always comes to mind.

So here's tonight's revised version, mostly polished on quality:

The sliders are slimmed down — Sharpen + Structure are now one Detail slider. Instead of 4 color sliders there's Color Punch + Color Smooth. Wavelet + TGV → BG Smoothing. 5 fewer sliders overall without losing control — power users can still drive legacy values via presets, but the UI is finally uncluttered.

The palette mask now runs invisibly in the background — as soon as you've done star separation, only the nebula gets the palette colors, the sky stays natural. I tried this before with toggle buttons + brush tool, was all too complicated. Now: just star separation → done. Works cleanly on faint extended targets too — Christmas Tree, Veil outskirts get the palette, not just the bright center.

Auto-update checker is in — 30 sec after launch the app checks for new versions. If there's a newer one, a dialog pops up with release notes and a download button. You don't need to manually check GitHub anymore.

Small things that were bugging me:

- AUTO gradient was always 60 regardless of the image — now scales naturally from 5 (clean) to 90 (heavy mosaic)

- Pulling sliders back sometimes did nothing because legacy values stayed stuck — fixed

- Tone curve was dropping drag events during long renders — fixed

- Sharpen slider at 90 = trashed image → soft-knee limiter above 50, no more crash look

- Christmas Tree and similar faint targets only got palette on the bright center — better object mask via starless layer

- Found 124 missing translations + filled them in (DE/EN/FR/ES)

I re-tuned the galaxy AUTO values against a PixInsight reference of M31 — HDR cap up to 60 instead of 35, star reduction 22, HSL selective now defaults to Cyan+15/Orange+15/Green-15 for galaxies. One click on AUTO Detail + AUTO Expert + AUTO HSL should land closer to the pro look than V1.1.33.

Existing licenses: just install over the top, your settings stick.

Text edited and translated to english with AI cause here is fathers day and i want to go out ! :)

Hey everyone,

Sorry — another update. Programming all these chained functions that also tie into the sliders is honestly pretty tricky. But in my opinion the results are really close to perfect now, so hopefully the update flood slows down from here.

I'm also planning a short video with voiceover that walks through the app and its features.

Quick tips while you wait:

- Star Sep — still stars in the Nebula view? Hit Star Sep a second time for another pass. The remaining stars get moved over to the Star layer where they're properly protected.

- Overcooked your image? Check the three buttons in the top-right: Original / Denoised / Separated. Press and hold any of them for 3 seconds to restore that state.

- Narrowband looks blown out? Go to the Palette section and pull Intensity down.

- Other way round — image looks faded after switching palettes? Push Intensity up.

Sorry again for another update — it's also more work on my side, which I'd honestly rather avoid.

M42 edited with Astroforge.de

I bought the software and received the key "AF-xxxxxxxxxx" however on pasting the same in the software i get the error "Aktivierungslimit erreicht" which i believe is Activation limit reached.

However the key which I entered shows status - Granted

Validations 0

Validated at - Never validated

In the customer portal of polar sh.

Can someone please guide?

u/gemcollector44