I have a simple solution for this, give users a alternative option to use the embedded JPG file from RAW. Extracting embedded JPG is probably around 100 times faster then converting the RAW to JPG/TIF.
The result is not as high performance as converting RAW files (as some types of RAW files contain a smaller resolution JPEG), but it will allow previewing stacking results very fast (and help user decide).
Exiftool command line tool can be used to extract JPEG file embedded in RAW https://exiftool.org/. Or you could write the code in Helicon, here is a source code example for CR2 http://www.gdzid.com/QJFC.htm , exiftool is also opensource
Exiftool command lines examples:
extract the embeded JPEG in a RAW file (tested with CR2/Canon, ORF/Olympus, ARW/Sony):
Code: Select all
exiftool.exe -b -PreviewImage c:\source\IMG_05218.CR2 > c:\destination\IMG_05218_embeded.JPG
Code: Select all
exiftool.exe -TagsFromFile c:\source\IMG_05218.CR2 c:\destination\IMG_05218_embeded.JPG -overwrite_original
Proposed Interface:
In "Raw development settings..." window, please add a checkbox "Preview Mode (This will use the JPEG file embedded in the raw file)". The checkbox state need to be remembered (after close/reopen program).