Outputs don’t align.

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Bugger347
Posts: 5
Joined: 04.01.2022 03:46

Outputs don’t align.

Post by Bugger347 »

I use both Helicon and Zerene stacker for focus stacking my extreme macro images of insects. I use a Stackshot rail and quality microscope objectives on a Nikon D850 with bellows. The outputs from Helicon are placed in Photoshop to be layered as needed as I prefer this method over retouch in Helicon. The problem is that the sub stacks that are created to repair artifacts do not align properly. It is difficult to tell whether this is a bug or not as Zerene stacker does not have this difficulty. I prefer to use helicon but I’m frustrated with the improperly aligned output images when I save multiple sub stacks into Photoshop. Is there a way to correct the limit and size of images prior to moving to Photoshop? Also there is no “Save all output images”. It is annoying and time consuming to have to save output images one at a time. Am I doing something wrong?
Dechreuwr
Posts: 1
Joined: 30.10.2022 21:05

Re: Outputs don’t align.

Post by Dechreuwr »

My license for HF is due to expire soon so I've been doing some online research. Recently I ran across this article.

https://www.allanwallsphotography.com/b ... ded%20halo

In the article the author states:
A word about the other focus stacking programs is called for here. If you want to know is sordid detail how ZS compares to the other popular stacker, Helicon, read my three part essay on the subject, but it boils down to one crucial difference - only ZS has a complete set of retouching tools (at this writing). It is as simple as that. The tool that is absent from the Helicon program is one that may seem trivial and insignificant, or even totally irrelevant if you don’t believe in retouching (in which case this argument will not sway you), but is one that I use in virtually every focus stacked image that I produce. It is a tool that is as basic to my retouching workflow as a camera is to my photography. This is the ability to stack a subset of my original images and produce an output that remains in the current project and therefor may be used as a retouching source. This is not the case with Helicon - you can run a selected sub stack and produce a new output, but that output becomes part of a different project and cannot be used as a retouching source in the original project. The reason is because the substack has undergone a different alignment than the original source images and will not “fit” over the baseline retouching target without realignment - which then renders the original input images misaligned. You cannot retouch from the original source images and the substack outputs within the same active project. In Zerene Stacker you can. Quod erat demonstrandum.
Other than the rather snarky final comment it sounds like he's describing the same thing as the OP. I'm not a programmer and I'm making some assumptions so I could be way off base but isn't the solution to do something akin to split stacks but using the alignment data of the 'master' project? I'm not sure I'm explaining that well. Also, I take it from this thread viewtopic.php?t=11223 that you would have to adjust the criteria for output compatibility.
Bugger347
Posts: 5
Joined: 04.01.2022 03:46

Re: Outputs don’t align.

Post by Bugger347 »

The problem is that I would like to use sub stacks in Photoshop to retouch the original that was created in Helicon. When I take the files into Photoshop and placed them as layers above the Helicon created image, they do not align when I try to paint in Areas of Infocus pixels onto the image I’m trying to repair. The images are not the same size which causes a problem requiring transform in order to make the images overlap properly. I would probably use Helicon primarily if this were not the case. I hope someone will attempt what I am doing so they can see the result for themselves . Thank you. I’ll look forward to seeing this difficulty rectified hopefully in the near future.
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Catherine
Posts: 1163
Joined: 29.04.2019 22:38

Re: Outputs don’t align.

Post by Catherine »

Looks like we missed your original question in January, sorry for that.
1. Un-tick the "Crop outputs automatically" option in Preferences - Autoadjustments. This should, hopefully, fix the problem. And make sure all your substacks are sorted in the same order (either all ascending or all descending).
2. There is the "Save all" function to save all results at once: menu - File - Save all, or Ctrl+Shift+S. If you don't see it, it means you have an outdated version of Helicon Focus.
3. We are working on the sub-stacking feature, it will be included in the next update. Retouching with substacks will, of course, also work.
Bugger347
Posts: 5
Joined: 04.01.2022 03:46

Re: Outputs don’t align.

Post by Bugger347 »

Thanks. I will give it a try.
Janoschw
Posts: 1
Joined: 31.03.2023 10:51

Re: Outputs don’t align.

Post by Janoschw »

Hello I have the same issue!
I want to make an animation and stacked pictures from Helicon Focus dont align. Also when i turn off auto cropping and scailing. Any idea to help?
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Catherine
Posts: 1163
Joined: 29.04.2019 22:38

Re: Outputs don’t align.

Post by Catherine »

Are the inputs (source images) well-aligned? If not, then the outputs from such stacks also won't be aligned with each other.
shutterbug
Posts: 39
Joined: 17.12.2022 15:14

Re: Outputs don’t align.

Post by shutterbug »

One trick you might want to try is to enable "Manual focus detection area adjustment" in Autoadjustments.

Then you can place the blue box on top of the most important part of the image, this was a huge help when stacking areas that slightly moved/shifted when taking photos!
geltasteless
Posts: 4
Joined: 26.04.2023 08:57

Re: Outputs don’t align.

Post by geltasteless »

shutterbug wrote: 31.03.2023 13:37 One trick you might want to try is to enable "Manual focus detection area adjustment" in Autoadjustments.

Then you can place the blue box on top of the most important part of the image, this was a huge help when stacking areas that slightly moved/slope game shifted when taking photos!
That's worked. Many thanks.
mikasa23
Posts: 1
Joined: 15.07.2023 08:51

Re: Outputs don’t align.

Post by mikasa23 »

shutterbug wrote: 31.03.2023 13:37 One trick you might want to try is to enable "Manual focus detection area adjustment" in Autoadjustments.
fnf
Then you can place the blue box on top of the most important part of the image, this was a huge help when stacking areas that slightly moved/shifted when taking photos!
This trick absolutely works. I regret not to know it earlier.
MiB76
Posts: 9
Joined: 18.11.2023 11:08

Re: Outputs don’t align.

Post by MiB76 »

Hello,
I shoot photos where the cam is always in the same position (except for the stacking/focusing movement), but the lights are flashing up from different angles at each stack position and I record one image per single light. I have 8 lights.
After stacking when I import all images as layers in Photoshop I see that some where scaled differently or aligned differently and are useless for me as they are.
Is there a ways that I could stack one set of the images and then use the same alignment settings for all the other 7 stacks and to automate this process because I have hundreds of stacks of this kind. 8 stacks should always have the same alignment. Then the ninth should be stacked again, the next seven stacks should have the same alignment, ...

Thanks and kind regards,
Michael
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