FitsPlug V1.0.
A Windows Format plugin for
Adobe Photoshop.
1 1. Installing FITSPLUG.
1 2. Tips.
2. 3.
Supported FITS images.
2. 4.
Loading FITS
2. 5.
Saving FITS.
2. 6.
About FITS headers.
2. 7.
Fits Conformance.
3. 8.
Note on Starlight Xpress one-shot colour Fits images.
3. 9.
Support.
3. 10. Single user Licensing and
Ownership.
3. 11. Site Licensing and Ownership
4. 12. Prices
4. 13. Disclaimer
4. 14. Contact Information
1.
Installing FITSPLUG.
1.
Ensure Photoshop is not running.
2.
Unzip the FITSPLUG.8BI file and copy it into Photoshop's Format plugins
directory.
For Photoshop V5.0 and higher
\PROGRAM FILES\ADOBE\PHOTOSHOP X.X\PLUG-INS\FILE FORMATS\
(where x.x is the version you have installed)
For Photoshop V4.0
\PHOTOSHOP\PLUGINS\FORMATS\ directory.
When
you start Photoshop, the plugin will be loaded automatically, and the FIT, FTS
and FITS extensions will appear in the supported filetypes list when you select
File/ 'Open', 'Save' or ‘Save As' menu
options.
2.
Tips.
If
there is any sign of instability in Photoshop, remove the plugin from the
installed directory and restart Photoshop.
If
the image appears black when loaded, try an auto scale on the image after
loading into Photoshop, either before or after conversion to 8-bit. Many
astronomical images do not fill the entire dynamic range of the image and so
may appear black when initially loaded into Photoshop.
Most
of Photoshops functions are 8-bit and so will not work on the 16-bit image. Scaling
and levelling is functional and with later versions of Photoshop comes more
16-bit functionality so it pays to experiment with later versions. I was
surprised to find that the clone tool and Unsharp Mask works on 16-bit files
from Photoshop V5.0.
FitsPlug works with PhotoShop
CS which fully supports 16-bit images.
3.
Supported FITS images.
Reading:
Data Sizes : 8, 16 and 32-bit
Data Types : Integer and
Floating Point
Colour Fits: 3-plane RGB format.
Writing :
Data Sizes : 8 and 16-bit
Data Types : Integer
Colour Fits: RGB 3-plane format
of 8 or 16-bit data.
4.
Reading FITS.
Most astronomical image processing applications keep the image data separate to the displayed image. This allows the displayed image to be modified for the screen without affecting the data.
Photoshop
does not have this ability and displays the image as per the image data. To
modify the images appeareance on-screen means modifying the actual image data.
For this reason the plugin does not scale the data on load, but rather reads in
and displays the image as-is.
The
exception to this is 32-bit images. Because Photoshop does not support 32-bit
images, the image data must be converted to 16-bit on load. A straight 32-bit
to 16-bit conversion will result in data loss but the plugin attempts to do
this intelligently by prescanning the image and determining the range of pixel
values. The image is then converted to 16-bit using as much of the images
dynamic range as possible to avoid data loss. The result is a slightly longer
load time but the best overall result.
8
and 16-bit images are loaded without scaling to ensure there is no data lost. Without the prescan to determine the
data range and the fact that there is much less data to load, makes these
images load much faster than 32-bit images.
32-bit
RGB images will take the longest to load as all 3-planes are prescanned to find
the max and min pixel values for scaling
to ensure that all colours are scaled equally. RGB images typically
contain 3 monochrome images and therefore will take 3-times longer to load than
a mono image of the same size.
All
internal conversions are 64-bit to avoid data loss.
5.
Saving FITS.
All
images are saved using the bit depth of the image within Photoshop.
32-bit
Integer and Floating-point files are converted to 16-bit when read into
Photoshop and saved as 16-bit integer files from Photoshop.
Therefore
simply loading and then saving a 32-bit image will result in a 16-bit image.
If
a non-FITS (Jpg, Gif, Tiff, etc) colour image is saved as FITS the result will
be a colour FITS file with 3 planes in the order RGB, as per Maxim DL.
6.
About FITS headers.
Fits
headers are now stored within Photoshop as an image resource, retreived on save
and updated.
A
FITSPLUG identity line will be added if there is room in the header. A new
header block will not be created to add the FitsPlug identity line, there has
to be room in an existing block.
If
the file being saved as FITS was not a FITS file originally (i.e. TIFF, JPG,
etc) then a new FITS header is created with only image geometry information in
it.
7.
Fits Conformance.
Some
applications do not create properly conforming Fits Files in that the image data
is not padded to a multiple of 2880 bytes.
The
Fits plugin conforms to the Fits specification when it comes to reading and
writing FITS files, though the plugin shows some leniency when reading FITS
files in that the image data need not be a multiple of 2880 bytes as per the
specificaton.
In
this case, the plugin will still read the file as long as all of the header and
image data is present.
Resaving
these files from Photoshop will force them into the proper proper FITS
conformance by padding them to a multiple of 2880 bytes.
8.
Note on Starlight Xpress one-shot colour Fits images.
I
received several requests for SX One-Shot colour FITS support, but on looking
into the format discovered it was not possible to support as part of a generic
FITS loader.
These
files require special decoding to interpret the colour information. These
images do not conform to the Fits standard because information about the
organisation of the colour data does not exist in the header. For this reason they cannot be told apart
from a standard monochrome Fits image.
When
interpreted in conformance with the Fits specification, Starlight Xpress
One-Shot colour images appear as standard monochrome FITS images. So they will
load into Photoshop as a greyscale image.
9.
Support.
Support
will be provided for issues relating to the Fits plugin as provided.
Requests
for new features though not a support issue, are welcomed and features may be
added to future versions of the plugin.
Registered
owners will receive free updates of minor version releases and a discount on
major version releases.
The
final beta V0.12 is no longer supported.
Please
send support requests to fitsplug@astroshed.com
10.
Single user Licensing and Ownership.
By
purchasing the plugin, a single user may install and use it as often as needed
as long as the computers that the plugin is installed on, all belong to the
purchaser and they are not installed for use by others.
11.
Site Licensing and Ownership
All
purchases of the plugin are considered Single-user licenses unless specifically
agreed otherwise prior to purchase.
If the plugin is to be used on a publically
accessible computer, or on more than one computer for use by more than one
person, a site license must be agreed upon with Astroshed prior to purchase.
At
present, only Fits plugins received directly from me are considered to be legal
copies.
12.
Prices
Single-user license:
USD $30
Site Licenses
2-10 users or installations:
USD $20 each
11-20 users or installations:
USD $100 + $10 each
20+ users or installations:
USD $200 + $5
each
For example, an order for 11 licenses would cost US$100 + 11 licences @ US$10 each = $210.
Site
licences may be renogotiated if a Site license is deemed necessary after
initial purchase of a single-user license.
13.
Disclaimer
Although
all care has been taken to ensure that the plugin will behave itself, Astroshed
and I accept no liability for any adverse consequences which may arise from the
use or attempted use of the plugin.
14.
Contact Information
I
am interested in your comments or suggestions so don't hesitate to pass them on
to me. Good or Bad, at eddiet@astroshed.com
Eddie
Trimarchi.
eddiet@astroshed.com
astroshed.com
fitsplug.com
13th-October-2005.