Nebulosity 4 crashing on curves and hue

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I have been using Nebulosity 4 for several years for all my processing and getting good results, then the Hue/Saturation slider stopped working and I tried to contact them, they don't get back to you at all.   I added StarTool7 to my workflow and am very happy with it, more complicated than Neb4 but cheaper and less complicated than Pixinsight.
This weekend I down loaded Quicktime to try to fix a file and now suddenly the Curves on Nebulosity don't work.  I can still stack and get ok results but not what I used to be able to do.

THE PROBLEM with Nebulosity is that Craig Stark who wrote it and moved on to other projects and hasn't updated or answered any help requests since 2016!  It is basically a dead program. 

  I am thinking I should look into Pixinsight again, I had tried it a couple years ago and it does work.

I don't need an imaging program as I get my raw fits files from SLOOH already calibrated. I can still at this time use Neb4 for stacking and am currently dumping the file into StarTools.

I am wondering if I should really learn StarTools or look for another program. I liked Neb4 for its simplicity but giving good images.

What are other programs people are using?

[Star Dad]

I have used both programs for a long time now. I do pre-processing in Neb and post in StarTools. I've been wondering about the aging Neb program, but I haven't had any problems with it. <fingers-crossed> I really wish PI was not so expensive - methinks that the basic economics course I took in college should apply - that is - as cost goes down sales increase - until at some point it doesn't. PI could sell a *lot* more if they'd be a much more reasonable on the pricing. But I am happy with ST - not too sure about the latest update - I'm still trying to get used to it's functions and testing various features. There is now online help - if you haven't noticed - in the latest version (7) that does try to explain what the various settings do.

Love the Ferengi rule!

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I figured out the curves anyway, I have to run it in Win 7 Compatibility mode and then that works. Hue is due to a new video card not being supported as they are not doing any development on the program at all.

I downloaded APP, Astro Pixel Processor a 60 day free trial and tried one image today and am impressed with the registration and stacking so far and the final image touched up in PS came out with nice fine detail.

[Star Dad]

I wonder if you could put up the same image processed in StarTools - to compare the two. I am running Win7 and hoping to wait for the next windows OS before upgrading. I feel that I've gotten my money's worth out of Win 7 but upgrading will probably be painful - so I want to skip Win 10, if possible - and that will affect a lot more than just AP.

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I will try to find similar images, I have been using Neb4 and often followed by StarTools, and now trying APP Astro Pixel Processor finished in PS. I like the stacking in APP, easier than Neb4, am working on M63 and finally got an image I like the color on.

APP/LR/PS