DeutschAstro Tools Changelog
Version history, feature updates, workflow improvements and technical changes for Astro Tools. This page documents the most important changes introduced with each release.
Release Archive
Astro Tools is continuously updated with new workflows, improved processing logic, better usability and refinements based on real astrophotography use cases. Here you can follow the development of the plugin version by version.
Astro Tools 1.2.0 New stacking workflows, rebuilt Star Trails and native processing improvements
Release Summary
Astro Tools 1.2.0 is one of the biggest updates so far. This version introduces new stacking workflows, a dedicated landscape stacking workflow, a completely reworked Star Trails workflow, improved Star Glow processing and a stronger native processing foundation for future tools.
The main focus of this update is to make Astro Tools more powerful directly inside Photoshop, especially for image stacking, nightscape editing, star trail processing and guided astrophotography workflows.
Major New Features
- New Stacking Workflow: Astro Tools now includes a new stacking workflow directly inside the plugin. Images can be combined using Average, Median and Sigma-based stacking methods.
- New Landscape Stacking Workflow: A dedicated workflow for nightscape and Milky Way photography has been added, with separate handling for sky and foreground stacking.
- Sky mask export: The new Landscape Stacking workflow can prepare and export a sky mask, making the final blending process inside Photoshop more structured.
- Rebuilt Star Trails Workflow: The Star Trails workflow has been heavily reworked and is now better suited for larger image sequences, foreground handling and more advanced compositing logic.
- New trail rejection system: Astro Tools can now detect and reduce unwanted airplane trails, satellite trails and other light streaks using a custom rejection algorithm.
Stacking Improvements
- Average stacking: A new method for combining multiple images into a cleaner result by averaging the input sequence.
- Median stacking: A new stacking option designed to reduce unwanted artifacts and outliers across image sequences.
- Sigma-based stacking: A more advanced stacking method for rejecting outliers and improving the final stacked result.
- Quality filtering: The stacking workflow includes logic for evaluating and filtering input frames before creating the final stack.
- Registered Sigma workflow: Astro Tools now includes a registered Sigma-based workflow using homography alignment for more advanced stacking use cases.
Landscape Stacking Workflow
- Separate sky and foreground processing: The workflow is designed for images where the sky and foreground need to be handled independently.
- Sky stack creation: Astro Tools can help prepare a cleaner sky stack from a nightscape sequence.
- Foreground stack creation: Foreground frames can be processed separately to create a cleaner base for the final image.
- Mask-assisted blending: The workflow prepares a sky mask that can be used for a cleaner and more controlled blend inside Photoshop.
- Designed for Milky Way and nightscape photography: The tool is built around real landscape astrophotography use cases where manual sky and foreground separation can be repetitive.
Rebuilt Star Trails Workflow
- Completely reworked workflow: The Star Trails workflow has been rebuilt to provide a more stable and flexible editing process.
- Improved large sequence handling: The workflow is now better prepared for longer Star Trails image sequences.
- Improved foreground handling: Astro Tools now provides better logic for combining the star trail result with a cleaner foreground.
- Improved compositing logic: The final Star Trails composite is now more robust and better structured for further editing in Photoshop.
- More reliable finalization: The workflow status and finalization logic have been improved to reduce unclear or broken workflow states.
Trail Rejection System
- Custom rejection algorithm: Astro Tools now includes a custom algorithm to help reduce unwanted light trails in Star Trails sequences.
- Airplane trail reduction: The new system can help reduce airplane trails that appear across individual frames.
- Satellite trail reduction: Satellite streaks can be detected and reduced during the Star Trails workflow.
- Multiple rejection presets: Different presets are available depending on how many unwanted trails are present in the sequence.
- Designed for real night sky sessions: The system is built for real-world Star Trails photography, where satellites and airplanes are often unavoidable.
Improved Star Glow
- Reworked Star Glow processing: Star Glow has been improved and better integrated into the current Astro Tools workflow.
- More controlled glow effect: The tool is designed to create a more natural-looking glow around stars.
- Reduced overprocessed look: The updated effect aims to keep the image cleaner and more balanced.
- Improved workflow integration: Star Glow now fits more consistently into the overall Astro Tools editing process.
Native Processing Improvements
- More custom native processing: Several workflows now use custom native processing in the background.
- More advanced tools inside Photoshop: This allows Astro Tools to go beyond standard Photoshop scripting and run more specialized image-processing workflows.
- Stronger technical foundation: The new processing base makes future advanced tools and workflow improvements easier to build.
- Better foundation for performance improvements: Native processing gives Astro Tools more room for heavier image-processing tasks in future updates.
Interface & Workflow Improvements
- Improved workflow structure: Several workflows have been cleaned up to make the editing process easier to follow.
- More guided tool behavior: Astro Tools continues to be guided enough for beginners while staying fast and useful for advanced users.
- Cleaner tool organization: The plugin structure has been refined to better separate quick tools from larger workflows.
- More consistent behavior: Different tools and workflows now behave more consistently across the plugin.
Expanded Language Support
- Additional languages: Astro Tools now supports English, German, French, Italian and Spanish.
- Improved accessibility: The expanded language support makes Astro Tools easier to use for a wider astrophotography community.
- Updated interface text: Buttons, workflow messages and interface text have been updated across the supported languages.
Smaller Improvements
- General stability improvements across multiple tools.
- Improved internal workflow logic.
- Cleaner behavior between different processing steps.
- Better preparation for future advanced Astro Tools workflows.
- Improved handling of longer and more complex image sequences.
- Refined text, buttons and workflow messages across the plugin.
Astro Tools 1.1.1 Workflow fixes, safer previews and improved license handling
Release Summary
Astro Tools 1.1.1 focused on fixing important workflow issues, making preview and test image handling safer, improving reset dialogs across the plugin and preparing a more reliable update and license system.
Main Changes
- Star Reduction fix: A bug in Star Reduction and potentially other tools using “Apply to Main Image” has been fixed. Previously, if a test image was active, the selection was not always removed correctly. This could cause the effect to be applied first to the test area and then again to the full image, resulting in a visible rectangular area with stronger processing.
- Additional preview safeguards: Extra protection has been added for similar preview and “Apply to Main Image” workflows across the plugin.
New Reset Dialogs
- Confirmation dialogs for reset buttons: All important “reset sliders” buttons now use a confirmation dialog in the Astro Tools design.
- Safer value resets: Instead of instantly resetting all values, Astro Tools now asks for confirmation first to help prevent accidental resets.
- Consistent floating UI: The new reset dialog design has been added to all relevant tool panels.
Improved Test Image Workflow
- New panel-switching dialog: When a test image is open and the user wants to switch to another panel, Astro Tools now shows a clearer dialog.
- More structured choices: Users can now close the test image, apply the effect to the main image or cancel the action.
- Cleaner preview workflow: This makes the test image workflow easier to understand and reduces unclear states while switching between tools.
Improved StarTrail Workflow
- New reset button: A reset option for the complete StarTrail workflow has been added.
- More controlled file handling: StarTrail files are now limited to JPG, PNG and TIFF. RAW, PSD, PSB, HEIC and other unsupported formats are intentionally ignored.
- Better image loading options: When loading images again, users can now replace the current selection, add new images or cancel.
- Duplicate detection: Duplicate files are detected automatically and are not counted again.
- Large sequence warning: Astro Tools now warns when more than 200 StarTrail images are selected, since large image sets can require significant memory and processing time.
- More robust Finalize / Composite status: The workflow status is now more reliable, especially after undo steps in Photoshop.
Improved Starless Workflow
- Tile warning added: If more than 20 tiles are selected, Astro Tools now warns that the process may take longer.
- Clearer layer handling: When existing Starless workflow layers are already present, a clearer confirmation dialog asks whether they should be replaced or kept.
Updated Update System
- Improved update notification: The update notice has been visually improved and is now better integrated into the plugin start area.
- Clearer download action: The download button is now labeled “Download now”.
- Live download status: Download progress and status are now shown directly inside the plugin.
- Less interruption: Starting a download no longer triggers distracting Photoshop OK dialogs.
Improved License System
- Background license check: Astro Tools now checks on every startup whether the stored license is still valid.
- Offline grace period: If no server connection is available, the plugin can still be used offline for up to 14 days. Once a successful online check is possible again, the offline counter resets.
- Improved license issue handling: If a license issue is detected later, a small floating dialog appears with direct access to license management.
- First activation unchanged: The normal license page remains available for initial activation.
Testing Focus
- Preview and test image workflows.
- Apply to Main Image behavior.
- StarTrail Simple and Advanced workflows.
- Starless workflow.
- License checks.
- Update notifications.
- German and English language switching.
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