Astro Tools Changelog

Highlights

• Unified Live Processing: Supported tools now use a shared workspace with a large resizable preview, multiple comparison modes and flexible preview quality.
• Faster previews: Improved image reuse and progressive loading make repeated adjustments, zooming, panning and reopening supported tools more responsive.
• Improved star tools: Star Glow, Analyze Stars and Star Reduction received major improvements to detection, selection, masks, colour handling and performance.
• Expanded processing controls: Arcsinh Stretch, Dynamic Contrast, Orton Effect and Milky Way Details now provide more consistent controls and preview behavior.
• Refined plugin interface: The panel has been reorganized with responsive layouts, shared controls and a consistent visual design.
• Five supported languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Italian remain available throughout the plugin.

Unified Live Processing Workspace

• Shared preview workspace: Supported tools now use one consistent Live Processing interface instead of separate preview-window behavior.
• Flexible comparison modes: Switch between Original, Result and Split views or drag the Split divider to compare different parts of the image directly.
• Improved image navigation: Use Fit view, percentage zoom, mouse-wheel zoom, direct panning, the navigator or press-and-hold Before viewing.
• Selectable preview quality: Fast, Balanced and High quality options provide more control over the balance between preview speed and detail.
• Automatic refinement: Fast interaction previews can refine to the selected quality after slider, zoom or navigation activity stops.
• More stable updates: Completed previews remain visible while newer results are prepared, and cancelled or outdated previews cannot replace the latest result.
• Faster repeated use: Compatible image data can be reused when reopening supported tools or switching between them.

Arcsinh Stretch

• Improved colour-preserving stretch: Arcsinh Stretch now provides an updated preview and final application workflow for supported 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit RGB documents.
• Shadow and highlight protection: New controls help protect important tonal regions while stretching the image.
• Dedicated colour controls: Vibrance and Saturation can now be adjusted independently.
• Synchronized settings: Main-panel and Live Processing values stay aligned during preview, Before/After comparison and final application.

Star Glow

• Improved star detection: Star Glow now uses the updated shared star-detection system for preview and final output.
• More consistent Amount and Focus controls: Dominant, medium and fine stars respond more smoothly across the available control range.
• Improved stellar colour: Glow colour is based on broader local colour information instead of a single potentially clipped central pixel.
• Aligned controls: Detection, selection, intensity, size, large-star emphasis, softness and colour settings remain consistent between the main panel and Live Processing.

Analyze Stars and Star Reduction

• Detailed star analysis: Analyze Stars provides a clearer view of selected and rejected stars, together with inspectable masks and useful processing information.
• Source-aware Star Reduction: Reduction is based more closely on the actual shape and appearance of detected stars instead of applying a generic filled shape.
• Improved close-star separation: Softer masks help distinguish nearby stars while protecting structured backgrounds.
• Protection for large and saturated stars: Dedicated handling helps reduce unwanted halos, colour shifts and dark rings.
• Better background protection: Star Reduction is designed to preserve local texture and avoid making processed stars brighter than the source.
• Cancelable preparation: Longer preparation steps can be cancelled when working with demanding images.

Dynamic Contrast

• Consolidated workflow: Contrast & Color Boost is now integrated into the Dynamic Contrast workflow.
• Simple mode: Provides a focused Strength control for quick adjustments.
• Advanced mode: Provides separate Contrast, Brightness, Saturation and Vibrance controls.
• Consistent processing: Main-panel Apply and Live Processing use the same settings and processing behavior.

Orton Effect

• Faster previews and application: Orton Effect benefits from a more responsive Live Processing workflow and faster final application.
• Improved repeated adjustments: Black-point and repeated-preview behavior have been refined.
• More reliable area processing: Sky Only and Foreground Only provide improved Photoshop selection, channel and mask handling.

Milky Way Details

• Direct panel application: Milky Way Details can now be applied directly from the main panel.
• Clearer editing modes: Simple and Advanced workflows are connected more consistently.
• Shared area controls: All, Sky and Foreground options follow the same area-selection workflow used by other supported tools.

Stacking and Guided Workflows

• Consistent stage navigation: Stacking, Landscape Stacking and Star Trails now use clearer stage, readiness and result states.
• Improved Review & Run behavior: Inputs and processing readiness are easier to verify before starting a workflow.
• More reliable file states: Imported file counts and unavailable actions update more consistently when navigating between stages.
• Landscape Stacking guidance: Reference-image instructions and mask-readiness feedback are clearer.
• Star Trails improvements: Rejection and repair handling have been refined for more reliable Star Trails processing.

Interface and Usability

• New Home workspace: A compact tool library provides search, favorites and recently used tool navigation.
• Responsive panel layout: UI and typography scaling improve usability in narrow docked panels and wider floating layouts.
• Consistent visual system: Cards, dialogs, status indicators, logs, sliders, reset controls and action rows now follow a shared square-corner design.
• Improved Photoshop button rendering: Shared controls reduce inconsistent rounded button surfaces in affected Photoshop versions.
• More reliable Test Image controls: Show and Hide behavior has been simplified to prevent conflicting actions.

Update, License and Setup Improvements

• In-panel update notification: Astro Tools can display a notice when a newer version becomes available.
• Integrated download workflow: Users can download the update or postpone it, select a save location and follow progress inside the panel.
• No silent installation: The update package is saved to the selected location and does not silently replace the installed plugin.
• Improved license feedback: Activation messages, busy states and the active-license indicator are clearer.
• Refined Setup Wizard: The first-activation setup experience has received additional interface and reliability improvements.

Fixes and Stability Improvements

• Fixed cases where Live Processing could fail to open from certain controls.
• Prevented outdated or cancelled previews from replacing newer results.
• Improved preview-image loading in affected Photoshop environments.
• Corrected Split-view clipping and preview aspect-ratio handling.
• Improved wheel navigation when using Fit view below 25% zoom.
• Improved the handoff of final high-quality preview frames.
• Added more resilient handling for temporary Photoshop modal-state conflicts.
• Made progress reporting more stable and removed unreliable remaining-time estimates.
• Corrected mask, channel and selection edge cases in Orton Effect, Milky Way Details and guided workflows.
• Improved file-count, readiness and navigation states in stacking workflows.

Compatibility

• Photoshop: The minimum supported Photoshop version remains 24.2.
• Platforms: Astro Tools 1.2.2 is available for Windows x64, macOS Apple Silicon and macOS Intel.
• Supported languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.
• Existing preferences: The established plugin identity and user preferences are retained. No manual migration is required for ordinary users.

Summary

Astro Tools 1.2.2 brings Live Processing, star processing and guided workflows into a faster and more consistent editing experience.

Existing users gain more control and clearer feedback across familiar tools, while new users benefit from a more approachable interface and better-aligned workflows.

New Setup Wizard

• Guided first-time setup: A new wizard appears after license activation and helps configure language, UI size, saved slider values and tooltip behavior.
• Immediate language switching: The selected language is applied directly during setup.
• Manual restart: The Setup Wizard can be opened again later from the settings.

Interface Improvements

• Refreshed dark interface inspired by the updated Astro Tools website.
• More consistent cards, borders, dialogs, tooltips and status elements.
• Clearer active and inactive states for buttons and selectable options.
• Consistent red accents for active controls.
• Improved spacing, sizing and alignment across dialogs and setup screens.
• More reliable floating dialogs and overlay elements.

Status, License and Settings

• Clearer status colours: Green indicates ready or successful states, yellow indicates warnings and red indicates missing input, inactive states or errors.
• Improved license screen: License information and active or inactive states are easier to identify.
• Improved support status: The support area provides clearer feedback when a component requires attention.

Workflow Improvements

• Refined the Advanced settings layout in Star Glow.
• Improved output filename and status displays in Stacking.
• Improved reset behavior and output-path information in Star Trails.
• Made missing Star Trails foreground input easier to identify.
• Aligned Landscape Stacking controls with other Astro Tools workflows.
• Made save-location and output-path displays more consistent.
• Reduced unnecessary log entries caused by non-processing UI changes.

Language and Translation Fixes

• Corrected mixed-language labels and inconsistent workflow wording.
• Fixed incorrect translated fragments and replacement errors.
• Fixed a German Star Trails reset label appearing in the English interface.
• Corrected the incorrect “Lowic Adjustments” label.
• Improved translation handling across English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.

Summary

Astro Tools 1.2.1 made the plugin cleaner, more consistent and easier to configure without changing its core image-processing behavior.

Major New Features

• New Stacking workflow: Combine image sequences inside the plugin using Average, Median and Sigma-based stacking methods.
• Landscape Stacking: Process sky and foreground images separately for nightscape and Milky Way photography.
• Sky mask export: Prepare a sky mask for more controlled final blending in Photoshop.
• Rebuilt Star Trails: A redesigned workflow improves large-sequence handling, foreground processing and final compositing.
• Trail rejection: New processing helps reduce airplane, satellite and other unwanted light trails.

Stacking Improvements

• Added Average, Median and Sigma-based stacking.
• Added quality evaluation and filtering for input frames.
• Improved image alignment for advanced stacking workflows.
• Added separate sky and foreground stack creation.
• Improved handling of longer and more complex image sequences.

Star Trails Improvements

• Improved handling of large Star Trails sequences.
• Improved foreground integration.
• Refined final compositing for continued editing in Photoshop.
• Added rejection presets for different levels of unwanted trails.
• Improved workflow status and finalization behavior.

Star Glow and Processing

• Reworked Star Glow for a cleaner and more controlled effect.
• Improved integration with the wider Astro Tools workflow.
• Expanded the processing foundation for more advanced image operations.
• Prepared existing workflows for future performance improvements.

Interface and Language Support

• Improved workflow structure and guided tool behavior.
• Refined the separation between quick tools and larger workflows.
• Improved consistency across different tools and processing stages.
• Added English, German, French, Italian and Spanish interface support.

Main Fixes

• Star Reduction: Fixed a case where Apply to Main Image could process an active test area and then process the complete image again.
• Preview safeguards: Added additional protection to similar Test Image and Apply to Main Image workflows.
• Reset confirmation: Important slider resets now require confirmation to prevent accidental changes.

Test Image Workflow

• Added a clearer dialog when switching tools with an active Test Image.
• Added options to close the Test Image, apply the effect or cancel.
• Reduced unclear states when moving between preview-based tools.

Star Trails and Starless

• Added a reset option for the complete Star Trails workflow.
• Added replace, add and cancel choices when selecting images again.
• Added duplicate-file detection.
• Added a warning for Star Trails sequences containing more than 200 images.
• Improved finalization status after Photoshop undo operations.
• Added a processing-time warning for larger Starless tile selections.
• Improved handling when existing Starless workflow layers are found.

Update and License Improvements

• Improved the appearance and placement of update notifications.
• Added download progress and status information inside the plugin.
• Reduced unnecessary Photoshop dialogs during downloads.
• Added a background validity check for stored licenses.
• Added an offline grace period of up to 14 days.
• Improved access to license management when an issue is detected.