Astro Tools Changelog

New Setup Wizard

• First-time setup wizard: Astro Tools now includes a setup wizard after license activation.
• Guided initial configuration: The wizard helps users configure language, UI size, saved slider values and tooltip behavior before using the plugin.
• Immediate language switching: The selected language is applied directly inside the wizard, so users can continue the setup process in their preferred language.
• Manual restart option: The setup wizard appears once after activation, but can also be opened again later from the settings.

UI Refresh

• Updated visual design: The plugin interface has been refreshed to better match the new Astro Tools website design.
• Cleaner dark interface: Buttons, panels, cards, borders, dialogs, tooltips and status elements now follow a more consistent visual language.
• Sharper technical look: The interface keeps a clean and technical style with clearer dark surfaces, stronger borders and consistent red accents.
• No rounded card design: The updated UI keeps the sharp Astro Tools design language without rounded cards.

Improved Button States

• Clearer active states: Buttons and selectable options now show their active state more clearly.
• Red active indicators: Active options now use the Astro Tools red accent color.
• Improved inactive states: Inactive options use a darker grey style for better contrast.
• More consistent controls: Mode buttons, preset buttons, setup options and on/off selections now behave more consistently across the plugin.

Improved Status Indicators

• Clearer status colors: Status indicators now use a more consistent color system.
• Green status: Used for successful or ready states.
• Yellow status: Used for warnings or partial states.
• Red status: Used for missing input, inactive states or errors.
• Better readability: Status chips and workflow indicators are easier to understand, especially in licensing, support/debugging and workflow input areas.

Setup, License and Settings Improvements

• Improved license screen: The license screen has been visually refined.
• Clearer license status: License status chips now clearly show whether Astro Tools is active or inactive.
• Improved support/debugging status: The support area now shows whether all internal tools are available or if something needs attention.
• Setup wizard restart: The settings area now includes an option to restart the setup wizard manually.

Cleaner Logs

• Less unnecessary log output: Changing UI modes, switching between simple and advanced settings or changing non-processing options no longer creates unnecessary log entries.
• More focused logs: Logs now focus more on processing-relevant information.
• Reset behavior improved: Reset buttons in supported workflows now also reset related log output where appropriate.

Improved Dialogs and Floating UI

• More reliable floating dialogs: Floating dialogs and overlay elements now appear above other panel content more reliably.
• Reduced visual overlap: This helps avoid cases where scrollbars or lower interface elements overlap floating settings dialogs.
• Cleaner dialog layout: Several dialogs and status areas were adjusted for more consistent spacing, sizing and alignment.

Workflow Improvements

• Star Glow: The advanced settings layout has been refined, especially in the Glow Shape area.
• Star Glow reset: The Star Glow reset button now also clears the related log output.
• Stacking Workflow: The output filename dialog has been visually improved.
• Stacking status chips: Method and quality status chips now follow a more consistent design direction.
• Star Trail Workflow: The reset button now resets the workflow log more cleanly.
• Star Trail output path: The save location display now shows the actual output path more clearly.
• Star Trail input states: Foreground-related counters and status indicators were improved so missing input is easier to identify.
• Landscape Stacking: The reset button placement was adjusted to match the layout used in other tools.
• Landscape Stacking logs: Mode changes and other UI changes no longer create unnecessary log entries.

Save Location and Output Path Display

• More consistent output path display: Save-location and output-path displays were made more consistent across the plugin.
• Actual folder paths: Where possible, Astro Tools now shows the actual folder path being used instead of generic placeholder text.
• Easier output verification: This makes it easier to confirm where output files will be saved before processing.

Language and Translation Fixes

• Language cleanup: Several language issues were fixed across English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.
• Mixed-language labels fixed: Mixed-language button labels and inconsistent workflow wording were corrected.
• Incorrect replacements fixed: Incorrect automatic replacements and wrong translated fragments were cleaned up.
• English interface fix: A visible issue where an English interface could still show a German Star Trail reset button was fixed.
• Basic Adjustments fix: An issue where “Basic Adjustments” could incorrectly appear as “Lowic Adjustments” was fixed.
• Improved translation handling: Internal translation handling was improved so manually translated UI elements are less likely to be overwritten by fallback translation logic.

General UI Consistency

• Refined tooltip styling.
• Improved hover borders.
• Updated home-screen cards.
• More consistent status chips.
• Cleaner button groups.
• Improved reset buttons.
• More reliable floating windows.
• Better panel spacing and setup screens.
• Improved consistency between older Photoshop-based tools and newer native-code workflows.

Summary

Astro Tools 1.2.1 is mainly a refinement update. It improves first-time setup, cleans up the interface, fixes language issues, makes active settings easier to see and brings the plugin design closer to the new Astro Tools website.

The update should make Astro Tools feel more polished, more consistent and easier to use without changing the core processing behavior.

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.

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.