Start by opening an image stack from the folder that contains the recordings. LuckyStackWorker only support 16-bit raw image files in TIFF or PNG format, which is always the case when the file was produced by stacking software.
You can pre-select the scale at which the image will be opened by selecting the desired scaling factor to the right of the [Open] button (1x, 1.5x, 2x or 3x). Scaling the image can be useful when requiring very precise corrections on the image that are smaller than the original pixel size (subpixel level). For example when making subtle corrections using the dispersion corrector the actual dispersion deviation may be smaller than the pixel size especially when the image sampling was spot on or under-sampled.
Pressing the Rotate button will open a new panel for controlling image rotation. It provides 3 ways to adjust the rotation angle. The toggle buttons allow quick selection of a 0, 90, 180 or -90 rotation angle. Then the slider allows for any preferred angle to be specified. Also note that the Arrow keys (<- or ->) may be used to make the finest possible adjustments and the Page-up Page-down keys for making larger steps in the adjustments. Finally you can also manually enter a specific angle by clicking on the angle input box on the right on the panel and enter the exact number. The finest precision supported is 1 decimal.
If you recorded the original avi or ser files using Firecapture your files will start with the default object prefix such as "Jup" for Jupiter. These are the default objects profiles of Firecapture. Autostakkert will only append some extra marker to that (typically something like "214338_AS_P3_lapl4_ap12"). LuckyStackWorker will recognize the object by the filename, so for instance files starting with "sat" will be automatically opened using the Saturn profile.
Upon opening LuckyStackWorker it will apply all the settings of the profile that were previously used, provided that it can recognize the object. If not, you can manually select it from the selection box just right of the [Open] button. LuckyStackWorker comes with some default settings, but please make sure to experiment with these as the different settings will differ depending on your telescope, focal length, camera used and weather conditions!
If you re-open an earlier processed stack it will first load the settings (profile) from the yaml file that was saved along with the processed result. If there is no such file it will revert to the profile settings saved earlier internally. If you use the [Save] button the profile settings are also saved along with the TIFF file.
The root folder is the main folder from where the image stacks will be processed. This folder automatically pre-selected to the folder of the reference image, but by clicking on the root folder input box a dialog opens for selecting another folder. If you use the defaults of Autostakkert the image stacks will be stored in separate sub-folders depending on the number of alignment points chosen. It is therefor practical to select the parent folder so that it will recursively scan all the child folders for processing image stacks.
You can reload earlier saved settings by manually loading them using the [Load Profile] button. Almost all filters and settings that were applied before will then be loaded from the yaml file and immediately re-applied. The only exception are the so called "non persisted" settings. Those are settings that are not stored and will not be recovered when selecting [Load Profile] or opening an image. The reason is that these settings will be different on each recording session, such as the dispersion correction or the scale at which the image is opened.
Monochrome filterwheel image stacks can easily be combined into a single color image by opening the red, green and blue stacks one after the other. Before opening a specific channel make sure to specify which channel you intent to open by changing the value in the dropdown by immediately after the [Open] button indicated with "as". The default value for this dropdown is "RGB" but by clicking and scrolling you can select the correct channel. After all 3 channels have been opened you can apply all the filters on a combined color image.