Focus Stacking

job.add_action(FocusStack(name, stacker, *options))

Arguments for the constructor of FocusStack are:

  • name: the name of the action, used for printout, and possibly for output path

  • stacker: an object defining the focus stacking algorithm. Can be PyramidStack, PyramidBlock or DepthMapStack, see below for possible algorithms.

  • input_path (optional): the subdirectory within working_path that contains input images to be processed. If not specified, the last output path is used, or, if this is the first action, the input_path specified with the StackJob construction is used. If the StackJob specifies no input_path, at least the first action must specify an input_path.

  • output_path (optional): the subdirectory within working_path where aligned images are written. If not specified, it is equal to name.

  • working_path: the directory that contains input and output image subdirectories. If not specified, it is the same as job.working_path.

  • plot_path (optional, default: plots): the directory within working_path that contains plots produced by the algrithm.

  • exif_path (optional): if specified, EXIF data are copied to the output file from file in the specified directory. If not specified, it is the source directory used as input for the first action. If set equal to '' no EXIF data is saved.

  • denoise_amount (optional; default: 0): if > 0, a denois algorithm is applied. A value of 0.75 to 1.00 does not reduce details in an appreciable way, and is suitable for modest noise reduction. denoise may be useful for 8-bit images, or for images taken at large ISO. 16-bits images at low ISO usually don’t require denoise. See Image Denoising for more details.

  • sharpen_amount_percent (optional; default: 0): if > 0, a unsharp mask algorithm is applied. Values from 50% up apply a visible amount of sharpening.

  • sharpen_radius (optional; default: 1): specifies the radius, in pixels, of the unsharp mask algorithm.

  • sharpen_threshold (optional; default: 0): specifies the threshold value of the unsharp mask algorithm.

  • prefix (optional): if specified, the specified string is pre-pended to the file name. May be useful if more algorithms are ran, and different file names are used for the output of different algorithms.

  • enabled (optional, default: ``True```): allows to switch on and off this module.

  • scratch_output_dir (optional, default: True): scratch output directory before processing. This avoids that existing files pollute the output.

  • delete_output_at_end (optional, default: False): delete output after processing. This cleans disk space in case of processing an intermediate step that is not part of the final output.

Focus Stacking in bunches of frames

job.add_action(FocusStackBunch(name, stacker, *options))

Arguments for the constructor of FocusStackBunch are:

  • name: the name of the action, used for printout, and possibly for output path

  • stacker: an object defining the focus stacking algorithm. Can be PyramidStack, PyramidStack or DepthMapStack, see below for possible algorithms.

  • input_path (optional): the subdirectory within working_path that contains input images to be processed. If not specified, the last output path is used, or, if this is the first action, the input_path specified with the StackJob construction is used. If the StackJob specifies no input_path, at least the first action must specify an input_path.

    • output_path (optional): the subdirectory within working_path where aligned images are written. If not specified, it is equal to name.

  • working_path: the directory that contains input and output image subdirectories. If not specified, it is the same as job.working_path.

  • plot_path (optional, default: plots): the directory within working_path that contains plots produced by the algrithm.

  • exif_path (optional): if specified, EXIF data are copied to the output file from file in the specified directory. If not specified, it is the source directory used as * frames (optional, default: 10): the number of frames in each bunch that are stacked together.

  • frames (optional, default: 10): the number of frames that are fused together.

  • overlap (optional, default: 0): the number of overlapping frames between a bunch and the following one.

  • denoise_amount (optoinal): if specified, a denois algorithm is applied. A value of 0.75 to 1.00 does not reduce details in an appreciable way, and is suitable for modest noise reduction. denoise may be useful for 8-bit images, or for images taken at large ISO. 16-bits images at low ISO usually don’t require denoise. See Image Denoising for more details.

  • prefix (optional): if specified, the specified string is pre-pended to the file name. May be useful if more algorithms are ran, and different file names are used for the output of different algorithms.

  • enabled (optional, default: True): allows to switch on and off this module.

  • scratch_output_dir (optional, default: True): scratch output directory before processing. This avoids that existing files pollute the output.

  • delete_output_at_end (optional, default: False): delete output after processing. This cleans disk space in case of processing an intermediate step that is not part of the final output.

Stack algorithms

PyramidStack, Laplacian pyramid focus stacking algorithm

Arguments for the constructor are:

  • pyramid_min_size (optional, default: 32)

  • kernel_size (optional, default: 5)

  • gen_kernel (optional, default: 0.4)

  • float_type (optional, default: FLOAT_32, possible values: FLOAT_32, FLOAT_64): precision for internal image representation

PyramidTilesStack, pyramid algorithn with I/O buffered tile pyramid merging to optimize memory usage for large files

Arguments for the constructor are, in addition to the ones for PyramidStack:

  • tile_size (optional, default: 512): size of a time

  • n_tiled_layers (optional, default: 2): number of layers that are tiled. Usually the last one or two are the ones that take more memory.

  • max_threads (optional, default: number of cores, up to a maximum of 8): maximum number of thread used for parallel processing. The actual number of threads does not exceed the number of available cores.

  • chunk_submit (optional, default: True): submit at most max_threads parallel processes. If chunk_submit is greater than max_threads a moderate performance gain is achieved at the cost of a possibly large memory occupancy.

PyramidAutoStack, pyramid algorithn with capability to automatically switch from all-in-memory to I/O buffered tiled.

Arguments for the constructor are, in addition to the ones for PyramidTilesStack:

  • mode (optional, default: auto): can be auto, memory or tiled.

  • memory_limit (optional, default: 8×10243sup>): memory limit to determine optimal running parameters

Arguments for the constructor are the same ad for PyramidStack plus:

  • tile_size (optional, default: 512): size of the tile used for partial image merging

DepthMapStack, Depth map focus stacking algorithm

Arguments for the constructor are:

  • map_type (optional)_ possible values are DM_MAP_AVERAGE (default) and DM_MAP_MAX. DM_MAP_MAX select for wach pixel the layer which has the best focus. DM_MAP_AVERAGE performs for each pixel an average of all layers weighted by the quality of focus.

  • energy (optional): possible values are DM_ENERGY_TENENGRAD (default), DM_ENERGY_LAPLACIAN, DM_ENERGY_MOD_LAPLACIAN, DM_ENERGY_SOBEL and DM_ENERGY_VARIANCE. For more information, see Sobel Derivatives,

  • kernel_size (optional, default: 5): size in pixels of Laplacian kernel. Used only with the DM_ENERGY_MOD_LAPLACIAN energy option.

  • blur_size (optional, default: 5): size in pixels of the pre-Laplacian Gaussian blur. Used only with the DM_ENERGY_MOD_LAPLACIAN energy option.

  • weight_power (optiona, default: 1.0): apply a power law correction to energy weights. Note that this correction has only effect if map_type=DM_MAP_AVERAGE or if map_type=DM_MAP_MAX and temperature is greater than zero.

  • pyramid_smooth_size (optional, default: 1): smoothing size for the pyramid algorithm used for frames blending.

  • pyramid_levels (optional, default: 5): number of levels for the pyramid algorithm used for frames blending.

  • energy_smooth_size (optional, default: 1): size of energy smoothing. Note: larger values require slower computation.

  • energy_sigma_color (optiona, default: 0.8): controls how much energy values can differ while still smoothing together for the energy map.

  • energy_sigma_space (optional, default: 2): controls the spatial distance for smoothing neighborhood. Larger values require slower computation.

  • temperature (optional, default: 0): controls fusion transition. Lower value means sharper transitions. This correction is only applied if map_type=DM_MAP_MAX.

  • plot_depth_map (optional, default: False): produces a grayscale depth map and saves it in the plot_path folder.

For more details about bilateral filters applied to energy and weights map, see Bilateral Filtering.