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Tools: View and Function Bundles
View Bundles and Function Bundles are Seti Astro Suite's automation pair. Together they let you build a process once and run it across many images with a single drag.
If you come from PixInsight, the mental model is simple:
- View Bundle ≈ ImageContainer — a named group of open views and/or files on disk.
- Function Bundle ≈ ProcessContainer — an ordered list of operations (shortcuts) you run as a script.
Drop a Function Bundle onto a single view to run the whole script on it, or drop it onto a View Bundle to run the whole script across everything in that bundle — including files, headlessly (load → process → save back, no window ever opens).
- Make a View Bundle and fill it with views and/or files.
- Make a Function Bundle and drop shortcuts into it to build a step list.
- Alt+drag the Function Bundle chip onto a view or onto a View Bundle → it runs.
That's the loop. Everything below is detail.
A View Bundle is just a named collection of targets. A target is either:
- an open view (tracked by document pointer), or
- a file on disk (tracked by path).
One bundle can mix both. You can keep as many bundles as you like — each gets a persistent UUID so its chip always maps back to the right bundle.
Open the View Bundles dialog from the SAS menu. It's a non-modal tool window (floats on top on macOS), so you can leave it open while you work.
- New Bundle — creates an empty bundle.
- Duplicate — copies the selected bundle (views included).
- Delete — removes it (and its chip, if any).
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Rename —
F2, double-click, or right-click → Rename.
Two ways:
- Drag the view icon (the ⧉ handle on a view's tab) and drop it onto the bundle panel, the docs list, or a bundle chip. The view is added immediately.
- Add from Open… — opens a checkbox picker of every open view, with a Select all option.
- Add Files… — pick one or more images.
- Add Directory (Recursive)… — walks a folder and pulls in every supported image.
- You can also drag files/folders from your OS file browser straight onto the panel or a chip.
Supported extensions: .fits .fit .fts .fits.gz .fit.gz .fz .xisf .tif .tiff .png .jpg .jpeg.
Every target shows as [view] … or [file] ….
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Double-click a
[file]→ opens it in a new view. -
Double-click a
[view]→ focuses that view. - Right-click → Open in New View / Focus View (works on multi-select too).
- Remove Selected / Clear Views to prune the bundle.
Alt+drag a shortcut from the Shortcut Canvas and drop it on the bundle panel (or its chip). SAS applies that shortcut to every target in the bundle:
- Open views get the command applied live, one after another.
- Files are processed headlessly — loaded with legacy I/O into a transient document, processed, and saved back over the original (32-bit float preserved, mono stays mono). No subwindow is opened.
You get a summary at the end, with per-target errors if anything failed.
Compress to Chip drops a small orange View Bundle chip onto the Shortcut Canvas. The chip is a live drop target:
- Drop a view → adds it to the bundle.
- Drop files/folders → adds them.
- Drop a shortcut (Alt+drag) → applies it to the whole bundle.
- Left-drag → move the chip around the canvas (position is remembered).
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Ctrl+drag → pick the chip up as an external drag (a
bundlepayload). - Double-click → reopen the dialog.
- Delete / Backspace / right-click → Delete Chip → removes the chip (the bundle itself stays).
The badge shows the total target count (green = has views, amber = files only, grey = empty).
A Function Bundle is an ordered list of steps. Each step is one SAS operation plus an optional preset — exactly the same operations you'd drop as shortcuts. Running the bundle runs the steps top-to-bottom.
Open the Function Bundles dialog from the SAS menu. Non-modal, floats on macOS, leave it open.
- New / Duplicate / Delete.
-
Rename —
F2, double-click, or right-click → Rename.
- Alt+drag a shortcut from the Shortcut Canvas and drop it in the steps list → it's appended as a step. (Drop a Function Bundle here and its steps are expanded inline.)
- Reorder by internal drag, or with ▲ Move Up / ▼ Move Down.
- Remove Selected, Clear Steps.
- Each step shows as
command_id — preset name.
Select a single step and hit Edit Preset… (or Enter, or right-click → Edit Preset…).
- If that command has a rich preset editor, you get the same UI as the desktop shortcut. Cancelling leaves the step untouched.
- If it doesn't, you get a JSON editor for the preset dict.
- Right-click also offers Clear Preset, Duplicate Step, Remove Step.
Three ways, from most to least direct:
- Alt+drag the Function Bundle chip onto a view, a View Bundle panel, or a View Bundle chip → runs the whole script there (see §3.6). This is the headless workhorse.
- Apply to Active View — runs every step on the currently active view.
- Apply to View Bundle… — pick a saved View Bundle from the list; the script runs across every view in it.
While it runs you get a live status line and progress bar. Long sub-steps (e.g. Cosmic Clarity) switch to an indeterminate bar, and the bundle waits for Cosmic Clarity to finish before moving to the next step so nothing races ahead.
Compress to Chip drops a small magenta Function Bundle chip onto the Shortcut Canvas.
- Alt+drag the chip onto a view or View Bundle → runs the script there, headlessly. This is the "run it without opening the dialog" gesture.
- Alt+drop a shortcut onto the chip → appends it as a step.
- Left-drag → move the chip (position remembered).
- Double-click → reopen the dialog.
- Delete / Backspace / right-click → Delete Chip → removes the chip (bundle stays).
The badge shows the step count.
Chip modifier cheat-sheet: View Bundle chips use Ctrl+drag to pick up; Function Bundle chips use Alt+drag to apply. Both use plain left-drag to reposition.
The whole point is the combination.
- Build a Function Bundle — say: Statistical Stretch → Star Reduction → SCNR → Curves.
- Build a View Bundle — drop in 12 open subframes, or point it at a folder of 200 files.
- Alt+drag the Function Bundle chip onto the View Bundle chip.
SAS now runs all four steps on every view live, and on every file headlessly (load → run the 4 steps → save back). One drag, whole night's worth of frames processed.
Because a Function Bundle can be dropped onto a View Bundle, and a View Bundle can hold files, this is your batch pipeline — the SAS equivalent of chaining a ProcessContainer onto an ImageContainer.
- Bundles and chip layouts are stored in
QSettingsand restored on the next launch — chips reappear where you left them. - Function Bundles export/import inside shortcut
.sassfiles (bundle definitions, presets, and chip positions all travel together), so you can hand a full pipeline to someone else. - Function Bundles are also scriptable: a
function_bundlecommand runs a saved bundle by name, or an inline step list, targeting the active view or an explicit set of views — behaving exactly like dropping the chip.
- Keep several small, focused Function Bundles (a "linear cleanup", a "starless prep", a "final polish") rather than one giant one — they compose better and are easier to reorder.
- Test a new Function Bundle on one view (Apply to Active View) before turning it loose on a folder of files, since file targets are overwritten in place.
- A View Bundle that points at a directory is the fastest way to batch a whole capture session — add the folder once, then just drag pipelines onto it.
Part of Seti Astro Suite — [www.setiastro.com](https://www.setiastro.com)