Donation
All the work that I put into this app is done in my free time. Software development is rewarding but also time consuming. If you like the app consider a donation.
As a thank you, you'll receive one whole year of:
🛠️ Direct Support: Enjoy a direct line of communication with me for 1-on-1 troubleshooting and setup support.
🚀 Early Access: Be the first to test-drive new features and UI improvements with exclusive access to early beta builds.
✨ Recognition: Your name (or handle) added to the app's sponsor web page and in the app's "About" panel.
Installation
Windows
- Open the installation setup file by double clicking the downloaded "LuckyStackWorker-setup.exe" binary from the Assets below.
- When the windows defender firewall pops up after running the app for the first time, allow access to the application. This happens because the application uses a local network connection for the user interface to interact with the backend part of the app.
- The installation package has been security audited by microsoft. For this reason it is not blocked on your machine during installation by the smartscreen. To verify this you may also want to check the virustotal.com report.
MacOS
- Download the correct DMG file from below (MacOS x64 for intel based machines and arm64 for M1-M4). Open it and drag the LuckyStackWorker icon onto the Applications icon.
- This is an unsigned app, because the certificate for the app store is too costly to justify buying one.
- Therefor, the first time you open the app, do the following:
For M1-M4 (arm based):
- Download the extra file called "LuckyStackWorker-MacOS-arm64-unblock.tar.gz" from the Assets below.
- Run the LuckyStackWorker app for the first time by double clicking it.
- MacOS will refuse to start the app saying that the app is damaged. Don't worry, nothing is wrong with it. This happens because the app is unsigned (see explanation above).
- Open the terminal on your macbook. Open the Launchpad and select 'Other' and then 'Terminal'.
- Paste the following code into the terminal window (cmd+V) then press the Enter key:
cd ~/Downloads
tar -xzvf LuckyStackWorker-MacOS-arm64-unblock.tar.gz
./remove_quarantine.sh
- Enter your account password
After following the above steps in that order the app will work from that point on.
For Intel based machines (x64):
Use the Finder app and navigate to the Applications folder, select LuckyStackWorker, then hold the Control key (^) while you click on the icon and select Open from the popup menu. This will tell MacOS that it is OK to open the app and it will be added to the allowed applications.
Linux
- Download both LuckyStackWorker_linux.zip and LuckyStackWorker_linux.sum files, and verify the checksum of the zip before extracting it.
- Open a Terminal window and paste: cd ~/Downloads
- Run this command:
sha256sum --check LuckyStackWorker_linux.sum - If it doesn't respond 'OK' delete the zip and download it again.
- INSTALL: You can extract the zip file into any folder, eg, your Downloads folder.
- Right-click and "Extract Here", then in the Terminal window paste:
cd ~/Downloads/LuckyStackWorker/LuckyStackWorker-linux-x64 - Run the setup script: ./lsw-setup
- Files are copied into your Home directory, in "LuckyStackWorker/", and
shortcuts are created on Desktop and in the App Menu. - Your system may ask you to click on "Make Executable" or "Mark As Trusted",
please do so!
Compatability
LuckyStackWrorker was tested on Windows 11, MacOS Somona (14) architecture: intel, Debian v12, Knoppix v19 ***, Ubunt (Lubuntu v22, Mint v21.3), Arch (Manjaro v23, EndeavourOS "Galileo Neo"), OpenSUSE ("Tumbleweed"), Fedora (red hat) (Workstation v39)
User Manual
I wrote a downloadable user manual that explains all the features.
Release notes
- De-rotation and stacking can now be applied without the need to open a single image first
- Improved the de-rotation success rate: less failure and more predictable outcome through automatic retries with adjusted parameters
- Mono R-G-B image sets can now be de-rotated directly. Simply select the red, green, and blue channels in sequence from the channel dropdown before clicking De-rotation, eliminating any extra intermediate steps
- Easy automatic RGB alignment can be done afterwards by clicking the "Align RGB" button on the "Color & Alignment" tab.
- De-rotation and stacking unprocessed result is now automatically saved in a file with a '_LSW_DRTD.tif' or '_LSW_STACK.tif' file
- New version notification popup now appears directly after splash screen
- Fixed issue with applying the old synthetic PSF when opening a new image instead of the synthetic PSF that is kept in the profile
- Fixed issue where deconvolution would change the tint of the image when the background wasn't completely dark.
- Fixed issue where saving the image would sometimes store it as a mono tif stack instead of an 16-bit color stack
- Fixed hidden processing progess bar on the image panel
- Fixed issue where attempting to de-rotate an already pre-processed image would show the error message about the image not being a 16-bit image
- Fixed issue where order of image files would let the de-rotation fail
- Fixed issue when opening an image on a specific channel (red, green or blue) it would initially appear black
- Fixed issue with image being opened scaled after de-rotation or stacking while scale was set to 1
- Fixed Rotation button still showing as enabled after opening a new image while it should be disabled again.