Pixie and Raw Noise Removal

[grooveman]

Hi,

I was a big fan of the pixie plugin for bibble. It savlaged some shots that I thought for sure would be unusable. Kbarni stated on his blog that pixie became the "Raw Noise Removal" portion of ASP. But, I don't really see how this is so, as pixie had a slider for both blown and dead pixels (and that was all). Raw Noise Removal only has one slider for noise, and a couple new additional features. I assume that the new threshold slider has something to do with the sensitivity of the noise correction being applied... but what the heck is "Raw impulse Noise Remover"?

Pixie seemed very straight-forward to me, but this new version does not. Can anyone shed any light on this for me?

Thanks!

G

[thufor]

Raw Impulse Noise Removal is what replaces Pixie.

[SteveCase]

Hi,

Pixie seemed very straight-forward to me, but this new version does not. Can anyone shed any light on this for me?

Thanks!

G

"Raw Impulse Noise Removal"
Has no slider. You can turn if on or off. No controls needed ( BTW, It will always turn on when using "Raw Noise".) It is easier to understand if you look at a photo with some hot /dead pixels. Any long exposure with the lens cap on should work. The effect will not be visible below 71%. Best to watch at 100% view. Turn it on and watch the cruft disappear.

[grooveman]

Raw Impulse Noise Removal is what replaces Pixie.

Yes, that is what I stated above

"Raw Impulse Noise Removal"
Has no slider.

Yes, I I realize this too. I did spend some time with the afspro manual last night (read it cover to cover), and they do actually give the purpose of this checkbox, so sorry I didn't "RTFM" on that one!

I guess what I'm getting at here is why were the controls changed so much? It seemed like the old controls gave you better control, and had a more intuitive feel. I can understand the benefit of a threshold slider. I don't see why the two sliders were turned into one with a checkbox though. I just want to understand the rationale...

G

[SteveCase]

Raw Impulse Noise Removal is what replaces Pixie.

Yes, that is what I stated above

"Raw Impulse Noise Removal"
Has no slider.

I guess what I'm getting at here is why were the controls changed so much? It seemed like the old controls gave you better control, and had a more intuitive feel. I can understand the benefit of a threshold slider. I don't see why the two sliders were turned into one with a checkbox though. I just want to understand the rationale...

G

Just trying to get a clear idea of what you asked.....

Controls now different compared to PIXIE controls?

[thufor]

I guess what I'm getting at here is why were the controls changed so much? It seemed like the old controls gave you better control, and had a more intuitive feel. I can understand the benefit of a threshold slider. I don't see why the two sliders were turned into one with a checkbox though. I just want to understand the rationale...

Completely different algorithms, working in different place in the processing queue. Raw Impulse Removal works before demosaicing, whereas Pixie works on demosaiced data. Different algorithms -> different controls.

[afx]

I don't get the complaint...
Pixie was a workaround for something missing in Bibble provided by a third party plugin developer.
Now that AS ships with something that addresses the issue you complain that the plugin author does not see the need anymore for Pixie?
RAM impulse noise reduction works like a charm for CMOS pixel dust (that is why I had asked for that plugin originally for Bibble) and it fixes hot pixels like a charm.

cheers
afx

[grooveman]

Just trying to get a clear idea of what you asked.....

Its all good! I appreciate it.

Controls now different compared to PIXIE controls?

Yes, exactly. There used to be only 2 sliders, one for dark and one for light pixels.

I don't get the complaint...

Yes, I see. It really wasn't a complaint. It was really a question: How do the one checkbox, and 2 new sliders of "Raw Noise Removal" correspond to the two sliders of "Pixie"?

I was just trying to understand the new way this ui works, and why the change, since the old way seemed to make sense. I assume that the new way is better, and was just trying to understand how it is better.

I think I get how it works now... It just seems to me we lost some control, because we used to be able to control how aggressive pixie was with light and dark pixels independent of one another -- and now it is just a checkbox for both. Am I wrong here?

[afx]

I think I get how it works now... It just seems to me we lost some control, because we used to be able to control how aggressive pixie was with light and dark pixels independent of one another -- and now it is just a checkbox for both. Am I wrong here?

The big difference is, that in Pixie you needed to figure out the relevant thresholds yourself. And it happened after demosaicing.
Raw Impulse Noise Reduction analyzes the sensor data before demosaicing and finds anomalies and removes them.
Much more efficient.
And the chances of error are slimmer than with Pixie as it works directly on the raw data where it happens, not after the interpretation of the data.

cheers
afx

[grooveman]

ahhhh...

That is an improvement!

Thank you, I get it now.

[twinger]

Raw Impulse Noise Reduction does nothing for my Nikon D200 files. I'm very frustrated that there's no plugin available any more. I have to spot heal the hot pixels one at a time!

[grooveman]

Yeah, I still feel like we lost something since pixie... I still get little red (and other color, but mostly red) dots that raw denoise will not address. It is very frustrating. It seems like a step backward...

[SteveCase]

Raw Impulse Noise Reduction does nothing for my Nikon D200 files. I'm very frustrated that there's no plugin available any more. I have to spot heal the hot pixels one at a time!

Would a sample file be available?