Technical data

Autostar IP
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9. Options
The Options menu contains a variety of commands that are useful in setting up or optimizing your display
for the current task at hand.
Night Vision
The Night Vision command changes all of the standard system colors to shades of red to help maintain
your eyes adaptation to the dark. This is useful if you are using the program during actual observing
session in the observatory or in the field. After selecting this option you should also lower the brightness
on your monitor.
The status of the night vision option is saved from session to session, remember to turn it off when you
are using the program in normal lighting.
Preferences
Under Preferences you can configure the status bar and set up key option that control the behavior of the
program. When selected, the following dialog appears:
The status bar appearance is controlled by the check boxes on the right. On the left are the image
handling options.
If you check Auto Contrast On Load, the program will automatically prescale images with the indicated
method when a new image is loaded. Enabling this option smooths operation of the program considerably.
Only when working with merging RGB images or when special displays are required is it recommended to
diable this option.
If you check the Fit Window On Load option, images are sized to exactly file your display area when
loaded. Enabling this option assures you will see all your image on load regardless of your screen size. To
see full detail you may still need to zoom in or out with from the main menu.
If you check 24 Bit Color Images, the program will assume you are running a 16 to 32 bit color card on
your computer and will process all color images as 24 bit color. This will greatly increase the speed and
ease of dealing with color images. If you need to output 8 bit compressed palette images for rapid internet
download, or if your system has only and 8 bit color display, disable this option.