I have just added a new CUDA capable NVIDIA based graphics card to my PC to replace one from around 2008(!!!). What this means is that some of the processes in PixInsight can use games oriented processing features of the graphics card to do things fast. So for instance I can remove the stars from a full size image like this, and create a star mask in less than 30 seconds.
So I found that I had stacked this image (in one go with WBPP) but not processed it. Ten minutes later I was finished (!!!!!!). Its colour balanced against the Gaia catalogue, separated with Starnet++, nebula sharpened with BlurExterminator(a PSF was generated from the image with stars and set in Bx), nebula tweaked with Curves, image with stars sharpened/shrunk (stars only) with BlurExterminator and then both starless and starry stretched seperately with Generalised Hyperbolic Stretch and the results combined with Pixelmath combine(starry, starless, op_screen()). Converted to TIF in PI then JPG in Affinity Photo.
320x5s + 160x30s Gain 1601, Offset 30, Temp 0c
Image date, time and location: 2023-12-09, Manche, France
Telescope aperture and focal ratio: TS1506UNC 6" f4 607mm fl
Camera and filters used: QHY294PROC OSC, Svbony UVIR
Processing applied: Pixinsight, Affinity Photo
Click for full size
(https://gallery.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/albums/userpics/10050/normal_M42_OrionNebula_SCC_Bx_Starnet_Bx_GSH_CT_CS_SCNR_Nx.jpg) (https://gallery.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/albums/userpics/10050/M42_OrionNebula_SCC_Bx_Starnet_Bx_GSH_CT_CS_SCNR_Nx.jpg)
Nice image and good control of the core. It will go in September Members images as I have already closed August as it was getting too big.
It is good to find these new ways of processing things.
I only rcently acquired StarExterminator as the PC I had before wasn't up to the job (said Russell Croman). Now I have a new laptop I made sure before i bought it that it would be man eough for the job.
As you probably know I use Photoshop NOT Pixinsight, and was struggling to find away to replace the stars after SX, and stumbled upon a You tube tutorial which included just what I needed.