shinestacker
Shine Stacker
Focus Stacking Processing Framework and GUI
Focus stacking for microscopy, macro photography, and computational imaging
Key Features
- 📸 Image Formats: JPEG, 8 and 16 bits TIFF and PNG and most of RAW formats are supported as input; output can be JPEG, 8 and 16 bits TIFF and PNG
- 🚀 Batch Processing: Align, balance, and stack hundreds of images
- 🧩 Modular Architecture: Mix-and-match processing modules
- 🖌️ Retouch Editing: Final interactive retouch of stacked image from individual frames
- 📊 Jupyter Integration: Image processing python notebooks
Quick start
Command Line Processing
from shinestacker.algorithms import *
# Minimal workflow: Alignment → Stacking
job = StackJob("demo", "/path/to/images", input_path="src")
job.add_action(CombinedActions("align", [AlignFrames()]))
job.add_action(FocusStack("result", PyramidStack()))
job.run()
Installation
Clone the package from GitHub:
git clone https://github.com/lucalista/shinestacker.git
cd shinestacker
pip install -e .
On Linux and other system that require extra protection level, you may need to use pip with avirtual environment:
git clone https://github.com/lucalista/shinestacker.git
cd shinestacker
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
Note that, depending on your installation, you may need to use python3 and pip3 instead of
python and pip, respectively.
GUI Workflow
Launch GUI
shinestacker
Follow GUI guide for batch processing and retouching.
Advanced Processing Pipeline
from shinestacker import *
job = StackJob("job", "E:/focus_stacking/project_directory/", input_path="tiff_images")
job.add_action(CombinedActions("align", actions=[AlignFrames(), BalanceFrames()]))
job.add_action(FocusStackBunch("batches", PyramidStack(), frames=12, overlap=2))
job.add_action(FocusStack("stack", PyramidStack(), prefix='pyram_'))
job.add_action(FocusStack("stack", DepthMapStack(), prefix='dmap_'))
job.run()
Workflow Options
| Method | Best For |
|---|---|
| Python API | batch processing |
| GUI Interactive | refinement |
| Jupyter notebooks | prototyping |
Documentation Highlights
Core Processing
- Graphical User Interface
- Image alignment
- Luminosity and color balancing
- Stacking algorithms
Advanced Modules
- Noisy pixel masking
- Vignetting correction
- Multilayer image
Requirements
- Python: 3.12, 3.14
- RAM: 16GB+ recommended for >15 images at 20Mpx resolution
Dependencies
Core processing
pip install imagecodecs matplotlib numpy opencv-python pillow psdtags psutil rawpy scipy setuptools-scm tifffile tqdm
GUI support
pip install argparse PySide6 jsonpickle webbrowser
Jupyter support
pip install ipywidgets
Known Issues
- EXIF data not supported for 16-bit PNG files and 16-bit TIFF.
- EXIF data from RAW image may be incomplete, depending on the camera manifacturer
- Not all EXIF exposure data in TIFF files may be correctly visible in Adobe PhotoShop. Export as JPEG for full Photoshop EXIF compatibility, if needed. Note that Shine Stacker allows to read a TIFF file, import EXIF from a JPEG, and save in JPEG format including the imported EXIF. This allows to preserve EXIF data in the final JPEG file.
- Windows with ARM64 architecture is not supported in a straightforward way due to missing builds of some of the used libraries
- GUI tests are limited. Please, report any bugs as GitHub issuse.