I'm relatively new to image processing and just wanted to say how straight forward and powerful StarTools is. Thanks for all your hard work and a fantastic product that I can't recommend strongly enough!L. B., United States

As a relative newcomer to Astrophotography, I struggled with post processing using GIMP and other non-aware astro software; then stumbled upon Star Tools a year ago and haven't looked back.N. Gialiris, Canada

Although you can go deep with StarTools, I think for beginners in processing, it is more easy to start working with it than some other software, like GIMP I used to work with.F. M., Belgium

I'm now creating gorgeous images from even mediocre data with very little effort using StarTools.G. B., United States

I discovered StarTools and my photos are now amazing. Thank you StarTools for turning my average photos into amazing ones.R. Forest, Canada

The code and the theory behind it are truly innovative and much easier to use than the competition.E. O., United States

I'm impressed with StarTools, in the sense that it might possible have the best simplicity of use/results ratio of all. I managed to process my fist image in 20 minutes after my first contact with StarTools.P.A., Portugal

No nonsense, affordable astro software that just works.S. Sheriff, Spain

Since I've discovered Star Tools I feel that processing can be something faster, easier and much more intuitive compared with other software. It has really powerful tools not seen in other programs.A. Roig, Barcelona, Catalunya

Your truly innovative and powerful software continues to amaze and delight me!D. Zielke, Canada

Your software makes intuitive sense to me. It is easy and automatic enough to get good results almost immediately, but powerful enough to tweak even more from my data once some time is spent playing with it.P. Brand, Australia

Congratulations for your huge and wonderful masterpiece in image post processing!M. Cecconi, Fundación Galileo Galilei - INAF, Fundación Canaria, Spain

It seemed easy to navigate and concise, but still crammed with advanced functions. Even without reading the documentation in any detail I managed to produce something half decent from a single sub!T. Murray, United Kingdom

I tried your 'Startools' today and was blown away with its blinding speed and unique functionality.R. Higby, Australia

Such a wonderful piece of software.G. Stevens, Australia

StarTools offers a breath of fresh air in a field that at times can be complex and bewildering.BBC The Sky at Night Magazine, April 2013

Having acquired StarTools I'm now starting to feel confident with what I can do in this hobby. And that's a bloody good thing!!M. Vecchi, Australia

I love love love your StarTools! Please keep up the good work! Its an amazing piece of image processing software. I am so glad I found your StarTools.A. Svahins, United States

This ingenious software in my opinion out performs all previous packages I have used in the past.P. Scully, South Africa

Underneath its simple front interface is a powerhouse of tools.BBC The Sky at Night Magazine, April 2013

I am impressed with the ease of working with the package compared to MaxIm DL Pro 5, PI and PSCS2/3/4 with which I am very familiar.J. Giles, Australia

There are many clever things about StarTools, but the most impressive is the way it rejuvenates image processing by combining more primitive algorithms into new routines.BBC The Sky at Night Magazine, April 2013

Technical FAQ
GPU usage

My system only reports partial GPU usage, what gives?

As of version 1.7, StarTools offloads suitable, heavy arithmetic to your system's GPU.

Depending on your GPU monitoring application, it may appear your GPU is only used partially. This is not the case; rest assured your GPU solution is used and loaded up 100% where possible.

As opposed to video rendering or gaming, GPU usage in image processing tends to happens in short, intense bursts; during most routines the CPU is still being used for a lot of things that GPUs are really bad at.

Only tasks that;

can be parallelised
are rather "dumb" in terms of logic (with few if-then-else branches)
perform a lot of complex calculations
AND process large amounts of data
complete in milliseconds (up to a couple of seconds or so)

...are suitable for momentary GPU acceleration. As a result, during processing, you should see processing switch back and forth between CPU and GPU.

Depending on how your monitoring application measures GPU usage, these bursts may be too short to register. Spikes are usually averaged out over time (usually 1000ms) by your monitoring application (with CPU intermittently doing its thing, leaving GPU momentarily unused). With the GPU loaded only for short times (e.g. less than 1000ms), the monitoring application makes it appear only partial usage is happening. That is, as you now hopefully understand, not the case! During any GPU usage the GPU is fully loaded up.

If your monitoring application can show maximum values (on Windows you can try GPU-Z or Afterburner, on Linux the Psensor application), you will almost immediately see the GPU being maxed out. For examples of heavy sustained GPU activity, try the Deconvolution module with a high number of iterations.