Aduku Stacker vs ForgePix

Aduku Stacker combines photographs taken at different focus distances into a sharp image, for macro, product, landscape and microscopy photography. The free app offers five merge methods: Wavelet, Pyramid, Weighted, Hybrid and Depthmap. Its default workflow processes images at 16-bit and uses 32-bit floating-point merge calculations, with memory-bounded batching for deep stacks. Automatic alignment uses feature matching and subpixel refinement; options include focus-breathing correction, homography, mesh warp and manual alignment seeding. It imports JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, HEIC and DNG, and exports JPEG, PNG, TIFF, linear DNG and depth maps. Proprietary RAW files may require Adobe DNG Converter on macOS. Retouching lets users paint from aligned source frames, erase strokes and undo or redo, but there is no clone tool. Processing is local and does not require an internet connection. It runs on macOS 13 or later and 64-bit Windows 10/11; 8 GB RAM is sufficient for most stacks, with 16 GB recommended for deep 16-bit RAW stacks.

ForgePix is beta software for automatic focus stacking and computational photography, with workflows for macro, astrophotography, and long-exposure image series. Its Macro, Astro, Hybrid, and Long Exposure modules include a one-click Automatic mode that selects usable frames, aligns and merges them, then applies gentle sharpening. Focus merges can use Laplacian pyramid, depth map, weighted average, à-trous wavelet, or halo fix methods. Astro tools cover calibration-frame detection, star alignment, rejection methods, drizzle, multi-session stacking, and FITS export. Editing and output features include RAW support, a Camera-Raw editor, retouch brush, batch processing, watch folder, and export presets for JPG, TIFF, layered Photoshop TIFF, and FITS. ForgePix says processing is fully local and does not require AI, a server, or external astronomy software. Optional language assistants and external tools are available. Assistant setup sends preview frames, sharpness profile, basic EXIF data, and the user's wish, but not original files or location data. Experimental local AI image models are not enabled by default and may alter faint structures, flux, or star shapes. ForgePix is free under the MIT license, with downloads for Linux, macOS, and Windows.