Open Galileo vs OpenFocus

Open Galileo is free, open-source Windows software for focus stacking and signal integration in scientific photography, microscopy, macro photography, astrophotography, and technical documentation. It automatically aligns image sets with correlation algorithms, compensating for focus breathing and small shot differences. Focus fusion options include PMax multiband, weighted average, and depth-map methods. Astronomy mode combines signals using mean, median, sum, or sigma-clipping integration. Processing uses Laplacian, Difference of Gaussians, and variance focus measures, plus multiscale fusion with Laplacian pyramids. Optional tools provide contrast normalization, CLAHE, Unsharp Mask sharpening, and noise reduction including BM3D and approximate Noise2Void. Folders can be processed and saved automatically. JPG, PNG, TIFF, and RAW files are supported. The interface includes live previews, progress bars, parameter sliders, and a large-screen layout. It is released under CC BY-NC 4.0; commercial use needs the author's prior permission.

OpenFocus aligns and fuses multi-focus image sequences to create images with focus throughout. It offers ECC and Homography alignment and several fusion methods: Guided Filter, DCT, DTCWT, GFG-FGF and the StackMFF V4 AI model. A wipe view lets users compare source frames with results, and the software can generate depth maps showing focus position per pixel. It supports folder-based batch processing and a headless command-line interface for scripting and CI. Listed inputs include JPG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, MP4 and numbered image folders; the manual also describes decoding additional video formats. Outputs include those image formats, image-sequence folders and GIF animations. Research functions include metadata-calibrated scale bars and multi-page TIFF stacks that preserve 16-bit depth. The interface supports English, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish, with automatic system-language detection. OpenFocus is free under the MIT License, though included algorithms may have separate license terms. Its Windows and macOS app builds are unsigned and may trigger SmartScreen or Gatekeeper warnings on first launch.