2026-10-09 APP 2.0.0-beta48 has been released !
This is mainly a bug fix release for the reported bugs in beta47. In addition it has a significant User Interface performance improvement noticable when you need to process 1000s of images in APP.
2026-10-03 APP 2.0.0-beta47 has been released !
This is a very big release... many code optimizations/rewrites, many parts of APP are much faster and more precise, especially star analysis and registration are much faster ! Big mosaics will go much faster 🙂
And we introduce a new preview filter, which includes the new Adaptive Deep Sky Stretch and a General Levels Stretch, this has been long over due. The old preview filter (the panel on the right side to stretch and preview your data) has not been updated for a couple of years and it is a critical part of any APP session.
Adaptive Deep Sky Stretch or ADSS is a much more intuitive stretch algorithm. It is also color preserving (which is a great new addition in itself ! ) which means that the highlights are no longer bleached, color is maintained from the linear data while stretching. You can simply stretch your data using the sky background level and signal width sliders which work much easier and more intuitive. You no longer need to fiddle with the old complicated sliders with zoom buttons. All the zoom buttons for the sliders are made redundant. And you can enter slider values in the slider value fields yourself. I will make a youtube video in the coming days to explain and fully introduce ADSS. Once the video is ready, it will be highlighted on the forum.
RGB Combine upgrade !. The RGB Combine Tool has been rewritten mostly. The tool is faster and easier to use and most importantly, the Luminance slider to inject a luminance channel or channels into the RGB composite is now working correctly. It no longer bleaches the RGB colors. Combined with the new ADSS preview, you will get much better and easier great composites with great color! I will also explain this in a new youtube video.
Hi,
I just tried to stack some long exposure (30 to 90 sec.) of comet Neowise and got strange pixel trails in an opposite direction of the startrails. Would this be solved if I had made darks and bias etc.?
Thanks,
Arnaldo
Very likely yes, these can be bad pixels.
@vincent-mod Thanks for your reply... Is there any way to minimize them without darks etc.?
You can try to use cosmetic correction in tab 2, switch the options on for hot pixels, I'm not entirely sure if that works without any calibration data (never tried that). Brin the hot pixel kappa down to maybe 2.5 or lower to make it more aggressive.
@vincent-mod Thanks! I’ll just give it a try... And maybe I’ll make some darks too... If they are bad pixels, they might appear at the same place anyway!?
Yes that's why darks work. If you make some proper darks a BPM will be made automatically as well, this you can use on all your data taken with the same sensor. It removes bad pixels and never hurts the data, so always use one is my advice.
@vincent-mod from now on... I will 😉 Thanks for the advice!
Good suggestion Steve, you can try that indeed and make a bpm with those.
