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.
When I used the Star Reducer tool in the past there was an option to save the stars removed from an image. I am not seeing that now. Any help will be appreciated! Thanks.
I will have to take a look in a few days, I didn't think that was removed, but not sure. We're away from 02-02 for about a week to Astrofest London so please allow for a few days to a week for a response, sorry for the delay.
Any update on this one? I hope ASTROFEST went well.
Sorry, missed your request. Could you point to the actual option you saw in the previous version? I don't think we removed things like that, but I can ask Mabula to be sure.
If I am remembering accurately, when the Star Reducer was first available I was able to save the stars removed from a fits file and process them separately from the rest of the image and then combine the two processed images later. I never tried this but now could use it. Perhaps I misunderstood, but appreciate it if you could check. APP is such a great set of tools.
It is not something we've had no, Mabula does want to work on that going forward especially for the comet registration.
