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.
6 Panel mosaic constructed in SGP with 15% overlap. Each panel is of different duration. Nos 1, 2 & 5 are 3 hours each, 6 & 3 are 2.5 hr, and Panel 4 is .9 hr.
Used mosaic registration using Quads, start - 1 stop - 10, integrate weights equal integration = Avg, with 2nd deg LNC @ 3 iter. with 10% MBB
Excellent Thom @thompeters, great image for so little exposure time per mosaic panel.
Perhaps you can further improve this result? I think there are still some gradients left and the blueish spiral arms can be possible be a bit more blue.
Did you use the remove light pollution tool and star color calibration?
Cheers,
Mabula
Excellent Thom @thompeters, great image for so little exposure time per mosaic panel.
Perhaps you can further improve this result? I think there are still some gradients left and the blueish spiral arms can be possible be a bit more blue.
Did you use the remove light pollution tool and star color calibration?
Cheers,
Mabula
Yes I do plan on getting more time on this image. I originally used only a 5% overlap on the panels and never could get a mosaic integration to work, so this is a 15% overlap which does work.
I did use both light pollution and star calibration tools on this image. In fact I did 2 runs of the LP tool on the compleated mosaic. Plus I ran the LP tool only, on each panel prior to running the mosaic integration. I was frustrated too that I still had gradients which I could not remove no matter how I tried! :((
Then after mosaic integration w/ 2 LP, a BG neutralization, then SCC. I also used the Sel. Color tool to bring out the blue, but failed to get much blue. Maybe because I understand this tool the least! 🙁
I’ve spent the last 3 weeks trying to get the mosaic integration to work correctly. Played around with the LP tool on both panels and mosaic, and tried different LNC settings to get a good mosaic.
I’ve watched Your video on the mosaic creation several times to better understand the process too, after a number of early failures. I’d rather experiment so I can learn the controls better than asking for help early on. 😉
Hi Thom @thompeters,
Yes, with only 5% overlap, chances are big that too little stars are detected needed for registration.
With a little bit more overlap, things will work much better. I would advise to have at least 10% and preferably 15%.
Getting out the blues in the spiral arms should be possible without the use of Selective Color normally. A reason for not getting nice blues could be bad atmospheric conditions when you shot the data and/or perhaps very low signal in the blue channel compared to the green and red channel. The histogram will often tell you this. Then the Blue histogram peak would be much wider then the Red and Green histogram peak after Background Neutralization. Was this the case perhaps?
If you send me the integration file of the mosaic I will be happy to have a look and suggest what and how you could improve this 😉
I am sure we should be able to get a better/flatter background and perhaps better blues in the spiral arms...
Mabula
Sure I will send it to you!!
And this is a 15% overlap. I’d said the 5% DID NOT WORK. But the 15% did work.
Not sure I looked at the histogram after BG neutralization.
Thom
Sure I will send it to you!!
And this is a 15% overlap. I’d said the 5% DID NOT WORK. But the 15% did work.
Not sure I looked at the histogram after BG neutralization.
Thom
Hi Thom @thompeters,
Yes, I know you used 15%, I just mentioned that that should be safe 😉
I have downloaded the files and I am working on it now...
First of all, I think the Ligh Pollution correction on the individual frames is making things a bit more complicated.
You have sent me the mosaic panels already corrected with the Remove Light Pollution tool. But I have registered these and integrated these.
I tried integrating with MBB at 15% and LNC 1st and 4th degree and then further correcting the result with the Remove Light Pollution tool:
With LNC 4th degree the outcome is rather bad, which to me, indicates that the LP correction on the individual panels is probably not good.
Results are shown with strong stretch and saturation to show the problems.
Result with LNC 1st degree and LP correction on the result:
Result with LNC 4th degree and LP correction on the result:
It is clear that correction is very difficult now. I would think that working with the mosaic panels that are not yet corrected for LP would be easier. Wasn't it ?
This is the result that I can get from the LNC 1st degree mosaic now after Star Color Calibration :
The problems probably are also partly due to mixed atmospheric conditions while gathering the data per mosaic panel. Perhaps with more data, the result will start to improve.
In my experience, if you apply Light Pollution Correction on mosaic panels, you need to be very carefull, so I think this could have complicated things in this case. But is't is hard to tell without seeing the mosaic panels that are uncorrected for LP.
Kind regards,
Mabula
Mabula
Sure I will send it to you!!
And this is a 15% overlap. I’d said the 5% DID NOT WORK. But the 15% did work.
Not sure I looked at the histogram after BG neutralization.
Thom
Hi Thom @thompeters,
Yes, I know you used 15%, I just mentioned that that should be safe 😉
I have downloaded the files and I am working on it now...
First of all, I think the Ligh Pollution correction on the individual frames is making things a bit more complicated.
You have sent me the mosaic panels already corrected with the Remove Light Pollution tool. But I have registered these and integrated these.
I tried integrating with MBB at 15% and LNC 1st and 4th degree and then further correcting the result with the Remove Light Pollution tool:
With LNC 4th degree the outcome is rather bad, which to me, indicates that the LP correction on the individual panels is probably not good.
Results are shown with strong stretch and saturation to show the problems.
Result with LNC 1st degree and LP correction on the result:
Result with LNC 4th degree and LP correction on the result:
It is clear that correction is very difficult now. I would think that working with the mosaic panels that are not yet corrected for LP would be easier. Wasn't it ?
This is the result that I can get from the LNC 1st degree mosaic now after Star Color Calibration :
The problems probably are also partly due to mixed atmospheric conditions while gathering the data per mosaic panel. Perhaps with more data, the result will start to improve.
In my experience, if you apply Light Pollution Correction on mosaic panels, you need to be very carefull, so I think this could have complicated things in this case. But is't is hard to tell without seeing the mosaic panels that are uncorrected for LP.
Kind regards,
Mabula
Mabula
I'm currently redoing the mosaic with panels which have NOT had LPC. Please explain what "Flexibility" does in the LPC tool?? Is it better to use small or larger boxes in the LPC tool??
Also I;m not sure how to go about the LNC calcs for the mosaic! I start off with 1st deg. 3 reps, and keep stepping up the degree, but keeping 3 reps. but I've never used 4th deg. like you did. Is there an advantage to doing 4th or higher at some point?? Or is there some logic I can use for increasing the degree of LNC?
I can send you the panel integration w/o LPC too if you wish!
Thom
