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.
This was done with the default settings in APP to see how it worked. I did 3 small stretches in PS. It works good.
 34 lights, 30 darks, 50 bias, 30 Flats. 30 sec subs with a t3i on an ES127:
Dropbox File (Private or Invalid)
Looks very good to me Greg 😉
Have you tried making a Bad Pixel Map already? This could possibly help in improving your data calibration.
Did you have a play with the post processing tools?
Cheers,
Mabula
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Thanks Mabula,Â
I have created BPM, but not on this one I don't think. I've dabble with the post-processing tools, but not much yet. They are not as intuitive as the stacking part. I did try some post processing but am not real clear on it yet. There are 8 radio buttons under TOOLS that I played with a couple, and adjustments to make on the right side. I'm trying to figure out how and when and what happens on the right side still. Haven't had much luck doing adjustments and such in APP and still defer to PS for most PP. It'll take some getting used to, but I assume there is better control over curves and levels and such that I haven't found yet.
Thanks Mabula,Â
I have created BPM, but not on this one I don't think. I've dabble with the post-processing tools, but not much yet. They are not as intuitive as the stacking part. I did try some post processing but am not real clear on it yet. There are 8 radio buttons under TOOLS that I played with a couple, and adjustments to make on the right side. I'm trying to figure out how and when and what happens on the right side still. Haven't had much luck doing adjustments and such in APP and still defer to PS for most PP. It'll take some getting used to, but I assume there is better control over curves and levels and such that I haven't found yet.
Hi Greg,
Okay, video tutorials and further documention is Work In Progress with the highest priority 😉
I'll do a post processing workflow of RGB data from the initial stack/integration up until a stretched JPG to be published online. This will handle most of the tools then and will give explanation on the DDP sliders and how you can effectively use it.
Cheers,
Mabula
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