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.
Hello folks!
Today I tested the new version of APP and tried to edit a picture completely with it.
I am very impressed with the new features like the Star Reducer Tool!
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Edited in APP only:
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APP + Photoshop (HLVG + a breeze of Topaz DeNoise)
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I am very satisfied with the results and I am sure that the green cast in the first picture can also be eliminated even better in APP.
I think the test was successful 🙂
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Greets from Austria!
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GernotÂ
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Thx Mabula & Vincent 🙂 @mabula-admin @vincent-mod
This is a test to show what APP can do. In a forum it was discussed whether APP or PI is better for creating astro images. I then tried to show what is possible with APP alone.
CS Gernot
Nice image and process. I am also enjoying APP only processing. As an OSc imager, looking back at some data it becomes more natural and better balanced without additional Ps editing. I have found some neat tricks to deal with green cast in star color calibration and HSL selective color mods that might be useful. almost similar to HLVG.
The first is the magenta-green sliders for the color-color plots in star color calibration, which can help with initial green bias, and the second is the HSL selective tool where the green color is selected from 0 - 100% (all pixels), and then the green-magenta slider is moved fromm 40-70% magenta, while reducing saturation from -20 to -50% or so. These two sliders need to be carefully checked so no magenta artefacts appear around stars so there is some iterations. Carefully done, it works very well. Maybe @mabula-admin and the team know how to fine tune this a little better.
Nice image and process. I am also enjoying APP only processing. As an OSc imager, looking back at some data it becomes more natural and better balanced without additional Ps editing. I have found some neat tricks to deal with green cast in star color calibration and HSL selective color mods that might be useful. almost similar to HLVG.
The first is the magenta-green sliders for the color-color plots in star color calibration, which can help with initial green bias, and the second is the HSL selective tool where the green color is selected from 0 - 100% (all pixels), and then the green-magenta slider is moved fromm 40-70% magenta, while reducing saturation from -20 to -50% or so. These two sliders need to be carefully checked so no magenta artefacts appear around stars so there is some iterations. Carefully done, it works very well. Maybe @mabula-admin and the team know how to fine tune this a little better.
Hello Colm!
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I also really like the "APP-only" results. As you say, the pictures look very natural.
Thank you for your input. Maybe one day there will be a "one click"- solution in APP similar to HLVG. That would be a development idea for @mabula-admin 🙂 .
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Greets from Austria!
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GernotÂ
