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.
Very new to APP & DSO processing in general & this is my take on M31.
Data is freely available as shared by Jerry Lodriguss HERE
Only 64mins of data, so not a massive amount to work with.
I found that I did 75% of the work with APP but did finish off in StarTools. I hope to be able to do far more in APP as I learn my way around.
The biggest challenge I found with this data was decreasing the over saturation in the blue channel, I know it's all subjective but to me it was too blue.
Anyway, here's what I got.
Regards..,
Kirk
Hi Kirk,
Thank you for sharing, I will have a go at the data from Jerry, will post it later 😉
Mabula
Hi Kirk,
Oversaturation in blue was not apparent to me, did you see this in APP or in Star Tools?
This is my result with 100% APP:
First the integration:
After integration, corrected the field of view with the "remove light pollution" tool, necessary due to missing flats and always present light pollution gradients:
Then calibrated the background, so the background becomes gray ;-), notice the change in histogram when compared to the previous image :
Then did Star Color Calibration, look at the parameters that I used:
Finally, this linear data, stretched, saturated with background protection and sharpness with star protection:
Jerry's own processing is seen here:
Kind regards,
Mabula
Hi Mabula,
nice result, I’ll have another go at this one I think.
Regards..,
Kirk
Hi Kirk,
For only 64 minutes of exposure time, it's nice data to play with 😉
Mabula
Is there going to be a video on Star protection this is another feature I have not experimented with?
Hi Greg,
It's the bottom slider in the preview filter on the right, check the explantion under the ? button 😉
The Sharp and Protect slider are a duo, higher Sharp will increase sharpness, and lower Protect will reduce sharpening artefacts while enhancing nebula and galaxy details. Protect 0 is no protection though, so set protection at 2-3, that is usually pretty good.
Cheers,
Mabula
