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.
Hi Mabula,
I've now managed to process two images with APP using the trial license and am very pleased with the results, see attached Ghosts of Gamma Cas and Iris Nebula.Â
I have used several other imaging packages in the past so have some idea what to expect but generally I've found the package very straight-forward to use once I'd got to grips with preparing calibration frames and experimented a bit with the slider controls on the RHS of screen. Overall I am very impressed with its capabilities and look forward to seeing what future releases will bring.
On a minor usability issue I find the placement of the RHS sliders and the associated labels slightly misleading, ie I find myself incorrectly moving the slider below a label (as it is the closer) when I should be moving the one above. If you are able to move the relative spacing of the labels and slider I think that would significantly improve useability, at least for me!
Looking critically at my images they clearly benefit from additional data capture to bring out the fainter details better - but imaging time in the UK is horribly limited. Apart from this I believe I have a small issue of banding in the darker areas which I think is due to some incorrect bias correction. I am using a stack of 140 bias frames. Would you agree with my assessment and do you have any
suggestions as to how I might reduce or eliminate this effect.
In summary, thanks for producing such an excellent package and I think you will shortly have a purchase in the near future.
Regards
Mike
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Hi Mike,
Thank you for your nice compliments 😉
On a minor usability issue I find the placement of the RHS sliders and the associated labels slightly misleading, ie I find myself incorrectly moving the slider below a label (as it is the closer) when I should be moving the one above. If you are able to move the relative spacing of the labels and slider I think that would significantly improve useability, at least for me!
I have heard this complaint form other APP users as well, so I'll try to adjust the sliders appearance so it becomes more clear.
Looking critically at my images they clearly benefit from additional data capture to bring out the fainter details better - but imaging time in the UK is horribly limited. Apart from this I believe I have a small issue of banding in the darker areas which I think is due to some incorrect bias correction. I am using a stack of 140 bias frames. Would you agree with my assessment and do you have any
suggestions as to how I might reduce or eliminate this effect.
At a first glance, the images look fine, I don't see a clear fixe bias (or dark signal) pattern that indicates bad calibration. Maybe if you can show one of these images with a much stronger stretch so it becomes more apparent?
Kind regards,
Mabula
