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!
I'm just reporting what might be an installation issue, with Beta 27. (Yes, I relented and tried a beta. 🙂
This is on Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon. APP Beta 27 downloaded and installed ok, and I am kicking the tires. But...I just noticed that there are some broken links that seem odd. [Screen shot attached]
My laptop is a new P16 Gen2, and it supports two NVMe's, so I installed the OS on one, and /home on the other. Beta 27 is the first APP install on this machine, so whatever you see, came from that install.
APP is working ok when executed directly in my ~/opt/AstroPixelProcessor directory (although it would be nice if it showed up on a menu).
However, I just noticed that ~/usr/local/bin and ~/usr/share/applications contain broken links to APP, as they are not pointing to APP's actual location.
Just FYI...
- Bob
Hi Bob, @devonshire
Beta27 had an issue and we have removed it completely. Can you test with beta28 if all is okay or not? We test ourselves in Linux Mint 20 and all works fine there with links in the desktop start menus as well.
Mabula
Hi Mabula,
Thanks for the response!Â
I did look at #28, but had already pulled down #27, and the only thing I saw in #28's release notes was a MacOS issue, so I didn't see any reason to expect an issue with linux...not that this was a big one - more like an FYI.
I do see that you have a #29 in progress now, so I think I will hold off until that comes out, and will at that time attempt a thorough deinstall of #27 and then an install of #29 to see what happens. Â
I'll be very glad when this looong beta period is over. I expect that you will be, too. 🙂
- Bob
Thanks, Mabula! Â
I've just installed beta29.  Prior to doing that, I deleted the broken links (only). Those links did not come back, APP is now showing up in Linux Mint's menu, and it appears to be stating just fine. 🙂  I'll try processing some images a bit later today.
