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.
I received the following error when trying to exercise the Calibrate Star Colors function. Not sure what to make of it, but felt you all should know. I'll try to recreate it.
Martin
@martinontheroad Hi Martin, thank you for reporting this. At what stage in the Calibrate Star Colors tool did you get this popup? What kind of image (FITS, TIFF, JPEG, other) was used for the tool?
Wouter - It was a relatively small set of subs, stacked in APP, cropped, then remove light pollution/calibrate background, then calibrate star colors, where it failed. I also experienced an initial inability to select image regions for CSC, but that seemed to magically correct itself. Â When I selected the regions and ran calibrate star colors, the error message popped up.
I am running APP on a Win10 system, and have not yet been able to duplicate the error.
Regards, Martin
@martinontheroad Thanks for the info. What version of APP are you using? And if you load the integration result in APP and then crop, remove light pollution and calibrate star colors again, can you reproduce the error?
Wouter
  I am using APP 2.0.0-beta1 running on Windows 10. I have not yet had a chance to recreate the error until tonight. You asked that I check the following:Â
"...if you load the integration result in APP and then crop, remove light pollution and calibrate star colors again, can you reproduce the error?"
The answer is Almost! I can reproduce an error condition, but not generate the error message I sent earlier.
Tonight, I restacked images I took of M51. I was able to generate the basic stacked file "M51.fits." I was then unable to crop the file, and generate M51-crop.fits. Next, I could remove light pollution, generating M51-crop-lpc-cbg.fits. Lastly, I attempted to calibrate star colors. I was asked to select at least one area in the image.
Here is where things became interesting. i was unable to:
1. Select a region to calibrate star colors. I was unable to draw any boxes at all, anywhere on the screen.
2. I was unable to reload the file to try again. In fact, I could not reload or reopen any of the previous files, either. APP had effectively locked up.
3. I was unable to close both the image viewer panel or the frame list panel. To reload images, I had to shut down and restart APP.
I was able to repeat the above conditions several times.
Regards, Martin
@martinontheroad Thanks for the extensive reply. Sorry to keep you busy but does this also happen with 2.0.0-beta2, which was released yesterday?
I will have to download and check. Â Been busy with a new granddaughter!
Martin
@martinontheroad Congratulations! And no rush. Take your time and let us know when you have tried.
