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.
is there a way to add subs to an already integrated process?
let's assume I stacked light frames (with corresponding calibration). I want to add another session with new subs but use only the result from the earlier integration in order to save integration time. is that possible?
There is yes, just load in the integrated lights and add the new data as well. I would first get enough extra data and calibration data to make an integration of that and then combine them.
@vincent-mod
If I may expand on this a bit: On M31 I have Ha, L, R, G, and B integrations I am happy with qualty-wise. However the total times could be higher, especially the L data.
Next year could could I shoot more Lights, calibrate them, and the add the new L channel integration to the old L intgration?
If so, would this be done in the Integration tab, or the RGB Combine tool? Presumably I would use the Registration tab 4 to register New to Old.
Conceptually then the Integration file is a Master Light. This would imply good news for my disk management as I could delete individual subs once I have good integration files, in the same fashion as Master Darks, Bias, and Flats.Â
You can yes. Given your integrations are calibrated well with enough calibration frames, you should have clean integrations with good signal so those will add nicely when stacked. Theoretically it's better to stack all subframes, but personally I haven't noticed a massive difference in that sense. I would test it for yourself first as well.
You simply load your integrations as lights, without calibration data and integrate.
