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.
So, I am testing the beta version, I noticed that even after you set up your working directory, when you start the integration process, it now asks you to set up the directory, not once, but twice!
Is that normal?
It asks for the working directory for processing and the second is for if you want a different directory to save the result. This may change a bit, depending on what is handy.
So, I am testing the beta version, I noticed that even after you set up your working directory, when you start the integration process, it now asks you to set up the directory, not once, but twice!
Is that normal?
No, that would not be normal indeed...
Please read what the File/Folder Chooser window says 😉
"Please select your Save Directory for the integration/Stack of your light frames" - So nothing is mentioned about resetting the Working Directory.
From the release notes:
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NEW FILE SAVER MODULE INCLUDING PNG WRITE SUPPORT, DPI AND ADDITIONAL ICC COLOR PROFILES, file saving in APP has been completely upgraded. This upgrade is applied in the whole application where frames are saved and it should solve many requests regarding file saving in the application. It is used when masters are created, your light frame integration/stack, when you save with the preview filter and in all the batch tools. Especially in the batch tools, the file saver is new much more user friendly. You only need to set the save settings once for whatever file type that you choose and the batch will be saved in the same way, without ever asking file save settings again. The file saver now is just one panel that allows you to set all file save options which are, directory of choice (no more saving in only the Working Directory), file name of choice, file type (FITS/TIFF/PNG/JPG), bit depth (depending on the file type, 8/16/32 bits), ICC profile for TIFF/PNG/JPG, JPEG quality. The new file saver also includes the option to set Dots Per Inch (DPI, for printing purposes) for TIFF/PNG/JPG frames. Finally, the file saver includes many more ICC color profiles (no profile for linear data, sRGB v2, v4, ColorMatch RGB, Adobe RGB 1998, Apple RGB, Wide-gamut RGB, ProPhoto RGB) to use which can be needed for printing purposes, or for moving the non-linear data to other applications like Photoshop. Be aware that if your data is still linear, simply save your data without an ICC color profile. So you can also choose to not include an ICC color profile for TIFF/PNG/JPG when the data is still linear. (if you do save with an ICC profile on dark linear data, you will get issues with your data! ICC color profiles like sRGB, Adobe1988, ProPhoto etc... are not to be applied on linear data at all, they are for the non-linear color spaces).
It asks you where you want to save your master calibration frames and where do you want to save your stack 😉 In this new release, you can now choose where results are saved. They no longer are saved in the Working Directory by default. We think that will be much more user friendly going forward. The Working Directory is the location where temporary integration data is stored so it is different than where you want your results to be. Hope this clarifies the new behaviour?
Mabula
Thank you for your reply I really appreciate it.
The problem that it asks although all I have is master files, but it still asks where to save the master!
I have my folders nested inside each other and it is so annoying to keep searching and clicking to go back to the working directory. It is really annoying, much worse than starting every time with the documents folder.Â
I agree Jay. The first save dialog (for lights) not so bad since I just click through it. Second for masters only makes sense when first creating the master. If the masters have been created and set .. asking for Save is .. pointless (yes and annoying 🙂 .. Be nice to turn it off altogether!
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Andy
That's a good one I think, thanks for mentioning! I'll pass it on.
Asking for the masters location happens in this beta, because the automatic BPM creation is on and then it first needs to check if a BPM needs to be created or not which would be saved in the masters folder location... anyway thanks for mentioning this, because we can easily and will fix this behaviour.
Mabula
It's all good Mabula! Minor really.. the final image is fantastic as always!
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Andy
