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 really like APP. Currently use APP 1.083-beta1.
Still, I often use other applications to stack - DSS, SiriL and Sequator just to see if there's a difference.
Sequator I use often for wide-field with a background which needs to be "frozen".
So, I got some wide-field pictures of Milky Way and stacked those in APP, DSS and Sequator.
APP stack is clearly lacking color comparing to DSS and Sequator.
Also the hills should be brownish as in DSS and Sequator but they are green (as if it was spring-time) in APP.
I wonder why?
DSS:
 Sequator:
 APP:
Could you mention what you tried to use in APP? Like your workflow?
Everything was default. Integration - auto. Stretch 15% BG, 3 sigma, 2.5% base, save as tiff and finish in Photoshop like others (setting up the black level and nothing else).
Right ok, so what you see here is more the raw data then. In APP you can use the LP (light pollution tool) to remove some more gradients and the star color correction to get the best colors. Then on the right you can switch on saturation and it should look a lot better already.
It was about a month ago when I collected/processed this set of data... I don't remember exactly what I did to every stack.
So I went ahead and restacked/reprocessed. And got completely different result with APP!
Now APP is very close to Sequator and DSS.
Can this be 1.082 (which I used a month ago) vs 1.083b1 (which I used today)?
Here's what I did.
Stacked with APP, Sequator and DSS.
Processed each stack in APP:
-- calibrated background (5 boxes - four in the corners and one close to the middle, avoiding the ground).
-- calibrated star colors (one big box excluding the ground/hills).
-- 15% BG, 3 sigma, 2.5 base. Save to 16b TIFF.
-- Photoshop. Adjust black level, resize and save to jpeg.
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All three did similarly and well.
DSS was OK but didn't stack stars properly in the right-top corner.
Sequator worked surprisingly well. It doesn't work as good for high-magnification DSO but for wide-field it's really good.
APP did very well. Not sure what happened the previous attempt. Maybe there was really something in 1.082.
And, by the way, that was unmodified Nikon D5500 with 14mm lens (ISO6400 and f/4) at Bortle 4 location. Just 10x13s frames.
APP:
Sequator:
DSS:
Thanks!
Mmm, not sure if that much changed between those versions (I would have to check the release info for that), but at least it works now to your liking which is what matters. 🙂 You're sure you did the same star color calibration in the first try?
