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.
How do you tell APP to apply bias correction to your flats and/or flat darks only?
Wayne
Hi Wayne @whixson,
APP will apply bias and/or dark flat Masters to your flats if they are available. If they are not, APP will give you a warning that you will not be able to get good flat-field correction without bias and/or dark flats available.
So APP will automatically do this correctly, you will only need to supply the bias and/or dark flats and they will be used 😉
Kind regards,
Mabula
Thanks Mabula, what if I don’t want to apply bias to the lights but only the flats?
Hi @whixson, then you will first need to create the masterflat with the bias loaded.
Then remove the bias and masterbias and load the lights...
But... why would you want to do this ? The light need to be calibrated with either bias or darks.... otherwise flat-field calibration will not work.
What would be an argument to not use bias for lights?
Mabula
