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.
ASIair Plus does not have a file naming header for "Dark Flats" so I have been using the "Bias" field and the fits files have Bias_ in their file name header. Those files are loaded into the Dark Flats tab in APP. Do you think APP is processing the the files by the tab setting (Dark Flats) or by the file header name (Bias). It does seem to generate a master dark flat file after integration.
No it does use them as darkflats in that case, but it would be nice if you could change the name indeed as it's easy to mix up data.
Other people on the APP Users Facebook group are doing the same as me, since ASIair does not have a name for Dark Flats. Just to be clear, you are saying if incorrectly named files (in my case Dark Flats labeled as Bias) are put in in the correct folder (Dark Flats), APP won't integrate them correctly? So I must rename?
If I rename them, what file name does APP need for Dark Flats?
Thanks Vincent,
Carol
@carsan Carol,
Vincent is suggesting to rename the Master Bias file to Master Dark Flat so you won't get confused if you reuse the file. For the rest, as Vincent pointed out, APP is handling the raw files correctly as Dark Flats as you intended so no need to change or rename any thing there.
HTH, Wouter
Thanks for clarifying.Â
1) Would APP prefer: Master Dark Flat, Master DarkFlat or MasterDarkFlat?
2) Is there a tutorial for creating Master Calibration files separate from the complete image integration process? Something that can be done ahead of time and saved for later integration? The Sara Wagner video is not up to date and she uses light frames for the masters and makes all masters (dark, flat, bias) at the same time.
Thanks for your help! Carol
1) Would APP prefer: Master Dark Flat, Master DarkFlat or MasterDarkFlat?
Sorry if my earlier explanation wasn't clear. The name doesn't matter for APP, as long as you load it as the correct file. The name simply is for you to know what file it is.
2) Is there a tutorial for creating Master Calibration files separate from the complete image integration process?
Just load the raw calibration frames without any lights, go to tab 2 and click the "create Masters & assign to Lights" button. The master files will automatically be saved to your work directory.
Thanks Wouter. Sorry to bother you one last time regarding creating master calibration files. Since I am using a one shot color camera and processing in both broadband/Adaptive Airy Disk or dual narrowband/Ha-Oiii color (or Extract Ha), do I need to set any settings in Tab 0 before loading calibration files for creating Master Calibration files? i.e. Do broadband lights and dual narrowband lights use the same Master Flats, Master Dark Flats and Master Darks.
@carsan Hi Carol. you are not bothering me at all and that's a really good question. The answer is that, yes, all lights use the same calibration files. Calibration is performed before any algorithm from tab 0 is applied.
Thanks so much!
