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 built a PC about 4 years ago to use with APP. I would like to review that PC and consider some upgrades if beneficial to the speed of processing etc? It is getting a bit bogged down now in photoshop too. Any advice on GPU and RAM would be appreciated. Cost effective upgrades too please 😉
Currently:
i7 8700 3.2ghz 6 cores 12 logical processors
16GB RAM (2 slots out of 4)
Intel UHD Graphics 630
4TB SSD
Thanks
Adam
What's the speed of your SSD?
Depending on that answer, get a a faster one for stacking.
For editing, start with replacing the GPU. There a alot of GPU accelerated AI software for AStro editinh and last but not leat, more memory. I have 64 and use quite much of it.
/Stefan
@digitaliz-se Thanks Stefan, I'm not sure on the speed of the SSD, but can check later. Does it matter what graphics card I go for? Do they all fit?
I use the following software. (I updated my version of APP yesterday after about a year and I notice that it is considerably faster than before).
APP
PI
PS 2024
Depends what your computer can fit. But Nividia Geforce RTX series works excellent for those AI softwares.
/Stefan