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.
Hi,
First off thank you for the 1.049 update! Â There are some nice improvements to APP. Â I have a new problem now though. Â After completing an rgb combine I am unable to save the unstretched image. Â I am, however, able to save the stretched image with no problems. Â The error I receive is:
Error: Java.Lang.NullPointerException
Cause: null
dA.a (Unknown Source)
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Best Regards,
Ricky
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Hi Ricky,
You're most welcome 😉
So you are clicking on save below the histogram without the stretch selectbox enabled?
Does it fail on FITS, JPG & TIFF or only with particular settings for saving ?
Kind regards,
Mabula
Hi Mabula,
It fails as soon as I uncheck "stretch" and click "save"...it doesn't get to file name and file type.
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Best Regards,
Ricky
Does it happen while you are working in the RGB combine tool?
yes...after making my combinations...
thinking about this now...I think I tried to save after "calculate" and not after "create"...let me check...
What happens if you click on "create" on the left? Then it should save the unstretched data.
Saving using the save button on the right should work also, so I'll investigate.
Mabula
I just reapplied rgb combine and clicked "create" and image appeared but the "save" button was not active to save. Â My work around was to exit APP then restarted then loaded the fits file and resave as tiff.
Thank you Ricky,
I'll test this myself 😉
So at least, now you have the RGB combined image in TIFF format?
Mabula
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Yes...I have my unstretched tiff image. Â I will post my NGC6888 in the gallery forum later today.
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Thanks for your assistance Mabula!
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Best Regards,
Ricky
Great, thank you Ricky for sharing the issue 😉
I'll try to fix this soon...
Mabula