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.
A big hug for Mabula and crew!
Really great to see this. I am a longtime APP user and even while I use a range of other software as well (tools in the toolbox), I exclusively use APP for calibration, integration and mosaic building. It just works (for me, anyway).Â
I have tried the star reducer tool on a few of my images and it works really well. With some tweaking of parameters it gives very nice and clean results. Removing the stars gives a bit more rough patches, but complete removal is not always needed.
Â
Now, towards @Mabula-Admin, if I may suggest a new year's resolution for you: Ban the word "soon" from your communication. Really, it is a ill defined concept which creates wildly different expectations. And mostly the wrong expectations.Â
Â
Great stuff. Keep on pushing!
Â
Thank you very much @annehouw 😊 ! That is highly appreciated 😉
Glad to hear that the Star Reducer works nicely on your images !
Star Removal indeed is still not to my satisfaction yet, so indeed it needs a bit more work still. On some images it works really well but as soon as you have many clustered stars... it becomes complicated to give a good background reconstruction containing the noise patterns of the surrounding star area. The noise patterns need to be there, otherwise it looks artificial quickly.
We are definitely planning for less "soon" communication. And more action going forward as well!
