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.
Hello,
I am in the process of making a Good Bad Pixel map using 100 dark frames of 5 min subs at an ambient temperature of 25 degrees C for my Nikon D5300a. As it also needs flat frames so I am a bit confused. Do I need to separately use flat frames for the broad and narrow bands? Or there is no relation between Bad Pixel Map creation and flat frame bandpass (broad band or narrow band)? Mostly, I use either a UV-IR cut filter or a dual narrow band filter. First I will make Bad Pixel Map using Broad Band Flats.
Please let me know.
Thanks
Not really necessary to use different filters, just use a broadband flat. And you can create one from just a few dark frames, best is to make them as bad as possible (in the sense of a warm sensor and long exposures). A BPM is not going to hurt your data, it just corrects what it could detect if there.
