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 like the new multi-screen set-up – much better! I’m a long-time user and my experience is that the software works very reliably and predictably.
But I do have a couple of useability suggestions.
The first relates to readability of the fonts used on control buttons and tabs. Generally, you have very thin fonts in a very light gray against a half-strength white background. Such low contrast makes reading tricky for me. This might be an aging astrophotographer’s problem, but it is a real one for me. I would appreciate a choice of 2-3 colour schemes for the program. For example, standard (the existing one), plus medium and high contrast ones.
The second relates to the placement of the “execute” button for various tools. Generally, it is at the bottom of a long list of options fields, which always requires a page scroll to reach it. Would you please consider putting it near the top of the lsit to obviate the page scroll need?
The last one concerns the image displayed after a file SAVE. I keep getting tripped up by my logical expectation that the image I just saved is the one in the viewer. However, it remains the originally loaded one. I usually discover this when I complete the next tool step (eg CBG to CSC) to find that the file name about to be saved is the one before the prior save. This requires me to reload the first saved file, reprocess the tool step againa nd save again.
Can we have an “autoload option which, when selected, will automatically reload the just saved image into the viewer?
+1 for these suggestions particularly the last one. I have been using APP for about 18 months and have the impression that earlier releases did do an automatic reload of the just saved image.No?Yes?
Thanks for the suggestions, I passed them on.
