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 have used APP for the first time today and I love it. I stacked 25 light frames of M42 and it turned out great, and today I tried using calibration frames with some new data too. However, about 40% through the calibration process, it ended saying there was an error creating BPM and a master. I can retry and take a screenshot of the error message if more detail is needed. Should I manually create a BPM first? If so then do I still add flat and dark frames? Help is appreciated. Thank you!
Clear skies
@sjlan5 Hi Tony,
A screenshot of the error message would help indeed. However, which calibration frames did you use? Were they taken with the same camera and software as the lights?
As for creating a BPM: there is no need to do this manually. APP will take care of this automatically if darks (and bias as well if you choose to use them) are loaded when processing the lights.
@wvreeven Thanks for your reply. I used all calibration frames, flats, darks, dark flats, and bias. Also yes, same camera and software. I just started the calibration again, when the error message pops up I will attach a screenshot here.
@sjlan5 Just for me to understand this correctly: you are using the same calibration frames as you used for M42 and for M42 it worked but not for your subsequent target?
@wvreeven I took the calibration frames with the light frames last night. Also, I attached the error message
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@sjlan5 I see in your screenshot that you have loaded JPG images as lights. Is that intentional? You should use the native camera format as much as possible. What camera did you use to shoot these images? Were the M42 files also JPG files? What happens if you try to integrate the lights without using any of the calibration frames?
When I shot my light frames I simply uploaded them from my camera to my desktop and put them in a file. I shot the lights with a Nikon D5100, a little old but works great. I believe all the calibration frames and lights are JPG images, but it came out of my camera like that. I integrated the lights on their own without calibration frames and it turned out fine, I'll attach an image
 M42 stacked without calibration frames
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@sjlan5 Yes, the camera isn't the problem. But you really should make sure that the images are taken in the native NEF format of the camera. The fact that the images are JPG most likely are the cause of the issue. First of all JPG files are 8 bit. Secondly they are compressed. This both leads to loss of data which APP cannot recover from. The fact that it worked with the M 42 images is due to not using calibration frames.
I see. I was shooting in fine quality setting on my camera and it says they are JPG images, and when I turn it to RAW it says NEF. So if I retry and shoot with RAW instead of fine it should fix it?
@sjlan5 That's correct. Shoot with RAW so you get NEF images and APP will take care of the rest.
@wvreeven Awesome, thanks for the help
