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.
As an avid APP user I would like to be able to set the default filetypes to filter on on the open dialog, so that I can simply open the folder, select all, and press enter making my life easier.
I keep every file that is produced by my astro gear, So this means that my AsiAir creates fits, and jpg's, as does my Seestar.  When start to add lights, darks, etc.  I have to manually change the filetype from all, to fits, to filter out the jpgs, and I have to do this every time I open the dialog.
I would love to be able to setup my own list of custom filters, as a default, so that I don't have to do this every single time. Personally, for my needs I would like to be able to select *.fits, *.cr2, *.dng and that would cover me completely, pretty sure that others would want to request something else which would create a whole debate and endless back and fourth.  So, my thought is add a filter to the Licence & settings dialog, that if you fill it in, it becomes the default selection when importing files. When importing files, a "custom" option is added to the file type list, as defined by the setting, and selected by default.  Users can then change this as desired.
Should be a fairly simple change that will allow people such as myself to be a little bit lazier, and happier at the same time.
Hi @cjdawson,
Thank you very much for your request.
Yes, I see what you mean and understand your proposal.
Perhaps the most easy way is to have the following:
- in LICENSE & SETTINGS let the user choose it's default image filter type which is used whenever the file chooser is opened.
- and add an extra filter that includes all the 16bit raw datatypes like FITS, CR2, TIFF etc but excluding JPG, PNG Â which are normally only fully processed files or preview files, right?
Is this is a good idea? I have opened your request on my todo list.
Mabula
@mabula-admin That works for my needs, and probably will save you some support questions when people start why their files are not showing up when they type in the wrong thing. i.e. f1ts instead of fits. for .fits instead of *.fits.  I can see stuff like that a mile off 🙂
It takes as long as it takes.   I write software too, so know the challenges. 🙂
