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've read that Mabula is planning to release a tool for creating HDR images. I am looking forward to it but I must admit I had no practical experience with HDR. These past couple of days I've watched a number of YouTube videos. One such video used a product called Photomatix from HDRsoft. I downloaded the trial version. Fortunately we experienced our first snow of the winter season so I headed to my next door neighbor, the cemetery. If you are interested you can read my blog post here: https://astrotuna.com/high-dynamic-range-hdr-photography-using-photomatix/
It would be great yes, it is however a bit different for astrophotography. In this case it would simply be a way to oversaturate an image to really get deep on a certain nebula (bright usually) and then use a short exposure to get colors back into the center of saturated stars as well as for instance have a nice exposure of the center of say M42. When this tool will come is up to Mabula. 😉
Ah yes I have used Photomatix to create HDR images of the solar eclipse over Chile this summer. Works like a charm and much better than the HDRComposition process in PixInsight. Well, at least for these images.
@wvreeven Do you an AstroBin account? I'd like to look at your Chile HDR images.
The 1973 eclipse in Africa and the 1991 eclipse in Mexico, I've photographed both on Kodachrome slides. They were both 6+ minutes in duration. The Mexico eclipse was very near solar maximum so there were awesome flares. I ran a wide range of exposures. I am now thinking of having the slides digitized and running them through Photomatix!
Thanks for showing interest. Sorry, I don’t have an AstroBin account.
No worries. I once had an account but canceled it after discovering that it is only a place for people to pat each other on the back. No effort to raise good imagers to become great imagers. If needed I can always search AB without an account. I find that it is best to buddy-up with another imager to learn together. I prefer having my blog.
