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.
Dear folks,Â
I am new using APP. I have watched the Video tutorial section and worked parallel at my image. Now I have finished it and want to save it for further processing in Photoshop, but all attempts I made failed.Â
I tried by using the save button below the histogram at the top right corner. I saved as 16bit and 32bit TIFF in AdobeRGB and sRGB. All 4 files are not the same, what I see at my screen.
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Hope you can tell me how to save correct.
Thanks in advance
Hi @gmohr,
Thank you for your question and welcome to the APP forum 😉
If you want to save the data exactly as shown in the image viewer in APP, make sure the stretch box is enabled below the histogram. Then the image is saved with the preview stretch applied to the original data, this is what you see in the image viewer.
Let's assume you save it as a 16-bit TIFF file. Then this saved file can be found in your work directory and at the bottom of the frame list panel (bottom window in APP) as a "processed" image.
If you load this image in APP with the preview filter enabled. APP will automatically try to apply an auto-stretch to it, that could give you the impression that the data was not saved correctly. To prevent this, set the preview filter preset (the dropwdown box on the right side) to no stretch (data as is). Then the saved tiff file will look exactly the same.
Now if this file does not look the same in another image processing/viewing application, then you need to consult it's manual. Photoshop for instance not always automatically applies the embedded ICC color profile (why? ask Adobe) which causes the colors to look differently immediately. You need to make sure that the images are loaded with the embedded ICC profile applied to the data.
With regards to 32bits TIFF frames, in different PS versions, these are loaded differenly it appears. Again, you will need to consult Adobe for that I think.
If I save a TIFF or JPG with ICC profile in APP, they look exactly the same when I load these saved images in a ICC profile aware image viewer like the free XnView application.
Conclusion in most cases, if the colors are differently, it usually means the embedded ICC profile is not applied/respected by the image viewer application.
Please let me know if this answers your question and if you have any others.
Kind regards,
Mabula
