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 took just under 14 hours of shots of the Markarian's Chain with my Canon 6D mkii (non-modded). This was done in 4 sessions, with flats, darks, and bias for each night. APP 1.082 has done a nice job on the central portion of the chain from my composition, but the edges of the mis-aligned frames are clearly visible in the background. Each session had a meridian flip, and I think the bottom image edge doesn't flatten out always, so appears top and bottom in these images as faint bands.
Are there any tips you may have that could improve the integration so that these bands don't appear?
I've attached the stretched integrated image, and a crop to show the crop I would like. For those interested, I've also attached my processing of the core. Happy with that part, but I'd like to have the wider composition with some of the surrounding galaxies.
All help and comments appreciated. Thanks.
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Yes, enable LNC and MBB (Multi Band Blending) in tab 6 Integrate. Did you do that? I would use the standard settings for LNC and MBB to about 10%. If you did do that, you can go to each panel integration and perform LPC correction first, save that and repeat that for each panel, then mosaic integrate it again, followed by another LPC correction on the mosaic.
@vincent-mod Ah, I did do LNC level 1 3step, but not the MBB. I'll try that now 🙂
That fixed it... many thanks. Just switched on Multi Band Blending 🙂
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Awesome, have fun! 🙂
