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 not figured out yet how to combine two nights data since the flats will have the same times and the Dark will have the same times. Can I take a finished integration from Monday and a finished integration from Tuesday and integrate them together being of the same ISO and exposure time time, just different flats and darks...same bias and bpm?Â
Yes, you can just integrate two or more already stacked integrations to combine each evenings data.
Â
My image in the gallery of M 42 and Running Man is the result of integrating two nights work of data using the stack created for each night.
Â
Thom
Thanks Thom. I think I had different dimensions on my Integrations cuz I cropped one a little bit. I'll try again with unaltered dimensions.
Hi @gregwrca and @thompeters,
Yes you can integrate the data of different sessions by integrating the stacks from those sessions.
But, it is recommended to register and integrate all calibrated frames all at once for the best result.
If I have data shot at several nights, with different flats and darks, I always first calibrate all frames per session and then load all calibrated frames and proceed from there in 3) Analyse stars.
And... frames that have different dimensions shouldn't be an issue to be able to register and/or integrate 😉
Cheers,
Mabula
OK, thanks. Not sure what went wrong then. I will try again using kappa .03 and register with triangles, as there aren't many stars in the set.
@gregwrca, if the starcount is below 250, use triangles indeed 😉 let us know if it works now.
Mabula
Â
Mabula,
i had not read the recommendation of using triangles for registration before.Â
Are there any other recommendations for frames with small star counts (ie <250) ?
I guess I need to change my work flow.Â
The default of quadrilaterals, or quads, is fine in almost all cases. Triangles can only become a real requirement with less than 100 stars usually.
If registration works fine with quads and low star counts, there is no need to use triangles instead of quads. Quads are more robust so recommended but they do have increased calculation time. Which you can easily test by running registration with triangles versus quads.
So the choice between triangles, quads, pentagons depends on how registration is working and the amount of stars. Pentagons are normally only needed with huge amounts of stars, like 5000+.
I use quads in almost all data, also in mosaics.
Triangles are what DSS, I believe, does and is only well-suited for very low star counts.
Mabula
