Mar 28 2026 APP 2.0.0-beta40 will be released in 7 days.
It did take a long time to have the work finished on this and it will have a major performance boost of 30-50% over 2.0.0-beta39 from calibration to integration. We extensively optimized many critical parts of APP. All has been tested to guarantee correct optimizations. Drizzle and image resampling is much faster for instance, those modules have been completely rewritten. Much less memory usage. LNC 2.0 will be released which works much better and faster than LNC in it's current state. And more, all will be added to the release notes in the coming weeks...
Update on the 2.0.0 release & the full manual
We are getting close to the 2.0.0 stable release and the full manual. The manual will soon become available on the website and also in PDF format. Both versions will be identical and once released, will start to follow the APP release cycle and thus will stay up-to-date to the latest APP version.
Once 2.0.0 is released, the price for APP will increase. Owner's license holders will not need to pay an upgrade fee to use 2.0.0, neither do Renter's license holders.
in the video tutorial, Mosaic Tutorial – Milky Way to Rho Ophiuchi part 1-7 by Mabula,
he works the image from left to right to address light pollution. is this the approach to be taken for all images, mosaics to single images? or for single image, ie not mosaics, can we apply the initial five boxes over the entire image to start with?
also, do we only place boxes over areas we think have LP? Or do we need boxes placed all over the image regardless of whether there is LP in an area or not?
in my image capture attached here, i've done a maximum stretch and increased saturation to 30 and saturation threshold to 0. i have a LP gradient i believe from right to left. would i need to place boxes at all in the black areas at far left of image?
thanks!
The way I've interpreted it, and I could be wrong, is to start with a few boxes in areas that don't have nebulosity or the object of your choice. Run calculate and slowly work your way inwards towards the subject by adding boxes in areas of background. For example, if my object is in the center I'll add some boxes in the corners and sides and slowly add some inwards till I get close to the subject. Once everything looks pretty even I'll save and move on.
Yes, you stretch to the maximum setting (of the presets on the right) and pick 5 boxes around the image on what you think is background. You click to check the result and then you either clear the boxes to set them properly or continue towards problem areas, not directly on top of them, no big boxes either, just creeping towards the areas that show residual gradient.
@vincent-mod and @turtleCat
thanks for responding. so i could place my initial five boxes as shown in the attached image and then work from that right?
Yes, press calculate to see what it does and work from there. This area is challenging because of all the bright stars and dust, so good luck. 😉
Yes, press calculate to see what it does and work from there. This area is challenging because of all the bright stars and dust, so good luck. 😉
yes, it is! i have 95 boxes placed so far! :O
95! That shouldn't be necessary. haha Having trouble with uneven gradients?
@vincent-mod
following mabulas maticulous example from the video haha. a lot of light pollution in the right side. i think i've got it now. i'll try just a few boxes to compare the two.
Ah yes, the pollution model is pretty rigid (so not very flexible). This usually helps users as regular gradients are nice and smooth. But here I think you have some uneven patches and that gets tricky indeed. If you are ok with the result, turn down the stretch and it should look pretty nice I think.
@vincent-mod
ya, neighbors left their backyard lights on, each side of me, on the first and third nights. not to mention the flood light across the street. looking at a normal stretch and saturation it does look pretty good. thanks for the advice!
Outsj, I feel the pain coming from the Netherlands. 😉 Cool, happy to help!
