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.
Are there any quality drawbacks when using higher degree order i LNC?
/stefan
@digitaliz-se Hi Stefan,
When you hover your mouse cursor over the LNC degree select box, you will see the following info:
Does that answer your question?
Wouter
@wvreeven Not really. I was hoping to use 4th degree because I thought it would get better result than 1st. I assume that integration time and memory consumption will sufier instead.
/stefan
@digitaliz-se Yes, integration time will be longer. Memory not per say. The instructions indicate that you should start at 1st degree and slowly increase. It is impossible to say if your data will be better with 4th degree or not without trying.
Why do you want to use LNC and why at such a high degree?
@wvreeven More complex math to solve the problem should yield a better outcome. That is what I try to tell myself.
Just better flat illumination since I shoot in a polluted area all night and all directions differ in LP, espeically when doing multisessions and stacking with different telescopes and filters.
Just curious if it would yield better image quality. Hard to tell in the final stack before you really stretch it. I’ve had good results just using 1st order of LNC. I always use LNC even if I only stack one session using same equipment. I’ve found it to yield better result than not doing LNC.
/stefan
