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 been using APP for over 2 years now and love it. I use APP to stack and then Startools to do my post processing. Post processing has always been my weak point in astrophotography. Lately I am noticing that my results in APP with just a light pollution / background calibration are looking cleaner and bringing out more detail easier than using Startools.
I would like to start using only APP for my stacking and post processing, but there are a few tools that APP is missing that, if added, would be a great inclusion to this already great software.
Post processing features that would really help are Noise Reduction, HDR, Deconvolution, and Star reduction. I am sure other people would name a few other tools, but those are the important ones that I always use.
I know with covid, the development of APP probably slowed down some, but I was wondering if there are plans to expand the post processing abilities of APP?
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I also just wanted to thank you for giving us this great software!Â
It's been said the next beta will contain star reduction. So I check in here weekly impatiently looking for it 🙂
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Thanks, yes many of the functionality you posted is on Mabula's list, the next version will have star reduction for instance.