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 continue experimenting with a large mosaic (eventually 9 panes), and have had some success.
Using Bracken's Quick Start Guide (V1.1, 2020 p.15) I'm trying to composite just 6 previously integrated panels with light pollution removed and have been unsuccessful because the process seems to hang at about 80% during dynamic distortion correction.
The process ran all night and seemed only slightly closer to a solution. After a restart this morning the console shows the following:
... 06:59:02 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full , Not Same Camera: iteration 624 RMS 14.62872 06:59:03 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full, Not Same Camera: iteration 625 decreasing trust region size 06:59:03 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full, Not Same Camera: iteration 626 decreasing trust region size 06:59:04 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full , Not Same Camera: iteration 627 RMS 14.62855 06:59:04 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full , Not Same Camera: iteration 628 RMS 14.62834 06:59:05 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full, Not Same Camera: iteration 629 decreasing trust region size 06:59:05 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full , Not Same Camera: iteration 630 RMS 14.62817 06:59:06 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full , Not Same Camera: iteration 631 RMS 14.62799 06:59:06 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full , Not Same Camera: iteration 632 RMS 14.62760 06:59:07 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full , Not Same Camera: iteration 633 RMS 14.62730 06:59:07 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full, Not Same Camera: iteration 634 decreasing trust region size 06:59:08 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full , Not Same Camera: iteration 635 RMS 14.62721 06:59:09 - Multiple View Uncalibrated Complex DDC Full , Not Same Camera: iteration 636 RMS 14.62705 ...
After thousands of iterations the RMS was slowly decreasing, but a rough estimate suggested it would take days to reach completion.
I tried 1500, 2500, and 4000 star targets, and have tried both pentagons and quadrilaterals as pattern recognition descriptors with scale start at 5 and scale stop at 10, 8, and 5 (pane overlaps is about 25%). Dynamic distortion correction is on, and I;ve tried both on and off for same camera and optics. Registration mode is mosaic usin g the projective model.
Can someone suggest a solution?
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APP v1.083.2, 49512Gb of 65Gb RAM assigned, 192Gb available on SSD. iMac 27", 3.8Ghz i7, OS X 12.1
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Well, this time the process did finish. With unexpected results! 🤣 .
I think I found a black hole at the center of the nebula
4000 stars target, mosaic mode reristration using pentagons, scale start 5, stop 10 with dynamic distortion correction using projective reg. model.
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Oeh nice. 🙂 I think your data doesn't need distortion correction in this case. Unfortunately, in a case like this, the statistics go hay-wire if there is no distortion basically. I think you'll solve it by not doing distortion correction.
ps. does this also happen if you use the standard settings and not a projective reg. model?
Apparently Distrortion Correction is required ifr I use Mosaic registration mode.
You mean Normal registration mode instead of Mosaic, I assume. I'm going to try that today.
I literally spent all day yesterday trying to get this to work—I had good success with five panes. But I tried so many different combinations I've lost track of what I did.
Today I'll keep a log of what does and doesn't work.
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Used Mosaic mode but with dynamic distortion off and it worked pretty well the first try. Just needed some cropping and tweaks afterward.
11 panes, 25 hours total integration. Roughly 3º x 2º
Excellent, I indeed meant mosaic mode without correction. Though normally that is advised, your data seems to not need it.
