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.
Hi all,
I've switched from APT to NINA mostly for the automated focussing function. The issue I'm having is the way it references the bayer matrix and the havoc its wreaking with calibration and the colours from my ASI533 OSC not displaying correctly. I've tested the data in PixInsight and it debayers correctly so it appears its the way either NINA combined APP are processing the matrix.Â
Other than using PI (which I detest for everything except post processing) are there any suggestions for me to try?
Thanks
Gary.
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@gary-neilsonicloud-com Hi Gary. Are you using calibration frames from APT with lights from NINA? If yes then that may very well be the issue and you may need to retake the calibration frames with NINA. If you already did do that then something else is going on. What Bayer info is stored in the fits headers of the NINA data?
@wvreeven Hi Wouter ..... I tried both flats from APT and NINA with the same outcome. I'll do some more darks and bias through NINA to see if it makes a difference. Great idea as it never occurred to me doh!
NINA properly gives RGGB in the camera tab and the header. There are also lines for X/Y bayer pattern offsets of 0/0 in the header. On the NINA forum there is some discussion of where the reference is written in NINA (top left writing down) and read (bottom left reading up) from imaging software. So it may get the pattern reversed?Â
I ran NINA subs last night with the RGGB expressed (rather than auto) but I doubt it will solve the problem. I'm wondering if faking the pattern in NINA to match the read reference in APP i.e change it in NINA to GBRG or something like that. I've tried forcing this in APP but it didn't correct the problem.Â
I may have been a bit harsh bashing Pix 😉 .... the program is great but the convenience of APP is wonderful. I still use Pix for the final tweaking of the image using its very powerful processes so the two apps compliment (at least for me) very well :).
So a couple of things to try then are new calibration frames and fiddling with the pattern definition. I'll report back.
Cheers
Gary
@gary-neilsonicloud-com Hi Gary, OK we will await the results of your tests then. Fingers crossed that it goes well now 🙂
@wvreeven turns out it was the other calibration frames causing the issues. Once I had a consistent set produced in NINA then APP processed everything just fine. Now I just have to rebuild all of my library!
@gary-neilsonicloud-com Good to know that you were able to solve the issue. Good luck rebuilding your library. Especially with darks that can be a very time consuming task!
