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 processed my first set of images and calibration frames with the trial version the other day with decent results, for a newbie! Today, I had lights 120x30, 60x60, 40x90 and 12x300, with lights,darks and flat darks matching each. I loaded them all at once and hit "integration", after two hours the image which was generated is totally black. Any thoughts?
I am attaching the TIFF and jpeg file of my first image that had no issues. Thanks!
Something went wrong with your upload of the black image, could you try again?
Here is a small TIFF and jpg from the bad result. When I processed the same files in DSS I got a good result. Don't know where I messed up
The attached image shows the result of the sessions of both days. On June 25, the results were as expected. The resulting output on June 26 had intermediate files for 30,60,90 and 300 sec, all of which were totally black when opened, as was the final result. Don't know if you can have any insight by examining the file outputs. Thanks.
So, tried it again, this time placing lights and calibration frames into different sessions (30,60,90,300 sec), with flats, dark flats assigned to all. Same result...totally black final image. What can I share to help diagnose the error? Would copying the console contents help?
Mmm, what settings did you use in APP, all on automatic? What is your exact workflow?
Vincent, thanks for your replies. I persisted and used my laptop this time which has a faster processor and 16 GB RAM vs 12 on my desktop. That, and it seemed I had loaded a couple of bad calibration frames during the first efforts. In any case, I did manage to generate a file which I could then process in PS. Thanks again.
@vincent-mod @mabula-admin Vincent (or Mabula)...back again with the same (or similar) problem. I have had intermittent success in using APP but have had several sessions where the final integration has no data and a black screen. I try to be careful adding lightd/flats/darks and dark flats and can't identify the problem. When looking at the file data I do see
SNR & noise NAN - 0 as shown in the attached image.
Also, quality score (infinity symbol) INTEGRATE
does this give you a clue?
Please let me know what additional info I can provide. Most settings are default (I did select multi-session, RGGB, Force Bayer and Ha-OIII color)
Thank you.
Ah yes, that points to a data problem for sure. Can you post some screenshots of your master bias, master dark and masterflat? And maybe also a sub? It almost seems like your noise floor is too low. What gain and offset do you use?
Hi...my master calibration frames are 31 MB and site will not let me attach actual files.
ASI071MC PRO at unity gain 90 using Radian Triad Ultra Quadband filter on RASA 8. Here are screen shots. Thank you.
Master Flat
MD 60sec
MD 90sec
MD 300sec
MD Flat
Light 60sec
Light 90sec
Light 300sec
So that doesn’t seem like a big issue right away. Can you check the offset as well, it should be in the fits header in the window left of the image, I think a bit to the bottom of that list.
If all seems ok-ish, I think the best thing is for you to upload some files to our server for me to check. I’ll share the link later.
Hi Vincent, offset is 65.
@vincent-mod Hi Vincent...I processed new data of a new target and used new flat and dark flat subs with the previous MD created by APP for 90 and 300 sec. images and everything went well.
However, in an attempt to do some Hubble palette of today's images with OSC I ran into this error message when attempting to re calculate using the SHO Hubble 2 scheme.
Thoughts??
Sorry for the delay.. Mmm, so maybe I'd need the data for that to check.
You can upload some to our server (<- click that link) with username/password: appuser
Please create a directory called "john-quinn-hubble" and I'll have a look asap.
Thanks, Vincent
