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.
At times I use 2 different scopes and cameras on the same target. I saw mention of reference crop but I need clarification. Â
Is it possible at any point prior to Integration to crop the images to the desired final size (specifically to the frame size from the camera/scope with the smaller field of view? Â
Thanks as always.
Â
Andy
@andynowlen Andy,
There are three possible final frame sizes possible: full, reference and crop. When you choose reference, the size of the reference frame will be used for the final crop but it will also match the field of view of the reference frame. If you apply dithering then it is likely that the area of the reference frame will be different than the final area that all images of the smaller camera contribute to. This means that areas of the sky will be included where not all images contribute to.
Why would you want the integration result to be cropped for you?
I notice that in the final "all session" stack the smaller field of view is always noticeable. Whether it is darker or lighter. Â
Usually, I have to then crop to the smallest field of view - which I knew I would have to do at any rate. Â
As a test, I tried a project with three different fields of view. APP dimensions the stack according to the widest field of view. Then if I crop to the narrowest field of view the cropped image is very small. Â
I.E. final three scope stack dimensions = 5100x3600 for instance. Dimensions are fictitious for illustration only
Cropped to the smallest field of view = 2300 x 1700 for instance. Dimensions are fictitious for illustration only
Normally my smallest field of view is 3,000 x 3,000. (Asi533MCpro). So, it seems some resolution and detail might be lost if I am always cropping to the smallest field of view in the end. But I am a total amateur.
This led me to ask the original question.
As always, Thanks much!
Andy
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@andynowlen Thanks for the explanation. Have you tried integrating the data of the two telescopes in two separate sessions or completely separately, removing light pollution from them and then integrating them? To do the latter, load them as lights (don't load calibration data), go to tab 6 and click integrate. That may take care of the difference in background brightness between the two of them.
