June 24 2026 APP 2.0.0-beta46 has been released !
Improved internal memory configuration (lower ! memory usage), fixed beta45 startup issue, fixed Set Save Directory & 2-panel mosaics.
May 27 2026 APP 2.0.0-beta45 has been released !
Fully Multi-Threaded LNC, many improvements for the registration engine, platform upgrade, and further tuning of internal memory consumption and memory release back to OS.
Apr 14 2026: Google Pay, Apple Pay & WeChat Pay added as payment options
Update on the 2.0.0 release & the full manual
We are getting close to the 2.0.0 stable release and the full manual. The manual will soon become available on the website and also in PDF format. Both versions will be identical and once released, will start to follow the APP release cycle and thus will stay up-to-date to the latest APP version.
Once 2.0.0 is released, the price for APP will increase. Owner's license holders will not need to pay an upgrade fee to use 2.0.0, neither do Renter's license holders.
Hi, I take darks, bias, flats, dark flats and use a BPM that go along with my lights.
For the calibration frames - I prepare all in advance, apart from flats:
- I created a master bias for my camera for the appropriate gain and temperature
- I took some flats
- I created a bad pixel map from flats, bias and darks.
- I create darks at the appropriate temperature and store.
- I've created master darks using the BPM for my imaging temperatures and appropriate length exposures.
I then do my imaging, first taking flats for that session.
When it comes to processing, I load the appropriate masters (darks, bias) for my gain and temperature. I load the lights and flats. I select
- Create 32-Bit Masters
- adaptive pedestal/reduce amp glow
I then create the masters (which will do the master flat) and it assigns the appropriate masters to the lights.
I then carry on doing the Integration, etc.
For other targets/processing for that same session, I take the MasterFlat already created (instead of having to calibrate again just because I've loaded different Lights from the same session/camera/position) and assign this to future Lights in the same way I do for my Darks and Bias.
However, I'm not seeing my data read-out noise/brightness removed. It produces a purple smudge of spikes on the right hand side of the screen. I can sometimes get rid of these with filtering in post-processing, but usually at the expense of some useful data, so I'd rather not.
What am I doing wrong? Is it my data (bias/darks?) or is it something wrong I'm doing during processing?
Camera is a ZWO ASI294MC Pro (Cooled).
Thanks, Kev
Hi Kev @itarchitectkev,
Perhaps you can share a screenshot of the problem ? That will be easier for use to determine what exactly is happening here.
I can also have a look at your data if you want?
In that case, please send me
- 5x lights
- 5x bias
- 5x darks
- 5x flat darks
- 5x flats
In most cases, I can quickly determine the cause of your issue 😉
You can send it to me using wetransfer.com or dropbox , please send it to support@astropixelprocessor.com
Kind regards,
Mabula
Thanks for the reply @mabula-admin.
I didn't have the original Bias files to upload for you, so I created new ones. And as I had some spare time, I decided to create new Darks too.
Here is the thing - and half-answers my question: I could very easily recreate the issue with existing Master Dark, Master Bias, BPM (I use these over and over again), which I assigned to my Lights and I added in my Flats captured for that evening too.
I have just reprocessed using my NEW Darks and Bias, and instead of using Master Flat, I used the original Flats, and it has gone. So the question I asked - is it something I'm doing wrong or bad data - the answer is probably both!
I'll do further testing to see which made the difference: the Darks or the Bias.
Think I've found the issue: Scale MasterDark was selected causing error. When I reprocessed again, with new files, I didn't select that option. I assumed it was the new files.
Recap: I create my MasterDarks in advance. I create 60,90,120,180,240 and 300 seconds (i.e. all the exposures I currently shoot with). I created these MasterDark files from the original Darks created at the appropriate gain and temperature. So far so good.
Except I selected "Scale MasterDark" option when creating these master darks. And since creating these Darks, I've just used them and worked around the little glow appearing where the data read-out in my darks has a big old spike of light.
When I did the test above - creating new Bias, new Darks - and going through Integration again all was well. I noticed I didn't have the Scale MasterDark option selected. I have just selected this again, and went through to Integration - and my image popped out a little more brighter, but the purple smudge of spikes appeared again.
Thanks for this extensive testing! Personally I'm starting to think the scaling and maybe the glow-signal is causing the issue, Mabula knows all about that.. I guess the scaling takes into account all of the hotpixels it sees and starts.. scaling them.. and if other signals are present that might go a bit wrong. But as you can read, that's a bit beyond my knowledge.
OK, this is weird. Whilst I re-processed some data and Scale MasterDark had an effect, I have just run through some data using some new darks I've just taken, and when I select Scale MasterDark it has a profound effect (not in a good way).
Original Master Darks (where I had Scale MasterDark selected):
New Darks Taken (Scale MasterDark NOT checked)
New Darks Taken with Scale MasterDark Selected
What's going on?
