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.
Have been hearing all kinds of good things about APP and thought I'd give it a try.
I know it doesn't support my image format (Olympus ORF raw files) but I don't mind converting them to a supported format.
Two problems I ran into:
- I tried the PixInsight BatchFormatConversion, but then found that APP seemingly also doesn't support the Olympus OMD Bayer pattern (RGBG). Would love to be proven wrong on this point btw!
- I tried the Photoshop's Image Processor script, but this appears to down-sample to 8-bit TIFFs and I don't see any option to control the bit depth of the output files.
Is it something I'm doing wrong? Any recommendations for a batch image conversion program? (Windows OS.)
Thanks muchly!
Hi dmach ( @dmach ),
Yes, camera support is work in progress and has high priority, it's hard to give a timeline though. For the moment, let me answer your questions:
1) RGBG bayer pattern is not supported, i haven't tested any camera yet that has this, I will need to look up how this works to be able to support it. Is it still a 2x2 pattern or is it bigger and more complex ? Which I assume, since RGBG in a 2x2 pattern would seem a bit strange, but then again, I need to look it up.
2) Yes, indeed, you need at least 16bits tiffs. I would think this is possible with Photoshop, but it might depend on the actual version that you have or on some settings.
I have 2 suggestions which you can try:
1) use commandline dcraw, it's cumbersome but it should do what you need
2) or convert with PI for now, since you mention that you use it.
For both hold, convert with debayering, since APP doesn't have the required bayer pattern RGBG yet.
Kind regards,
Mabula
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