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.
I got thru #6: Integrate. I have not yet run any Tools.
If I exit APP, how can I resume where I left off? I've saved files in a work directory for every step.
@glennn Glenn, once the integration is done you can start post-processing the image(s). APP has saved the integration results in your working directory so you may close APP if you want. All you need to do is to load the integration results in tab 1, either as lights or as Other/Processed data at the top of tab 1 depending on what data you have and what you want to do next.Â
Oh, that's easy, but It wasn't obvious. I was put off by the numerical sequencing of the operations and just didn't think that I could load processed files in #1 and then skip immediately to the Tools processing tab.Â
A more obvious path would be a "Save Project" button and then "Load Project". So many desktop applications function in that way. I appreciate the simplicity of the APP processing pathway, but the lack of conventional menus is strange.
Thanks for your answer.
True, loading and saving projects is planned for the next release, how much we can put in that one we don't know yet, but of course when we have that implemented, we'll expand options where needed.
Oh, that's easy, but It wasn't obvious. I was put off by the numerical sequencing of the operations and just didn't think that I could load processed files in #1 and then skip immediately to the Tools processing tab.Â
Well, you can load the data in tab 1 and then skip all steps and go to tab 6 and click the Integrate button. Once that is done, you can load the resulting integration result(s) in the Tools tab.
But what if I already have the integrated data? Can't I load that and skip the Integrate button? (I really should just experiment).
@glennn Well, the integrated data I referred to are a result from an integration run in APP. If you obtained the integrated data in a different way then you don't need to load them in tab 1. Most tools allow you to load them when you open the tool.
