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 am having a an integration issue.. Â I have about 50 hours of data on the Rosette, and am pretty happy with my SHO image, with the exception of the stars. Â To this end, I have now captured LRGB over 5 nights. Â I decided to try APP for this since it's a lot less data, and I wanted to see how much faster this new version of APP is.
I tried using the reference image used in PI for the previous integrations, but since it wasn't loaded as a "light" and didn't have a star count?
So I went ahead and just created LRGB integrations allowing the auto reference selection.
The integrations look great. However the reference image is flipped on two integrations. Â
When I enter the 4 files in RGB combine, it will not calculate as the images are "no compatible"
Do I need to start over and find a way to use the proper Ha reference frame? Or is there a fix?
Hi,
You might want to try setting the check-box 'Flip Descriptors in X/Y' on the Register TAB.
Regards
Mike
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I understand that flip would help in integration, but how does that help me now? Â I assume you are saying I need to re-integrate the two flipped integrations.
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OK, so I am re-running the LRGB integrations. Â Instead of individual runs, I loaded all 1700 files at once. I loaded my Ha reference frame as a light. Â I then did star analysis, and then selected my reference file as THE reference file. I then checked settings for normalize, etc, and clicked Integrate. Â It's about 2/3 done, and I notice it changed the reference at some point.
Is it safe to assume this is a bug or did I do something wrong?
Based on the reference file selected, I will probably have to run this again. Â My narrowband files integrations won't match.
Hi Richard,
The origin of the switching of the reference frame may well lie with this thread here: https://www.astropixelprocessor.com/community/main-forum/problem-with-register-starting-in-v1-076-beta-4/
Maybe there is an unforseen consequence but I think that APP has found that registration using the original frame has not worked so it has switched to another. However once registration has finished, as long as all the subs are registered to the same reference frame (which can be checked using the viewer in l-c-registered mode) then all should be well.
And do not forget that even if this is not the case and you have LRGB stacks that are not registered to the same frame, then it is still possible to reprocess the resulting integrations by reloading them as lights and reprocessing them through APP steps 3-6 as if they were original subs.Â
You mention that you have 1700 files so I think if you are have issues processing everything together then processing each filter individually and then integrating the results may well be a safer approach. With so much data I cannot think that there will be a discernable difference in the quality of the end results of the two approaches.
Best of luck
Mike
