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.
Hello,
I'm sure it's already been asked here, but I had no success with the search function.
I have an extensive SHO image of the Rosette Nebula, and I also have a simple RGB image of the Rosette Nebula. I actually only did the latter to capture the star colors, which I then want to add to the SHO shot. Is there a workflow in APP how I can implement this? I would like to transfer only the star colors into the SHO image.
Thanks in advance for any help.
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Hi David, that's a very nice little video! Great result. 🙂
It is possible in APP yes. Mabula will post a better explanation later, but here's the short workflow;
- Use both an RGB and narrowband-RGB integration
- Register these to each other and save the registered integrations
- Reduce stars in the narrowband integration with the star reducer (not absolutely required, it just helps if it works well)
- Save that result
- Load RGB and narrowband in the RGB composite tool (you'll get 6 layers)
- Use the multipliers to get the narrowband data looking nice again
- Use the multipliers of the RGB data to get the star colors better
Again, Mabula will show a better explanation later
Hi!
Now I have found some time to deal with it. I have stacked all data and combined them as RGBSHO. I think this is a good way. But how can I saturate the star colors more, without affecting the nebula? And how can I reduce those colored edges of the stars, especially in the center of the nebula?
The colored edges might be from a slight misalignment between the channels. You could correct for that by first loading the lights and calibration data into app, going to calibrate and the all the way down select "align channels". Then save the frames and reload those for further processing. Regarding boosting the stars only, you could try with the HSL tool and checking for the "color selection" and then adjusting the range and also slider LOW (all the while clicking on showing the color selection to see what the effect is) and then going for the channels and upping saturation. It's not a big effect though and APP doesn't have a mask feature (yet).
Hi David, that's a very nice little video! Great result. 🙂
It is possible in APP yes. Mabula will post a better explanation later, but here's the short workflow;
- Use both an RGB and narrowband-RGB integration
- Register these to each other and save the registered integrations
- Reduce stars in the narrowband integration with the star reducer (not absolutely required, it just helps if it works well)
- Save that result
- Load RGB and narrowband in the RGB composite tool (you'll get 6 layers)
- Use the multipliers to get the narrowband data looking nice again
- Use the multipliers of the RGB data to get the star colors better
Again, Mabula will show a better explanation later
- @vincent-modÂ
 Hello, Do you integrate a separate SHO and RGB Integration?
Also after that how do you register the SHO and RGB Integrations? Which will later be the 6 layers that you correct star color in the Combine tool.
Hope this makes sense! I have not been able to complete what is stated above.
Thank you for any input.
Jim
Yes, both separate at first. You can load these integrations (which will both have RGB data now) in the RGB Combine tool. A RGB file will be split up in R, G and B channels in that tool.
Thank you Vincent, I will give it a try and let you know.
Jim
