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.
Hi friends. I have a OSC camera (ASI2600MC). I'm working on an RGBHOO project right now. I have my RGB data from an IR cut filter, and my HOO data from an Optolong L-eXtreme filter.
When I integrate only as RGB with the IR cut filter data, my image looks like this:
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When I process it as RGBHOO, I'm using the RGB channels from the IR cut filter, and then adding H from the L-eXtreme filter (HOO Extract HA) and the Oiii from the L-eXtreme filter (HOO Extract Oiii). I then use the RGB combine tool to assign each file to its proper channel. However, when I do this, the image seems to "subdue" the RGB dust in the image in favor of the H-alpha signal. You can see the RGBHOO version here:
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I'm looking to preserved the luminosity and dust of the RGB image, while adding in highlights of hydrogen and oxygen. It's almost as if it's using a different blend mode than I was expecting, or the RGB channels are sacrificing their luminosity for the hydrogen signal.
Any thoughts on how I can better blend these channels using the RGB combine tool? Do I need to combine the RGB data into a single mono luminance channel and add it? I'm not sure how to go about getting the blend that I'm looking for, but any advice is welcomed!
Thanks,
Jeff
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You're on the right track I think, making a "super-luminance" may be a good idea and adding that in the combine tool. I will probably tune the luminance to about 30% at first and increase the contribution or G and B maybe, by increasing the top muliply slider in the formula.
Hi Jeff @jeffreyhorne,
Wow, that looks very nice data 😉 !
For a RGBHOO composite, (or RGBSHO) I would recommend the following workflow:
- Make the RGB composite first, tune it as much as you can to your liking
- Same for the HOO (or any other NB composite like SHO)
- Now the key is that you need to combine these 2 separate composites now, so load your RGB + your HOO composite into the TOOL again after having cleared/restarted the tool.
- If the luminance of RGB must prevail, like you indicate, to keep the RGB dust intact, make sure that you assign L for 100% in total from the R,G,B channels (regular L would be R=20%L, G=70%L and B=10%L roughly 😉 )
- Keep the multipliers the same for the RGB channels and also for the HOO channels as well. For instance, set RGB multipliers all to 1.0 and set HOO multipliers all to 2. Then finetune the HOO multipliers while keeping them in sync until you get an awesome RGBHOO composite.
This is actually the workflow to get an RGB SHO composite with star color calibrated stars, like this one:
Please let us know if this workflow helps with your data and specific purpose 😉
Thank you, gentlemen! @mabula-admin & @Vincent-Mod
This is very helpful!Â
I won't have enough data to finish this until January, but I'll be testing these methods up until the image is complete.Â
Thank you so much!
Jeff
@mabula-admin for your instructions, are these done in a linear state?
@mabula-admin I got this working. Brilliant. Worked like a charm. Thank you so much!
Excellent Jeffrey @jeffreyhorne !! Thanks for your feedback 😉 Indeed, all is done in linear states, only then it makes sense to use multipliers and such... for a composite.
Mabula
