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,
Â
I still use StarTools and that program requires 1:1 photon counts by default. Basically vit needs the least about of stuff done to the image. What can I do when stacking to ensure it is simply calibrated, registered and stacked, with no bells and whistles?
Â
I plan to use both programs of course, and want to know what settings to uncheck or not use during stacking to obtain this
Â
Thanks!
Â
Adam
Hi Mabula, still waiting for a reply. Any way you can advise what settings to use to not add any bells and whistles to the image?
Â
Looking for a .fits stacked image that is as linear as possible to attempt to use in StarTools which needs data as raw as possible.
Â
Thanks
Â
Adam
Hi Adam @singding,
Apologies for the late reply.
I still use StarTools and that program requires 1:1 photon counts by default. Basically vit needs the least about of stuff done to the image. What can I do when stacking to ensure it is simply calibrated, registered and stacked, with no bells and whistles?
All integrations coming out APP are linear if you feed linear (raw) data into it. Any bells and whistles on integration would be Local Normalization Correction and Multi-Band Blending I think, but they merely remove seams and bad data normalization. The data does stay linear however.
Looking for a .fits stacked image that is as linear as possible to attempt to use in StarTools which needs data as raw as possible.
 I am not sure what you mean by this. Linear is linear. It becomes unlinear if you apply a non-linear stretch to the data, which APP doesn't do on the integration data, so the integration result is as linear as it can be, really 😉
What does startools complain about if any? Maybe that will shed some light on your concern? (I don't use startools myself currently, but have done so in the past, so I know a few things about it).
Kind regards,
Mabula
Â
Â
