Improved internal memory controls (much more stable and faster on big datasets), fixed CPU image viewer, fixed Narrowband extraction demosaic algortihms.
New improved Normalization engine, Fixed random crashes in integration, fixed RGB Combine & Calibrate Star Colors, fixed Narrowband extraction algorithms, new development platform with performance gains, bug fixes in the tools, etc...
Apr 14 2026: Google Pay, Apple Pay & WeChat Pay added as payment options
Update on the 2.0.0 release & the full manual
We are getting close to the 2.0.0 stable release and the full manual. The manual will soon become available on the website and also in PDF format. Both versions will be identical and once released, will start to follow the APP release cycle and thus will stay up-to-date to the latest APP version.
Once 2.0.0 is released, the price for APP will increase. Owner's license holders will not need to pay an upgrade fee to use 2.0.0, neither do Renter's license holders.
I see slower overall app performance when stacking/integrating in beta28. In beta22 I could stack 242 light frames with 25x of flat, dark flat, and bias in about 7 minutes. Now in beta28 the same stack took about 17 minutes. Did something change in the backend of APP?
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EDIT by Mabula: Solved, testing shows same speed, so not slower performance
This topic was modified 2 years ago by Mabula-Admin
Not sure if you are running on a Mac, but I also wanted to understand the impact (performance or otherwise) of disabling the Metal Framework on MacOS 14 (Sonoma).Â
I followed the link provided in the release notes and from what I could gather the person experiencing this issue was running Sonoma on unsupported hardware (from 2012) using OpenCore patcher software.
 The support person justifiably refused to support this issue.
I apologise if I am mistaken, but if this is correct, then that is the risk of hacking an OS with unsupported software so that it can run on unsupported hardware, and I would be disappointed if all Mac users take a hit because of this.
To be clear, I would fully support any negative performance impact (if there is one) if it enables all Mac users running an up-to-date OS version supported by their hardware, to properly run APP. Â
This post was modified 2 years ago 5 times by Garth Hunt
I see slower overall app performance when stacking/integrating in beta28. In beta22 I could stack 242 light frames with 25x of flat, dark flat, and bias in about 7 minutes. Now in beta28 the same stack took about 17 minutes. Did something change in the backend of APP?
I am not aware of such a significant slowdown, but I will do some testing. On which mac computer are you comparing? Is it Apple Silicon or Intel? Oh, maybe it is on Windows or Linux?
Mabula
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This post was modified 2 years ago by Mabula-Admin
Not sure if you are running on a Mac, but I also wanted to understand the impact (performance or otherwise) of disabling the Metal Framework on MacOS 14 (Sonoma).Â
I followed the link provided in the release notes and from what I could gather the person experiencing this issue was running Sonoma on unsupported hardware (from 2012) using OpenCore patcher software.
 The support person justifiably refused to support this issue.
I apologise if I am mistaken, but if this is correct, then that is the risk of hacking an OS with unsupported software so that it can run on unsupported hardware, and I would be disappointed if all Mac users take a hit because of this.
To be clear, I would fully support any negative performance impact (if there is one) if it enables all Mac users running an up-to-date OS version supported by their hardware, to properly run APP. Â
That link only shows that the metal framework is broken in Sonoma for another application as well. That link has nothing to do with Astro Pixel Processor nor it's code 😉
But, please now, that disabling or enabling the metal framework has zero = 0 influence on APP's speed. The metal framework when enabled only is used for drawing the 2D interface of APP, so it draws APP's buttons and such. It does not render the image data, we use OpenGL for that.
I am 100% sure that disabling metal has no down effect on APP's performance to be clear 😉
@mabula-admin I am running on Windows 11 23H2 Version 10.0.22631 Build 22631 with an Intel i9 13900K. The only reason I updated from Beta22 to 28 is out of curiosity to test new versions. I will roll back to Beta22 right now to see if the issue persists and report back.
Hi George @digug, I performed a couple of benchmarks myself, and beta28 has same speed as earlier beta's. Maybe you are using different settings now, for instance advanced normalization will add some time and enabling MBB or LNC for instance as well.
@mabula-admin I remember not toying with the settings much back then and even last night when I tested I reset all to defaults, then enabled MBB 5%. Also on the RAW tab depending on the light frame data, I use HAOIII Color for my narrowband filter and Adaptive Airy Disc for the broadband filter.
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Oddly though, this morning I stacked 677 light frames with 25xF, DF, and Bias, and it also took about 20min. Strange huh?
