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 new to APP and am trying to split OSC data into RGB channels. How do I go about doing this?
There is a split channels option in tab 2, all the way down in the options list. Then press “save calibrated frames”.
Second question on a similar note. I'm trying to see if it is possible to combine OSC data with true mono data. I thought I could extract Ha and Oiii but those processes result in stacked ha and oiii files. Is it possible to exract Ha and Oiii into un-stacked subs so I can stack them with mono subs?
Yes, when you select to “extract Ha” and then load the data, it should automatically produce light frames that are Ha only. So no need to do anything else and those are the unstacked frames.
@vincent-mod Interesting, I must be doing something wrong because when I select extract Ha then load subs nothing happens until I integrate at which time I am given a stacked HA tiff file.
Mmm, ok let me check that to be sure I didn't give you wrong advice here. 😉
@vincent-mod Much appreciated!
Yes, so I checked to be 100% sure. When I select the "extract Ha" in the demosaic algorith and then load in the lights, I immediately get the Ha mono data loaded. This is not the case for you then? Check the histogram on the top right, it should show a mono histogram.
@vincent-mod I already had the lights loaded when I selected extract Ha. Am I to understand that it matters that you select extrac Ha BEFORE loading the lights? I will try it right now.
Yes definitely, when you load them, tab 0 is executed basically. So if you loaded them and then change it, it doesn't work.
@vincent-mod I tried it and it worked. Thank you! And I can see that if i also want to extract oiii I have to remove the lights from APP, change tab 0, and reload them with the master calibration frames.
Excellent, hope you can process that data further and please share the results. 🙂
And I can see that if i also want to extract oiii I have to remove the lights from APP, change tab 0, and reload them with the master calibration frames.
Have I been doing it wrong all this time...I extract Ha and then jump to tab 0 and change the algorithm to extract OIII without reloading!! 😯
Dave
So I tried this and then tried to combine my mono and HA extracted OSC data and got these error message.
Not sure where to go.
Whats the difference between extracting ha/oii and just splitting RGB channels?
Whats the difference between extracting ha/oii and just splitting RGB channels?
APP does some more clever (I have no idea exactly what internally) processing when extracting the Ha signal. It gives a cleaner result, keeps the sensor resolution intact, etc. So you’re getting a better image back basically.
I’m afraid I can’t read what’s on the screenshot. You do have to be careful you’re not combining RGB and mono and try to normalize that, that doesn’t work as it’s 3-channel broadband data versus 1-channel mono. So the split R, G and B is required first and then you can process those together with the mono data.
@vincent-mod Thank you for the advice. I am new to APP, so can you give me a details work flow to extract my HA and OIII data from my OSC camera & filter and then combine it with my mono HA and OIII pictures please?
Have a look at this workflow, it works for many: https://www.astropixelprocessor.com/community/tutorials-workflows/combining-r-g-b-with-ha-oiii-data-using-an-optolong-l-enhance-filter/
@vincent-mod Thank you for this! Do you have one that would help with combining the LEnhance with Mono Narrowband data?
Not specifically, but most will be the same. So mono data can simply be combined with the "extract Ha" and "extract OIII" data. If you extracted those, those will also be mono.
Many of us use OSC cameras, I have looked and not seen any tutorials for OSC, are you aware of any that exist anywhere?
What exactly are you trying to accomplish? I only use APP for stacking I haven't done much in terms of editing.
Trying to take my images all the way from loading to post processed, which is demonstrated in several videos but not when using a OSC camera. What do you post process with?
As far as a basic stacking is concerned nothing changes. Load your lights, darks, and bias/dark flats. Go to the integrate tab, click integrate. Once the integration is done, you can click the tools tab and edit there or save the stack and edit in another editor suck as pixinsight or photoshop. I use photoshop personally.
