Mar 28 2026 APP 2.0.0-beta40 will be released in 7 days.
It did take a long time to have the work finished on this and it will have a major performance boost of 30-50% over 2.0.0-beta39 from calibration to integration. We extensively optimized many critical parts of APP. All has been tested to guarantee correct optimizations. Drizzle and image resampling is much faster for instance, those modules have been completely rewritten. Much less memory usage. LNC 2.0 will be released which works much better and faster than LNC in it's current state. And more, all will be added to the release notes in the coming weeks...
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.
Most stacking software I've used have several modes - Average, Median, Sum etc. How does APP handle this?
Gary
Hi Gary,
APP currently has 2 stacking modes, average and median. (sum would give the same result as average).
In 2)CALIBRATE, it's the integrate setting
In 6)INTEGRATE, it's also the integrate setting.
Some application have the possibility to use maximum as stacking mode, I will add this to my priorities list.
Let me know if you or someone else needs another integration mode 😉
Mabula
Hi Mabula,
I found the integrate modes the next day but I let the question stand to address Sum stacking. This may be a semantics issue.
One of my cameras is a Mallincam DS15c uncooled CMOS Long exposures in summer weather cause a huge number of warm pixels as well as amp glow. These effects multiply as exposure time is increased. One way to fight this is to add add signals from several short exposure frames. If there is a high camera s/n the signal will increase much faster than noise. Averaging the resultant frames will remove noise. Often DSLRs, especially on Alt/Az mounts, will use 15-30 sec exposures to simulate long exposures - video cameras use the term integration for adding the pixel signal values. I think that maybe my Sum is your Maximum. 🙂
While on the subject,
I use a Mallincam Xterminator. The capture software has a feature to apply darks on the fly. It removes noise and warm/hot pixels and replaces them with color from adjacent pixels. You can appreciate what this means with 9 micron pixels. Could this be incorporated into your application?
Finally, for those who use Alt/Az, does APP handle field rotation?
Gary
Finally, for those who use Alt/Az, does APP handle field rotation?
Yep, I dont use alt az I just shoot from a camera tripod only and registration and mosaic registration is no problem handling all the drift and rotation I have.
steve
Hi Mabula,
I found the integrate modes the next day but I let the question stand to address Sum stacking. This may be a semantics issue.
One of my cameras is a Mallincam DS15c uncooled CMOS Long exposures in summer weather cause a huge number of warm pixels as well as amp glow. These effects multiply as exposure time is increased. One way to fight this is to add add signals from several short exposure frames. If there is a high camera s/n the signal will increase much faster than noise. Averaging the resultant frames will remove noise. Often DSLRs, especially on Alt/Az mounts, will use 15-30 sec exposures to simulate long exposures - video cameras use the term integration for adding the pixel signal values. I think that maybe my Sum is your Maximum. 🙂
Hi Gary,
Maximum integration is only usefull to see maximum outliers in the dataset. It's main purpose is testing. So I don't think this is the same as what you call sum integration.
I would think your sum integration actually is the same as average integration. Since all pixels in the stack are all divided by the amount of frames after having summed all pixelstacks. Whether this division occurs or not, only has the purpose of keeping the data in a controlled data-range. It will not do anything to how the data actually is integrated.
If you want to mix frames with different exposure times and integrate them, you can do so easily with APP. Only make sure all frames are properly calibrated 😉
While on the subject,
I use a Mallincam Xterminator. The capture software has a feature to apply darks on the fly. It removes noise and warm/hot pixels and replaces them with color from adjacent pixels. You can appreciate what this means with 9 micron pixels. Could this be incorporated into your application?
I think APP can do this as well already. APP will dynamically calibrate your data if you have loaded master calibration frames. You don't need to save the calibrated frames first. So if you load a masterdark of the right exposure time and iso/gain value and a Bad Pixel Map (created with darks and flats) APP will do exactly what you refer to I think. The Bad Pixel Map will remove hot pixels, hot columns, defect columns and the values are interpolated from the surrounding pixels like you indicate 😉
Finally, for those who use Alt/Az, does APP handle field rotation?
Gary
If you refer to strong field rotation that has caused severly elongated stars in the corners of your exposures due to significant rotation during a single exposure, then APP currently won't correct this. This would need a smart derotate feature.
But on the other hand. If the field rotation per exposure is small, then APP will easily integrate all frames, because APP's registration engine has no problem with rotations between the images. No problem with different imaging scales as well.
Finally, for those who use Alt/Az, does APP handle field rotation?
Yep, I dont use alt az I just shoot from a camera tripod only and registration and mosaic registration is no problem handling all the drift and rotation I have.
steve
Indeed, APP should be able to handle that properly.
Hi Mabula
Mabula: I would think your sum integration actually is the same as average integration. Since all pixels in the stack are all divided by the amount of frames after having summed all pixelstacks. Whether this division occurs or not, only has the purpose of keeping the data in a controlled data-range. It will not do anything to how the data actually is integrated.
I'll send you a couple of images of a single exposure and a 2 frame live Sum Stack when the clouds leave.
Mabula: I think APP can do this as well already. APP will dynamically calibrate your data if you have loaded master calibration frames. You don't need to save the calibrated frames first. So if you load a masterdark of the right exposure time and iso/gain value and a Bad Pixel Map (created with darks and flats) APP will do exactly what you refer to I think. The Bad Pixel Map will remove hot pixels, hot columns, defect columns and the values are interpolated from the surrounding pixels like you indicate
Fantastic! When the clouds go away I will try it out on the DS16c.
Mabula:But on the other hand. If the field rotation per exposure is small, then APP will easily integrate all frames, because APP's registration engine has no problem with rotations between the images. No problem with different imaging scales as well
Thank you, I have friends that use Dobs and Fork mounts. Myself, I've never used one. Born and raised on GEMs. It is interesting, I am uncomfortable with Alt/Az, my friends don't want to use GEMs. You go with what you know, I guess.
Thanks Steve, for your input.
Thank you
Gary
You're welcome Gary,
Send the images to support@astropixelprocessor.com when you have them 😉
Cheers,
Mabula
