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, firstly I'd like to say I love this program, and my question might not be about this program so much as my imaging process. Here it is:
Over the last few imaging projects I have been working on getting better star color. I had issues with stars becoming saturated so last night while I was getting broadband data of the Soul Nebula, I dropped my exposures to 120s from 300s in order to make sure the stars were still colorful. Fast forward to today and I'm processing my image but once again, the brighter stars come out bright white with a bit of blue/green fringe. I'm imaging with a triplet APO, the ES ED80 by Explore Scientific, and the 071 MC PRO from ZWO. My image is an HaRGB combination with 6.25 hrs of HA data over 600s and 300s subs. As I said, the RGB subs were 120s.
Any help here is GREATLY appreciated as I'm almost to the point of tearing my hair out.
I've noticed the same thing. Same equipment, but a lot less star colour in my recent work.
During my last processing, I cranked up the saturation just to be sure there was *any* colour. There was. But I'm convinced it's quite different than it used to be. Without the saturation bump, they appeared all white.
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The strength of the luminosity component of each pixel influences how much color appears. If a pixel is too bright, it's not going to show much, if any, color.
In one of his video tutorials, Adam Block commented that if the luminance of a pixel is 80% of max or more, it is going to be hard for that pixel to show color.
So when you stretch your images, look at the luminance (brightness) of a pixel and try not to stretch it so hard.
If you are doing mono processing, look at the intensity of the stars in your L frame and again, try not to get it above 80% before combining with your RGB image.
Cheers,
Rowland
That explains a lot. Thank you!
