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.
I did remember or hear correctly that the next APP update will include a star removal tool?
If so, will I be able to remove the stars, do my processing, and then add the stars back after?
The reason for asking is my WO Redcat scope always leaves me with halos around bright stars in my image and I have been researching for some time now ways to remove the halos. By removing the stars and only leaving the nebula and halos in the image, it would be possible to "heal" or "blend" out the halos (using other software) and then adding the stars back to the halo-less image.
I have read that this is possible with PI and PS, but I have little to no experience with those. Wondering if something like this is coming to APP?
Hi Damian,
Well, APP now is in beta with a star reduction algorithm which is being improved upon. It also allows for star removal and in the future something like putting back stars is likely possible. It's not yet though and may take some time. At the moment people indeed do this with PS, PI, but also try the "remove stars" from APP and then put stars back using PS. I personally never did that so you'd have to find an online resource for that unfortunately.
