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.
Struggling to get good results on images with high nebulosity
My first post here after using APP for a while now. Generally I find it really great and get good results however I really struggle with images that have a lot of nebulosity and seem to get poor results.
For example, I am currently trying to process M16 and am really not pleased with the results. The colors seem way off and I seem to lose a ton of nebulosity via use of the various tools. (Light pollution removal and star color calibration)
These issues are common whenever i process this type of object.
My equipment;
- ASI533MC Pro camera
- William Optics Z81 with 0.8x reducer/flattener
My workflow is generally;
- Manually set bayer pattern and force bayer CFA option.
- Use lights, flats, dark flats and darks
- Skip straight to "integrate" and use all defaults/automatic settings.
- Use Crop, Light Pollution and Star calibration tools, occasionally HSL color and most recently the star reduction. (the latter is great!)
The data below consists of;
- 54 x 600s lights over two sessions. (OSC RGB)
- 100 flats (50 per session)
- 100 dark flats (matching above)
- 20 darks.
Ive attached the progression of images below from crop only, through light pollution, star calibration and star reduction.
I have the same work flow. It seems the problem is at star calibration. I often wondered how the nebulosity affects the star colour. I imagine that if the star is in the foreground, then its not a problem but if the star is in the background then its light is filtered through the nebulosity itself and calibration with throw off the colour. So I always try to place the calibration boxes in the areas with no nebulosity, which is difficult of course with lots of nebulosity - similar to background and light pollution tools, you have to avoid the nebulosity when making selection boxes -Â Check out Mabula's tutorial on using the light pollution tool - he slowly works through the frame making small boxes in selected areas, looking for background only.
Usually I stretch the image to the max, to be able to see nebulosity better. Then I do the light pollution correction on the area's where there is no or very little nebulosity. If not, you may reduce nebulosity indeed.
Regarding color correction, this usually works very well, but if you use narrow-band data, which is not broadband, it's not of great use. This is because it uses black body radiation from stars to determine the color and these need to be broadband as a signal to work well.
@vincent-mod Thanks and sorry for the slow reply. Yes I use the same method, I use the 30% stretch, full saturation, no saturation protection etc.
Im fairly frustrated at this point. Take this example of the veil, no matter how many or how few, or how well placed the selection areas, I just have this ugly residual "haze". Id really be interested in seeing what you could do with my data, if you have time or inclination. Maybe im battling some issue deeper than the light pollution tool?
Hi Ashley, I just ran your data though APP and it came out ok, your signal to noise ratio is high though did you use a light pollution?
filter?
Thanks, Gary. It certainly looks 100% on what im achieving....
No I didnt, im in Bortle 4 and it was new moon. That said, the object was quite low in the sky and there is definitely glow on what was the low side. I think theres about 14hrs in that though, which I had hoped would be adequate..
I am also imaging in bortle 4 and have the same setup as yourself, as far as processing your data I used 6 very small boxes in the light pollution section of APP which seemed to do the trick. The image below is 32x5 mins with the an Optolong L-eXtreme filter as it makes a big difference with this camera.
Â
This post was modified 5 years ago by Gary Clayton
