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.
Greetings everyone!
First, congratulations on the Beta release of APP version 2.0.0 beta22. This program has really grown to be a fantastic post-processor!
I'm wondering about the need for a set of Flat frames for each filter that I use in the image train. I use both an Optolong UV/IR cut filter as well as an L-eNhance dual band-pass for imaging with my ZWO color camera. I can easily take multiple stacks of 20 Flats with each filter in the ASIAIR Plus, but I'm unsure of how to load all of those stacks for each filter into the Load tab. Is it necessary to have both filters with their own Master Flats? If so, can APP identify & differentiate them for use with their associated Lights? What must I do to make sure the Flats Calibrate properly?
Thank you for your support,
Kindest regards,
Dale
You assign one filter and its data to session 1 and the other to session 2. I would advice to do this for separate filters as they can show different dust spots and/or illumination. If you shoot dark-flats, these can be assigned to the correct session. As they are very similar to a bias signal, that's usually not critical, but I would do it just in case. Darks are matched to the lights and are not specific to a filter, darks are automatically matched.
Thank you Vincent!
You’re always so hard at work. It is appreciated!
that makes perfect sense to me to use different sessions for different filter data sets that I’ve taken Flats for. I do use Dark-Flats as well instead of Bias frames.
Thank you,
Dale
Thanks for the kind words! 🙂
