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 have not been getting as deep of colors as I think I should with some 60 minutes of total LRGB imaging time. I stretch and use sliders in the RGB function. I have tried using the HSL Selective Color module or function but I do not see much change using it. I may not be using the these functions as totally well as I could. Any help appreciated. Thanks Paul
Did you try to add saturation?
@vincent-mod Thanks for the reply. Yes, I check the Saturation checkbox if that is what you mean. I lower the Saturation Threshold slider by moving it to the left and I increase Saturation using that slider and moving it to the right.
Early on in the processing I rarely stretch to 30%. Should I do that early on as a way to develop more color depth?
That doesn't really influence the result no as it's all just a preview of the effects until you save it. I guess you're using a mono camera? Maybe adding too much Luminance might also interfere with getting the colors popping more. When saturation is not helping much, I wonder what the data of the R, G and B looks like do you have a few screenshots?
@vincent-mod I have been using free Fits files I find online, iTelescope files I pay for, TelescopeLive files I pay for, and free Hubble Legacy Archive datasets to post process mostly Messier objects. I will try loading fewer luminance images and test that. Â
When I use the APP RGB Combine module I should still load luminance images or is that a mistake. I will do some experimenting with different settings etc and I will try to send some jpeg files of my larger final Fits and Tiff files to you and the forum for examples. Although on the screen just below it looks like you allow larger files to be attached.
Yes you still can load luminance, but lower its contribution with playing around with the values in the module. It will depend a lot on the data itself as well.
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@vincent-mod I just processed M88 from TelescopeLive. There were 40 minutes in 8 luminance images and 20 minutes each of rgb. I lowered the luminance quite a bit, maybe 80% in APP and I think it helped a good amount. I had lowered luminance before but not near that much. I also re-watched a few of Mabula's tutorials and I added many more small boxes during remove light pollution and color gradient correction and I think that helped. The two attached files of same image in different format show a nicer range of star colors and more natural colors altogether. Thanks as this has me moving in the right direction. Paul.
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@vincent-mod Think image I attached/pasted does not show quite the contrast and sharpness as well as on my pc.
