Mar 28 2026 APP 2.0.0-beta40 will be released in 7 days.
It did take a long time to have the work finished on this and it will have a major performance boost of 30-50% over 2.0.0-beta39 from calibration to integration. We extensively optimized many critical parts of APP. All has been tested to guarantee correct optimizations. Drizzle and image resampling is much faster for instance, those modules have been completely rewritten. Much less memory usage. LNC 2.0 will be released which works much better and faster than LNC in it's current state. And more, all will be added to the release notes in the coming weeks...
Update on the 2.0.0 release & the full manual
We are getting close to the 2.0.0 stable release and the full manual. The manual will soon become available on the website and also in PDF format. Both versions will be identical and once released, will start to follow the APP release cycle and thus will stay up-to-date to the latest APP version.
Once 2.0.0 is released, the price for APP will increase. Owner's license holders will not need to pay an upgrade fee to use 2.0.0, neither do Renter's license holders.
Hi,
I use APP for my stacking and my initial processing. However, I'm using one tool that is only available in PixInsight (The plugin BlurXterminator) and it needs to work on the raw linear unstreatched stack. So my workflow is:
1) Stack in APP into a 32-bit FITS
2) Open in PI and run BlurXterminator and save as 32-bit (either FITS or TIFF)
3) Open in APP and do light pollution removal, star calibration, basic stretch, save as 16-bit TIFF
4) Open in Affinity photo for final touchup.
The problem is any 32-bit format I save in PI seems to usually load as a corrupted image in APP. Sometimes, it's all green where I didn't crop around the pure black/undefined boarder and then almost pure white where the image is. If I crop in PI to a smaller image, sometimes it loads correctly in APP... I don't know why it's often messed up.
What format should I save in PI that APP can load? Have you worked with 32-bit float file compatibility between the two programs?
With the popular and very effective BlurXterminator only available on PI, this may become a growing trend.
- Steven
Hi Steven @readyjetty,
The 32bits float data from Pixinsight should be fully compatible with APP, it has been like that for many years. But, maybe Pixinsight changed something recently in how they store 32bits float data in FITS and TIFF and this is now creating issues? I am not aware of this myself.
"The problem is any 32-bit format I save in PI seems to usually load as a corrupted image in APP. Sometimes, it's all green where I didn't crop around the pure black/undefined boarder and then almost pure white where the image is. If I crop in PI to a smaller image, sometimes it loads correctly in APP... I don't know why it's often messed up."
This sounds a bit like a problem then of BlurXterminator in what it is doing to your data in the raw borders that you did not crop of I think, it might mess up APP's automatic stretch filter perhaps?
Maybe you can send me a 32bits FITS and TIFF from PI so I can have a look in what happens when you try to load them in APP ?
Please upload them here:
https://upload.astropixelprocessor.com/
@mabula-admin File has been uploaded into folder "Import from PI Corrupted or Strange".
Note, often when I crop it first in PI, it then works to save and load into APP.
I dont have any problem with that workflow at all. Looks great bringing it back to APP.
But perhaps do the lightpollution removal in APP first? I think Russel Croman says to do background extraction first and then BXT, so that is what I do, but in APP.
Then I go back to APP for the rest before moving on to PS.
/Stefan
Thanks for the tips, I’ll try that. I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t read much of the BXT documentation yet, so I missed that tip, because I had just downloaded both as a trial and at the same time I had to learn the fundamentals of Pixinsight just to use it. So I’m just starting out on this part of the journey.
“Read The Documentation, Silly!” - some wise person
Just FYI, I think it is possible to use the plugin without PI, but that likely requires terminal work. Not 100% sure though.
