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.
Hi Mabula:
My workflow for the last year has been to open my RAW files (NEFs) in Adobe Camera Raw, do some minor processing to reduce highlights to prevent stars from blowing out, do the lens corrections and vignetting removal, and then save them as 16-bit TIFFs, and finally stack them in Deep Sky Stacker and save as a 16-bit TIFF to be processed in Photoshop.
Now that I am using APP, would I get a better end result in terms colours and other things if I stacked the original unprocessed RAW files in APP rather than stacking these TIFFs?
Thanks,
Rudy
Yes. 🙂 It's always best to start with the least processed raw data.
Great! Thanks, I will do that from now on.
Cheers,
Rudy
Hi Mabula:
My workflow for the last year has been to open my RAW files (NEFs) in Adobe Camera Raw, do some minor processing to reduce highlights to prevent stars from blowing out, do the lens corrections and vignetting removal, and then save them as 16-bit TIFFs, and finally stack them in Deep Sky Stacker and save as a 16-bit TIFF to be processed in Photoshop.
Now that I am using APP, would I get a better end result in terms colours and other things if I stacked the original unprocessed RAW files in APP rather than stacking these TIFFs?
Thanks,
Rudy
Hi Rudy,
Yes, like Vincent indicated, it will be much better if you work with the raw images.
Processing steps like
- data calibration,
- data normalisation,
- average/median integration,
- outlier rejection during integration
- light pollution/gradient removal
- background calibration
- star color calibration
all work the most optimal if the data is as linear as possible, that means straight from your camera's sensor 😉
If you convert your raws in photoshop to TIFFs, then the TIFFs will be highly non-linear due to several steps in the raw conversion of raw files to images meant for normal photography. I will explain this in more detail in your other topic:
Kind regards,
Mabula
Excellent question, I upgraded it to a sticky as well 😉
Everyone that reads this, might want to read this as well, because it's directly related:
Mabula
Following excellent information provided by Mark Shelly, Rudy Pol and Roger N. Clarke, APP will soon be upgraded with color preserving stretching and the possibility to use the color matrix conversion in DSLR processing. Then there will be no need to use an external RAW processor for better colors.
Read this for more information:
https://www.astropixelprocessor.com/community/main-forum/does-astro-pixel-processor-apply-the-color-matrix-correction-to-digital-camera-raw-data/ <
Kind regards,
Mabula
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Hi Mabula,
This is fabulous! I can hardly wait!
Thank you in advance for doing this,
Rudy
As soon as .dng support is available I definitely want to try it. I was tempted to go ahead and get it and try using tif files sicne i figured out how to convert from .dng to 16 bit tif files.
