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'd love to see multi-window or multi-monitor support, so that you can undock the image pane and move it to a full screen on a second monitor. I do a lot of zoom in/out and rearranging of the Analytic results, preview pane, and file list to get a better view at each of the images, subs and integrations. Having a dedicated extra screen would drastically reduce this effort and provide a larger workspace for user experience.
Found this under your development priority, and would address this desire.
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Low Priority:
- add support to detach image viewer with histogram to a separate window so you can drop it on another screen attached to your computer.
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Hi Jonathan Schwab @merkwood,
Which APP version are you using? Please update to 2.0.0-beta29 if you haven't done so yet because it supports actually what you are proposing. When you click on the CFG you will see an option to have the image viewer in a separate window. Enable it and click save 😉
You can also detach the frame list.
Please let me know if that works okay for you.
Mabula
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@mabula-admin : I was using 2.0.0-beta29 and just didn't know the setting was available. It works well. Only oddity is that the image window seems to have priority over the processing tools, ie, you have to manually shrink or move the imaging window to get to the processing window if they overlap. Just clicking on the processing window doesn't bring it to the front like standard windows within MS Windows. Thanks for pointing out where the setting was.
Hi @merkwood,
Excellent, glad you found it now 😊Â
Yes, that behaviour is not perfect yet, it is on our radar to have that fixed as well. Thank you for pointing it out as well.
Mabula
Hi @merkwood,
"Only oddity is that the image window seems to have priority over the processing tools, ie, you have to manually shrink or move the imaging window to get to the processing window if they overlap. Just clicking on the processing window doesn't bring it to the front like standard windows within MS Windows. "
The next release 2.0.0-beta31 has this issue fixed. I will try to release it within the next 7 days.
- FIXED FOCUS issues with multi window setup
As reported in this post https://www.astropixelprocessor.com/community/rfcs-request-for-changes/multi-monitor-support-image-window-on-2nd-monitor/#post-31710 there were focus issues with the external image viewer windows relative to the main application window or the console panel window. If the external image viewer would be in front of the main application window and it would fully cover it, you could not get the main window to become visisble. This is now fixed for all situations where APP application windows are in front of each other. Each APP window behind another APP window can be moved in front and in focus.
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Thanks again for pointing the issue out.
Mabula
