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.
When I want to align color channels, I need to separately save the calibrated frames. But when I do this, after setting the save directory and hit go, it goes off and starts stacking the bias, flats, darks and it seems to be happy. But I come back an hour later and, ooops, nope, it put up a dialog box (I think it was verifying I wanted them saved into the directory or something, sorry I didn't take a screenshot). It hadn't even started calibrating the lights. I've been caught with this particular one a half dozen times, it always fools me because the masters take some time to build, so I think it's got what it needs...
How do I avoid the need to babysit the process? Can it be configured to not do this, or can I answer the question up front?
This is indeed the behavior at the moment, but we have noted this as an issue and will work on improving this. This also happens during stacking and for a long process can be annoying. So we're going to make this better in a future version.
Also APP needs to just skip over a file that can not be registered. I usually run any big stacks at night and it really sucks in the morning when the process stopped because one image failed to register.
Many improvements in the newest beta 29, but disappointed that APP still stops processing for registration errors. If an image can not be registered set the weights to horrible numbers and the image is not added to the stack if the "lights to stack" is set to less then 100%. APP has the ability to not integrate images with bad weights, use this weight system to remove images that can not be registered.
Send me an alpha version of APP that can continue on a registration error and I am happy to test with the many Pacific Northwest bad transparency mixed with clear astro images I have.
Daniel
I suggested this years ago, but so far there has been no change. In my view it is the most irritating part of APP.
A checkbox within the registration module with an "On error resume next" kind of functionality is actually all we need.
Hi @dheyergmail-com & @heno,
Thank you very much for your suggestions and sorry to keep you waiting for so long for this.
Allright, then I propose to make a setting now in the new LICENSE & SETTINGS menu (since 2.0.0-beta33) that is saved per APP restart that says: continue to next step on errors and have that setting show as well in menu 3) and 4) and 5) so the integration will always be done with the frames that actually make it past 3,4 and 5) successfully.That shouls solve this I think? Any other related things that you can think of?
Mabula
Continue to the next step on errors will be a big improvement. Thank you Mabula.
@mabula-admin This sounds great and I think this is all we need.
Thank you for making this change.
Hi Daniel and Heno @dheyergmail-com and @heno,
Okay great, I will work on it today and will try to have it in the next release 2.0.0-beta35 😉
Mabula
Hi @dheyergmail-com & @heno,
I have added the option of continue on ERRORS without warnings to the LICENSE & SETTINGS menu. This improvement will be included in the next release 2.0.0-beta35.
- IMPROVED continue on ERRORS without warnings
We have added a new option to the LICENSE & SETTINGS menu called continue on ERRORS without warnings. If you enable this, APP will continue processing despite possible errors on some of the light frames after steps 3) Analyse Stars, 4) Register or 5) Normalize. For instance, if you load light frames and would directly go to 6) INTEGRATE and click on integrate, APP would simply continue processing despite possible errors and it would produce an integrated result of your light frames from the frames that actually pass the steps 3), 4) and 5) without errors. Please note, the errors in this case mean regular data problems that prevent APP from processing your data normally and successfully. If an actual bug in our code occurs, APP will still stop and report the bug to the user. Please see the below screenshots, it shows the new setting in the LICENSE & SETTINGS menu, and the warning messages after 3) Analyse Stars, 4) Register or 5) Normalize will show information about this setting in the warning message, so the user can disable it if so wished.
Hi Steven @readyjetty, @dheyergmail-com & @heno,
Please try now with 2.0.0-beta35 that I released today 😉
Mabula
I'd support the request made originally be Steven Miller (which hasn't been implmented yet). I also find it realy annoying when I start a long calibation process (may be 1000 lights) only to find that it stopped and ask me to confirm the required file type. This could easily be asked at the start - or even better, with a new selection box in the calibration tab. That way, I can press calibration button and then go off for a for an hour and do something else.
Dave
Hi Mabula,
My apologies for not responding sooner, I missed the activity on this thread until now. I have indeed tested it and the continuation on errors works for both star analysis and registration, so this is a nice change in the settings. I have it turned on and I know that I can just review the stacking and either accept or redo as needed.
However, when saving calibrated frames, it still eventually asks/verifies the directory I set to save even after setting up the directory before I begin before I start the process. Not a big deal but once a directory is set for where to save the frames I was hoping it wouldn’t later stop to ask/verify where to save the frames.
In any case, I think the change is a nice improvement!
