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,
Version 1.061 works a treat. So much easier to process data from multiple nights. And the final integrations seem to have a bit more detail indeed.
I have noticed two issues:
1. When loading two BPM's, one for each session, during Light calibration APP reverts to one session's BPM for all sessions. See attachment with subset of data.
2. When integrating and choosing 'Integrate All' for multiple sessions, the final integrated result says 'Integration 1 session 2'. See attachment. This is confusing as I was integration all sessions. Perhaps better to say 'Integration 1 Sessions all' or 'Integration 1 session 1 session 2'?
If I have it all wrong and it works as designed, please correct me. 😀Â
Great to see frequent updates. Keep up the good work!
Regards, Henk
Hi Henk @latour,
Thank you very much for your feedback. Let me address your concerns:
- Loading 2 BPMs for different sessions is not needed. A BPM is a defect map of the camera's sensor and 1 Bad Pixel Map can usually be used for several months or even years with very high efficiency. Just make sure that you make 1 BPM that works efficiently and use that on all your data 😉 The Bad Pixel Map is not dependent on the exposure time and ISO/gain values that you use, so it can be applied to all lights with different exposure times and ISO/gain values.
- I will test this this afternoon, perhaps the naming is off for the "all sessions" integration. It should be "Integration 1 session 1 session 2" in your case.
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Thank you Henk 😉
Kind regards,
Mabula
Hi Mabula,
Thanks for swift answers.
As for 1), what if I have lights from same object from two cameras with the same iso/gain and would like to integrate all together. Would I not need a BPM for each camera?
Best regards,
Henk Â
Hi Henk @latour,
Indeed, that's needed then, and that is possible, the Bad Pixel Maps are discriminated per camera/instrument name. So the 2 Bad Pixel Maps will need to have a different isntrument name to make it work. The Instrument name can be modified with the batch modify tool.
I got a report from another user that was using the same camera, but with and without 2x binning, and that gave a problem. So I need to make this a bit more flexible and smarter, it's on my ToDo for next version.
Mabula
Great. Thanks, Mabula!
Regards, Henk
Sorry, too quick on the draw.
Wanted to add that assigning different BPM's to different sessions (as per master dark/flats) would fix the issue, would it not?
Cheers, Henk
Sorry, too quick on the draw.
Wanted to add that assigning different BPM's to different sessions (as per master dark/flats) would fix the issue, would it not?
Cheers, Henk
Hi @latour,
Yes, that should prove to be a good work around. But if you used the same camera in different sessions, then you could simply suffice with 1 Bad Pixel Map. Just make sure that you make 1 good Bad Pixel Map per camera that you have 😉
Mabula
