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.
2026-10-03- UPDATE FROM MABULA
I am glad to announce that I am finally fully healed, my energy and strength are really back now !
In the past 3 weeks while recovering, I have prioritzed the release of 2.0.0-beta47. So much work has accumulated into this release that it needed to be tested extensively, but also it needed to be available for all of you. Unless a big problem is reported for this release, I expect it will be the final release, finally !, before the official 2.0.0 release.
Hi Mabula, I understand that zooming in and out on the preview screen when working with Windows is just a matter of left and right clicking.
Since I'm working with an iMac, there's only one mouse button to click. Zooming in isn't a problem, but is there a way of zooming out? I tried almost any key combination (alt, ctrl, shift etc.) but the only way to go back to a full view is clicking on another file in the list and then clicking the original file again.
HI Jeroen,
Okay, this is a new one for me 😉
So your iMac mouse only has one button.
Would it be the easiest if I map the zoom in/out to + / - buttons on the keyboard perhaps?
And you don't need to load a new frame first. Above the image viewer, there is a dropdownbox
The right dropdown box can reload your image directly, just reselect the current setting of linear(l) to reload the linear raw data directly.
The "scale selectbox" means scale to fit.
Mabula
Is this a very old Mac mouse by any chance? Because you can set it to use a right-mouse click by using 2 fingers if I'm not mistaken, on fairly new versions (as in since 2008 or so). You can set this in the OSX preferences.
I'm using a brand new iMac. The bluetooth mouse I have only has one button, but can be set to 2 buttons in the preferences indeed. That did the trick! I was so used to only using one button that I forgot about these settings, also because the mouse has a lot of other options (like swiping with one or two fingers) I use a lot.
Â
Excellent 😉
Would mapping zoom in/out to +/- keys still be of some use?
Mabula
Hi Mabula, I understand that zooming in and out on the preview screen when working with Windows is just a matter of left and right clicking.
Since I'm working with an iMac, there's only one mouse button to click. Zooming in isn't a problem, but is there a way of zooming out? I tried almost any key combination (alt, ctrl, shift etc.) but the only way to go back to a full view is clicking on another file in the list and then clicking the original file again.
You can activate your second mouse "button" in System Preferences / Mouse / Secondary -> Click on right side ... this should solve your issue and the default mouse behaviour of Mac OS.
Sorry, indeed, it was already solved, I didn't refresh my topic window (with the answers already given).
Mabula - yes, an alternate of having keyboard +/- keys would be a very useful zoom in/out feature - even for those of us who have right and left mouse buttons. Â The other one that I've found to be quite intuitive for zooming is up and down arrow keys (instead of +/-). Â On a lot of laptops there isn't a separate numeric keypad, so the + key is a Shift-Equal and is a bit more awkward to use.
Scott
@Marc, no problem 😉
@Scott, okay, i'll try to map the zooming function to the up and down keys, I agree, that it will be easier with smaller keyboards.
