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 guys,
this is my 1st post. Â I take lots of really short subs when I image - 360x40 second exposures.
Im new to the software so have just been using the defaults which has taken 4hrs from stage 1-6 to getting a stacked fit file!
I have 2 questions.
1. Am I better off stacking them in batches of say 60 subs then stacking the 6 stacked subs together or just taking the pain & letting them all stack together?
2. what settings should I use for stages 4-6?
Hope this makes sense. Â Loving the software by the way - a proper convert!
Cheers
Andy
@andym274 Here are some answers to your questions:
- Smaller batches process quicker. There may be a difference in the resulting image if all the subs get processed in batches of 60 and then the resulting stacks get combined as compared to stacking everything in one go but the difference should be tiny.
- At first simply leave everything to the default settings. In general, the settings in tabs 3, 4 and 5 should only be touched when creating a mosaic (though there are a few very rare cases where it is necessary as well). Tab 6 in general should be left untouched unless you see resulting satellite trails in the resulting stack or when combining lights from different telescopes and/or cameras.
HTH, Wouter
By the way, I marked the other two posts with exactly the same content as closed 🙂
Thanks for the response!Â
I apologise if I added the same message multiple times - it wasn't clear whether it had been submitted - so my mistake. Â
Will keep the default settings & try to stack the images as a single instance & see how I get on with that vs stacking 4x stacked images (if that makes sense!)
Cheers
Andy
