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.
CALIBRATE: we have detected a possible sensor offset issue between the MasterBias and the Masterdark !
Hello! Apparently there is a problem with my dark frames and BIAS frames in module 2) Calibration. The pictures were taken with a CANON EOS 750D (astromodified). In the console output window the warning "we have detected a possible sensor offset issue between the MasterBias and the Masterdark !" appears. I also suspect that the MasterBias is not subtracted from the Masterdark. The median values of both files are identical. The file attachment contains the respective FITS header of the MasteBias and of the Masterdark as well as the error message. Is there an explanation for this?
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Greetings Stefan B.
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This topic was modified 7 years ago 2 times by Mabula-Admin
Mmm, that is interesting. Maybe the console logs a rounded number while in reality they are slightly different. It only seems to be the case in channel 3. I don't see anything really strange in the fits data either. How do integrations look like and do you see the mention of darks and bias being applied to the light frames when looking on the overview list?
Hello, Vincent! Many thanks for the quick feedback. I quickly integrated 3 lights again. Once calibrated only with BPM and the second time with BPM+MD+MB. The visual difference in the integration file is very small. How can I check that the BIAS has been subtracted from the MD? In the FITS header the MEDIAN value is identical for MD and MB.
It looks like the masters are all used, so then it should be substracted yes, it's also a warning and not necessarily a problem, otherwise APP would not continue. Personally I think it's totally fine, but Mabula has the deep know-how that I require in this case so I'll give him a notice. @mabula-admin
ps. never get irritated about data, if I did that I would be very grey by now. 😉
It seems that in an earlier version of APP, the BIAS was subtracted when creating the MasterDark during calibration. In the current version this is probably no longer the case. I am sure that @mabula-admin has an explanation for the warning message. Many thanks for the help.
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ps. unfortunately my hair is already grey, more is not possible anymore. But this is not due to APP! 😀 APP is an ingenious program and I like to work with it very much.
Hello! Apparently there is a problem with my dark frames and BIAS frames in module 2) Calibration. The pictures were taken with a CANON EOS 750D (astromodified). In the console output window the warning "we have detected a possible sensor offset issue between the MasterBias and the Masterdark !" appears. I also suspect that the MasterBias is not subtracted from the Masterdark. The median values of both files are identical. The file attachment contains the respective FITS header of the MasteBias and of the Masterdark as well as the error message. Is there an explanation for this?
Indeed, the console will throw a warning if the median value of the masterdark is lower than the median value of the masterbias. Normally, this would indicate an issue with either gain/iso value or the sensor offset, meaning: perhaps they are not compatible between the masterdark and the masterbias, which would warrent a warning off course.
In this case however, there should be no problem. The newer cmos sensor techonology is reponsible for this to happen on some camera's now. And as you can see, the values are nearly identical so all should be fine.
It seems that in an earlier version of APP, the BIAS was subtracted when creating the MasterDark during calibration. In the current version this is probably no longer the case. I am sure that @mabula-admin has an explanation for the warning message. Many thanks for the help.
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ps. unfortunately my hair is already grey, more is not possible anymore. But this is not due to APP! 😀 APP is an ingenious program and I like to work with it very much.
Indeed, you are totally right here, in older versions of APP, the MasterDark was already subtracted by the MasterBias if it was present in creating the Masterdark. In the latest versions of APP, this is no longer the case for several good reasons. The entire calibration module was rewritten and was made a lot smarter internally. Now the MasterDark can always be used, whether you want to use bias frames or not. The actual subtraction of the masterbias from the Masterdark is done dynamically when the frames are calibrated and now there will not be any clipping on the black point anymore, which in the old calibration engine could happen as well... so with the new calibration engine, you are now ensured of correct calibration, whichever calibration path you follow 😉
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Thanks for your nice compliment, I hope this answers your concern about the warning issued in the console panel 😉
Many thanks for the feedback and the extensive explanation. My concerns that something is wrong with the calibration frames or that something is wrong with my camera have fortunately not come true.
