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.
What I mean by that is using APP for all preprocessing at least but jumping into Pixinsight primarily to access the Noise and Blur exterminator processes. I suspect I would leave the image in linear form to export back to APP for final processing. I'm wondering if others are trying something similar and if so let me know how it's working for you and if you have any tips or tricks.
That tends to be my main workflow. I will do all the pre-processing in APP and then take the stack(s) across to PI before any stretching simply in order to run Blur Ex. I return the saved FITS back to APP and then typically use one of the generic stretches to output a TIF with Photoshop used for final adjustments on separated star/starless images.
It is clear that PI is very powerful but you could also spend a lifetime wading around in there😀. In all honesty, the stretch derived from APP, combined with Photoshop, is all that I need and so I feel no immediate desire to immerse myself in PI:
https://app.astrobin.com/u/GeoChron?i=7ilyh3#gallery
Also, of course when it comes to things like Mosaics APP is a far more elegant solution...
@jdwood Hi Jon.
Do you mind to share your workflow, preparing the FITS you transfer to PI?
Especially:
- Do you do lpc/cbg, crop, maybe even csc in APP prior moving over to PI?
Thank you and best regards.
MichaelÂ
Hi Michael,
For Mono data I usually prepare a 'Master' stack for each channel (Ha, OIII, SII, R, G, B....depending on the project), perform lpc/cbg on each and then pass them individually across to PI for a light touch of BlurEx (usually with Correct only, sometimes with very minor star sharpening).
I bring those now-corrected FITS files back across to APP for re-registration and combination into RGB, SHO etc. Â I would do any star colour correction on the combined RGB FITS after this. Â Then I simply find a nice stretch level and export the TIFF. Sometimes, if the star field is very dense, I will also export a second TIFF with minimal stretch and use that later for the stars..
In Photoshop I separate the stars and work on the starless image mostly using Camera Raw, and Selective Colour, then finally Noise Ex (Photoshop plugin version). I will generally reduce the stars in the stars-only image and finally recombine the two.
I tend to leave any cropping until the very last step so as not to accidentally stuff up registration between the stars only and starless versions..
For OSC data I would follow a similar routine getting the FITS across to PI after lpc before any stretching etc..
cheers, Jon
