MAY 4 2026: APP 2.0.0-beta44 has been released !
New improved internal memory controls should now work on all computers
May 1 2026: APP 2.0.0-beta43 has been released !
Improved internal memory controls (much more stable and faster on big datasets), fixed CPU image viewer, fixed Narrowband extraction demosaic algortihms.
Apr 29 2026 APP 2.0.0-beta42 has been released !
New improved Normalization engine, Fixed random crashes in integration, fixed RGB Combine & Calibrate Star Colors, fixed Narrowband extraction algorithms, new development platform with performance gains, bug fixes in the tools, etc...
Apr 14 2026: Google Pay, Apple Pay & WeChat Pay added as payment options
Update on the 2.0.0 release & the full manual
We are getting close to the 2.0.0 stable release and the full manual. The manual will soon become available on the website and also in PDF format. Both versions will be identical and once released, will start to follow the APP release cycle and thus will stay up-to-date to the latest APP version.
Once 2.0.0 is released, the price for APP will increase. Owner's license holders will not need to pay an upgrade fee to use 2.0.0, neither do Renter's license holders.
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
