15th Feb 2024: Astro Pixel Processor 2.0.0-beta29 released - macOS native File Chooser, macOS CMD-Q fixed, read-only Fits on network fixed and other bug fixes
7th December 2023: added payment option Alipay to purchase Astro Pixel Processor from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and other countries where Alipay is used.
So now not only are we no where nearer to getting any sort of user manual, we now are barely getting any updates and been on beta since May this year, this software and the development t is becoming a joke on the Astro forums, and people are asking if the development has stopped as people are not happy at all, what a complete waste of money this is, with no active movement on any issue that people have
here you go
very disappointing….😡😡😡😡
I agree, I will definitely not buy the programm without a manual.
I don’t blame you, I wish I never had….😡😡 I could understand if it was free software, in fact free software comes with more help in manual and video form than this ever will, by the look of things….
I understand the frustration, but just a few questions;
1. Is APP not working anymore for you because future development is taking more time?
2. We are very active on the forum, something I think isn't always the case with products, we actively help people as much as possible. So "no active movement on any issue that people might have", is simply not true. There would also be no need for me to do that if development stopped, right?
Apart from that, we are aware of the frustration a delay causes, Mabula is as well. I will be communicating with him as to what we can do to give a better picture during development. In the end we know we have a very big user group around the world and many use it for hobby and scientific research and we get a lot of positive feedback on it, there will always be people that choose a different package because they don't like something and that's totally fine. We try to offer a good product and we try to improve on things that are not to everyone's satisfaction, but it won't be for everyone as with any software.
I understand the frustration, but just a few questions;
1. Is APP not working anymore for you because future development is taking more time?
2. We are very active on the forum, something I think isn't always the case with products, we actively help people as much as possible. So "no active movement on any issue that people might have", is simply not true. There would also be no need for me to do that if development stopped, right?Apart from that, we are aware of the frustration a delay causes, Mabula is as well. I will be communicating with him as to what we can do to give a better picture during development. In the end we know we have a very big user group around the world and many use it for hobby and scientific research and we get a lot of positive feedback on it, there will always be people that choose a different package because they don't like something and that's totally fine. We try to offer a good product and we try to improve on things that are not to everyone's satisfaction, but it won't be for everyone as with any software.
To answer question 1, NO It isn’t working any more, not due to lack of updates, BUT LACK OF A MANUAL TO SHOW ME HOW TO USE……😡😡
The controls on the right side of the screen are basically useless, and may aswell be written in Chinese, for what use they are, they are totally unusable due to the complicated way they are set out, and the numbers used, you need a degree in maths to understand….
Right, so that part of APP is indeed something that can be improved upon for sure. However, I am more than happy to help you explain that part if you want. We can do that in a separate post? You can then bookmark that even for quick reference later on.
The manual is something we want to start with some volunteers as well, I'm talking to Mabula about when we can start that up.
Thank you Thomas! I’m sorry for the delayed response here. For some reason I haven’t been getting notifications on posts. This has happened in another thread too.
I understand the frustration, but just a few questions;
1. Is APP not working anymore for you because future development is taking more time?
2. We are very active on the forum, something I think isn't always the case with products, we actively help people as much as possible. So "no active movement on any issue that people might have", is simply not true. There would also be no need for me to do that if development stopped, right?Apart from that, we are aware of the frustration a delay causes, Mabula is as well. I will be communicating with him as to what we can do to give a better picture during development. In the end we know we have a very big user group around the world and many use it for hobby and scientific research and we get a lot of positive feedback on it, there will always be people that choose a different package because they don't like something and that's totally fine. We try to offer a good product and we try to improve on things that are not to everyone's satisfaction, but it won't be for everyone as with any software.
I just wanted to comment about NOT having SUPPORT! From my standpoint this is a very false statement. I have had posted on a couple of occasions and I had @wouter reach out to help me! Even to the point of personal messages requesting the data I was using. @Wouter was great to work with and I couldn’t praise him enough! @vincent this isn’t anything towards you just stating that there is support and it just so happened that Wouter was the one that replied to my problem first. 😊
https://www.astropixelprocessor.com/community/main-forum/combine-rgb-images-frame-size/
As to the Manual, absolutely it would be wonderful to have a book or manual to use this program, but as dumb as I am with the guidance of this forum and the tutorials I have been able to make this program work for me and is essential for me!
As for PI, I’m not sure that I’ll move onto that program. The general consensus is its got a much steeper learning curve than even APP does so only time will tell for me on that one.
Updates? I can somewhat agree there, but based on what I know with programming (which is minimal) this does take time especially if your a small company and your the one doing the updating on the software. In order for me to do what I had to do (in the thread I posted above) I did have to download an older version to process the data because of a registration issue. I haven’t downloaded any newer version because this has for the most part worked great for me. I do not know if there is a newer “STABLE” version to APP.
This is just my opinion based on my experiences here with the software and forum posts.
At any rate I still thank Mabula and the support people on this forum for having a powerful program available for us AP’s.
Dale
@dalepenkala No issue taken Darel, thanks for the comments. Wouter and I are both supporting indeed, so it's good to see he helped you out well in this case! 🙂
I understand the frustration, but just a few questions;
1. Is APP not working anymore for you because future development is taking more time?
2. We are very active on the forum, something I think isn't always the case with products, we actively help people as much as possible. So "no active movement on any issue that people might have", is simply not true. There would also be no need for me to do that if development stopped, right?Apart from that, we are aware of the frustration a delay causes, Mabula is as well. I will be communicating with him as to what we can do to give a better picture during development. In the end we know we have a very big user group around the world and many use it for hobby and scientific research and we get a lot of positive feedback on it, there will always be people that choose a different package because they don't like something and that's totally fine. We try to offer a good product and we try to improve on things that are not to everyone's satisfaction, but it won't be for everyone as with any software.
To answer question 1, NO It isn’t working any more, not due to lack of updates, BUT LACK OF A MANUAL TO SHOW ME HOW TO USE……😡😡
The controls on the right side of the screen are basically useless, and may aswell be written in Chinese, for what use they are, they are totally unusable due to the complicated way they are set out, and the numbers used, you need a degree in maths to understand….
You have tutorials on YouTube how to use APP, here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=astropixel+processor I think you like to complain a lot...
APP is the easiest from all astrophoto processing tools, you do not even need to know what these sliders to, default image produced by APP is usually good enough to finish it in PS/LR etc. And if it is not good enough, then you need to experiment, you will not break your PC by moving the sliders. Not even the best manual will give you ready recipe for a great image.
So I guess the only way then to get help with this software is to keep logging onto a PC and coming on here and asking, and when you are in the middle of trying to process an image and you find a setting you are not sure about then to have to wait maybe 24 hours (if you are lucky) for an answer on here is ok for you all, well not for me, I want a manual that I can refer to and sort issues myself, and I bet I am not on my own, but I guess it’s never going to happen, so time to move onto another package with proper documentation…….as getting know where at all on here, the author himself can’t even be bothered to reply, that says it all really…….
Hi all, @meadeuser , @karolbe, @vincent-mod, @dalepenkala, @ullischepers, @ejp2012, @scpanish
Thank you all again for sharing your feedback, frustration and understanding.
I am working still on the 1.083 STABLE release and this will come for sure, we are doing many new things in this release so it is taking much more time than usual as we previously explained.
Once APP 1.083 is released, we can start with work on a joined community version of the full documentation for APP while work continues for
- APP 1.084 (save/load settings and whole projects) and
- APP 1.085 (move to the new development platform JAVA 11 / GRAAL VM )
I can't work faster than I do and the suggestion that nothing is happening in terms of development could not be further from the truth. I am sorry it is taking a long time, but please know this will soon change after the 1.083 release.
Kind regards,
Mabula
@meadeuser I think your point is clear and that you don't want help from the forum. A manual is not available in the form you want it right now, so we can't help you with that. Again I'm happy to explain anything you want and you can always go back to that information at any time. I wish you all the best with the hobby and software you're going to choose.
@dalepenkala No issue taken Darel, thanks for the comments. Wouter and I are both supporting indeed, so it's good to see he helped you out well in this case! 🙂
Yes I see you posting here regularly Vincent. I’m glad to see both you and Wouter’s involvement!
Dale
Hi all, @meadeuser , @karolbe, @vincent-mod, @dalepenkala, @ullischepers, @ejp2012, @scpanish
Thank you all again for sharing your feedback, frustration and understanding.
I am working still on the 1.083 STABLE release and this will come for sure, we are doing many new things in this release so it is taking much more time than usual as we previously explained.
Once APP 1.083 is released, we can start with work on a joined community version of the full documentation for APP while work continues for
- APP 1.084 (save/load settings and whole projects) and
- APP 1.085 (move to the new development platform JAVA 11 / GRAAL VM )
I can't work faster than I do and the suggestion that nothing is happening in terms of development could not be further from the truth. I am sorry it is taking a long time, but please know this will soon change after the 1.083 release.
Kind regards,
Mabula
Hello Mabula,
No complaints from me just honest feedback from my part is all. I’m kinda dumb with all this technology based stuff but Wouter and Vincent have been very prompt at answering or giving feedback from my stand point. I look forward to the new release of APP 1.083 “Stable” and will continue to work with Wouter and Vincent about issues I run into not only to share my issues I may run into but also it gives me the opportunity to learn your software better.
I appreciated all that your doing for the AP community.
Dale
Hi all, @meadeuser , @karolbe, @vincent-mod, @dalepenkala, @ullischepers, @ejp2012, @scpanish
Thank you all again for sharing your feedback, frustration and understanding.
I am working still on the 1.083 STABLE release and this will come for sure, we are doing many new things in this release so it is taking much more time than usual as we previously explained.
Once APP 1.083 is released, we can start with work on a joined community version of the full documentation for APP while work continues for
- APP 1.084 (save/load settings and whole projects) and
- APP 1.085 (move to the new development platform JAVA 11 / GRAAL VM )
I can't work faster than I do and the suggestion that nothing is happening in terms of development could not be further from the truth. I am sorry it is taking a long time, but please know this will soon change after the 1.083 release.
Kind regards,
Mabula
You see this is the issue, you have known about the need for a manual for well over 18 months or maybe longer, yet it gets put back and back all the time because you have to work on other things, it should be the priority, people are paying good money for this software, the least you could do is supply people with instructions on how to use it, as I said before you need a degree in maths to understand the processing options on the right side of the screen, the layout is awful and totally confusing to anybody new to this software….
I think your priorities are wrong…
@meadeuser There's no denying that having had a manual from the start was a better choice. This isn't the case and we are going to correct that, but it won't happen tomorrow. Given the userbase we have and the feedback we get, a manual though nice to have, actually isn't a top priority for many users. They regularly tell us how they landed upon APP after using other software, and finding the almost automatic results a great step forward. There are quite a few video's as tutorials out there, Mabula made some of those as well, they may not be everybody's cup of tea but you can learn from all that. You can experiment, I can explain you things and when you know a set of settings, you know enough to use the software for almost all data. I would just take practice data, try to make a nice result and when you run into anything, write it down and ask all in a post. Glad to answer it all. Looking at your post history, you actually never asked for help.
I think in the time it has taken to reply to these posts someone could have typed out 1/3 of a skeleton of a manual. I think for me, I would most like information on steps 2-6 on the left side. Yes you can load it and hit integrate and sure I can see that it’s nice to have results at the push of a button, and yes there are the hover menus. I’ll try these videos in the meantime. I have seen one or two before but there were several listed that I didn’t know about.
I do agree with the poster who said the tools on the right are difficult to use. The scaling and lack of live view changes make them (to me) virtually useless ( I did try to think of a more neutral term). I think understanding the settings in steps 2-6 then uploading that final result into Affinity and finishing it off from there is the fastest step to happiness for me. I could wait on the rest.
Entirely unlikely that one third of a manual could have been written in this time, not a fair comment.
I will have other coments on the tone of some peoples comment on this thread. Some of them are impolite.
Users should use the red question mark button to see the user manual for the right side sliders. It is very clear what they do and why.
Poor tone in many of these replies. To start with, have you looked at reading the manual from the red question mark button distinctly visie on the right hand side slider section?
It is quite informative, and accessible to understand with example images throughout, as is most of APP to the vast majority of users.
I didn’t say manual. I said skeleton of a manual. Huge difference. And I was polite. You were not.
Poor tone in many of these replies. To start with, have you looked at reading the manual from the red question mark button distinctly visie on the right hand side slider section?
It is quite informative, and accessible to understand with example images throughout, as is most of APP to the vast majority of users.
That is not a manual, what planet are you living on…., they are tool tips….there is a big difference….👍🏼
With more time and experience, you will eventually be able to use the program, if you want. Pi is more difficult, so perhaps dss is an option. That feature is a little more than a tool tip. A tool tip is text, the red button provides a comparison of slider effects with images as a basis.
Pixinsight has manuals, but also a litany of online help tutorial because it is not objectively easy. Even Adam block has a business explaining PI, separate to the formal documentation. APP has so many too that are useful for anyone who wants to learn.
Some of them are impolite.
Totally agree 100%
This strikes me as an issue of delegation. I don’t doubt that Mabula is busy. I think there is a reasonable limit to user patience.
This strikes me as an issue of delegation. I don’t doubt that Mabula is busy. I think there is a reasonable limit to user patience.
Hi to all.
For me this sentence sums up all my frustration about APP. Expecially I feel fooled by Mabula about his continuous promises about this/that improvements, about "soon to be realesed....bla bla bla...." (and months passed by), about "will soon be out the new stable realese..." (and more than 1 year passed)..
This Mabula's behaviour annoys me a lot and honestly for me it's difficult to trust him anymore: I feel continuously fooled by his broken promises.
Last but not least: the price for APP, after such a behaviour, for me it has become too much high (I'm referring both to life subscription and to annual fee)
I expect from Mabula a little discount as a way to apologize to us for his "too long geological" time passed from last stable realease to next...(What does "Soon" mean? Days or years?)
This strikes me as an issue of delegation. I don’t doubt that Mabula is busy. I think there is a reasonable limit to user patience.
Hi to all.
For me this sentence sums up all my frustration about APP. Expecially I feel fooled by Mabula about his continuous promises about this/that improvements, about "soon to be realesed....bla bla bla...." (and months passed by), about "will soon be out the new stable realese..." (and more than 1 year passed)..
This Mabula's behaviour annoys me a lot and honestly for me it's difficult to trust him anymore: I feel continuously fooled by his broken promises.
Last but not least: the price for APP, after such a behaviour, for me it has become too much high (I'm referring both to life subscription and to annual fee)
I expect from Mabula a little discount as a way to apologize to us for his "too long geological" time passed from last stable realease to next...(What does "Soon" mean? Days or years?)
Totally agree 100%
There has been a lot of conversation lately on this topic. Yes, a user manual would be nice, but... APP is easy to use, and there are a number of tutorials available.
PixInsight has more extensive documentation (for some processes), but come on... you have to be an astrophysicist in order to understand the documentation. This is why there are a number of people, such as Adam Block and Peter Proulx and Warren Keller who offer PixInsight video tutorials for sale.
I love how APP is easy to use, guiding the process through the numbered tabs. I love how it selects the integration reference subframe, and gives you a quality score for each subframe. I love that there is a simple slider that lets me easily exclude the lower quality subframes from the integration step. I love how easy it is to combine narrowband filter subframes.
As to the right hand side, yes, there could be some improvements... however, most people "finish" their photos in Affinity, Lightroom or Photoshop, so most of the controls on the right side do not have to be used.
Yes, a manual would be nice, but I'd prefer some work on new features, such as deconvolution and parametric color calibration.
So, ok. @meadeuser please keep it civilized. This forum is to help out people and give advice where needed. I'm offering you almost a "manual" of information about what you're running into, but that's clearly not the goal. The points are clear, we got the message.
Is there a completed written manual for this software yet? I see that users have been requesting this for years. I bought a lifetime license & like the software, but had I known up front that there was no written manual I would never have purchased this software. It did not occur to me that there would not be a manual available as even your freeware competitor, deepsky stacker, has a thorough and well-written manual, as do many other free astrophotography software programs. I see that an individual user, Charles Bracken, has written his own quick guide to fill a void, but he doesn't work for APP. The various online tutorials available are nice and all, but it is very piecemeal and a lot of extra work on my part to find what I'm looking for. I need a written manual.
