Heads Up - Affinity Photo for Windows

[PeterCPC]

You can get a free Beta version of Affinity Photo here https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/windows/

Peter

[Alien 13]

I have been using it for a while now and its realy very good it does 16 bit processing and handles Canon RAW files well, there is a thread here thats worth a look. 

Alan

 

[PeterCPC]

I missed that - thanks Alan @Alien 13

Peter

[Alien 13]

No problem Peter, the more people that get to see it the better. It is in my view far superior to any other free processing software like GIMP and even in its beta stage is very stable.

Alan

[Stub Mandrel]

Do you know what, if any, limitations there are on the beta?

What's the system for reporting any issues?

[Alien 13]

16 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Do you know what, if any, limitations there are on the beta?

What's the system for reporting any issues?

As far as I can tell there are no limits on the Beta, any issues are reported on the AP forums that are very active. https://affinity.serif.com/forum/index.php?/forum/34-affinity-photo-on-windows-beta/

Alan

Edited December 5, 2016 by Alien 13

[Stub Mandrel]

Thanks Alan,

Seems easy to use. is it compatible with Photoshop plugins or actions?

[Alien 13]

48 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Thanks Alan,

Seems easy to use. is it compatible with Photoshop plugins or actions?

I seem to remember reading somewhere that it is compatible with PS plugins but have not tried any myself, the nvidia ones I do use auto load into PS without an option to view the files.

Alan

[PeterCPC]

I have tried a few plugins like HLVG and they work fine.

Peter

[Stub Mandrel]

Managed to crash it by asking it to stack a mosaic - photoshop couldn't stack it either, but just said it couldn't.

[xtreemchaos]

ive just staxed 60 odd frames and its worked well, took 20min to load the frames but beggers carnt be pickers ,its free so carnt complain. thanks for the link Peter, I can see me using it quite often when registax wont stax. charl.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, xtreemchaos said:

ive just staxed 60 odd frames and its worked well, took 20min to load the frames but beggers carnt be pickers ,its free so carnt complain. thanks for the link Peter, I can see me using it quite often when registax wont stax. charl.

Do you stack them manually? I have big problems with regi & autosakkert if I try and stack crescent moons. Lots of data but no nice images of moon-slivers!

[xtreemchaos]

I have staxed manually with regi 5 but not for a while, I found crescents stax best by manually putting 5 to 10 aline points on the best craters even if theres a bit of cloud in the shot, it works good with sol as well when the spots a small and few. charl.

[Stub Mandrel]

26 minutes ago, xtreemchaos said:

I have staxed manually with regi 5 but not for a while, I found crescents stax best by manually putting 5 to 10 aline points on the best craters even if theres a bit of cloud in the shot, it works good with sol as well when the spots a small and few. charl.

Thanks - I've been trying to use as many points as possible and end up with scrambled egg...

[xtreemchaos]

my stacked image will only save as a affinty file, photo viewers wont open it or photoshop, am I missing something ?, charl.

sorted you have to export it then you get a choice of formats, sigh my brain hurts .

Edited December 6, 2016 by xtreemchaos

[Alien 13]

9 minutes ago, xtreemchaos said:

my stacked image will only save as a affinty file, photo viewers wont open it or photoshop, am I missing something ?, charl.

Hi Charl, to save affinity photo to another file type you have to use the export tab.

Alan

[xtreemchaos]

thanks Alan, yer mate I'm so used to photoshop my brain has a hard job with anything else, must be down to thinking too fast and old age. thanks charl.

[xtreemchaos]

heres a sample of the image I staxed, it hasn't had anything else done with it "just staxed and save as png" it staxs very well, the stars are nice and round, the subs wasn't the best, I'm quite impressed with the program. charl.

Edited December 6, 2016 by xtreemchaos
lack of letters

[PeterCPC]

That's good Charl. I tried stacking some RAW (CR2) images. It's a slow process and the second time it crashed.

I checked and Astronomy Tools will not work with it.

Peter

 

[xtreemchaos]

thanks Peter, these where tiffs I staxed, ill dig out some raw later and give it a go, there is a upgrade to download when I start the program so I best do that first.  clear skys ,charl.

ps heres whats fixed with the latest version.

Fixes

• Fixed Alignment tools breaking after customizing the toolbar
• Fixed loading TIFF files as RAW from OnOne
• Fixed PSD 32-bit mask
• Changed Develop to gamma-correct with more precision
• Changed HSL based adjustments to use more precision
• Fixed releasing Alt when dragging a Levels Adjustment slider doesn't revert the image
• Fixed Denoise dialog missing entry boxes
• Fixed performance problems when creating multiple views of the same document
• Fixed Outer shadow rendering
• Added missing Colour picker from Bevel / Emboss layer effect
• Added missing File > New... menu items to Panorama Persona
• Fixed Increase/Decrease Brush Size shortcuts are not retained when the application is restarted
• Fixed loading images with EXIF DPI set to 1
• Added noise reduction to HDR merge
• No longer add snapshots for initial Focus/HDR merge and panorama stitch
• Reduced tone mapping memory footprint
• Fixed Live Depth of Field Mode drop down always set to Elliptical when re-opening dialog
• Added Create Palette from Image
• Fixed Save is not initially disabled with an unmodified file
• Fixed rotating the healing brush with keyboard doesn't update context toolbar
• Fixed The Clipping buttons appear to be on after clicking Develop in Develop Persona
• Fixed crash when using preferences shortcut in Develop Persona
• Fixed Preferences missing from Edit menu in some Personas
• Improved handling of Type 3 fonts (which still aren't supported)

Installer

Edited December 7, 2016 by xtreemchaos

[Gasman]

It ran quite slowly when I first installed it on my old dual core 4gb ram desktop but have just bought a new i7 and its running well. I just need to get me head around the way it does things as I keep looking for a browser to choose files to edit. I`ve added that in the `feature request` site. Another interesting imaging app I`m also trialling is On1 Raw here https://on1help.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/235180448-ON1-Photo-RAW-2017-Preview-Release-Notes-Updated-12-5-

 

Steve

Edited December 7, 2016 by Gasman

[PeterCPC]

The Topaz and Nik plug ins work with this.

Peter

[Alien 13]

I just noticed that its no longer in Beta so it cost a little money now.

Alan

[xtreemchaos]

yer Alan, I think its £29.99, I got it to stax some raw straight out the camera "1200d" 25 frames and it took 45min but it did a good job, "pc specs- amd 8core, 16 gig of ram, r7 gpu" its is slow, registax would do the same with tiffs in 2min.  charl.

[The Admiral]

Yes it's £29.99, but I thought I read that that is until 26 December, when it goes up by £10?

Anyway, I've just bought and downloaded it onto my W7 desktop. Unfortunately it doesn't run as I need to install the Windows Platform, which always makes me nervous in case it butchers the operability of other applications I have and which currently run OK. I'm not one for installing all Windows updates that MS churn out on a regular basis I'm afraid .

I thought I might try it on my W8.1 laptop first, but I can't see any EULA on their website, so does anyone know how many installations one is allowed under the licence?

Ian