Affinity Photo and Mac Software

[Littleguy80]

I'm still in the learning phase of image processing. After watching Nik Szymanek's excellent talk, I picked up Affinity Photo for my Mac. I also bough Dave Eagle's guide to processing with it which is also excellent. The barrier I have hit is plugins! So far Dave has recommended AstroFlat Pro and Deep Sky Colours plugins, neither of which are available on Mac. I have got the trial of Gradient Xterminator working though. There seems to be lots of other tools around that are available for Mac. I don't want to go down the routine of running Windows on my Mac so I'd appreciate any suggestions on which software to use alongside Affinity Photo for processing. 

Edited June 7, 2020 by Littleguy80

[uhb1966]

Hi littleguy80,

i am running Startools on my Mac for postprocessing. It has a free test version. I also use Gimp 2.10, a free photoshop alternative for the Mac.

Best, U. 

[Littleguy80]

27 minutes ago, uhb1966 said:

Hi littleguy80,

i am running Startools on my Mac for postprocessing. It has a free test version. I also use Gimp 2.10, a free photoshop alternative for the Mac.

Best, U. 

Hi, many thanks for the response. I’ll gove startools a try  

[SplintUK]

I use Nebulosity on Mac for registration and stacking, then Affinity for processing. 

Have you found a way around the problem of using Affinity Photo with GradientXterminator where it asks for email and license every time you use gradientXterminator. I have the full license but it prompts every time. 

[wornish]

Have you looked using Wine to wrap Windows programs so they run on your Mac.  It's not too difficult to set up.

https://www.winehq.org

I use PIPP, Registax6 and AstraImage all work great on my iMac. Windows itself is not required.

[happy-kat]

There a video on YT on using affinity for astro processing by their own staff product champion.

Startools is give or take the same cost as that one plugin but gives so much more.

Stacking you could use Siriil (might need to check spelling)

Edited June 27, 2020 by happy-kat

[Littleguy80]

10 hours ago, SplintUK said:

I use Nebulosity on Mac for registration and stacking, then Affinity for processing. 

Have you found a way around the problem of using Affinity Photo with GradientXterminator where it asks for email and license every time you use gradientXterminator. I have the full license but it prompts every time. 

I’ve only got the trail and haven’t found a fix for the constant license prompt bug unfortunately 

[Littleguy80]

1 hour ago, wornish said:

Have you looked using Wine to wrap Windows programs so they run on your Mac.  It's not too difficult to set up.

https://www.winehq.org

I use PIPP, Registax6 and AstraImage all work great on my iMac. Windows itself is not required.

Does it work work with most recent version of MacOS? I thought I read it stopped working since Apple dropped support for 32 bit apps

[uhb1966]

I love wine but it's really a hell to configure with some software. If you just want to run Windows software, and don't want to spend a lot of money, virtualbox is free while vmware is much better but costs a few squid. You will also need a Windows license key and install medium which might cost anything betweeen 10 and 40 squid.  

[happy-kat]

3 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

I’ve only got the trail and haven’t found a fix for the constant license prompt bug unfortunately 

I've got the paid version and have been unable to use it in Affinity it won't run, and it no longer works in my 2019 paint shop pro and I'm using the right bit depth.

I ever my email and key but that's no ability to run the plugin, it did previously work in psp (i may need to check that there isn't a newer version of the plugin to use)

Hasta la vista green plugin works in both applications.

Edited June 27, 2020 by happy-kat

[wornish]

22 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Does it work work with most recent version of MacOS? I thought I read it stopped working since Apple dropped support for 32 bit apps

Not sure to be honest.  I have intentionally kept my iMac running Mojave 10.14.6 because the later releases seem to stop anything that is not an Apple approved app from working.  And with their latest announcements about moving to ARM that situation is going to get even worse.

 

[uhb1966]

8 hours ago, wornish said:

Not sure to be honest.  I have intentionally kept my iMac running Mojave 10.14.6 because the later releases seem to stop anything that is not an Apple approved app from working.  And with their latest announcements about moving to ARM that situation is going to get even worse.

 

@wornish you are totally right. For the same reason, i stick with 10.13.6. I have used Macs since 2008 for making a living but i´m not sure whether i'll buy another mac again.

About wine: if you are not going to update that software, wine *may* be an option, but i'd use vmware w/ a current version of Win10.

[Littleguy80]

Do most people go down the virtualised route rather than using native Mac apps? @happy-kat’s suggestion of Startools looks like a good option at a very reasonable price. 

[MarkAR]

I went native with KStars/Ekos for automation and PixInsight for processing. Don't need anything else except maybe Stellarium for scanning what's about.

[happy-kat]

As the trial is unlimited and free, and there is a Siril tutorial on the startools tutorials page shared by a user, as all free have a go.

[wornish]

15 hours ago, uhb1966 said:

@wornish you are totally right. For the same reason, i stick with 10.13.6. I have used Macs since 2008 for making a living but i´m not sure whether i'll buy another mac again.

........

I feel exactly the same and I have used Macs for 18 years. I remember OSX 10 (Cheetah)!

Apples decision to drop 32bit apps for no logical reason is very frustrating if you are into astrophotography. 

[Tenor Viol]

The reason for moving away from 32 bit addressing is the 4gb limit puts on memory addressability.  

[JamesF]

7 hours ago, wornish said:

I feel exactly the same and I have used Macs for 18 years. I remember OSX 10 (Cheetah)!

Apples decision to drop 32bit apps for no logical reason is very frustrating if you are into astrophotography. 

Just wait until they switch to ARM processors :D

James