78deluxe

Yep, done this for years. Not only for NIK but many of the other programs that work as a plugin in AF (Portrait Pro, Topaz Labs, Luminar Neo, Aurora HDR, etc)

if you want to give Serif more money I'm sure you can buy a few extra licenses and hand them out as gifts, or put them in a drawer as un-used. As for me, I'm hoping we see years worth of updates on the v2 platform we all just paid for after the upgrade from v1. The competition made some revolutionary changes in their products in the last year, and AI is taking hold on virtually all other platforms than Affinity (and Capture One) so I'm expecting Serif to continue the update path to remain relevant as the price went up substantially over time.

This was a feature in V1 but removed in v2. Grouping is still possible but you have to remember a short cut or go into the top menu system

Yeah, inpainting is a lifesaver. Love that thing.

It isn't anywhere close to what some other "AI" driven options can provide today (let alone tomorrow). But yes, I'm aware of the Selection brush tool that was developed with some context aware parimeters working in the background.

There are many monotonus tasks that AI can speed up the workflow so you can spend more time on the more creative aspects of a project. Single click selection of a subject for example. This uses AI to accomplish. Do you really feel that spending an hour on an extremely complicated selection and refinement process is time well spent, when it could be done in a single click? Does it take away artistic merit of your final image if you made the selection manually or of the computer assisted in the process? AI as individual adjustable tools are fine with me. That said, I think Affinity needs to focus on adding to the core of the product (and make sure to squash any bugs along with way for stability), but AI in different capacities is here to stay and I expect it to continue to improve and provide addiitonal value to people that do not have unlimited time.

Downloaded first day of release, but wanted to say thanks for the update! The unexpected unsplash changes which caused the crashes are thankfully working properly again in a production version!

Why would you promote a policy that is far worse for the customer than what Affinity has already given us historically? I realize you are a "noobie" but Affinity hasn't asked up to pay for new features in 4+ years. Yes they are likely on the verge of doing so, but for those of us that are not new, a yearly update price would effecitivly start to look like the standard yearly upgrade/update pricing model most consumers are not a fan of. Lots of software companies have gone the route you suggested Sonar when Gibson owned them for example - and they went belly up. Affinity is at the point where they can charge an upgrade again and not allienate the user base. And if these sales are any indication, the upgrade price should be pretty reasonable.

The generate revenue comment isn't speculation. We know Affinity has over 2M users across the apps, a figure they shared a while ago. As I said, even with a small upgrade cost to get the majority to upgrade, that would mathematically generate a ton of revenue. If you work in software development as you claim. Kind of shameful you propose any upgrade cost wouldn't be worth it to you, even to maintain and receive modest new features for a few years. (they haven't had an upgrade charge in over 3 years)

Talk about speculation. Who's to say they don't offer extremely low price upgrade costs to encourage the entire base to upgrade (even if the new feature set seems minor at launch), which would generate a ton of revenue and help fund larger updates over the next phase of development.

While I frequent this forum (eagerly awaiting the official 1.9 drop for example)...and own the trilogy suite of apps and books - as well as some extra content (which are really 3rd party developed products in the Affinity store). I'm thankful I got the email this morning. I sent notes to friends and also posted on an unrelated to visual arts forum where I'm a trusted member, and got multiple responses of "thank you and just purchased the suite." Some of these purchases were also combined with I didn't even know these apps were on the market. Not everyone has a sense of loyalty. I do. Affinity made these fanatstic apps and offered them with free updates and at a price point virtually anyone can afford (at least one of them). That breeds loyalty. If you don't have some urge to say thank you and pass on the info to others that would benefit from these amazing products, I pitty you and whatever crewl childhood you had to make you the way you are today. 😂

Only sad part of this news is it also likely coincides with an expectation that 1.9 isn't coming out until next year. 😥

Well it appears the new book sold so well that shipments for many of them is delayed. Congrats on the over abundence of sales, but also frustrating for the pre-order as I hoped to have it this week to dive in during vaction.

Depends on the video tutorial. Many of the Affinity made video tutorials are great. However, most seem to be more in the context of a particular function. The workbook walks you through steps of an entire project that touches on many "functions." When you consume video tutorials you are frequently having to piece things and ideas together for yourself. There is value to both approaches and I think they compliment each other. The book may outline a few steps for a particular tool...that might open your eyes for a more indepth search on what all that tool can do (which you might find a video on). Videos can also be difficult to skim through and have unwanted downtime. I haven''t used the books as much as I should have, but there is value to them. I've learned things from video tutorials as well as the workbooks. Why limit your knowledge with one or the other? 😀 I think the book chapters are more similar to a 3rd party tutorial for a project (not how to use a particular tool or funciton). Not all of those are as professionaly condensed and edited as what the workbook provides.

While it isn't intitive, it is VERY usable. I had no idea that function existed and it is as efficient as I could imagine. Once you know the function it is as easy as can be.

Related to this update...it seems Affinity has both put out Optimized for the new chip and compatiblity of the latest Apple OS....are these things not expected for many months from now in the Adobe "alternative" lineup? Affinity reported some 2 million users a while ago or something like that. Seems it is time for us Affinity users to utalize the "network effect advantages" we have. I'm not a MAC user, but the fact Affinity just made this announcement and what I'm hearing from the dark side that the competitiaon is many months out from optimizaiton and full support, suggests Affinity is playing in that professional network space. The number of users with the M1 chip today??? Pretty much beta testers, so they are well ahead of the curve.

I'd imagine unlikely in the near term. Nothing like this in the beta so far. As for plugins, luminar 4 works in affinity as a plugin and can do the same kind of thing, they were first to market with one that really worked. Upcoming Luminary AI suggests it will work even better than either since it will handle water reflection. Hopefully Affinity will follow suit.

Many of us don't use Adobe for a reason. Please don't use them as any sort of model of what Affinity should be doing. I own multiple computers (a proud supporter of Affinity and strongly encourge anyone that has any remote interest in visual art of any form to jump on board and pay the very resaonble entry fee). I appreciate the fact I'm not limited to just a couple installs for the machines I personally use (one at a time of course).

I mean it is the best related to many factors. The tools it provides for color adjustments are more advanced and refined than any other commercial RAW development program (in the PRO version). The advanced Color Editor and Skin Color tabs are unique in the selection and adjustment of colors which you can then combine with tools that are similar to other programs (Levels with RGB and Luma, Levels) and it has a color wheel section similar to class leading Video Color Grading options. The other tools just feel more refined than other options. Capture One also creates a better starting point when working with a file. They simply have better camera profiles than the competition. Noise reduction isn't the best (but the current C1-20 is better than v13 was) and better than most of the competition. Though noise reduction is really more relevant for people shooting with lower end cameras or in very low light and not able to control the light. Capture One will give you no only the best place to start with a RAW file, but also a better end result (assuming you know what you are doing). Especially if you have the pro version and dive into Layers. RAW processing is the most important step in getting a great image after it has been taken, and not getting the best result there will compromise your ability to get the best edit in Affinity in my experience. I export in "16 bit TIFF"uncompressed (then the ICC Profile will depend on the color space you want to work in) format out of Capture One into Affinity Photo, this provides a "lossless" version and the best quality for Affinity to work with.

No affiliation and I've never used it so no clue if it even works. That said, you might reasearch this:

If you shoot Nikon, drop what you are doing and grab the Free Nikon Express for Capture One. Capture One is the best RAW development software. The Express version will get your started (and for free) and if you like what it does the paid - Pro Nikon for Full Capture One (if you shoot different camera systems) are then options that offer more advanced control and features. I've tried all the RAW converters on the Market (and own most of them), Capture One is the most refined and professional for RAW development. It is nice that Affinity has the development persona built in, but I never use it expecting to get world class results. Maybe they will create a fully developed RAW editing program down the line. As for the millions of answers/opinions....this is true. But If everyone was gifed a copy of each platform, I don't think you would have many that do not choose C1 if they are stirictly developing the RAW adn then exporting into a pixel based editor such as Affinity Photo. Other options exist on the market becuase C1 is expensive, and some people want cheap and also options to put creative effects on an image (beyond just color grading) without leaving the application. Darktable is nice for a free program, but it feels VERY clunky compared to C1.

I've seen a couple "flash" sales on it since C1 - 20 came out. I really hope they get on the loyalty discount train, as the upgrade prices are usually ridiculously close to that to add minimal features. $180 is indeed one of the better deals I've seen on it. It is also in line with there is likley a new version ready to drop in about 3 months...just far enough out that one would still have to pay the $120-150 upgrade cost ($120 if they do another pre-order type of deal - where you don't even know what you will be getting) If Darktable could speed up the processing speed, and simplify the toolset and layout, it woudl be a much easier "sell" but as it is, feels more like for advanced users that also don't need a speedy workflow. It can produce great results, but feels like it takes a lot more time and effort to get there.

Not exactly. But there are options for "pinch" zoom in and out if you have a "pen and touch" type of tablet. You can set buttons on a tablet to zoom in and out, but it is unlikley they have the fluidity you get with a mouse wheel.

Your understanding of catalog vs sessions is indeed the basic idea. As for the value, it is all relative. I own and use Capture One. However, $600 for 3 years of use/updates is not "cost effective" according to the average user. It is very difficult to get high paying photography work these days to offset that kind of cost. Even Adobe is cheaper over 3 years by a large margin $360. And there are alternatives such as On1, Luminar, etc that are cheaper than that. And those that are serious hobbiests not making money from photography, that is very serious money for software. I'm not going to say it isn't worth it, as I think it is amazing. But it lacks quite a few niceties (HDR, Focus Stacking, etc) and it is one of the most expesnive opitons on the market. If you plan to buy a camera and use that camera for say 8 years and not update the software...yeah, $300 is fairly reasonable. For most users, I think it is tough pill to swallow. The yearly upgrade costs more than most compettors buying the product outright. The feature set they added from v12 to v20 at launch were frankly very minimal, and I expect the same next year with a heafty upgrade tag on it. They did add one decent update during the year (and I could mention some bugs introduced in 12 to 20 that are pretty annoying.....but overall the updates they make each year are not jaw dropping, and not inline with the added cost to stay current (and the ability to use newer camera bodies with it). And if you skip a year for updates, the update price goes up even more for when you do.... $200.

Wow, those are frantastic. I own a vintage tobacco burst Les Paul, and other than the zebra pickups (vs. silver) that actaully looks super close to the "real thing" Gold tophat knobs and all. Stat looks spot on as well. Way more impressive than I expcted (as a long time guitar player) when I saw the thread title. Well done!