LongtimePhotoshopUser

Precisely, TomM1. The reason why all of my current plugins -- Eye Candy 7, Xenofex 2, Filter Forge, more than a dozen Flaming Pear plugins, Topaz Labs Glow plugin, and SuperPNG -- work with Adobe Photoshop CS6, is because their developers did the hard work, and figured out how to make them work with Photoshop. They put in the hours. Perhaps I am wrong, but the impression I am getting on this forum is that perhaps Serif may not have that same level of motivation when it comes to making Affinity Photo compatible with Adobe-style plugins. If that is the case, then as I have said before, they are going to lose a huge number of potential Affinity Photo users who depend heavily on Adobe-compatible plugins to do their daily graphic work. Personally, over the years, I have spent thousands of dollars on Photoshop and Photoshop-compatible plugins. I am not going to sacrifice all of that time and money, and all of the plugins I enjoy working with, for a product -- no matter how shiny it may look -- where none of my plugins fully work, if at all. That just doesn't make sense, in my view. Adobe has years of experience in the graphics market. Their products are rock solid, and they work. So I think that R C-R's comments are a bit blown out of proportion. Photoshop is not the old buggy that he seems to think. Thousands -- if not millions -- of happy Photoshop users are testament to that.

Actually, I have been considering that option for weeks now, if not months.

Well, I'd say that we have pretty much driven this issue into the ground. The problems with Filter Forge, Eye Candy 7, and all of the other Photoshop-compatible plugins that I use, is clearly related to a partial implementation of the Adobe plugin SDK in Affinity Photo. Only Serif can do something about it, if they want to. I've already made my position clear. No complete Adobe plugin compatibility, no Affinity Photo purchase on my end.

I was not aware of that. Thanks for that info tidbit.

I assume you mean something like the following. If this is indeed what you are saying -- I am not really sure -- Filter Forge is still not giving the desired results, even when I do this: 1. Create a new Affinity Photo document. 2. Choose "Elliptical Marquee Tool". 3. Go to "Colour" pane and choose a color. 4. Use "Flood Fill Tool" to make the circle from step 2 blue. 5. Choose Select > Selection from Layer". 6. Choose Select > Refine Edges > Output > Selection > New layer with mask. 7. Choose Filter > Plugins > Filter Forge > Filter Forge. 8. Upon doing this, FF fills the entire layer, just like before , and not just the circle in the layer. In fact, when I do all of the above, right before I select the FF plugin, the circle is not even selected in the layer if I do step 6. And, as I have already made clear, if I do step 5 and skip step 6, then FF won't even launch. I even tried reversing the selection so that it includes the whole layer, but not the circle in it. Again, FF refuses to launch. So, clearly, the issue is with selections, as we have amply discussed before.

Thank you, but they have already been informed, and in fact have already responded as well. Please read further back in this thread where I quote their responses to me. Thanks!

That is indeed the bottom line. There is only so much that the FF team can do to make Filter Forge compatible with Affinity Photo. Not to drag the horse through the mud, but in this case, I am convinced that the onus is really on Serif at this point. They are the ones who appear to be dragging their feet about this. If what I've been told is correct -- that is, that they are developing their own plugin system -- if it does not include full Adobe SDK compatibility, then they've lost me as a potential customer. I am not about to learn a whole new plugin system, or go out and try to find plugins that do the same thing as my Adobe plugins, when I am already very comfortable with Photoshop and my Photoshop plugins. I would rather just bite the bullet and pay Adobe $20/month, and thus avoid that hassle altogether.

Yes, I can certainly confirm what you are saying. I've been a solid Mac user since 1990, so I am fully aware of how with many Windows developers, building apps for the Macintosh is just an afterthought, and a way to increase their revenue stream. I have come across so many apps over the years where there has not been a Mac-compatible version; and often, even when there is, it is seriously lacking, compared to the Windows version of the same product. As I said, they want to milk Mac customers, but without really putting their heart into development, either because they are just being lazy and selfish, or because they lack the skill to really make a great Mac-oriented product. And, yes, when it comes to commercial apps, there is definitely dishonesty on both sides of the fence. Some unscrupulous developers will say anything -- even if it is a partial truth -- in order to snag a few more users in their net. So, in this case, yes, I would have to agree that both Serif and Filter Forge are not being completely above board regarding this issue.

Ashf, that is not very reassuring. It is their product, but if it turns out that they are not going to fully support Adobe-compatible plugins, then I think they are shooting themselves in the foot. I don't need to tell you that many thousands -- perhaps millions -- of people use Adobe products and Adobe-compatible plugins every single day. In my view, to not include full Adobe plugin SDK support in Affinity Photo is to ignore a huge potential market. And that starts with me. As a longtime Photoshop user who has a very established Photoshop workflow, switching to Affinity Photo is hard enough. As I've already said, not being able to use any of my Adobe-compatible plugins is just putting the nail in the coffin.

Well, as far as I can tell, there is not much that Alien Skin can do about it as long as Affinity Photo does not fully adhere to Adobe's plugin SDK standard. The bottom line for me at least, is that I cannot seriously consider switching to Affinity Photo until the Affinity Photo development team seriously addresses this issue. I use Eye Candy 7, Xenofex 2, Filter Forge, more than a dozen Flaming Pear plugins, Topaz Labs Glow plugin, and SuperPNG on a regular basis in Adobe Photoshop. None of them work fully or completely in Affinity Photo, if at all. So, while I could save $200/year by switching to Affinity Photo, at this point, switching would seriously cripple my daily graphic work. As I said, it is a very nice program, but in my view, it is just too early for the Affinity Photo development team to be making the claim -- as they do -- that Affinity Photo is Photoshop plugins compatible, when it is clearly not. In fact, I would dare say that it is a dishonest selling point to even make such a claim.

For those of you who are interested, I heard from Alien Skin again regarding their Eye Candy 7 plugin. Once again they confirmed what I already knew. That is, that the problem lies with the Affinity Photo app, and NOT with their plugin. They also confirmed that the above instructions are for a Windows machine, and NOT for a Macintosh user, such as Glicky and I. Here is what they had to say:

Glicky, I communicated with their help desk yesterday and earlier today, and fully explained the problem to them. Their response was the following. I tried out their suggestion, but it does not work on my iMac. I told them what happened after I tried their suggested method, and am now waiting to hear from them again. Here is what they suggested:

Glicky, before you get excited about trying to use Eye Candy 7 in Affinity Photo, please take note of what I said above. That is, that Eye Candy's window is all monochrome, so you can't even tell what you are doing. Yes, you can apply effects, but you will really be working in the dark. Here is a screen capture that I took. I hope it shows up here:

Glicky, I don't know what platform you are on, but on my 27" 2017 5K iMac, after properly installing Eye Candy 7 in Affinity Photo's "Preferences" pane, you should see a new entry under Affinity Photo's Filters > Plugins menu which says Alien Skin > Eye Candy 7. Once you select Eye Candy 7 in the menu, it will bring up a separate window for Eye Candy, just as it does in Photoshop. Again, this is how it works on a Macintosh. I don't know about Windows machines. It may behave differently.

John, I see that you are on a Windows machine. However, that is NOT true, at least not on a Mac running Affinity Photo. As I explained in the other thread, on the Mac, unless you specify a selection, in either Photoshop or Affinity Photo, Filter Forge will apply the effect to the entire layer. You HAVE to use the select tool if you only want Filter Forge to apply the effect to part of the layer. This applies to both rasterized text layers, as well as to layers containing images. To reiterate, Filter Forge applies its effects to the entire layer, unless you specify otherwise with the select tool. Look at the images that FirstDefence posted in the other thread. It is as clear as day.