GFS

And there I was thinking that I could use the iPad to do some work with focus merging ... but .. uhhh ... no! Such a shame, because the AFP focus merging is really fast and extremely good, but unfortunatley, it turns specular highlights into white blobs, so you need the sources panel to be able to remove this messy treatment.

Hi MEB, thanks for the reply. I couldn't find a Mac beta to use instead, so I had to workaround ... neither of the above 'fixes' actually fixed it for me.

Thanks haakoo. That's just the attitude. Perhaps you work for Serif?? Anyway, I already said goodbye, but seeing as it's my profession, I have to deal with the past as well as the future.

I don't think Serif realise how bad this is ... I stopped using AFP because of the several serious masking issues I reported 2-3 years back. Nothing was done until 1.7, which fixed some of them, but even then, not fully. Yesterday morning I had a client asking for some variations on some images, from back then and I've just spent an hour trying to work out what the heck is going on. I realise that most amateurs don't get into much compositing, but it's crucial to many pros and this is definitely NOT what I would call a professional approach. When I suggested a couple of years back, to one of Serif's forum guys, that he was talking crap, when he said it's normal that a Preview doesn't reflect the result, he reported me for bad behaviour, which I guess was an unfortunate pointer and it doesn't look like anything has improved. I'm fairly annoyed right now, which doesn't seem like the attitude you want to be encouraging. Serif really really really needs to address ALL of these masking issues as quickly as possible.

I think this will depend on whoever and whatever apps, if any, take advantage of MacOS 10.15 giving developers access to the Photos database. We just don't know yet. It hasn't even shipped. (Another month?) Obviously it would be in the interests of any developer to make a transition to their system as simple as possible. I would imagine that Catalogs and Collections would be easy as they're essentially a database question. Adjustments may be harder.

It looks like he's proceeding with the DAM aspects. As for using Managed Libraries in Aperture ... most users didn't understand what this involved, or that Aperture offers the choice of both Managed and Referenced, with a fast and easy way of moving files from one to the other. As any database developer would tell you, the golden rule is to have everything managed, otherwise the risk of damage/loss from things being messed up by human beings remains very real. Aperture's Managed database is very good (and can be read in the Finder if you really want) and continues to be used with Photos. Since the changes to the MacOS file system, with 10.14, all of these assets are much safer, because they are constantly tracked. If Nik Bhatt's RAW Power can tap into the Photos database, as he believes he can, then he should be able to quite feasibly recreate the vital DAM aspects of Aperture. The added bonus, is that Apple's RAW engine is very very good. Edit: (Of course, Serif will also be aware of the changes to the OS coming with 10.15, so they too could quite easily produce a DAM front-end for Affinity ... but it would only be for Mac)

On the Mac, this is called the Finder, although most people wouldn't be aware of how powerful it is.

You may be in luck! Nik Bhatt, ex-lead of Aperture, brought out his excellent RAW Power app a while back. It taps into the MacOS built-in RAW decoding, which is used/maintained for Photos. This is what Aperture uses too, although Aperture can no longer use the current decoding. A couple of weeks ago at Apple's WWDC, Apple announced that they are going to allow developers to access to Photos' database in 10.15 Catalina. This means that apps like RAW Power will be able to use the Photos database, which crucially will allow them to share all that metadata and perhaps the adjustments. So I would imagine, that you will be able to import your files into Photos, but then ... not use Photos ... and instead use something else, with more features and a better UI more suited to pros, like RAW Power. The long and short of it is that Nik could build RAW Power into as good a DAM as Aperture AND it will be able to read your Aperture Libraries (because Photos already can). Did I just make your day? Maybe give him some encouragement ... https://twitter.com/gentcoders https://gentlemencoders.com/raw-power-for-macos/

Thanks for the replies. As you said Walt and R C-R, AFP is respecting the metadata, which is great and my problem was coming from the way that Aperture handles files which are lacking a metadata date. In fact, what it does is it displays the Finder date in the exif date field, but if these files are exported *as originals*, that date is not included, presumably because it is not a part of the original file. So that is as it should be. If you export as a version, then the date is applied, which equally, makes sense. On top of this, it turns out that it's trivial to set the date permanently in the originals, within Aperture. So my problems is solved without any headache ... just a lot of fiddling, checking, searching etc. Also good to see that AFP is handling batch conversion in a useful way.

Thanks again and I should have been more specific about which date, but those still don't answer the question. FWIW and not relevant for much longer, Aperture can batch change EXIF date. So I already have this ability. The question is how to batch convert (or retain in AFP when using Batch Job) the original file date, so that the new file's date matches the old (original) file's date. I have many thousands of these images, so doing them one-by-one would be time consuming.

Thank you for the reply. These don't address the issue though. The question is not how to change a file's date, it is how to retain the date of the original file when batch converting (the exif date ... not the Finder date).

Hi, I'm finally preparing to move away from Aperture, which I still use for its DAM, which remains by far the best, as far as I can see. Sigh. I have several thousand old tiff files, that are unsupported in 64bit (you can test this by starting up in 64bit mode on you Mac). Happily, whilst AFP 1.6.7 choked and crashed horribly trying to batch convert these old .tif files to modern versions, via New Batch Job, AFP 1.7beta cruises through them with much appreciated speed and solidity. So far I have made a >2,000 batch conversion. Problem/Question: Obviously the Batch Job is producing a new Tiff LZW file, which has a new date. Is there any way within AFP that I can set the date to the same as the original file (I can't find anything) or does anyone have any suggestions how I can keep the original file date? I suppose it could be done in the Finder via Applescript, but this is beyond my capabilities. Seems like this is something that could be desirable for quite a few people.

There is a bug with inPainting on a pixel layer. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I'm *guessing* it may be to do with having elements of your file (layers) being outside the canvas area. Anyway ... this fixes it for me: •Group your layer •Copy the Group •From File Menu choose - 'New From Clipboard' •Use Transform to get your Group back to correct position and also resize canvas as necessary •UnGroup (This may fix some other weird stuff too)

I stopped using AFPhoto 18 months ago, due to the extensive masking bugs. None fixed to date. I bought but never used AFPhoto iPad, but decided to give it a try out a few days ago, as I had to work on a legacy file. Disappointed to find more masking/brushes bugs and tools which lack functionality compared to the desktop version. When Serif first launched the AFDesigner/Photo betas, the company performance and responsiveness to comments, bug reports and feature requests was phenomenal. I think they've made strategic mistakes in expanding too fast, though obviously they would completely disagree ... it's incredibly hard to build a good reputation, but very easy to loose it. My own view is they need to build bug free apps, before they move onto more (presumably bug filled) apps.

And there I was thinking that the cross between Michael Jackson and Fagin look was so appealing. So why is this even an option?? I have to say though, that after almost 25 years working with a Wacom, it’s kind of strange to be working directly on the screen. Difficult without a circle showing where the brush is though.

I’ve been trying out the iPad vs of AFP (I moved away from AFP Mac 15months ago, due to its numerous masking issues ... still unresolved). However, having to work on some legacy files in the last week or two, I thought I’d give the iPad vs a go. I’d bought, but never used it. I have the 12.9 Pro and Apple Pencil. However! Using the Apple Pencil, I’ve found it really hard to avoid accidental input on the iPad and it can be a nightmare for messing up work. The problem is that your ‘pinky’ can be inputting without you noticing, or even I think, the side of the palm. I’ve even seen it happening in some of the Affinity instructional videos. So ... being old enough to recall darkrooms and the handling of negs and trannies, I happen to have some white cotton gloves lying around. The perfect solution? Not only does it work perfectly, but you have the added bonus of constantly polishing your screen!! Cost? ~2€. No complicated programming or software revisions required, only a pair of sharp scissors. Machine washable. Good for cold winter days. Eco-friendly. ‘It just works’. Maybe Serif could do their own cool designs? Michael Jackson eat your heart out:

18 months, no comment from Serif? Sigh ...

Hi MEB, thanks for jumping in. The colour picker is indeed the problem, but the bug actually goes beyond that. Obviously, you wouldn’t choose RGB sliders to change the colour from white to grey to black (3 sliders instead of 1). But playing around with them, I find that the HSL sliders are also buggy (which is what I normally use and therefore why I tried another colour model when I found it not working correctly). Sometimes the HSL choice is refusing to paint at all, when white is selected. I switch to black and it’s as expected, back to white ... nothing. In fact, right now, switching around, I can’t get HSL to paint with white.

Any chance of a reply from someone at Serif on this?

OK, here's a couple of grabs ... Mac & iPad. I can't find anything on the iPad that I'm doing wrong. Opacity set to 100% etc. GFS-AFP-iPad-2.mp4 GFS-AFP-iPad.mp4

Bumb on this ... where do I send the screen-recordings?

Hi Lee, can I send you the grabs?

Perhaps there is something that I am not understanding about the iPad vs, which I've had for a long time, but am only just trying out now. I have a file, that I can brush a mask in and out with black and white on the desktop vs. and it behaves as expected. When I transfer the file to iPad and do the exact same thing, it behaves as if the brush is grey, whether I choose black or white. Does anyone have any idea where I may be going wrong ... or is this a bug?

I've been working with pixel-shift (previously known as multi-shot) since the year 2000. In answer to your question ... No. Pixel-shift works by moving the chip by 1 or 0.5 pixel increments, in order to capture full-colour at each and every pixel site. This is because of the way a Bayer Pattern works. Each pixel has only one colour (RGGB). When you take a picture, the Bayer demosaicing 'interpolates' (makes up) the missing colour for the varying pixels according to their colour (RGGB). This process can only be done at the chip/demosaicing stage. It is not the same as having 4 images and blending them together, although as it happens, blending several images together will reduce noise. This is because noise is random and so is equalised (reduced) when several images are blended together. What pixel-shift gives you, is a non-interpolated, pure colour image. It is only useable for stationary subjects, although the Pentax K-1 (and new K-11) can automatically replace movement artefacts, by replacing those areas with one of the 4 single-shot files that are used to produce the pixel-shift image.

Indeed. Aperture is a tool designed specifically for photographers, although iView Media Pro was designed as a general media asset management tool. I think if you’re talking about managing a wide range of assets in the context of a design agency or advertising agency, then you are talking about a completely different set of problems. First off, it needs to be networked and you need more than just media asset tools. You need to include email, text and presentation tools too. Something like Extensis Portfolio is designed to do much of this, but wouldn’t be able to handle the communication and text file, or presentations side of things. For that you would need to add-on some sort of database, like Filemaker Pro, which incidentally, has the very strong advantage of being cross-platform and cross-device and in the cloud (if you want). Coincidentally, in the last year or so, I’ve thought about writing a Filemaker solution for myself, for cataloguing/DAM to replace Aperture. Obviously there would be no retouching tools, but in terms of managing the assets, it would be excellent ... better than Aperture and with the incredible advantage, that you can make it do anything you want. It can also work as managed or referenced and it can be made to open files in whichever app you want. But until Aperture finally breaks (could take years) and unless at that time there is no equivalent to migrate to, then there is no deed to do so. As for the Finder. It is actually much more powerful than most people realise. I use Tags quite extensively. These are really powerful. You can use these for asset management. For example, you could create a new Tag for say; ‘Client-X’. This Tag is then available system wide for all files. So, Tag some files and then add the Tag to the Finder’s Sidebar and you have a super-fast, one-click way of gathering ALL those assets into a single Finder window in a fraction of a second. Also ... Tags are synced via iCloud and your AppleID, so if you’re working in AFPhoto for iPad, then they work across your devices. There is no limit on the number of Tags you can create. (I should note though, that Custom Tags, are not preserved when sharing files with other users, so they are not suitable for a collaborative work environment). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stood next to someone trying to find something on their Mac. Going through endless hierarchical Folder structures, sometimes giving up in frustration. It’s like the worst database management you can imagine. I gave up on that years ago. AFAIC, the modern way, is to use Tags and Metadata and Smart Folders. It is so much more efficient and so much faster. Even on the most basic level, in database terms, it is a far better system. (Smart Folders are actually just searches, but can be extremely powerful searches). For example ... I only use Smart Folders in Mail. The great advantage here, in database terms, is that using Smart Folders, a single item, can exist in many places. With conventional Folder management, a single item can only exist in one place ... and at some point you have to decide where that place is ... and then you forget. Say you work with an old friend called Peter, who is married to your sister. Do you file his emails in Work, Friends or Family? All my Mail just stays in InBox and Sent, but with Smart Folders, Peter’s emails would show up in all 3 of those folders. Actually, I hardly organise any files in the Finder and similarly, in Aperture I have quite a large number of Referenced files, which reside on an external hard-drive. I don’t put these in Folders on that drive, instead, everything is simply dumped at root level. The advantage of this, is that you will never loose a file, because should anything happen to your Aperture file and you have to rebuild or something awful, you just point Aperture at the drive and it will find everything. No searching through Folders. So the Finder with Tags and Smart Folders ... but ... there is also Spotlight Comments in the Finder. So you can very easily add metadata to any file of any kind. As many keywords as you want. When you combine this with Tags and Smart Folders, you have a very powerful system for file management and amazingly ... you don’t actually have to organise anything, if you don’t want to. You could top all this off by building your own Services (Contextual Menu) very easily using Automator, e.g. for Batch adding of Spotlight Comments, which is a single step Automator Action ... nothing to actually build. Using this you can set, or append to, or clear, or in any other way alter, Spotlight Comments for thousands of files in just a few seconds. Equally, you could have a Folder with a Folder Action, which tags and adds Comments automatically to anything dropped into it (so you don’t forget! ) I actually use Smart Folders extensively in Aperture, as I find them much easier and more malleable than the Search Bar, which can only do one search at a time. With Smart Folders, you can have as many searches as you want, just one click away.