CPP

I currently use Media Pro from Phase 1. It used to be called iView Media Pro before it was purchased first by Microsoft and then by Phase 1. Unfortunately neither of these two companies has done much in the way of further development of the product. It is an excellent DAM but has the downside that it does not support Afphoto or Afdesign files; also it is still 32 bit software. I read the other day that sometime in the next couple of years Apple is likely to require that all applications are 64 bit and therefore it will no longer be possible to run Media Pro unless in a VM. Then, a week or so ago I discovered a DAM product called Neofinder (Mac only) which is 64 bit and which does support Afphoto and Afdesign files. The cost for a single user licence is $40 but before you buy you can download a free trial version. Unlike Media Pro there seem to be regular new releases of the product. I recommend that you give it a try.

Not sure if this is the answer to your question: When you have drawn your marquee around whatever portion of your image that you like, you should then press Cmd-C to copy it followed by Cmd-V to paste it and the selected portion will end up on a new layer.

Thank you to Oval and MEB. Now I feel stupid, but you were quite right of course - by first deleting the Photo and Designer apps I was then able to download the 1.4.2 versions

Thank you MEB. I tried the Terminal command route without success and then I tried to delete the App store app but got the following message: “App Store.app” can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by OS X.

Still can't get 1.4.2 in the UK Mac App Store despite trying logging out and re-booting. It merely takes me to a screen with a button that says open and if I select it opens my existing 1.4.1 version.

I store my photos in a DAM (Media Pro) where they are sorted in file creation date sequence. If I amend any of them using Affinity Photo the file creation date gets changed. I then use a utility app called "A Better Finder Attributes" to change the date back to the date of when the photo was first taken. An alternative would be for me to store my photos in file name sequence but since I import photos from different cameras this would end up as a mess. It would be useful if a switch could be selected when saving or exporting a photo for Affinity Photo allowing the option for the file creation date to be left unchanged.

Updates not yet showing in App Store in the UK.

Hi TonyW mystrawberrymonkey posted a video called: "Affinity Photo Beta - How to place a logo and text in perspective". If you Google this you should find the Youtube video which addresses exactly what you want to do.

Agree totally that the support Phase One provide is poor. However Media Pro is a fairly mature and stable product that doesn't need much support. The development was done by organisations other than Phase One, who as far as I can see have not added much value.

Hi Greg, I use Media Pro as a DAM. It started life as iView Media Pro, was purchased by Microsoft who renamed it Expression Media but did not do much with it. It was then sold to Phase One (the owners of Capture One Pro) but Phase One do not seem to be developing it further which is a shame since it is a great DAM. As far as I am concerned a major advantage it offers over Photos is that rather than employing its own file storage structure you manage the storage of your photos wherever you like. Media Pro then builds a database recording where the photos are and you can view thumbnails of them in Media Pro. You double click on a thumbnail to view the original photo from wherever it is stored. It can also support slideshows. It is very fast: my database contains some 13,000 photos but it can go much much more than that. Also you can index and classify your photos in numerous different ways. Media Pro can handle various different file formats: jpeg, Tiff, PSD, PDF, RAW, but unfortunately not Afphoto files. Media Pro also supports editing apps so that you can open photos for editing by Affinity Photo from within Media Pro. My ideal scenario would be for Serif the owners of Affinity Photo to purchase Media Pro and continue its development. Sorry if this sounds like a sales pitch for Media Pro but the question of a suitable DAM seems to come up fairly often and I think this is a great candidate.

Here are three ways to do it. Number 2 is probably the most convenient. 1. In Finder select the photo you wish to open in Affinity Photo and ctrl-click. You will be offered a choice of applications with which to open the photo. Select Affinity Photo 2. Open Affinity Photo and from the menu at the top of the screen click on File and then from the drop-down menu select Open. Then navigate your way to the photo you wish to open and click on it. Then select Open 3. In Finder select the photo you wish to open and drag it on top of Affinity Photo in the Dock As to what you do when you've opened it I recommend watching some of the tutorial videos. Good Luck

Is it possible to create multi-stroke lines in AD as in Adobe Illustrator in order, for example, to draw railway lines?

Thanks MEB. The bit I hadn't figured out how to do was to avoid redrawing the same lines for boundaries but the divide and the add boolean operations have solved the problem.

I want to draw a map of the UK with the separate counties marked out and shown in different colours but I can't figure how to do it easily. Any advice welcome. Thanks

Congrats on the latest beta. However I have noticed a problem with the contrast invert blend mode when I apply it to an adjustment layer. A number of thin white vertical lines appear which are not present if I use another blend mode.

Congrats on the latest beta. However I have noticed a problem with the contrast invert blend mode when I apply it to an adjustment layer. A number of thin white vertical lines appear which are not present if I use another blend mode.

mystrawberrymonkey Thank you for this. It's a big help to me since I want to prototype a website. I've just watched it and I'll now watch it again to make sure I follow everything. You're a great teacher.

Thank you MEB. I found your description useful of the difference between pixel layers and image layers. However, there is a strange thing if you choose to rotate or crop a pixel layer which leaves transparent areas round the edges. The layer is still described as a pixel layer in the Layers panel but it is not possible to clone into the transparent portions without first rasterising the layer.

I too was going to suggest HSL adjustments by first adding an HSL adjustment layer and then inverting its layer mask by Cmd-I following which you can paint in on the mask in white the areas to which you wish the adjustment to apply.

The Haze filter mostly does a brilliant job but I have found on two or three occasions that after I have applied the filter exported the revised image there is a coloured stripe along the bottom of the image, either blue or yellow.

Thanks Leigh. I was trying to resize pasted images by using the Resize Document menu which of course resized all layers; by using the Move tool instead I can resize just the pasted image which is what I want.

I was trying to create a collage and found that if I copied and pasted images onto a common background by selecting with Cmd-A and then Cmd-C I could paste them in as separate layers but then if I tried to resize them this also resized all other layers in the collage. Then I watched the “Creating a Composition” tutorial in which I noticed photos were selected using the Move tool and then pasted onto the background. This allowed the images to be resized separately without affecting other layers. This solved my immediate problem with how to create collages, including how to contain images within a predefined template by using clipping masks, but also gave me the questions: What is the difference between creating a pixel selection with Cmd-A versus selecting using the Move tool? Why if I use the Move tool can I then resize pasted in images separately without affecting other layers whereas I cannot if I paste in a pixel selection? By the way as someone still climbing up the Affinity learning curve I commend to other learners the “Creating a Composition” tutorial for a number of other useful pieces of information it provided, which I had not known before, such as: How to restrict a layer adjustment to just one layer How to apply a layer adjustment and then to reduce the areas to which it is applied using the Erase Brush tool

Hi Bob, No you're not stupid. The answer in this case is not specific to Affinity or to photography but to OSX. If you search for Mac shortcut keys you will find the following on an Apple support website: Finder shortcuts Shortcut Description Command-D Duplicate the selected files. Command-E Eject the selected disk or volume. Command-F Start a Spotlight search in the Finder window. Command-I Show the Get Info window for a selected file. As you can see Command-I shows the Get Info window which among other things allows you to specify what app opens particular files. Regards

Hi Bob, As one Newbie to another: I can't answer as to why the .afphoto icons on your desktop do not have a thumbnail but I should be able to answer your second question. If you click once on an icon and then select Command-I you can then specify that you wish to open with Affinity Photo. The double click should then work. Regards, CPP

Something I found useful in Photoshop was the ability to place a grey fill layer above a photo using a blend mode such as overlay. Then by painting in the fill layer either white or black with differing amounts of opacity I could non-destructively dodge and burn portions of my photo. This appears not to work in Affinity Photo since the fill layer appears not to permit painting in it. Specifically if I attempt to paint with black the painted sections turn transparent. Therefore my feature request is to permit painting in a fill layer.