pipkato

Thanks R C-R. I've actually tried this on two separate Macs, one Intel and one Apple Silicon M1, both running Ventura 13.4 with the same problem. It's really strange. Roy

Thanks very much NathanC. Yes, the the Nik Collectio runs fine as standalone apps. I've been using them for years with Affinity Photo until this issue. I'm beginning to wonder if it's something to do with the latest MacOS 13.4? I'm glad to hear they worked fine for you. I'm wondering if there's something weird about my install sequence. Does it matter whether a normal standalone install of Nik 5 is done first or second? Do I have to select the DXO folder created in Affinity Photo or just the enclosing folder? Regards, Roy

I'm using the above on an M1 Mac Mini. I've set out my steps below but I'll summarise here. Did a brand new install of Affinity Photo 1.10.6 and of 'Nik Collection 5' into its own folder in 'Applications'. I followed the DXO advice and the steps in the Nik Collection User Manual for V.5. I created a new separate folder in 'Applications' and named it 'Nik for Affinity Photo'. I then did a new installation of Nik Collection 5 into that newly created folder. When I checked the folder it had a 'DXO' folder within which were folders for each of the Nik Collection Filters. I then opened Affinity Photo and followed DXO's instructions to activate the Nik 5 plugins properly. I found that they were effectively already activated since the 'Search Folders' was already filled in with the correct location and the 'Plugin Support Folders' likewise so 'Authorise Global' was already selected and could not be selected again. I'm presuming this was to some extent because I'd already tried this process unsuccessfully before deciding to try reinstalls of Affinity Photo and Nik 5. Anyway, to be sure to be sure I 'Removed' the selected folders and 'Added' them again allowing me to 'Authorise Global'. I then deselected and reselected 'Allow 'Unknown' plugins to be used. After all this I closed and reopened Affinity Photo. The Filters appeared to be there and with an image in place could be selected. But nothing else happened - no new Nik window, just the existing Affinity Photo window. Any suggestions much appreciated as I have a pile of old images to process. Here are my steps in the process. New install of Affinity Photo 1.10.6 New install of Nik 5 in its own folder Create new separate 'Nik for Affinity Photo' folder Install Nik 5 again to that folder (produces a ‘DXO’ folder inside of which are folders for the Nik filters). Open Affinity Photo and select Photoshop Plugins. Folder already detected but tried deleting and adding the ‘DXO’ folder again All the plugins showing as detected on the left ‘Authorise Global’ and ‘Allow Unknown Plugins to be used’ already selected. I 'Remove' and 'Add' back the folders and click 'Authorise Global', untick and tick 'Allow 'Unknown' plugins to be used'. (see attached image). In Affinity Photo I can see the filters and with an image open even select them but the window does not changes to the Nik window - it just stays on the Affinity window. I can select Filters/Plugins/Nik Collection and choose a filter but it never moves on to the Nik window.

Thanks firstdefence. I'm going to do some more experimentation with selection tools in general. I did manage to get 'Refine Selection' to display, but still don't know how. My image is an old relatively flat black and white shot. But I think I can learn a lot from trying the various methods advised above. If I draw a complete blank I might post it here. Thanks again.

One final quick question. I just tried the 'Select/Refine edges' suggestion but 'Refine Edges is greyed out. My image is in black and white. Is that the reason, or should I have done something before the 'Select/Refine Edges' command? Thanks!

Thank you all very much for all that great advice - Toltec, FirstDefence, Smadell. I'll give those methods a try. It's great to know there are so many alternatives. Thanks again!

I have some people against some white walls and would like to be able to mask them and make the white wall whiter and cleaner. Can't seem to find out how in the tutorials. Can someone suggest a way for a relative novice? Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who offered great suggestions. I tried the approach suggested by toltec and it worked really well. Much appreciated!

Hello Toltec. That sounds great. Thanks for the info.

Hello GabrielM. I'm afraid I don't have enough experience with Affinity Photo to understand all that. Any chance you could suggest a tutorial or tutorials that deal with those techniques. Thanks!

I'm working on a colour photo and the subject has quite red-rimmed eyelids. I would like to use a soft brush and selectively brush out the redness in the eyes. Can anyone suggest the best way to do this? Thanks!

Thanks John. Very helpful.

Hello John, and thanks for replying so quickly. All the images I tried show as 'grayscale' when I checked. I don't know much about the whole colour space area, but I tried exporting some of them from Affinity to JPEGS and changed the colour space to RGB. And, as you suggested, I was able to use my Nik plugins on those images. I'll also take your advice and check out my scanner. It's an elderly Minolta Scan Multi II which I'm using with Vuescan software. I never came across this issue before, but maybe everything else I did was originally RGB. Anyway, it's great to find out what the cause of the problem is. I presumed that since the Nik software dealt with B&W images as well as colour that it would be happy with any B&W image. But it appears not to be the case.

My Nik plugins are greyed out on some images but not on others. I recently scanned some old B&W negs to JPEG images and was trying to use my installed Nik plugins in Affinity Photo but they are greyed out. Other JPEG images I have in my folders work fine and all the Nik plugins are available for both B&W and Colour images. It seems that all my recent scans will not work with Nik plugins. I presume I've done something wrong but I've no idea what that is. The only thing I've noticed that seems new is that when I open those problematic B&W scans in Affinity Photo I get a window with a message saying 'Assigned Profile - Affinity Photo assigned your working profile, (Greyscale D50) to this unprofiled document' which disappears after a short while. I don't really know what this means or if it's significant in relation to the Nik Plugins issue. Can anyone help? Thanks!

Thanks v_kyr. Thanks too for those links, which look very useful.