Michael Naylor

I appreciate your honesty, Jowday.  Their broken promises for a DAM over many years has really pissed me off.  I'm back with Adobe.

A DAM that does more than photos, but covers all the digital assets from all its packages would go way beyond Lightroom.  But it could also go as far as maintaining version control between asset files e.g. which version of an Affinity Photo edit is used with which version of a Designer doc or Publisher doc. 
By maintaining referential integrity, it could for example warn you that deleting a version will break one of the other documents. Any changes to that version could be automatically replicated in those documents or the user could be given the option of creating a new version, or new versions automatically created if the referencing document is locked.
As a photographer, I would appreciate being able to lock down different versions of photos and the DAM keeping track of where it has been posted e.g. to Facebook, IG, Flickr, Squarespace, etc assuming export plugins are developed for those sites.  Similarly, I’d like to track which versions were used with different publishers, again assuming plugins are created. These plugins could also allow the publisher to pre-set the file export settings so that publishing for print or web becomes seamless.
There are lots of useful features that could be developed along the line of version control to help teams/companies manage complexity.

I first encountered this problem when I tried to migrate to an earlier version of Capture One (I don't know if Phase One have fixed this now).  At that time I had to convert thousands of TIFs from LZW to Uncompressed just to test out Capture One.  Another problem with LZW is that it isn't fully supported for 16bit files. I.E., LZW should only be used on 8bit files.  Lastly, LZW doesn't really offer any advantage, as uncompressed files are often smaller (unbelievable, but true).

I first encountered this problem when I tried to migrate to an earlier version of Capture One (I don't know if Phase One have fixed this now).  At that time I had to convert thousands of TIFs from LZW to Uncompressed just to test out Capture One.  Another problem with LZW is that it isn't fully supported for 16bit files. I.E., LZW should only be used on 8bit files.  Lastly, LZW doesn't really offer any advantage, as uncompressed files are often smaller (unbelievable, but true).

I'm amazed this problem still exists after all this time.  Wake up Affinity.

How long have been saying that,  MEB?

I bought AP and AD to support Affinity Serif because they were promising a DAM application at the time.   Then they diverted their resources to develop for Windows causing a predictable slow down on the Mac side - despite what they claim.   Now they say development on the DAM hasn't even started and probably won't be available until at least 2018.   I'm an old timer too, so I'll most likely be past it by then.   I also notice a slow down in forum activity over the past months.   Like many others,  I'm feeling fed up with broken promises.   I'll just have to stick with my CC subscription and Adobe's lack lustre asset management system instead.  I guess many others will have reached the same decision. 

I absolutely agree with you, but Affinity will not release any advance information.  I've spent the past few months evaluating every alternative available for macOS.  They all have problems of one kind or another, so I continue to use Lightroom CC.   If Adobe improves the DAM side before Affinity releases theirs, I'll stay with LR, because the effort to migrate is daunting and extremely time consuming.  In other words, an Affinity DAM will need to be significantly better than everything thats gone before.  A very tall order indeed.

I am not vey clear at what the DAM is supposed to do...
 
In my wildest dream it would be companion to Affinity Photo (or designer/Publisher), allowing to catalog images, manage meta data, rate/flag images, etc. In the ideal world, it would somehow side by Photo allowing a seemless integration of its Raw development power but also keep edited photos, edited in Photo (composited) near it's Raw original (Like a version of some sort). Some sort of an Aperture, C1 or LT, as people seem to mention here.
 
Or are we all way off in our understanding of the comping product?
 
Anyhow assuming my understanding is correct, like many other, I cry the lost of Aperture and hope for a viable replacement. As it stands, the only options seem to be C1 or LT. IMO, the delay is a great issue here since the days of aperture are counted. In the sense that those who like me who stick with it until a good solution presents itself will sooner or later be force to begin the time consuming process of converting their library... This is no something we want to do twice. Some have already migrated, so the more wait there is the more painful it would be to make the move later...
 
I can decide to move from illustrator/photoshop/Indesign to the Affinity suite anytime without too much consequences. In a year or two or three... no problem (not that I will wait that long, but I'm just saying). That means waiting and delays have less consequneces there. Even for a iPad app, regardless how cool and "Actual it is". If those arrive later, we can still adopt it.
 
However, regarding a DAM, it's unlikely that I will decide to leave Lightroom or C1 if I ever decide to move my library there... Unless there is really, really, really powerful and painless free import feature in the Affinity DAM.
 
At the very least I would release a list of core features, so it's clear what it will do. That would give enthusiasts a reason to wait...
 
Am I at all discussing the right kind of software here?
 
Cheers!

Well lets hope they can.  I wonder if Lightroom will get this too?
 
PS. I've given up searching for a DAM system better than LR - including Media Pro, Photo Supreme and lots of others.  I'm now back with LR and hoping for a better future.

hi OldNav, I agree with Mike, there's no automagical way. in general, you can achieve good results adding pixel layers and changing their blending mode to "colour". then, paint on them with the paintbrush: the painted area should retian textures and tonality from the bw image, but take the hue from the brush strokes. selecting colors accurately and trying different amounts of opacity, you should get what you want. you can also experiment with different blending modes.
my advice is to use a new pixel layer for each area in the image: this way, you can set blending mode and opacity for each area and also get a strong, non-destructive setup of your work: if you decide to change something, you can edit the corresponding layer or even delete it, while keeping the good part of your work intact.

We’re almost halfway into 2016 and still no news of a release - or even a beta.   What with this and other promised features and bug fixes, I do wonder if all Mac development has stopped in favour of Windows.  Both AP and AD are littered with idiosyncrasies and missing features.  So, along with many others, I’m feeling less enthusiastic than I was a year ago.

Since this thread seems to have been effectively pinned as the future DAM app feature request thread, I'd like to copy what I posted earlier on two occasions, which never got any response.  I guess I could sum up both of these by just saying "do it like Aperture did it", but here they are for reference.
 
 
And this way back in Feb '15
 
 
 

As the original poster, my interpretation of a DAM would be just that - simply an asset manager.  IE, a catalogue / database that can search on keywords, etc. and quickly preview and launch an asset into Affinity Photo, Designer or Publisher.   I would not wish it to be an all in one Lightroom/Aperture look a like, but more like Bridge on steroids.   One important thing it should do would be to function as a metadata editor (keyboarding, dates, etc.), and file renaming and moving (something Lightroom is pretty good at).   Plus, being able to do these things as batches.    I personally would much prefer a DAM that is not bloated and is trying tries to include everything - including the kitchen sink.

As the original poster, my interpretation of a DAM would be just that - simply an asset manager.  IE, a catalogue / database that can search on keywords, etc. and quickly preview and launch an asset into Affinity Photo, Designer or Publisher.   I would not wish it to be an all in one Lightroom/Aperture look a like, but more like Bridge on steroids.   One important thing it should do would be to function as a metadata editor (keyboarding, dates, etc.), and file renaming and moving (something Lightroom is pretty good at).   Plus, being able to do these things as batches.    I personally would much prefer a DAM that is not bloated and is trying tries to include everything - including the kitchen sink.

Hi Mike Naylor,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
An Affinity DAM application is already planned. Stay tuned for more information.

As the original poster, my interpretation of a DAM would be just that - simply an asset manager.  IE, a catalogue / database that can search on keywords, etc. and quickly preview and launch an asset into Affinity Photo, Designer or Publisher.   I would not wish it to be an all in one Lightroom/Aperture look a like, but more like Bridge on steroids.   One important thing it should do would be to function as a metadata editor (keyboarding, dates, etc.), and file renaming and moving (something Lightroom is pretty good at).   Plus, being able to do these things as batches.    I personally would much prefer a DAM that is not bloated and is trying tries to include everything - including the kitchen sink.