GrahamMYC

I have been a Serif customer since 2001, when I retired. As Affinity came on line I added each application on Windows and Ipad. I have even visited the Nottingham office and was helped in a promotional project by Serif. It has been a fun ride so far, and I wish all the team success in the new venture. For years a Data Asset Manager (DAM) has been "just around the corner". In desparation I went to Daminion a DAM that accepted Affinity formats, even though it did not support them. Despite that I have found them very helpful. However, a couple of years ago they switched to a subscription model for professional users, but retained a Lite version for happy amateurs like me. That sounds like a good fit into the new regime? And in the latest release, Daminion now formally supports Affinity file formats. I now have 4 catalogs on Daminion the largest of which contains 30k images. There is a developing face recognition suite, but I have not installed it as I have no need for it.

Take a quick look at Daminion.net. Maybe you are like one of the industries described on that page, or maybe you are a smaller user like me. I am an 82 year old non-commercial photographer, and a Serif customer since 2002, having converted to Affinity as it was released. Serif have been promising a Data Asset Manager (DAM) since the launch of their Affinity range in 2014/5. But it has always been just over the horizon. Most existing DAMs did not accept and render Affinity formats. But I read on a forum that Daminion would accept Affinity files and most of its functions worked, even though Daminion did not officially support the Affinity formats. I decided to give it a try. At that time a lifetime licence was available and affordable. It took some time to get to grips with Daminion, but the support was really good and helpful. It took many months to digitise my large stock of 35mm slides, and scan all the postcard size images to go into Daminion. From 2001 the digital images were easier to handle. But now I have all my images from 1998 until 2023 in the Daminion database. They are now all tagged, grouped into albums and years and locations and events and people ….and so on! The toughest task is that the ‘creation date’ is the date the images are scanned into Daminion, so each one has to be adjusted to show the date the picture was taken. (That does not apply to digital images where Daminion picks up the ‘date shot’ as the Creation date from the metadata of the image). Also I have been able to integrate all my Logs, presentations and videos as can be seen in the attached image. My database now has 4 catalogs, the largest of which has 30,000 images Recently Daminion introduced face recognition. I found it did not fit too well with my workflow,although I could see its potential, especially for commercial users. All was going well until Daminion decided to go for a subscription service, although they did create a special Lite version for existing customers to continue using Daminion. They have decided that the small user is worth keeping. So, from January this year (2024) they have introduced a new tariff which is pretty well a lifetime licence, although the maintenance charge is quite significant. The current tariff is - Light server for strictly personal non-commercial use: 2 connections lifetime with 1 year of free updates: 300 USD Maintenance after one year: 150 USD 1 connection lifetime with 1 year of free updates: 200 USD Maintenance after one year: 100 USD - Light server for standalone photographers (commercial use): 1 named user: 600 USD annual subscription 2 named users: 1200 USD annual subscription I am sure there are more complex tariffs for large corporate users. To find out more about the features in Daminion visit https://daminion.net/feature-tour/daminion-server/easy-asset-cataloging/ I think Daminion is capable of meeting a huge range of needs, and once familiar with it, it is easy to use. I have only a minor gripe. If I need Daminion assistance, they use Teamviewer, which works well, but my bank does not like it so I have to install it and uninstall it every time Daminion need access to my system. There was a period when Daminion failed to render the Affinity formats into thumbnails in the system (though the storage and tagging was OK).It may have happened during a Daminion upgrade, or it may have been an issue when Affinity 2 was launched - but of course, Daminion did not officially support Affinity formats at that time That has now been resolved with the release of version 9, and Daminion now claim to support Affinity formats. My experience is that they do. The images below show the first screen of my images from 2010. The top row (enlarged in the second image) shows how a pdf Log/report, 2 videos and a slide presentation of our 2010 cruise can be conveniently presented and accessed, even though they (and all the other pictures) can be stored anywhere in your system. I chose to date them so they appear at the beginning of the relevant year. The panel on the left shows the tag criteria that I have chosen to use, and the panel on the right shows some of the attributes of each individual image that can be applied (there are a lot more if you scroll down). I am happy to chat further in the discussion if you have questions. I confirm I have no commercial arrangement with Daminion, except as a customer

THanks for the tip. I have installed 6.1

DXO have just announced an interesting update to Nik Collection. Does it work with AP2?

Update: I was still struggling to get the "open with..." function in Daminion to work for all 3 Affinity apps. This is because of the menu structure within Daminion. I have no doubt it could be done with cooperation from Daminion. However, I decided that the simplest way was to use the launcher app described earlier in this thread. It worked, but in a rather strange way that I will not bore you with. This would open any of the Affinity files in the Photo 2 app (I am not sure how well this would work with a complex affinity publisher file). One could then use the studio function to switch to other apps. I tested this and it worked. (NB for Publisher files I tend to keep pdf versions in Daminion rather than .afpub files) Then, I discovered that if I double clicked on the thumbnail of any Affinity image in the Daminion catalogue (whether created in version 1 or 2 of the Affinity app) , then that image would open in the appropriate Affinity app, version 2. e.g dbl click on a designer image thumbnail in Daminion, and it will start affinity designer2. The item can be edited and any changes will be saved in the image file stored in the Daminion Catalogue. Moreover on the tests I ran, that applied even if one changed to a different Affinity 2 app. e.g dbl click on a designer thumbnail in Daminion, and it will open the image in affinity designer 2. One can then switch to edit in Affinity Photo2, hit save, and the changes will be saved to the original file stored within the Daminion catalogue. (For clarity, I am using Daminion Lite on a Windows 11 machine) So I can forget the menu method of opening an Affinity file from within Daminion, and simply use this dbl click strategy instead. possible complications with changing from the standard MSIX installation are avoided. Thanks for all your suggestions and help. I have no means of knowing whether this strategy works for all hardware configurations, but I felt obliged to place this on record for reference

Thanks v_kyr. However, I need to have three permanent statements that I can add to daminion, so thet, for example, if I wish to edit a designer file then I select that version, but if I want to select a publisher version I slect that without needing to add a new argument every time.

All very well , RichardMH, if you are familiar with that software. I am 81. I would not have a clue where to start! BUT I had a go, and got it to work for photo. I would also need it for publisher and designer. Do I just rename launcher.exe and go through the process again?

Thanks walt farell. I suspect your warning is valid. Just the sort of simple action which an amateur like me can mess up.

In the absence of a Serif DAM, I have been successfully using Daminion, which worked well fo all the series 1 Affinity apps. But I have a problem with the Affinity 2 versions. Daminion allows me to upload .afphoto files. I can see a thumbnail of the image, and I can open the image in Affinity Photo 1. But I cannot open it in Affinity Photo 2. This is because the link to the app file is stored in C:\Users\Graham\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPhoto2.exe. Daminion cannot access this. It also means that Daminion is unable to create a thumbnail. Advice please!

THanks I have wasted 2 hours looking for this. You have solved it in minutes. Was unaware of the separate adjustments panel!!! AH me! The horrors of being 81! Thanks guys

For example: If I apply a levels adjustment. I can save the settings as a preset, BUT 1: where is it saved? 2: How do I apply the preset to another image?

The help doesn't And if you follow the line from the Affinity page->learn, then it takes you to advanced tutorials, not basic things like how to set upo a document and the templates, and the text styles. It is actually a shambles. Which is a pity

Thanks both. There is an awful lot in this new Publisher and the tutorials are missing or dreadful

Show margins. Then use View->Guides Manager (NB I made an error in prev post. Guides fit margins, not text box. I set text box to fit margind too)

I used to set up a very useful guides grid in a text box on a master page in AfPub. It seems to have disappeared. Where is it now? (I have managed a very clumsy workaround using columns to position the vertical guides, and lots of arithmetic tp position the horizontal guides. They look messy on the page as they extend beyond the text boxex. NB columns set back to 1 after guides positioned)