Raymondo

Just to throw this into the mix I recently purchased Pastello pro and watercolour pro and so far they both work fine within the plugin system. Early days but all sees to work fine in affinity Photo. I’m using a Mac with os Catalina.

Chris26, in the professional market time is money. I’m not sure I would totally agree that the same quality would be achieved in both AP and Photoshop which has a more creative arsenal at it’s disposal and depends on what you are trying to achieve. As a creative designer and compositor of images for a good many years, there are effects and options etc in Photoshop which AP simply cannot match at the moment. Weather both could achieve the same result would entirely depend on what you are trying to achieve as an end product. I think if I said to clients or agencies when I’m freelancing, “I don’t care how long it will take me to give you your artwork”, I’ll finish when I finish, I think I would be shown the door as most artwork commissions I’ve ever worked on has had a deadline. Anyway, I’m sure we could disagree all day but there it is.

Yes that’s very true but if I cast my mind back to 2014 when Serif launched AP and AD, the software was aimed fairly and squarely at the “Professional market”. That said, the software was launched into an already established professional market which is always a hard task. Because of this fact, in order to attract professionals in creative agencies/creative design houses away from their favoured workplace structure, you have to offer something which will equal or better what they are using to entice them away. At the moment, AP after 6 years still hasn’t progressed enough to catch up with Photoshop. I have always said Serif set their price structure too low and I think this has had a unintended negative effect in attracting professionals. If something is too cheap to be true etc etc is something that has possibly retarded uptake of the software by the professional market. At least that is how it looks to me as I don’t know many agencies/design houses or printers that have adopted AP. If I’m completely wrong I would be happy to eat humble pie. If sales are increasing healthily then so should the workforce in order to cope with development which I’m not convinced is the case. Maybe there is a shortage of talented developers, I don’t know. I’m not saying no professionals are switching, that would be untrue but I think it will be a harder task with Adobe having forged ahead by a big margin. This all sounds so negative but that’s because I genuinely want Serif to do well in the professional marketplace but it’s a bit like standing in a football ground watching your team being out played..very frustrating.

Gotta agree, just been watching Utube video’s over the last few days of the Adobe Photoshop update. It’s obvious to me Adobe have been rattled by Affinity and decided to fight back by this substantial update..and what an update it is. I have been a backer of Affinity and have all three in the suite and I will continue to back them but it certainly has left Affinity in the dust and, to be honest, Affinity Photo is beginning to look quite basic. Adobe seem to have jumped into their Ferrari while Affinity are chugging along in the slow lane in their little fiat 500. Like AITCH above I do hope Serif sit up and take notice that they are going to have to up their anti if they are going to draw professionals away from Adobe. Bug fix after bug fix is all very well and of course necessary to stabilise the software but we are not seeing much progress elsewhere. I have said before that it’s appreciated that Affinity are much smaller than Adobe but if you’re going to jump into a lake, you need to make sure you can swim. Sorry Serif, despite my comments, I am on your side...really! I just wish you would find a way to quicken the pace of development. There must be plenty of developers out there..or maybe there isn’t.

Yes adjustment header tab opens fine and the individual adjustments open fine but it’s the presets themselves that don’t work no matter how many times you tap. I’m working in separate mode. Tap gestures work absolutely fine throughout the rest of AP.

Just tried changing nib and checking the tablet app just to cover every angle. Still no change. If I was having a problem with pen click gestures elsewhere within the software I could point to the tablet but AP responds to my tablet click gestures everywhere else in the program so I’m ruling my tablet out. That also goes for every other program where it works perfectly and has always done. I usually check frequently for updates generally Old Bruce but I must admit I haven’t checked for the last two months, I’ll check. Like you I don’t tend to use presets but I was just taking time out and fiddling when I came across this issue. Would be interested to know what Affinity have to say on this issue though. As I don’t use them really, I won’t worry too much if I can’t get it sorted. Thanks for your input.

Suppose I should have elaborated. I’m on Mac OS 10.15.7 ( the latest). Have a Huion 1060P tablet which I’ve had for awhile without any problems. None of the presets in the AP adjustments tab response, I’m talking B/W adjustment but have tried all within the adjustment tab. I must point out I have no other known problems using my tablet within the affinity suite nor any of my other software. It’s strange it works fine elsewhere within AP. Also strange that if I use my mouse, which I haven’t used since 2001, and click presets they work fine. Somehow the presets tabs response to clicks but don’t seem to respond to taps. Never come across this before with any other software in my system and only just noticed this by accident.

Something I’ve never noticed before simply because I don’t tend to use presets. If you select a preset with a tablet pen, it does not work. If however you use a mouse and click select it does work. Surely this is an emission when presets will only work with a click and not a tap. Maybe I’m missing something. Feedback please

I'm sorry if you appear to have been offended but the way your question was phrased, it didn't seem to be what I would expect from someone in the print trade. Most printers I have worked with over the years all have 2/4/6 colour presses not one and never did I think printers have just one colour presses not unless you are back in the 1800's. I'm still not sure what you mean by not having seen a 2 colour job this way. In design terms I would set my job automatically using 100% black and one other pantone chosen colour for a two colour job. Come output time I would normally in InDesign via the ink manager, uncheck CMY thus leaving black and one pantone colour for separation. In Publisher I cannot do that and nor can I create a true duotone using two colours, that was the crux of my topic. I have been outputting my designs via press ready PDF's seamlessly since 2001. I will normally only use the digital route for less than 5000 run. Beyond that digital is in my opinion is not economic. Over the years I have designed many two colour journals, company annual reports etc where it was not necessary to print CMYK and the emphasis was on keeping the cost of the job down. With careful design thought, a designer can create a very interesting colourful end result playing with those two chosen colours. I might add, I have on occasion not used black but used a dark pantone colour such as, say dark blue instead of black, maintaining text clarity whilst giving me a wider range of colour variation using tints of the two colours. If I were to send a CMYK+Pantone press ready PDF to a litho press as is, I would get 5 plates hence why I'm saying at this moment in time, I cannot turn off CMY in Publisher so that a two colour press can be used. therefore I can't create a two colour job in Publisher because I can't output a two colour job as a press ready pdf. I would say again, I have been outputting press ready artwork since 2001 so I'm very familiar with the process. I have to say I'm a little confused with your question but I've tried here to answer your reply as best I can. This topic was more aimed at the dev team who I'm sure will know and understand my original topic. I don't think it's worth us expanding this any further as I don't know what else to say to you. Anyway, best wishes.

Hate to burst anyone’s bubble but Boris FX plug-ins will not work with Affinity Photo. I recently ask the same question and received an answer as follows: Oniric doesn't work with Affinity Photo. It relies on custom UI/panels which we do not support. By custom UI, I meant panels/funtions integrated into Photoshop's interface (like native Photoshop panels) to expose features/controls, run commands etc. The plugins you mention (Nik Collection, Photo RAW etc) all have an independent window/interface on their own. Actually Nik Collection does have a deeper integration in Photoshop - for example the Nik Selective Tool or the Merge to HDR Efex Pro 2 command in the Filter > Automate menu (in Photoshop) but neither of these are supported/work in Affinity Photo. The Perspective Efex also doesn't work in Affinity Photo for similar reasons. Overall any plugin that rely on automation, custom UI, provide additional file support (export filters etc) are not supported in Affinity Photo, only basic image filters. I was disappointed as well but there it is. Still you can always use as standalone but clearly not as workflow friendly.

Hi Wonderings Generally printing will be done out of the standard four-colour process. This means that the artwork is separated onto four different printing plates and each plate prints a specific single colour – cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). Together these colours combine to create a full-colour print. Occasionally additional printing plates might also be added to print spot colours. These may be special inks such as fluorescent or metallic or a specific Pantone ink that matches a corporate colour. Similarly, there might be fewer colours used such as two-colour printing where only two specified colours will be printed, and because only two printing plates are being made this is cheaper than four-colour litho. digital printing on the other hand works with toners or inks and uses CMYK output and does not require plates so in this respect you don’t need to worry about plate separation. Digital print is cost effective only up to about a 2000 run. If you have a run of say 5000 or more for instance, then litho would be your route, so, that’s when you need to consider how to produce a creative design within the clients budget. Creating your design with only two inks i.e black + one Pantone colour is a cheaper option. You may even consider using using two Pantone colours as long as the text is readable. This can give your design colour at less cost than 4 colour process printing so, your output needs to tell the printer to produce two plates not 4 hence why you need to turn off CMY. Old Bruce has I think explained adequately my post but I thought I would expand on his post so that you know why Publisher needs the ability to turn off unnecessary plates. Most printers here in the UK will happily handle a two colour job. hope this answers your query.

When, if ever will publisher incorporate the ability to manage inks for output? I’m referring to the ability to switch off CMY when outputting a two colour job or am I missing something. So far, as far as I’m aware, there is still no way to create a true duotone or tritone. Fortunately, I don’t create two colour jobs every day but I do like to consider this as an option for some commissions when printing litho to keep costs down.

Ok thanks for that explanation MEB.

I also had a question regarding Plugins recently where a particular plugin apparently won’t work with Affinity Photo due to the plugin architecture not being currently supported. This issue of plugin support is becoming more of an issue as AP develops. I think we can only hope these restrictions will be addressed sooner rather than later so that AP’s usability can be expanded to utilise useful third party plugins. That said, current conditions ie pandemic are I’m sure slowing development down. I’m just hoping this issue is at the fore of their mind and not at the back.

Just curious MEB, in what way does Affinity Photo not support custom UI panels? What’s different from say Filterforge, ON1 Photo Raw and DxO Nik collection, all of which have their own unique UI’s which work with Photo.