PaulEC

No problem. If you want a stronger effect than you're getting with the Add Noise filter, you could try Googling for noise or grunge overlays, put that on top of your picture and play around with the various blend modes, opacity and levels adjustments. (This is a bit over the top, but you get the idea!)

I've attached two files, one with the noise filter and the other without. They may look as though they are the same, but if you look at them as h_d suggested, especially at a fairly plain part of the picture, you will see that it is there.

I can't see anything wrong with your settings, I've tried to duplicate your layers and when I export as a jpg the noise stays as it should. The only thing I would say is that when you view the picture at full size the effect is much less than when you look at it set to fit on the screen. The only other thing that I can suggest is that you upload it as an Affinity file (to keep all the layers as you want them) and I'll try saving it as a jpg and see what happens.

Could you upload a screen shot including the Add Noise settings box and your image (something like the attached)? - Showing the settings that you're using.

A basic question, but how are you adding the noise? / What settings are you using?

Try adding way more noise than you actually want (to a copy of your picture) then see what it looks like when you export it. I suspect the noise will be there, but less than you expect. Also, it looks like you have a lot of layers/adjustments, try flattening the image before you export it. It might also be worth flattening it before adding the noise filter.

This is what I get when exporting as a jpg, what are you seeing?

To go from negative to positive is quite simple, just invert the image (Ctrl + i). If you're using colour negs the problem is to get rid of the orange cast. The actual shade of orange varies with the make/type of film. There are various ways to try to do this, (try a search of the forum, or Google) but Auto Colours, White Balance, Curves and HSL adjustments are a good place to start. You can also try using a blue Lens Filter adjustment. Quite honestly, I think you may find that the way you are scanning the negs will give you rather poor quality images. You really need a scanner which is intended to scan negs, these normally come with built in filters to get rid of the orange tint.

Those aren't plugins! (At least, not in the usual sense of filters) Assets will be in the Assets tab, Brushes in the Brushes tab etc. If you don't see those tabs, go to View - Studio and tick the ones that are missing.

What were the plugins, and where did you download them from?

I'm just wondering, as there do seem to be quite a few problems being reported about the 1.9 release, will we have to wait for a new version to be released for the problems to be resolved, or is it likely that a patch will be issued in the near future?

Sorry, MEB, I'm actually on Windows, I was just making a general observation about the NIK Collection. There do seem to be a few problems with it (going on various posts over the years!) but it isn't the end of the world to use it as stand alone. I don't know if there are major differences in how well third party plugins work in Windows or MAC, but I think my problem is probably related to having an oldish PC without a particularly good graphics card! (AFAIK DxO don't seem particularly bothered about guaranteeing that it will work in AP. 🙁)

Thanks, Walt, I really liked that old cat! 😁

FWIW – I've never been able to get the NIK Collection (old Google version) to work properly in AffinityPhoto. (Although the 32 bit version works well in Serif's old PhotoPlus). Usually I just use the stand alone versions, not quite as convenient as using as a plugin but it works! 🙂 I have thought about buying the DxO version, but I think I'll wait until there is some guarantee that it works, and will continue to work, in APhoto. 😉

Serif don't do any animation software. They have said that they have no plans to do so! People are continually talking about petitions and fund raising, and there are endless forum threads with lots of people posting "+1" to try to persuade Serif to produce animation software, Linux versions, movie editing software, web design software, PDF editors, a DAM app etc. Serif are a comparatively small company already developing three apps, on three different platforms. Personally I would much prefer that they concentrate on making the current apps as good as they possibly can, rather than spreading themselves too thinly by diversifying to try to keep everyone happy! (Which is something that seemed to be happening with their old, legacy, "Plus" range.) I'm sure Serif have looked carefully at what the best business model is for their company. I am also sure they will introduce other software, if and when they think it appropriate. There are plenty of alternatives out there for the types of app that Serif don't do, why not just use what is already available? IMHO - It's much better to produce a few apps that are excellent (as I am sure the Affinity apps will be in time), rather than numerous ones that are mediocre.

I think, with your needs, you're probably stuck with Acrobat Pro. Or, at least, any alternatives will be at least as expensive! 🙁 I was really just making a general point that Acrobat Pro is a bit of overkill for a lot of people, who just assume that they need to use it.

I've fallen for that myself in the past! . 😉

I just tried it and it seems to be working OK. One page, showing six records. _Untitled_.pdf

The biggest problem when people ask about an alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro is that what they use it for is probably different to what other people use it for. It is a massive piece of software, with lots of functions that most users will probably never need. I've used Acrobat Pro 9 at work for years, and recently updated to Acrobat DC, but in all that time, I've hardly scratched the surface of what it can do! The point is, when asking for an alternative, what do you actually need to do? What is an alternative for one person may well not work for someone else, with different needs. The reality is that there is no alternative to Acrobat Pro per se, but there are a lot of alternatives to it for certain functions. If you're working in a professional environment and need a PDF solution to cover (virtually) every scenario, then you probably do need Acrobat Pro. However, if you're working for yourself, or in a company that has only limited needs to create, edit and manipulate PDF files you can find other cheaper, or even free, alternatives. You may need several apps, which may not be as convenient or as fast as using Acrobat Pro, but they can be much cheaper. For example, for my own use at home I have Foxit Reader, PDFsam, PDF24, Briss, freeOCR (all free!) and PagePlusX9 (only used in preference to APub because it can use embedded fonts). I could actually use this line up for about 90% of what I do at work, there are only a couple of things I need to do with PDFs at work, which I don't need at home. So, my advice would be, if you need a complete PDF solution, for all scenarios, stick with Acrobat Pro. But if your needs are not so comprehensive, look around, you'll probably be able to find cheaper solutions. – It just depends on what you actually need to be able to do.

FWIW - I don't have this problem with APhoto, but I do sometimes get it with other (non Affinity) apps.

The most likely reason that the text is being rasterised is if some fx have been added to it. You can see in the layers panel if the text is actually text, or if it has been rasterised.

You only need to use the email address you used originally, when you purchased the app, if you want to reinstall the app, you don't need access to the email address. Think of it more as a security password or reference, than as an actual email address.

I tried deactivating Norton as well, and, like you, it made no difference!

I'd strongly suggest that you find another "printer"! You're never going to get top quality using a copy shop, rather than a proper printer. Obviously it depends on what you're doing, the quantities you need, your budget etc. But if you want top quality results you really need to use a professional printer that accepts PDF files, rather than using PNG which rasterises text and vectors. (PS -- Don't forget that what you see on a screen will inevitably be different to the results you get when it is printed!)

👍 🙂