MikeFromMesa

If you look at my original post you will see that I was not complaint, but only asking if a new Beta would be available soon. The Betas are designed to not work unless they are newer than the released version. This is not, so it does not work. Hence the question as to when a new Beta would be released.

I had initially assumed this was true for all current Beta users, but apparently not. So what is the problem that is keeping me from opening the latest Beta? It only started yesterday. Before that the Beta was working properly on my machine.

1.6.7. I am not sure but I believe that I got an automatic update notice from the App Store and that it got installed along with some other apps at the same time.

I assume that since I can not start the Beta (You must have the retail version installed) we have to wait for another Beta. Will that be soon?

I am curious as to how you got any of the MacPhun plugins to work. I can not get any to work. I have tried adding individual plugins (Intensify, Noiseless, Tonality, SnapHeal) and they do not even show up in the plugin list. I add the MacPhun folder and they do show up in the plugin list, but when I try to start them I get the "plugin started" message and then nothing happens. Since AP has given focus to the plugin, and since the plugin did not ever start, I have to terminate the process to do anything. What did you do to get them to work?

Yes. That is correct. I tend to forget that as I usually am working with raw or tiff, so I have gotten into the habit of exporting all of my images to jpg. I probably do that as well on those rare occasions when I am working with a jpg, just out of habit.

> Saving to JPEG has to be done with the Export command or Export Persona. Yes, and it has always been that way.

While I do not know why this is happening I can say that the file opens properly in Photos, Preview, PhotoLine, ArcSoft's photo viewer, Elements, Dxo's PhotoLab and pretty much every other editor/viewer that I have tried. It was produced by ACDSee's Photo Studio, just in case that is important.

Several months ago (back in November I believe) I reported that some of my tiff files that open properly in other pixel editors open, instead, as raw files in AP/APB and did not display the correct image. I thought this issue had been fixed but it occurred to me again this morning. Here is one tiff that opened as a raw in APB.

How complete is the scripting for Affinity Photo? Is it limited to recording actions taken within the app? Or is it a complete scripting language, including the ability to control internal and external actions? Is there a scripting guide? If so, where could I download it?

For what it is worth, the ViewPoint 2 and 3 plugins also crash when used from PhotoLine's Mac editor. Since it (PhotoLine) runs pretty much every other plugin I could find I submitted a bug report to PhotoLine and their response was that there is a bug in the call interface in ViewPoint and that although it might run in Photoshop it will not run in PhotoLine and they, PhotoLine could not fix it because it is not their code. I tend to believe them.

I started this thread when I first saw this problem, but it appears to have been fixed in later versions as I have not seen it in the latest beta.

The PS tutorial was a text tutorial, not a video. The link is here. I had been trying to see what the purpose of the Threshold Layer was as I could not see a good use for it, at least for me. When I did a Google search I found that tutorial and, although it was about a more objective way to set the white and black points on the Levels Layer, it gave me some insight into at least one purpose of the Threshold Layer. The video you pointed me to was very helpful; not for the Threshold Layer (that was mostly curiosity), but for something much more important to me - how to refine selection masks. One of the things I have struggled with has been the ability to properly mask out a sky when portions of it are poking through shrubs and tree limbs, and I had always had trouble making a proper selection without also including the leaves. That vimeo tutorial reminded me of the refine tool and, more importantly, showed me how to use other layers to improve the making. I will give that a try, so thank you very much.

Thank you. That was very helpful. I did not see what the Threshold Layer adjustment actually was used for, although I was wondering if it could somehow be used to create a customizable luminosity mask, and that is one of the reasons I asked the question.

I have been setting the white and black points in my photos using either the Histogram or Curves layers but noticed some (Photoshop) tutorials discussing using the Threshold Layer to do the same thing, but more objectively. Unfortunately the Photoshop tutorials do not seem to translate to AP as I can not find a Levels Tool (as compared to the Levels Layer) and the corresponding eyedroppers in AP. Given that I was wondering if anyone could point me to an AP tutorial on using the Threshold Layer as I have not been able to find one anywhere. A Google search for "Threshold tutorial, Affinity Photo" leads me to lots of AP tutorials, but none concerning use of the Threshold Layer.

OK. Found the reset process by searching through the forum. I have reset APB and that solved the problem.

I was processing some images today and used the HDR functionality on some images. It worked properly but I wanted to do some further adjusting so I tried to call the Topaz Studio plugin. For some reason all of the dropdown links for Topaz Studio were disabled so I could not call it. I made the assumption that there is something about combining an HDR image that prevented me from calling Topaz Studio, so I saved the image as a tiff and reloaded it. After the reload the Topaz Studio links were again enabled, but all attempts to call the plugin failed. It failed "silently" in the sense that there were no error indications, the plugin just did not run. I then loaded a standard jpg to test the link to the plugins and, again, the plugin links were enabled but all attempts to call the plugin failed in the same silent way. I then loaded the MAS version of AP but when I tried to all the Topaz Studio plugins to the app in the Preferences dialog box it crashed. A second and third attempt to do the same also crashed. Given this I have several questions. 1) Is there some reason that I can not even try to call the Topaz Studio plugins on an image formed from a bracketed sequence? 2) Is there some reason for a plugin call to fail silently? 3) How can I try to reset the MAS version of the app so that I can successfully edit the preferences? I tried Control-launch but that did not work. I have not filed this as a defect because I assumed there might be some reason that the plugin links were disabled for such an image. If that is wrong I can file the bug report. Also, the Topaz Studio plugin had been working so I do not understand why it is not working now. If it is important, I am running High Sierra.

I should have thought of the Zoom Tool but, of course, I forgot it was there as I had become used to using the Ctrl+ and Ctrl- keyboard shortcuts. Thank you.

I am trying to find a way to display an image at the zoom ratio I wish rather than the values specified in the View menu. What I am trying to do is to compare two photos, one shot with and one shot without a 1.4x tele-converter. That means I need one zoomed to 100% and the other at 140% so they are the same size and cropped the same way. Of course 100% is not a problem but I have not found a way to zoom to 140% as the command-+ gives me 100% and then 150%. Is there any way to specify an exact zoom size?

OK. That makes sense. Thank you.

I have downloaded the latest MAS version of Affinity Photo and it shows, when started, that it is version 1.6.6. I have downloaded the latest Beta, but it will not start, going me the error (which I have seen in the past) that I must have the retail version to run the Beta. Usually when this happened I had to upgrade to the latest MAS version, but I have that now, and no one else seems to be reporting this issue. Given that, I must be doing something wrong, but what is it?

Let me try to explain. I have always believed that jpgs are 8 bit files, period. If you want 16 bits you need to move to some other format like tiff, or psd or, of course, raw. However I noticed some posts on the internet yesterday that referenced 16 bit jpgs. Here is one that specifically says that jpgs can be saved as 16 bits so, out of curiosity, I decided to see if the poster had any idea what he or she was saying. AP is my editor of choice but I do also have PhotoLine on my system so I loaded an existing jpg image into it and checked the bit depth in the information screen. It showed the image as 8 bits: But the entry is a drop-down box and can be set to 16 or 32 bits. I am a really curious person so I set it to 16 bits and saved the image, again as a jpg (nor XR, not 2000). I then closed the current image and opened the new one and, sure enough, it showed 16 bits. I have attached the screen shot. I then loaded the file into AP to see if it would load. It did and I again saved it and then reloaded it in PhotoLine and it showed as an 8 bit image. Now I do not claim to know what all of this means. Perhaps the document size in PhotoLine does not imply a 16 bit image, but rather a 16 bit envelope around an 8 bit image. I do not know, and I do not know how to determine that with any certainty. I could load the image into a hex editor to see the binary, but since I do not know the format of a jpg that would be a useless exercise. Perhaps what I should have done is post this question on the PhotoLine forum.

I thought that all jpgs were, by definition, 8 bit files. I am not referring to jpg-2000 images, but normal jpg images with the jpg suffix. But I found out today that I was wrong and you can save a jpg as a 16 bit file in some editors. I was curious as to whether or not Affinity Photo could open a 16 bit jpg and, sure enough, it can. But when that jpg is saved back to disk AP converts it to 8 bits. Hence my questions: 1) Does AP automatically convert a 16 bit jpg into an 8 bit format when it is opened? If so, why? 2) If not, why can I not save it back as a 16 bit jpg? Is there some option to allow me to do that? If so, where? And, perhaps most curious, 3) Since 16 bit jpgs can be created, why are they not more commonly used? Most of the complaints that I have seen about processing with jpgs is that they are only 8 bits, but if 16 bit jpgs can be used, that concern seems to disappear. I know I am missing something, but what exactly?

I took a series of images of one of the flowers around my house and put them together using the APB Focus Stack functionality. The stacking process worked properly, but the result showed a halo around part of one of the flowers and I do not know why. There was no wind, so nothing should have been moving, and the individual photos that make up the stack show no halos. I have attached both the whole image and the crop showing the halo. I have highlighted the halo in yellow. I do not understand why the halo is there. You might have to view the crop image at full size to see the halo, but it is there.

OK. But I am a bit surprised as this has now been a known issue for more than a year, but has still not been fixed.