John Schnupp

I have looked at all the FAQ and don't see anything that resembles my problem. I've also done about 101 different searches using similar search criteria as my topic title. In all cases, what seems to always come up is imfo about how PhotoV1 cannot open V2 images...yes I am full aware of this...but my problem is exactly opposite. I create an image in PhotoV2 and save it, for example 01 DSS blemish hot pixel removal.afphoto . When I go back and double-click this file to open it, PhotoV1 opens and tried to open the file, upon which I get the error message that the file was created with a newer version. The only way I can correctly have PhotoV2 open the file is to first open PhotoV2 and then from within PhotoV2 select the file I want to open, 01 DSS blemish hot pixel removal.afphoto. Not sure if this is a Windows file association issue or a problem with PhotoV2. I don't recall this being a problem when I first switched to V2, but seems to have just started happening when updated to V2.3.1 I really don't care, what I really need is for Photo files to open correctly with V2. John Schnupp, N3CNL 2007 R1200RT 75,542 (in hibernation) 1995 XLH 1200 106,495 (retired) Georgia, VT

RastislavSVK, Sorry I'm late to this. I previously had the RC Astro GradientXTerminator plug-in installed in Affinity Photo 1.10.6.1665 so I'm fair certain it will work in Affinity Photo 2. Initially I had problems installing it. The original version I had was an old 32bit version for a very old version of Photoshop. The problem at that time was that Affinity Photo required the 64bit version. Once I upgraded to the 64bit version it was fine. Additionally, on RC Astro site, it is specifically mentioned that the current version only works with Affinity 2.1.1 or higher as there was a problem. I upgraded to Affinity 2 back when it first came out and just recently applied the latest v2.2 update. I have some new data to process and am trying to get it installed. My problem is that I can't remember exactly what I did to install in Affinity Photo 1.10 and I can't find any clear installation instructions on RC Astro site, and google searches only seem to find results for using Affinity gradient tool. John Schnupp, N3CNL 2007 R1200RT +75,200 1995 XLH 1200 106,495 (retired) Georgia, VT

Mike, Just downloaded the entire suite, Photo, Designer and Publisher. For the price it can't beat and since the V2 is a totally different install, I won't lose anything in V1. I tried Affinity stacking only once, back when it first came out. At the time I didn't like that it didn't work using master dark files, and it didn't have nearly the control over the algorithms so I just stuck with DSS. Maybe it's worth a revisit to the stacking persona in AP2. I had heard that some of the Tpoaz plug-ins did not play so well with Affinity. Good to hear DeNoise and Sharpening work. Those would be the two I would consider. I only have Gradient Xterminator but just today (11/26/22) Russell verified with me that the installers for all of his plug-ins have been updated for AP2. I've been doing some googling and youtubing on channel separation. It seems fairly straightforward, especially if you have a stacked image that has already been debayered. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=seperate+color+channels+in+Affinity#kpvalbx=_vC6CY5ucAayk5NoPoZqP8A4_31 There are a couple different approaches and I'm not sure which would work best. My M33 shot that I shared really isn't a great example of a bi-color image. I have some Elephant Trunk data from earlier this summer that I shot with OptoLong eNhance filter, would be a good candidate for me to try some of the different techniques. JR's macros also have various composition setups as well.

Hello, I reviewed the technical information for V2, reviewed the FAQ and watch the youtube video. I don't see anything mentioned about the astrophotography functions. Are they still supported in V2? I've switched my astrophotography image processing from other programs to Affinity. I have the JR Astrophotography Marcos and plug-ins by R-C Astro. If the astrophotography functions are still fully supported in V2 I will upgrade, especially at the discounted introductory offer. If astrophotography support has been dropped, then I'll just just stick with V1. Thanks, John Schnupp p.s. my latest image

You can't open directly in the Photo persona. You need to open in the Astrophotography Stack first. Select File: New Astrophotography Stack. Then open/add your FITS file as a light frame and you can *VIEW* the image, however, it can't be easily transferred to the Photo Persona. In order to transfer to the Photo Persona you will need to stack it. It sounds like you are trying to open a FITS file that has been stacked with another program (PixInsight, DeepSkyStacker or similar) so you don't need to add any additional calibration frames, but therein is the problem. Affinity can't stack a single frame. If you click the Apply button without having a result in the Stacked Images tab then a null file will be transferred to the Photo Persona. You will need to add at least one additional light (you cannot simply supply the same frame twice) or calibration frame so that Affinity can perform an operation and get a result into the Stacked Images tab, at which point you can click apply and transfer to Photo Persona. If you insist on using this method, the best choice would be to create a dummy dark frame with all the values set to 0, doing so would simply subtract 0 from your previously supplied stacked and calibrated frame. I use DSS for stacking. I do like that Affinity has included stacking but I feel that currently DSS is a bit more flexible with stacking options. I'm not sure what program you are using for stacking, but check and see if you can select TIFF output file type. I have set DSS to output as TIFF. The DSS output is a file called autosave.TIF and is in 32 bit floating point format. You *CAN* open that file directly in Affinity Photo Persona...no need to use the Affinity Astrophotography Stack option. John Schnupp, N3CNL 2007 R1200RT +64,100 (just like Willie Nelson, On The Road Again) 1995 XLH 1200 106,495 (retired) Georgia, VT 44.7675°N, 73.1592°W

The files are uploading now, it will take a few minutes. The 32bit ones are on the large side (137MB).

Chris B and Patrick Connor, So it sounds like Affinity is giving some support to astrophotography. I was super excited to see the astrophotography tools included with v1.9.0. I suspect that most people who want to view/edit FITS files will be using Deep Sky Stacker (DSS) to generate a stacked image. The output from DSS is named autosave.fit. I believe that this file is a 32 bit floating point (rational) file. DSS has additional options to save as 16bit, 32bit integer and 32bit rational, these save have the extension .FTS I'm honestly not sure why the extension is different between the autosave file and the other save options. The other possibility, and personally the main reason I would want to view FITS, is to be able to easily review my all my images and manually choose which ones to have included in the stack and which ones to exclude. This already exists in the stacking persona but I think what most people are expecting is to be able to open/view individual FITS images in the I put some files in the dropbox. They are from a ZWO ASI294MC-pro. This is a dedicated cooled astrophotography camera. It is a color sensor, CFA/bayer matrix is RGGB. These were my very first images with this camera. I had no calibration frames. The strong gradient in the lower right is due to a shadow from my off-axis guider pickoff prism. autosave, 16b, 32b integer and 23b rational are the DSS files. The 4th file with the long file name is a "raw" frame from the ASI294. I can also provide some monochrome files from my ASI1600MM-cool. All of those files were previously stacked in DSS with a TIFF output but I could restack as FITS output. I do have some other suggestions too, would those be better off started as a new thread? I have not checked, is there a forum specifically for astrophotography users? John Schnupp, N3CNL 2007 R1200RT +64,100 (just like Willie Nelson, On The Road Again) 1995 XLH 1200 106,495 (retired) Georgia, VT 44.7675°N, 73.1592°

Walt, Seems clear to me now in the middle of the night, after a good day's sleep. Maybe the brain fog yesterday morning after working a 12hr night shift kicking me in the butt. I was just wanting to make sure that I was "following the rules". John Schnupp, N3CNL 2007 R1200RT +64,000 1995 XLH 1200 106,495 (retired) Georgia, VT

I own a license for Affinity Photo since Jan 2018. I installed it on my workstation PC and have only ever used it on that computer. I recently bought a laptop and would like to install Affinity Photo on that as well. I have read all the FAQ and done searching but cannot seem to find the answer. How many computers can I install Affinity Photo on? The EULA in the program states <(i) if you are a private individual, to download, install, use and run for personal use, one (1) copy of the Serif Software directly on each computer running Microsoft Windows (“Windows Computer”) that you personally own or control. > My license is for Windows, do I need a license for each Windows computer or is the license granted to me and I can install on multiple Windows computers so long as I am the only user? Thanks, John Schnupp

@R C-R, yep that was me posting before my first cup of coffee had the chance to fully open my eyelids :-) The whacked out world of a night shifter sleeping late on his day off. @John Rostron, I will check out/submit a request on the Features Request forum. I thought that was where I first posted but going to the top of this thread I see I had it in the Questions forum. John Schnupp, N3CNL 1995 XLH 1200 +106,400 Georgia, VT 44.7675°N, 73.1592°W

John, Yes I do have FITS Liberator that can open FITS files...but opening FITS files in FITS Liberator, then saving them as TIFF before opening with Affinity really isn't reducing the work flow. It does not matter if Affinity is open in the background or not, needing another program to convert from FITS to TIFF results and a longer workflow. What I, and many other astrophotographers, would like to see is Affinity be able to open the FITS files directly, thus eliminating the need to use another program (FITS Liberator or other) to do the initial conversion to TIFF. At this point I don't see that Affinity Photo/San Serif is likely to support TIFF so I'm pretty much stuck with needed to first convert my images with another program. I don't recall that there has ever been any comments from anyone at Affinity/San Serif on this topic so it's likely that they have no plans on supporting FITS. John Schnupp, N3CNL 1995 XLH 1200 +106,400 Georgia, VT 44.7675°N, 73.1592°W

Affinity won't open FITS. I don't see how having Affinity open as my default program will help Affinity open FITS images. My astronomy camera only takes FITS so I need Affinity to be able to open FITS format. Once they are open, I a well aware that I can save them in any other format I wish. The whole issue is that Affinity wont open FITS.

I started another topic before I knew about this one. This one seems dead as it was started nearly 2 years ago and received no replies. Here is the topic I started which has at least generated some additional comments. https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/54243-fits-file-format/#comment-275227

Checked that topic. It was from nearly two years ago (2/15/2016) and there are no responses, only the original post/question. I assume that topic is dead. This one has at least generated some responses and interest. I will copy my original comments there as well. I'm going to assume that Affinity probably will not be supporting FITS format any time soon..pity, I think think that Affinity Photo would have made a great alternative to the high priced options and could have generated some interest in the astrophotography community. I have been able to figure out some of the things required for creating astrophotography images such as combining different monochrome images into a single RGB. Here is my basic workflow. I was able to use my other program and convert my FITS images to TIFF (this is the part where having Affinifty Photo being able to read FITS would really help). From there I use Affinity Photo to add curves and levels adjustment layers. Did this to two separate images from different filters and combined into RGB for final image. Images were resized 50% for uploading here. Certainly need more work such as noise reduction, sharpening, color balance, alignment between layers, etc. A 10-day trial is certainly not enough time to get all the astrophotography aspects figured out but I think there is promise. For $49.99 it is a good deal. I've paid more for bottles of wine, that didn't last 10 days and were, quite literally, pissed away. Even though I am a beginner at astrophotography and a brand newbiee with Affinity Photo, I think it will be a worthwhile investment.

Hello, I just downloaded the 10-day trial. I think that time may be a bit short but I'm working with it. My question is concerning supported file types. Does Affinity support FITS format? Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) is an open standard defining a digital file format useful for storage, transmission and processing of scientific and other images. FITS formatted files are probably the most commonly used file formats in astronomy. If this is not a supported type, what is the possibility that is might become a supported image file type? I ask because I do astrophotography and my cameras and capture software saves in FITS format. If Affinity can work directly with FITS format it would save me time from having to first uses another program convert from FITS to TIFF. I've attached one of my FITS files. Many people in the amateur astronomy and astrophotography community use PS. I use a very old CS2 version. I was considering something like CS5 or CS6 but those are now also old versions too. I don't like Adobes subscription and have been looking for other alternatives. I am liking what I see with Affinity. I think that this could easily be used in processing astrophotography images, especially for those already familiar with PS processing. With a few additions, such as supporting the FITS format, I think you might be able to attract astrophotography enthusiasts to Affinity Photo. Thanks. John Schnupp