AlanPC

I'm trying to create a garden plan, messed around with some online software to get a scaled plan, now I want to add some text to the image I created. So I open the image in Affinity Photo... Where the heck is the text? I have a text menu, with heaps of options, but how do I actually insert some text onto the picture? I'd expect to see like a T or something, but I see no T? ??

It's hard to believe we still don't have this critical feature? Ridiculous that I'm having to use a free online editor, when I have this multi-gigabyte publishing software right here on my HDD.

For me, a key reason for wanting to batch-process is so I can automatically correct lens warping and such. Right now, and apparently for the foreseeable future, I'm having to use a different software (DXO) to do this.

I have XnView but I have no idea how you'd use that to get Affinity to batch process a bunch of raw files?

To me this "minor" issue is huge, because I don't use it much. Which means when I DO, I can't remember how to do things, which is a poor user experience, so I don't use it much... Vicious circle.

Yep. I run a specific noise filter via DXO and can easily do an entire shoot with that software. But with Affinity I have to do one at a time, which is why I don't use Affinity any more.

"I can understand that your first contact with APub must have been frustrating" I helped as a beta tester and have Affinity Photo, so I'm happy enough to learn the interface, I just don't have time to learn graphic design... "Then it was exported from PP with text as curves" Well that's the problem with workarounds... I shouldn't have to figure this stuff out just to use the tool (and I couldn't select photos properly either) I'm hoping they'll work with the template-selling people and make it easy for them to offer the Affinity Publisher format. That would make everyone happy! For now I'll take up the refund offer, as I've wasted an evening when I could have been productive. Cheers for the help anyway.

Here's the example I just played with, if anyone is curious. I'll have to move on, as the conference is 21st of next month and I need to work on the message. If using an old Pageplus template then I can just use Pageplus, with no need to workaround with Affinity. I'd love to see Affinity offer such templates, paid or not, indeed I'd like to see them make money from such things to help ensure the long-term health of the company. Perhaps open a store that others can sell their designs? I've written to template.net, asking if they have any plans of supporting this software, but it's just a forlorn shot in the dark and I think we already know the answer. Perhaps if the Serif/Affinity people were to reach out to such companies, making it easy for them to convert indesign templates? Feels pretty silly to buy this software, then find myself using ancient PagePlus or downloading MICROSOFT WORD templates, in order to publish a simple brochure? Offering templates takes away nothing from those that want a blank screen and freedom but would make a huge difference to people like me, that want a tool to help them publish things. Right now, to be blunt, this software is pretty much useless to me. A blank screen doesn't help me at all, and my first attempt at editing a PDF has left me entirely underwhelmed. I need to get on with some actual work now. Thanks for trying Publication1.pdf

That sounded like a great idea but it doesn't work at all. Most of the text appears to be shapes, not editable text. Nor do I seem to be able to select images to change them.

Well one of the things I loved about Serif Pageplus was I could pick a template and please a client with a new brochure that looked pretty good, as I'm 100% a sales copywriter, not a designer or graphics person. So right now I have the brief from a client, a brochure for an upcoming conference, to attract new business partners... My choices are basically the size of paper and in inches or mm, with ZERO help towards creating any kind of brochure. Not even a trifold layout, nothing at all. To have any chance of getting this done in time it looks like I need to go back to Pageplus then.

Wait, what? I just came here to ask where are the templates, as I can't find them? I just purchased, moments ago, as I figured it's time to move on from my trusty Serif - and the templates for that are looking a bit old. So there are NO templates for Affinity Publisher? Not even basic guidelines or pre-sized docs? Holy pants.

Erm.. just went to use my install, it says it's 'expired', that I should download a newer one, but that just dumps me on a purchase page? So now I have to pay for it?

It DOES have some basic "start new batch job" feature, but it does nothing much except convert tiffs into jpg for example, or to strip metadata. I can't use it for RAW files though.

I understand the frustration and it drove me somewhat nuts at first. I can tell you though that much of it makes more sense with time. What happened to me was I realized I was chasing my own tail, getting frustrated at tutorials I didn't really understand, as they were talking a foreign language and in the meantime I was distracted by some other feature... So what I did was write down a list of the top 10 things I needed to know, that I didn't already. For me it was how to do 'dodge and burn', split-toning, and a few others, including the 'in-painting' thing. Heck, I still don't really feel confident with 'masks' and 'quick masks' (or what the difference is?) but usually manage to muddle through. Doing my own personal Top 10 has made me much more comfortable and confident with it, and now I just edit my photos, rather than getting frustrated. I did try a variety of other softwares out there and Affinity seems the allround best, though far from the best for raw conversion. For my particular camera model (RX10IV) I find the DXO software does a much better job with it's profile for that camera/lens and for noise reduction. On the other hand it's $200, 4X the price of Affinity and nowhere near as nice to use for the actual editing. So I use both, DXO to process RAW, then export as 16 bit TIFF files and edit those with Affinity as JPEG. Guess what I'm saying is, don't give up so easy. Figure out what you actually need to do, learn those things and don't worry about the masses of other stuff you don't really need anyway. Hope that helps, a little?

I'm having the same issue, just got back from a shoot, have 400 RAW files, it's nearly 1AM and have realized that at my current rate it will be, literally, daylight before I'm finished. As an image editor I love it but as RAW processor I can't use this. I'll have to find something else to process the raw files then tweak and edit with Affinity. In fact I already know what software I'll be using, as the 30 day free trial has expired and for now I'm trying to do this with Affinity, but I just can't. That other software is $200 but it has much better noise reduction and I can process an entire folder of raw files, just tell it to get going and come back an hour or two later. If there's any updates on this issue, do tell?

In a YT vid a chap talks about overlays, but the buttons and brushes he refers to don't seem to exist in my copy of Affinity Photo? Is this a discontinued feature or am I missing something? Never mind, found it, it's in the Develop persona again

Aha! There it is! Cheers!

Is there a way to spot which, if any, parts of a photo are over-exposed or underexposed? In a video with a different software they have little triangles on the histogram, that makes the over/under bits stand out. Do we have something similar?

Thanks!

Sorry, let me rephrase that, as I guess you could export an 8 bit jpg as a 16 bit tif, which would just be a larger file size for the same image - my concern is if there is any setting or adjustment I might make by mistake, such as some default, or a setting I should make on purpose, even if it slows things down, to ensure I am preserving the 16 bit aspect of the file I'm working on? Sorry for being so nooby

OK, so as long as I export it as a 16 bit tif there's nothing Affinity Photo can or will do to change it to 8 bit?

OK, good to know. I'm sure in one of the tutorials the silky-voiced guy says to make sure you're editing in 16 bit, to prevent banding when doing gradients and stuff? So.. I guess that's my question.. or was he just talking about saving the file, for later?

Hi, I am not familiar with the names of various color... formats? Profiles? I opened a 16 bit "tif" file, and got a message that AP had "assigned your working profile" to the "unprofiled document" (see pic attached). So is that still 16 bit or has it degraded it to 8 bit? And how would I know? Is there any way of telling Affinity to always and forever do everything in 16 bit, unless I specifically choose to export as 8 bit jpg? I'm guessing that would be the "working profile" bit? Update - under "Edit" (?) I find "Preferences" - "Color" and this seems to be where it's hiding the profile things. From there, it seems my profile is 32 bit? Or not? I tried closing that file and just looking under Edit (?) - Preferences, and it still shows the same as in the 2nd pic attached. Hasn't changed. Let's try opening a jpg.. I believe all jpegs are 8 bit, right? That didn't change anything. Preference settings stay the same, regardless if I'm opening a jpeg or a 16 bit tif? OK, first question - how to tell it to work in 16 bit? Can I get it to stay that way, or at least recognize 16 bit 'tif' files from the software I'm using? Bonus Question (BQ) What's the difference between tiff and tif, and jpg and jpeg? Thanks!

I'm not actively trying to be awkward, just trying to get my head around the various different ways this thing works. So if I select a LAYER, on the right hand side, and then select Effects, then the Gaussian Blur, that doesn't work on the area selected, but if I select Filters at the top of the screen and then 'Gaussian Blur'.. that does work on a selected area. So 'filters' are not 'effects'? But Gaussian blur is both an effect, and a filter? The effect of a filter? Er... So something "live" is NOT destructive? Oh I geddit, live as in live view? Not live as in activated or active? I see nothing under view... hang on... So which one IS destructive? OK, I've found "live filters", it's a tiny hour-glass symbol at the bottom of the layers and effects panel. If I hover my mouse over it, it says "Live Filters". OK, let's try that one.. Open image... live filter.. I didn't select anything, try again, open image... object selected... live filters... Gaussian Blur Filter.. OK, that's blurring the selection. Cool. So if I invert the selection... so now the background has the marching ants thing. Slide the slider... No, that's just blurring the selection again? *sigh OK, so the "Invert Selection" button doesn't work when using a Live Filter on a Selection? Because it's live, or something? Right... Alright, we're making progress, I think... So if I make a Selection, then click Effects (right side), then choose a Filter, that does NOT affect the Selection, but if I click Live Filter (right side, little hour glass) then choose a Filter that DOES affect the Selection, but "Invert Selection" does not work? But if I click Filters (top of the screen) and then the Invert Selection button the Gaussian Blur Filter DOES affect the background? Well I'm glad we cleared that up! Thanks! *twitch Update: Wifey just asked why I was looking so confused, so I showed her, how if I make a selection, then click the Effects thing, it doesn't affect the selection... except this time it DID? So I tried again, opened the image, made a selection.. and this time it blurred the whole pic again. It's like random or something? Welp, that's enough for tonight.

How?