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Hi, I previously installed two photoshop plugins which have worked fine with no issues. I'm running Win10 and I believe the most recent AP version I was trying to access the Edit / Preferences / Photoshop Plugins menu to add another plugin, but when I click on the icon, AP instantly crashes. What should I do next? I haven't found a satisfactory answer in the forum

I'm a developer and I like studying other apps and how they are structured, something people call software architecture, especially for software product lines, theme of my masters thesis. This suggestion is based on the knowledge I gained through multiple projects throughout my life and also the Affinity suite itself. I'm also aware the following is true only of the Windows versions for reasons will be made clear ahead but I doubt the approach is different on the macOS version. Here it goes. --- While licensed as separate applications, the core of the Affinity application is contained in a few files (a few DLLs) shared between the multiple apps. Nevertheless, this actually means that when licensing the different application we are actulally licensing the usage of a few parts of an existing API for a particular purpose, depending on the app itself. Thus, Affinity Publisher - with both Designer and Photo functionalities incorporated - is the whole application and the easiest part of what I call Affinity Studio in this idea. So, the whole of my idea is to drop this separation in multiple applications and incorporate them all into a single one (Affinity Studio) with the ability to receive plugins that could explore the entirety of its funcionality through the existing API. I know most people thinking about scripting and plugins on this forum are demanding languages like Python or JavaScript but the reality is that a part of the Affinity suite (including the aforementioned DLLs) is developed using .NET and it would be easier to enable plugins developed in it: makes the lives of the developers (both at Serif and those writing extensions) easier because developing tools are already avalible (Visual Studio has a free community edition and is probably the same tool Serif already has licensed) and exposing the API is a lot simpler (most of it can be seen by incorporating the those DLL to any .NET project). Limits could be stablished but I see everything could be created: new tools, personas, functionalities, file formats, and so forth. Also, despite being mostly centred around C#, .NET allows for a multitude of languages to be used to develop projects (including Python and Javascript). Before anyone can ditch my ideas as unfeasible because of the macOS version, I must remind that .NET Core is already cross-platform (although with some limitations) and can run on macOS and even Linux and if I'm not wrong .NET 5 (droping both Core and Framework from its name) will be released by the end of the year and may have complete support for fully cross-platform desktop applications, dropping also the need to support a separate version for macOS and opening the door to a Linux release with little to no extra cost for Serif. Also, I don't remember exactly where but I've already heard from someone from Serif that the file format for all applications, despite the different file extensions, is exactly the same (go ahead, change the extension of a file and open it, I'll wait) so files are really not an issue but I'd suggest reducing to a single extension for simplicity (I'd go for .afp ). And we don't need to have access to the details of the file format If the exposed API provides the means to incorporate file importers/exporters (read files and create objects on the canvas and vice-versa) that could solve the biggest issue I see in the forums, support for multiple additional file formats, which anyone should recognise it may be an impossible task to accomplish by Serif alone no matter how big their team is. With this approach, Serif could focus on providing one fully capable application worrying only about its core functionality and leave the rest for the community. No matter how big the API currently is, all we would need is a simple "hello world" so we know where to start and how to incorporate these into the finished product. Plugins are also a means to create software product lines, which is my field, and is a means used by many applications over the years. I know with my knowledge I could be providing some of the funcionality requested in the forums and many many more with the proper means to. I know many in this community feel the same and I cannot wait to see what could come out of this (even scripting with Javascript or Python could be achieved throgh this). If your concert is security/privacy of users, I'd state I don't really remember any platform using plugins being overly concerned about it, which I understand could be a big issue depending on Serif's values but I believe this is something the community could regulate on their own: some more concerned would work on evaluating extensions and providing feedback to us all about which are safe to use and which are not and word will eventually spread. If Serif is really concerned about security, they could incorporate the means to remotely block (blacklist) harmful plugins (please, don't tell me you dont know Apple and Google can do that on your phones). Sorry for the long post but I see a big potential in applications like the Affinity suite given the proper means for expansion and I would love to work these ideas out without having to be part of their team itself. I think the ball is in your court now, Serif

I am interested in trying the Inalbeo Grade photoshop plugin but I have concerns about whether it works in Affinity Photo. Does anybody here have any experience with it?

First of all, Affinity Designer has a lot of potential. This Request is only for Pixel Persona Request: Plugin Support Reason: Would allow other programs like Quixel Suite to be used with Affinity Designer. Just being able to do this would be massive advantage not only markedly, but would open more options to the program it self. Affinity Designer would be very affordable to tons of indie studios and freelancers that use Quixel Suite that cant afford Photoshop or their subscription payment modules. I myself am a Quixel Suite user, it would be nice to have the support to run it in Affinity Designer, I talked to the team from Quixel Suite which are interested in Affinity Designer. These Requests are for both Pixel Persona and Draw Persona Request: Layer Clipping and Group Clipping Masking Reason: Its another form of masking that is widely used by other users which can help with logo creation and other works Request: Filter Render Styles Reason: Being able to use the stroke and fill brush to make patterns , clouds and other form of render styles which then can be used with the Layer Effects