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Apple Photos interactions with Affinity Photo Customer Beta 1.8.0 (split)


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12 minutes ago, R C-R said:

But as @Patrick Connor here on page one of this topic, they have made progress in this very beta with the Apple Photos to AP to Apple Photos round trip issue. It is just that the fix does not yet work 100% of the time.

Besides, as I understand it the AP extensions that can be used without ever leaving Apple Photos still work just fine with all macOS versions, so it is not as if everything has quit working.

I pretty much haven't got anything to work between with Affinity on Apple Photos. Frankly I don't want to keep putting more time in to testing it especially since they have three good stand alone apps and two good iPad apps. Other developers have made the Apple Photos extension / round trip thing work so might as well use their products in this area.

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10 minutes ago, KipV said:

I pretty much haven't got anything to work between with Affinity on Apple Photos.

Does that include enabling & using the AP extensions that do not require sending anything to AP

IOW, if you just open a photo in Apple Photos itself, click the "Edit" button & then on the button that shows the available enabled extensions, you should see a popup menu that looks something like this:

643398828_ApplePhotoExtensions.jpg.f3708e057533a172c51bd052e4850bb2.jpg

The 6 items "Affinity Develop" through "Affinity Retouch" should work from within Apple Photos without having to send anything to AP directly. Basically, they should work in much the same way as the Pixelmator Pro extension.

If you don't see those choices, you should be able to open System Preferences > Extensions & enable them, either for the retail or this beta (or for both?).

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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1 hour ago, R C-R said:

Does that include enabling & using the AP extensions that do not require sending anything to AP

Yes, nothing works whether it be extensions from within Apple Photos and going out to the full Affinity app. Maybe it got better at some point but I have wasted far too much time working with it. With others getting it to work might as well use them.

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I installed the Beta on my Mac and tested the integration with Photos.  Here's what I found:

PS: I have a MacBook Air:

Model Name: MacBook Air

  Model Identifier: MacBookAir6,2

  Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Core i5

  Processor Speed: 1.4 GHz

  Number of Processors: 1

  Total Number of Cores: 2

  L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

  L3 Cache: 3 MB

I was, in fact, able to open files from Apple Photos.

I'm no Mac expert, but it seems kind of strange to me where Photos shows up:  In the File/Open dialog box, it's at the Bottom, under the heading Media.  Photos is the only item in that category.

When one clicks on Photos, it opens another dialog box with 2 items at the top: Photos and PhotoBooth.

It takes awhile to populate the Photos portion (that may be because I have thousands of photos stored), but it seems to work.  Once it is populated, it shows all photos under the Photos header, plus the usual groups and albums underneath.

I also have a copy of Pixelmator; the behavior of the open dialog box in both is exactly the same. In the File/Open dialog box, Photos is at the Bottom, under the heading Media.  Photos is the only item in that category.

Both programs are a little flaky in that sometimes the Photos portion fails to populate.  Maybe I'm just impatient, but if you close the open dialog and File/Open again, it then usually works.  Again, both programs work in exactly the same way.

I was able to open multiple photos, combine them, adjust them, save the result to iCloud - and then export the result to photos.  Unlike the iPad version, there isn't a Share button on the export screen - rather, there is a new Share category at the bottom of the File menu. File/Share has 5 options: Mail, Airdrop, Messages, Add to Photos, and Set Background Image.

Again, it seems odd to open images from Photos under File/Media/Photos but save them back to Photos under File/Share/Add to Photos.  Again, however, Pixelmator implements it pretty much the same way.

I tried Add to Photos and Message - and got error messages both times (see attached). However, after clicking OK, Both worked as expected.

So, still some rough edges, as one would expect from a beta, but clearly on the right track.

Thanks, guys!

 

B0E13B2A-2766-42BC-8969-F4684776BC09_4_5005_c.jpeg

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4 hours ago, SteveB523 said:

I'm no Mac expert, but it seems kind of strange to me where Photos shows up:  In the File/Open dialog box, it's at the Bottom, under the heading Media.

The File > Open > sidebar Media item is a macOS/OS X feature that automatically appears in the Open dialog of any app that can open one or more of the media file types (Music, Photos, & Movies) stored in the special library folders of certain Apple apps. So for example, since the Nisus Writer Pro word processor app can open all 3 media types, the Open File Media sidebar looks like this:

837875145_Mediasidebar.jpg.42b1cd5962cb96d7ce458a60a45864bc.jpg

Since (among others) Pixelmator Pro, Amadine, Intaglio, Apple Preview, & all 3 Affinity apps can only open Photos media types, that is the only media type that will appear in their open dialog Media sidebars. The Apple apps that store media items in a special library folder include Photos, Aperture, iPhoto, Photo Booth, & a few others. If you have any of these apps installed, in the Open dialogs of any app that can open one or more of their media items, the Media sidebar item should appear, so it is normal for AP, Pixelmator Pro, etc. to show these items if you click on "Photos" in the Media sidebar, & for it to take some time for their contents to appear.

However, this is different from what is being discussed here, which is accessing AP features from within Apple Photos using its built-in Edit feature. For one thing, opening a file from the Media sidebar opens a copy of the file & if you import it into Apple Photos, it will be imported as a new item added to the Photos library. Using any of the AP extensions or "Edit in Affinity Photo" or Pixelmator items from within Apple Photos's Edit feature non-destructively applies the edits to the photo stored in Apple Photos. (For more about that, refer to this article by one of Apple's senior engineers.)

It is this built-in Edit feature of the Apple Photos app that is not working correctly with AP for macOS Catalina users & is apparently not yet 100% fixed in this beta.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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2 hours ago, KipV said:

Try Pixelmator Pro, I haven't had any problems with that and Apple Photos.

FWIW, I am still running High Sierra. For me all of the AP & Pixelmator Pro extensions work from within Apple Photos 3.0. However, on my old iMac using most of the the Pixelmator Pro tools (brushes, darken/lighten, saturate, among others) in Apple Photos or directly in the app itself work so painfully slowly & laggy that it is not practical to use them, while those in the AP extensions work smoothly & quickly, just like in AP itself.

OTOH, for me the Apple Photos "Edit with Affinity Photo" feature (not to be confused with the "Edit in Affinity Photo" extension) hasn't worked correctly for me since Sierra or perhaps El Capitan -- it never saves anything back to the Apple Photos library. "Edit with Pixelmator Pro" does work with High Sierra, so it has that in its favor, but the painfully slow & laggy behavior makes that of no use to me. :(

P.S. I do not now nor have I ever worked for any of the companies that make these apps! :P

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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The article provided above is what has puzzled me the past 6-9 months with AP and Apple Photos.  This is not a trade secret and Apple has ensured that it has been working with third party developers.  Actually, the answer to the puzzle is what is Affinity’s problem, especially when other companies have fix he issue,  one would think Apple’s app of the year would have the same info as other companies.  I think it Serif had explained the problem, the situation (s) in conflict, customers may had a better understanding.  There is nothing wrong with saying we are having problems with our code, our team or Apple’s lack of assistance.  Great article, everyone should read.

Cecil 

iMac Retina 5K, 27”, 2019. 3.6 GHz Intel Core 9, 40 GB Memory DDR4, Radeon Pro 580X 8 GB, macOS,iPad Pro iPadOS

 

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection 

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30 minutes ago, Cecil said:

This is not a trade secret and Apple has ensured that it has been working with third party developers.

I am just guessing, but for the AP Catalina extensions issue, It may have something to do with undocumented changes Apple has made in the version of the Apple Photos app installed with Catalina, perhaps to meet Catalina's new & much stricter sandboxing requirements. That may not necessarily affect all apps that use extensions to interoperate with Apple Photos in the same way.

So because Apple "opaques" certain features of its own apps, what @Patrick Connor said above about having to guess about what Apple has changed might be a factor here.

Regardless, it appears that while the fix in this beta is not yet 100% effective for all Catalina users, it does mean they are making progress.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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On 1/7/2020 at 11:35 PM, KipV said:

Why can't other DAMs have that feature?

ON1 Photo RAW does.

Does  Pixelmator edit RAW's and keeps history of the edits when saved back to Photo's ? In the past they only worked with 8 bit jpeg's ?

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I have split these important posts away from the beta announcement.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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4 hours ago, MacGB said:

ON1 Photo RAW does.

Wow, I'll have to look into that. Is that the same company that makes Capture One Pro? I feel that Capture One lacks too many essential features for most of my projects but it's adjustment layers type workflow is a huge step up from LR to me. Having both regular and adjustment layers would be awesome.

4 hours ago, MacGB said:

Does  Pixelmator edit RAW's and keeps history of the edits when saved back to Photo's ? In the past they only worked with 8 bit jpeg's ? 

I just use Pixelmator Pro so I don't know about the regular Pixelmator app. I don't know of any Apple Photo extension that has a history panel. It would be nice to have that feature! Similar to the way the stand alone Affinity app gives you the option of saving the history panel when it closes.

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Really hate to get into this "fight", but I just tried doing a Photos pic: duplicated it, Edit, Edit In Affinity Photo. Made changes (did a colour halftone), saved in APh, then closed the pic in APh. The changes were saved back to Photos, did a Done there and the changes were reflected in the pic in Photos. 

I also tried the APh extension Haze Removal from within Photos and it worked and saved just fine. I will readily concede that this performance might not be universal for everyone's configuration, but for my fairly "normal" Mac, works fine here.

I do have to say that as a pro photographer, I don't use Photos as a DAM since I need all my master files readily available in client folders/directories, not in a "library" file. (Been a pro for decades and have used numerous apps for DAM, but today do not like the current options. Liked Aperture a bit since I could store originals/masters in their original locations and not within a "library" file.) But I would likely welcome an Affinity DAM since I am generally pleased with what they are doing with the other apps. 

Just my 2-pence.

--------------------

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020 i7 72GB) • AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT 16 GB • macOS Ventura
MacBook Pro, 13", M1 2020 • 16 GB • macOS Ventura
iPad Air 2022

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47 minutes ago, nwhit said:

eed all my master files readily available in client folders/directories, not in a "library" file.

One of two that he has posted.  As I like cloud storage as a duplicate backup of Time Machine and eternal SSD, take a look.  

 

Cecil 

iMac Retina 5K, 27”, 2019. 3.6 GHz Intel Core 9, 40 GB Memory DDR4, Radeon Pro 580X 8 GB, macOS,iPad Pro iPadOS

 

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection 

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1 hour ago, Cecil said:

One of two that he has posted.  As I like cloud storage as a duplicate backup of Time Machine and eternal SSD, take a look.  

 

For professional purposes (working professionals with several clients), cloud storage isn't practical. I have thousands and thousands of bracketed HDR 24MB/ea RAW+JPEGs pics. In addition, multiple copies of processed versions of those, often 3-12 versions. Really only practical to store on a local Thunderbolt RAID.

But as I said, for many people Photos, iPhoto, Aperture, other apps, cloud storage, etc. works fine. And as compared to the many years of storing thousands of negatives, slides and prints, this is MUCH better! After many years as a pro, when I went digital, it was a blessing in so many ways! But a good local-based DAM would be nice! Assuming it doesn't store the masters in a proprietary file/library! 

--------------------

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020 i7 72GB) • AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT 16 GB • macOS Ventura
MacBook Pro, 13", M1 2020 • 16 GB • macOS Ventura
iPad Air 2022

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I know several people who only use Affinity Photos as an extension of Apple Photos.  I am one of them.

Here is why:

In order to get the perfect photo I use several tools.  In painting and cloning from Affinity Photo, (Machine Learning) Noise Removal from Pixelmator Pro, several adjustments from Luminar 4.  Apple Photos extensions make jumping between apps and files quick and easy.  Much better than anything I have found on Windows.

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On 1/8/2020 at 2:13 AM, Nana said:

Please, let us be greatful for the work Serif Dev team are doing. Yes, all of our desired features may not be in at the moment but with time, I am sure they will get there.  Photoshop has 20+ years of lead and it's still buggy and laggy.

Unfortunately, this is not a desired feature.  This is a feature that was working before Catalina and now does not work.  Serif has been saying for months 1.8 will fix this.  I'm still hopeful it will.  The ability to round trip from Mac Photos is not a desired feature, it is a core feature.  Hope this helps explain the disappointment.

Jeff

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5 hours ago, jeffnles1 said:

Unfortunately, this is not a desired feature.  This is a feature that was working before Catalina and now does not work.  Serif has been saying for months 1.8 will fix this.  I'm still hopeful it will.  The ability to round trip from Mac Photos is not a desired feature, it is a core feature.  Hope this helps explain the disappointment.

Jeff

There's a separate topic for the issue with Apple Photos. See https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/91443-affinity-photo-has-stopped-saving-directly-back-into-mac-os-photos/

That said, my testing of the 1.8 beeta shows that both the EDIT WITH and EXTENSIONS are fixed in the beta with one caveat and one exception.

The caveat is that you must flatten your file before you save and quit (Document/Flatten).

The exception is that, once you have a photo loaded, you can't open another from Apple Photos if, for example, you want to place it on the first.  I'm pretty sure that's a bug, because you can open a second photo from, for example, an iCloud source.

In any event, that's progress, and I'm happy.

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On 1/11/2020 at 8:30 PM, SteveB523 said:

There's a separate topic for the issue with Apple Photos. See https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/91443-affinity-photo-has-stopped-saving-directly-back-into-mac-os-photos/

That said, my testing of the 1.8 beeta shows that both the EDIT WITH and EXTENSIONS are fixed in the beta with one caveat and one exception.

The caveat is that you must flatten your file before you save and quit (Document/Flatten).

The exception is that, once you have a photo loaded, you can't open another from Apple Photos if, for example, you want to place it on the first.  I'm pretty sure that's a bug, because you can open a second photo from, for example, an iCloud source.

In any event, that's progress, and I'm happy.

Good to hear.  Yes, progress and that also makes me happy.

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On 1/9/2020 at 8:24 PM, nwhit said:

Liked Aperture a bit since I could store originals/masters in their original locations and not within a "library" file.)

You can work that way in Apple Photos by turning off ‘Copy items to the Photos library’ in the app’s General preferences. That’ll stop photos stored externally from being auto-uploaded to iCloud Photos but I suspect you may not care.

Relevant Apple doc: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/photos/pht1ed9b966d/mac

 

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On 1/9/2020 at 11:11 PM, nwhit said:

Assuming it doesn't store the masters in a proprietary file/library! 

Photos’ library is (largely just) a special folder structure that Finder presents as a single file and which you can explore by Ctrl-clicking and choosing ‘Show Package Contents’. So, even if Photos was discontinued at some point, like iPhoto and Aperture, you can get at the masters inside its library without needing the app.

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On 1/10/2020 at 4:20 PM, Silverton said:

I know several people who only use Affinity Photos as an extension of Apple Photos.  I am one of them.

Here is why:

In order to get the perfect photo I use several tools.  In painting and cloning from Affinity Photo, (Machine Learning) Noise Removal from Pixelmator Pro, several adjustments from Luminar 4.  Apple Photos extensions make jumping between apps and files quick and easy.  Much better than anything I have found on Windows.

I am surprised since I can't get Affinity to work. I have been curious about using Luminar 4. I have seen the ads that talk about it's extension capabilities. I like to get more functionality out of the Apple Photos app. It is a cool idea to let the advanced features to be handled by the 3rd party while Apple can focus on the basic apps features it's self.

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I have already posted twice before that I've had no problems in Apple Photos editing and saving edits back with 1.7 (not tried 1.8 yet) by using this workaround. Download "External Editors" (free and out of date but it works)  from the AppStore. Enable both that and Affinity in the System Preferences/Extensions and then, when you want to edit a photo in Photos, Select External Editors in the photo edit box and THEN Affinity after that. By doing it this way you can edit, and every photo (at least for me) is saved back to Photos with all changes and no hassle whatsoever.

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