Printing in 1.8.3 excruciatingly slow

[Richard Liu]

I'm running Affinity Photo 1.8.3 on a 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Touch Bar with 32 GB of RAM under macOS 10.14.6 Mojave.  Printing is excruciatingly s-l-o-w.  For the print dialog even to appear took 1 min. 15 sec.!  Savor that number.  It means after clicking File | Print... I had to wait 1 min. 15 sec. just to see anything happen at all.  Since the default printer is not the one I use for printing photos, the first thing I do in the Print dialog is change the printer.  After selecting the printer in the dropdown list I had to wait 1 min. 20 sec. before the new printer's name replaced the old one's.  After that I changed the ICC profile and the print quality, then clicked Print.  It took 1 min. 15 sec. until the Printing message disappeared.

Printing an exported .jpg or .tiff in Preview takes nowhere near as long.  2 min. 35 sec. just to change the default printer in the Print dialog!!!

[Chris B]

Hey Richard Liu,

What if you open a blank document and go to File > Print?

It could be to do with the size of the document or how many objects you have etc. 

[Richard Liu]

Thanks, @Chris B.  I apologize for taking so long to reply.  The print dialog appears very quickly when I open a new, blank document and immediately initiate the print.  I hadn't expected otherwise.  Furthermore, I expect many things in Affinity Photo execute more quickly on new blank documents than on ones that chock full of adjustment layers, live filters, masks containing many brush strokes, etc.  So what do you recommend in the case that I wish to print real-life documents in Affinity Photo?

[Chris B]

I'm seeing a delay of ~30 seconds or so with a 700mb file. What size file are you working on?

[Richard Liu]

About that size.  They're obviously too big to simply attach, but I could send you one if you tell me where to upload it.

[Chris B]

You can pop it in this Dropbox folder if you'd like  

Your machine is a higher spec than mine so I'm curious to see what's taking so long. 

[Richard Liu]

Chris,

I've uploaded a "bunch" of files.  The AFP file beginning with _DSC2980... has the behavior I described, i.e., slow to load the print dialog (64 sec.), slow to change the printer in the dialog (50 - 55 sec.) and slow to finish the print (64 sec. before the printing message disappears in AFP).

With the other files I have a problem with printing that I just discovered while timing it.  The timing in the print is OK (this is the one that is about as large as yours), but the printout is drastically different from what soft proof shows in AFP, not to mention how everything appears on the screen.  When I export to tiff then print that from Preview, the results very closely resemble the appearance in AFP on my display.  When I print directly from AFP, the result looks like the .pdf that I uploaded.  I produced it by printing to PDF in the print dialog, incl. specifying the ICC profile for the printer.  That is pretty much how the actual print from AFP to the printer looks.  In the AFP file you see at the top a group "Soft proof & corrections".  I use the stuff in here to soft proof with out of gamut stuff displayed, then use adjustments below the soft proof adjustment to correct.  I rarely need to use it, but the result was no different when I did this time.  The print didn't improve at all when I activated the group and the corrections but not the soft proof.  It resembled the print without the corrections.  What's going on?

Edited June 9, 2020 by Richard Liu
Making description of 64 sec. delay precise.

[Chris B]

Thanks for sending those over.

I am seeing exceptionally long times for the print dialog to display and I have spoken with the developers about it and they agreed that we need to look at improving this if possible.

Thank you. 

[Richard Liu]

Chris,

Thanks.  Any clues as to why the other problem, the discrepancy between an exported .tiff and a print is so crass?

For the understanding of those reading this thread, I sent Chris a PDF generated in the macOS print dialog configured the same way as when I print.  I can confirm the similarity between the PDF and what I see when I actually print.  The .tiff that I sent him very closely resembles what I see in AFP on my monitor.  The Soft proof adjustment layer configured to use the same ICC profile as I specify in the print dialog gives no hint of  the discrepancy.

Chris,

I there a way to provide links to those uploads so people can see the problem?

[Chris B]

I was still poking the second issue and should have said so—sorry.

I've created a transfer link so it should work with those who don't even use Dropbox as normally our Dropbox is fully locked down.

https://www.dropbox.com/t/EApSRUrV0ycJd7l7

It will expire on the 19th apparently.

Hopefully I can beat someone to it.

[Richard Liu]

OK Chris, thanks.  When I review some of the photos that I have printed since discovering that the printing was once again working with live filters I also see discrepancies between exported .jpeg, .tiff, display in AFP and the prints produced by AFP.  These differ in a different way than the examples that I sent you, e. g. a wall of a ruin that has too much black in it, almost as if the contrast might have gone crazy.

[Richard Liu]

Any news on this bug yet, Chris?  Is it fixed in the latest beta?

[Chris B]

This isn't fixed yet but I spoke to a developer recently about this and they are pretty sure what is wrong but it will not be a straight forward fix. I'm hoping to see it resolved at some point during the beta phase. 

[Richard Liu]

Chris,

1.8.4 has just been released.  Does it fix this problem -- incl. both issues?.