Affinity Photo Customer Beta (1.9.0.196)

[Andy Somerfield]

Status: Beta

Purpose: Features, Improvements, Fixes

Requirements: Purchased Affinity Photo

Mac App Store: Not submitted

Download ZIP: Download

Auto-update: Available

 

Hello,

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the second build of Affinity Photo 1.9.0 for macOS.

If this is your first time using a customer beta of an Affinity app, it’s worth noting that the beta will install as a separate app - alongside your store version. They will not interfere with each other at all and you can continue to use the store version for critical work without worry.

This beta is significantly different from the 1.8.4 version available for purchase - we strongly recommend that you do not use this beta for real work as data could be lost and the files you save are not guaranteed to open in previous / future versions of Affinity Photo.

Furthermore, massive behind the scenes work has been done to enable GPU acceleration for the Windows version of Affinity Photo in 1.9. In theory this should have no consequences for macOS / iOS users - but it’s likely that a couple of things will have become broken along the way. We are giving ourselves a longer beta period with 1.9 in order to find and fix those things.

This also means that the full complement of new features is not available yet in this 1.9 beta - more will be added over the coming weeks.

Thanks again for your continued support!

 

Affinity Photo Team  

 

Changes Since 1.9.0.195

 

- Text on a path is now available in Photo.
- More filters now work on masks / adjustments / spare channels (Add Noise, Perlin Noise, etc.).
- Improved Metal rendering performance (over 195).
- Improved experience when editing a spare channel (view artefacts, histogram and navigator).
- Setting a blend mode on a sub-brush will now work properly - paving the way for import of PSD dual-brushes in a future build.
- Attempted to fix startup crash on machines with no compatible Metal GPU.
- Fixed localisation issues affecting non-UK users.
- Fixed issues when attempting to add layers to a spare channel (!).

 

Cumulative Changes Since 1.8.4

- Improved “Serif Labs” RAW engine.
- You can now single click a spare channel in the Channels panel to edit it like a layer.
- The Curves adjustment now has numeric field controls for precise positioning.
- Studio presets are now available.
- A benchmarking tool has been added in the help menu. It will only become available when no documents are open.
- Blend modes now work on “alpha only” layers (masks, adjustments, live filters, etc.).
- Added a new “Divide” blend mode.
- Added “Create from centre” for the elliptical marquee tool.
- Allowed snapping to the bounds of the pixel selection.
- Added ability to create brushes from the current pixel selection with one click.

 

To be notified about all future macOS beta updates, please follow this notification thread 
To be notified when this Photo update comes out of beta and is fully released to all Affinity Photo on macOS customers, please follow this thread

[Murfee]

4 minutes ago, Andy Somerfield said:

Text on a path is now available in Photo

Thank you, this is a nice surprise, you have been busy since this morning 😀 any chance of Layer fill for tomorrow 😂😂

[evtonic3]

Can't get the FX to show in some instances. In this example there should be an inner shadow showing, although the fill is set to zero, I should still be able to see the effects being applied. AP 1.8.4 works fine when I do this.

 

[Mark Oehlschlager]

@Andy Somerfield

Would it be possible to use the Dodge and Burn tools directly on a Spare Channel as well as Mask Alpha Channels?

EDIT: Maybe, for now, the solution is to paint greyscale tones with the Brush tool set to Overlay blend mode, although one can't target shadows, midtones or highlights in that way.

[lepr]

8 minutes ago, Mark Oehlschlager said:

@Andy Somerfield

Would it be possible to use the Dodge and Burn tools directly on a Spare Channel as well as Mask Alpha Channels?

Yes, already working in the current beta (but only if Protect Hue is disabled in Context Toolbar).

[Mark Oehlschlager]

@anon2

Thanks for that tip. I would never have guessed.

[postmadesign]

17 hours ago, Andy Somerfield said:

Setting a blend mode on a sub-brush will now work properly - paving the way for import of PSD dual-brushes in a future build.

That is pretty cool, would be great if PS double brushes could be imported into Affinity, as it would make the number of available brushes much higher than now

[csp]

@Andy

the raw persona now renders very fine detail with rather low levels of artefacts outperforming c1 in this regard but still lacks basic functionality like an easy way to safe conversion settings  and reload them. can you give us an estimate when this will be implemented ?   what I also miss is the ability to apply custom  input profiles  which was possible in earlier versions when I remember right,  will we get this function back too ?  

 

 

 

 

[postmadesign]

20 hours ago, Andy Somerfield said:

- Text on a path is now available in Photo.

Any chance you could get the Auto Selection / Magic Wand in Designer's pixel persona? It seems to be a glaring omission, and curiously it is in the ipad version but not the desktop....

[kenmaclord]

20 hours ago, Murfee said:

Thank you, this is a nice surprise, you have been busy since this morning 😀 any chance of Layer fill for tomorrow 😂😂

Yeees please a Fill Layer !!!

[Dazmondo77]

On 9/15/2020 at 1:33 PM, Andy Somerfield said:

Attempted to fix startup crash on machines with no compatible Metal GPU.

All working now boss ---- great work Andy

[fde101]

On 9/15/2020 at 8:33 AM, Andy Somerfield said:

The Curves adjustment now has numeric field controls for precise positioning.

Bit of a tight squeeze?

[kirkt]

You all have been busy!

beta v 1.9.0.196 - the menu entry for the CPU/GPU benchmark is labeled "Support..." as is the actual link to the web page support.  The first (top) menu entry is the benchmark.

kirk

 

[Chris B]

1 hour ago, fde101 said:

Bit of a tight squeeze?

I'll pop this in. It is totally unreadable to me. Windows seems to have cracked it though but it is tight there as well! 

[Chris B]

1 hour ago, kirkt said:

You all have been busy!

beta v 1.9.0.196 - the menu entry for the CPU/GPU benchmark is labeled "Support..." as is the actual link to the web page support.  The first (top) menu entry is the benchmark.

kirk

 

Looks like this hasn't been translated yet. I'll mention it. It's correct in UK English but not US or other languages. 

[kirkt]

1 minute ago, Chris B said:

Looks like this hasn't been translated yet. I'll mention it. It's correct in UK English but not US or other languages. 

Ok - makes sense.  Thanks!

kirk

[xander09]

Hi Andy and Team,

I run a 2011 MacBook Pro with eGPU and external display. Previous releases have crashed on launch when the eGPU is connected. This beta will successfully launch (yay!) but crashes when creating a new document (bummer). I'd be happy to help test in whatever way I can to get Affinity Suite working with this setup.

Crash log attached, and my system details are:

• MacBookPro8,3: 17-inch (early 2011) running 10.13.6
• Intel HD Graphics 3000. AMD Radeon HD 6750M (disabled via software due to failing chip using NVRAM setting… common in this machine and iMacs of same vintage)
• eGPU: AMD Radeon RX 460 (in Akitio Thunder2 box and enabled via Purge Wrangler)

I understand this a non-standard configuration, however, Affinity programs are the only applications in which I encounter these crashes.

Thanks! Jonathan

Affinity Photo Beta_2020-09-17-114330_MacBook17.crash

[Chris B]

Hi xander09, 

I think it's time we got an eGPU. Andy did some early testing on this and I recall one of the other developers saying we need one. Sorry no progress was made since we last spoke so I'll give it another push.

[velarde]

Thanks for  the new functionalities.But please don't forget sticky settings .. There are still some tools that don't remember the last one used.

One example is the Selection tools; specifically the FreeHand Selection Tool.

It always defaults to the first one (Not sure of its name ) The one with the ziggy zaggy lines.

The ONLY one I use is the second one. The one with the closed shape and lets you do only straight lines. Affinity Photo NEVER remembers that I want to use that one.

This week I had to retouch 100 pictures and in every new one I opened I had to select the second sub tool manually.

 

And while we are in this subject I find it strange that when I want to add to a selection I have to press the "control" key modifier. I would think that the "shift" key is the standard to add. 

 

[Jowday]

4 hours ago, velarde said:

Thanks for  the new functionalities.But please don't forget sticky settings .. There are still some tools that don't remember the last one used.

One example is the Selection tools; specifically the FreeHand Selection Tool.

It always default to the first one (Not sure of its name ) The one with the zig zaggy lines.

The ONLY one I use is the second one. The one with the closed shape and lets you do only straight lines. It NEVER remembers that I want to use that one.

This week I had to retouch 100 pictures and in every new one I opened I had to select the second sub tool manually.

And while we are in this subject I find it strange that when I want to add to a selection I have to press the "control" key modifier. I would think that the "shift" key is the standard to add. 

Indeed. This usability issue - one among too many - just kills any kind of fluid workflow. Plenty of work for a real UX i Nottingham.

[Gear maker]

Okay, I admit that I don't download every Photo beta.  But I did just download this one and was very surprised to find it was a zip file instead of a dmg.  Is this going to be the new format for photo's beta updates?  Designer is still coming in a dmg, will that be changing to a zip also?

Installing the app via a zip I lost all my preferences, where using a dmg I don't.

Or am I just going crazy?

[degtrv]

On 9/19/2020 at 12:27 AM, velarde said:

Thanks for  the new functionalities.But please don't forget sticky settings .. There are still some tools that don't remember the last one used.

One example is the Selection tools; specifically the FreeHand Selection Tool.

It always default to the first one (Not sure of its name ) The one with the zig zaggy lines.

The ONLY one I use is the second one. The one with the closed shape and lets you do only straight lines. It NEVER remembers that I want to use that one.

This week I had to retouch 100 pictures and in every new one I opened I had to select the second sub tool manually.

 

And while we are in this subject I find it strange that when I want to add to a selection I have to press the "control" key modifier. I would think that the "shift" key is the standard to add. 

 

Absolutely agree on this one! I also find it kind of annoying having to select sample "Current and Below" layers when using Inpainting Brush / Clone and other tools when retouching a number of similar pictures.

[Frozen Death Knight]

One aspect I hope gets resolved in 1.9 is the fact that the Colour Picker Tool does not share its settings with all the other colour pickers in Affinity. What I mean by that is that the Colour Picker Tool is able to change its settings to Current Layer among other things, but every single tool that has a colour picker can't use those same settings. See this link for reference about addressing the various shortcomings of the Colour Picker Tool and colour picking in general:

This combined with the previously mentioned problem that there are no sticky settings for several tools, which forces you to change it to Current Layer for the Colour Picker Tool on start-up every time by pressing I on the keyboard to properly select the colour you want. When you have nearly a hundred layers on top of the layer you want to colour pick from, this becomes a lot of tedious extra work to set things up properly.

Speaking of sticky settings, one aspect that I hope the new Studio Presets will eventually address is saving your sticky settings along with the rest of the workspace. So if you happen to have a tool setting you normally like for a specific workspace, you can save that with your preset. If you combine this with being able to export/import your Studio Presets so you have an easier time setting up Affinity for work wherever you go, Affinity as a whole would become a lot smoother for workflow.

[Raffomatiko]

When the MacOS Version will get an ARM Version, will there also be an Version for Windows on ARM ? This would be perfect, because of the release of the new Surface Pro X (versions). 

[Dazmondo77]

On 9/21/2020 at 1:29 AM, Frozen Death Knight said:

Speaking of sticky settings, one aspect that I hope the new Studio Presets will eventually address is saving your sticky settings along with the rest of the workspace.

Great Idea - must include the ability to tick 'scale with object' for strokes and FX which would save loads of bother when the vast majority of your works needs to be scalable