Focus stacking problem with 1.9

[Freixas]

Now that Affinity Photo is using the GPU in 1.9, I'm getting errors which are probably due to this change.

The first time I was trying to stack images, I was running another program, DxO's PhotoLab 4. which also uses the GPU. I had various results: a hang (had to reboot), a hang (was able to kill the program), a black screen that reset and sometimes odd results. And sometimes it works.

I just tried the same focus stack three times, once with PhotoLab 4 open but inactive and one without but with Affinity Publisher open, and one with neither program. Twice I got incorrect results. The third time, I got a black screen and the program hung (I was able to kill it). It might work if I reboot after using PhotoLab 4.

I've attached examples of the two focus stacks (the results ought to be identical).

Here's the info for my graphics card. I did install the latest driver before checking all this.

Display adapter 0
ID	0x2140001
Name	Radeon RX 580 Series
Board Manufacturer	Sapphire Technology Limited
Codename	Polaris 20 XT
TDP	185.0 W
Cores	2304
ROP Units	32
Technology	14 nm
Memory size	8 GB
Memory type	GDDR5
PCI device	bus 29 (0x1D), device 0 (0x0), function 0 (0x0)
Vendor ID	0x1002 (0x1DA2)
Model ID	0x67DF (0xE353)
Revision ID	0xE7
Performance Level	Current
Core clock	600.0 MHz
Memory clock	2000.0 MHz
Driver version	27.20.14533.1000
WDDM Model	2.7
Win32_VideoController	AdapterRAM = 0xFFF00000 (4293918720)
Win32_VideoController	DriverVersion = 27.20.14533.1000
Win32_VideoController	DriverDate = 01/27/2021

[hank schoch]

I'm having the same problem with the focus merge function since updating to 1.9.  I've tried several different stacks, and the result is the same: the bottom fourth of the screen is blank (black), often with colorful artifacts along the boundary between the blank bottom and useable portion of the final image.    

 

Until this bug is fixed, is there any way I can revert back to 1.8.6?  I can't find an option to download any previous versions, including1.8.6, anyplace on the Affinity website.  It's all about the latest and greatest, whose glitches prevent me from doing what I need to do.  This is a real inconvenience.

 

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by hank schoch
to remove superfluous content and add picture

[walt.farrell]

Does turning off the hardware acceleration (Preferences, Performance) fix the problem?

If so, you might test the new 1.9.1.943 beta and see if that resolves it, as it has a fix for some problem with hardware-acclerated focus merge.

[Freixas]

Turning off hardware acceleration eliminated the problem.

Using the beta eliminated the problem as well (with hardware acceleration enabled).

The funny thing about hardware acceleration for focus stacking is that it seems not faster with than without. I didn't try to time it with a stopwatch, though.

[walt.farrell]

35 minutes ago, Freixas said:

Turning off hardware acceleration eliminated the problem.

Using the beta eliminated the problem as well (with hardware acceleration enabled).

The funny thing about hardware acceleration for focus stacking is that it seems not faster with than without. I didn't try to time it with a stopwatch, though.

You might time it (stopwatch precision might not be needed), and make that comment over in the 1.9.1.943 beta thread to make sure Mark sees it.

[Freixas]

On 2/7/2021 at 3:40 PM, walt.farrell said:

You might time it (stopwatch precision might not be needed), and make that comment over in the 1.9.1.943 beta thread to make sure Mark sees it.

Finally got around to it. There is no performance difference and I reported this in the beta thread.