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Digital Asset Manager - a.s.a.p.


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I do not about you guys, but I think it would be neat if Serif releases the next version of AP with built-in robust and comprehensive DAM functionality. I like this idea as opposed to a separate DAM software.

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Hi Mike Naylor,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

An Affinity DAM application is already planned. Stay tuned for more information.

That's good to know! I was thinking of going the Lightroom route before I tested AP (which I most likely will purchase), so it'd be nice to have a DAM in the same family, so to speak.

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great Idea, yes. I love lightroom but they have shot beside the target in the latest updates. All I needed more was a better SIMPLE html export like in version 3 and a bit more masking for touch ups.

So mine is still version 5

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A DAM with some editing ability is my preference. Quickly batch processing images with basic corrections without a round trip to a separate application is a big pull for me. It may be that any DAM is so tightly integrated with Photo that most used tools are available seamlessly in the DAM.

Another thing I would want is the ability to add multiple applications to the list of 'Edit In' options available. Aperture for example only lets you set one external editor but I would love the option to set up 2 or 3 and then select the one you wish to edit in from a context menu. This would also go some way to mitigate the lack of plug ins.

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  • 4 weeks later...

 

 

Desktop Publishing

Expected to be in beta around the end of 2016 with a launch in 2017, Affinity Publisher will share the precision, speed, quality, creative-led workflow and amazing compatibility that is found across the Affinity suite.

Looking Forwards

Platforms are getting the same freedom. Affinity apps first released to great acclaim for Mac are now also coming to Windows, starting in 2016. Our specialist teams are also looking to develop a Digital Asset Manager and a range of fully-featured Affinity apps for iPad from 2017.

 

 

Can't wait to hand you my money for Publisher, the iPad apps and most of all the DAM, hell I'd buy anything you guys make. For Mac that is!  ;)

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

We’re almost halfway into 2016 and still no news of a release - or even a beta.   What with this and other promised features and bug fixes, I do wonder if all Mac development has stopped in favour of Windows.  Both AP and AD are littered with idiosyncrasies and missing features.  So, along with many others, I’m feeling less enthusiastic than I was a year ago.

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We’re almost halfway into 2016 and still no news of a release - or even a beta.   What with this and other promised features and bug fixes, I do wonder if all Mac development has stopped in favour of Windows.  Both AP and AD are littered with idiosyncrasies and missing features.  So, along with many others, I’m feeling less enthusiastic than I was a year ago.

 

Same request. Any update news for the DAM.  I am a Aperture user with more than 60,0000 photos and now planning to switch to use Photos or Lightroom as my DAM. I already purchased and used Affinity Photo as my photo editor. Affinity Photo is a great software and I want to know more detail of the Affinity DAM before I switch to Photos or Lightroom.  If Affinity DAM is good, I definitely will use Affinity Photo + Affinity DAM.

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Must admit I share the trepidation. I purchased AP to show support and to start the learning curve. Don't see me leaving Adobe Photographers CC anytime soon - like others I need the DAM and decent RAW tools. LR gives me all that and if and when I need more integration with PS comes into play. To be honest I have not accessed AP in weeks.

 

I really had high expectation re AP and hope they have not dropped the ball!

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I'm pretty happy with how AP and AD work now and AP eliminated the need for Pohtoshop for me. I'm an amateur/enthusiast pohtographer anyway. Of course there's always room for improvement and the Affinity applications get that with updates.

 

I couldn't care less about RAW support. I shoot Olympus and ACR can't handle raw files the way my free Olympus Viewer does regarding colors and sharpness. I can imagine it's like that with most camera brands. So I use Olympus Viewer as the first step in my workflow before I go to Lightroom where I use plugins and use it as a DAM. 

 

But like I said before, a DAM product from Affinity is definitely needed to replace Lightroom. Full Photoshop/Lightroom plugin compatibility would be fantastic as well of course, many of use have quite a bit of money invested in plugins.

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I couldn't care less about RAW support. I shoot Olympus and ACR can't handle raw files the way my free Olympus Viewer does regarding colors and sharpness. I can imagine it's like that with most camera brands. So I use Olympus Viewer as the first step in my workflow before I go to Lightroom where I use plugins and use it as a DAM. 

 

 

I don't find that with Nikon - there may be a slight difference between LR and Nikon's software but nothing too bad. ACR handles Nikon NEF and other RAW files quite well and I suspect millions of other photographers, be they Nikon or otherwise, feel the same. Of course if you do not use RAW its not an issue but for many who do it is. But it is down to personal choice, so whatever "floats your boat" has to be right :-)

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First of all: I am really longing for a good and reasonable priced DAM and as a user of AP, I hope the coming app will be as good.

 

Before I give my 2c to former thoughts and requests, I would like to focus on another topic: multi-user capability.

 

I understand that most of you are professionals or semi-professionals and might work alone, but look around: digital pictures are ubiquitous and in private live (that's the vast majority compared to "photo-enthusiastics") polaroid has been gone. The one "family computer" has waved goodbye and now there are two, three...well maybe one computer per member - not to mention tablets and smartphones. Now people begin to realize, that it makes sense to store their assets (pictures, videos, movies, music, documents, etc.) on a central location with enough GBs or TBs to hold them, a RAID level to guard them (oh, imagine all my pictures were on a single drive with no backup! - Well I have three backups;-), and not tied to a specific computer or OS, so they can exchange the old computer for a shiny new one and all DAM will still be there. At the same time they expect to thumb through their DAM (well part of it) on all devices, at all locations - any time. They need a chance to sync with the central location!

 

My family is doing digital pictures only since 2001. While we are far away from being semi-professionals, we "pimp" our pictures - at least some of them - from time to time for print-outs or because we took them for someone who is expecting to get a decent looking picture from us. We tag them and augment their meta-data. And we split work in the family and we like to see changes (including those another member has done) reflected on our screens. We need a chance to sync with a central store.

 

We need a central store that is multi-user robust and syncable to our devices - at least to our computers! And this is one thing most other (not considering enterprise products, which costs a little fortune) are lacking. LR is not good at it (in fact it is one-ever-again-upcoming feature request), Pixave can't do it, Aperture was not good at it, Photos - forget Photos, iMatch: no (loved it though during my "Windows time"), digiKam - no. IDimager might have the potential, but they don't offer a family license and not making my living out of photos I can not find any reason to pay almost $ 1000 ($189 per user for 5 family members). For private, for hobby - not for commercial use: 5 users = $ 120 might work. 

You see, I've been through some DAM-tools over the years.

 

Yeah, one could say syncing can be done by exporting, copying...well whatever. Yes, but a lot of picture corrections could be done with software from the 90s or early 2000s - but no one would consider it. It's clumsy, it's slow....it's old. That's not what the future will be.

But the technical details how to do it (may with a server, maybe with a dumb NAS, I doubt a cloud solution would do it for the sheer amount of data and "slow" lines) should be left to the clever wizards of code at Affinity.

 

So, with respect to this topic, I am not hoping for a LR competitor. I am hoping for a superior product.

 

 

Supported OS: having already switched from Windows to OS X and now seeing the advantages of a Surface pro in certain areas for certain work profiles - I have never been nor will be an OS evangelist. At work I am responsible for a Windows Server infrastructure, doing with my MacBook. At home we are all-Apple, for it has been much easier to support my family than it was during the Windows age. But if I ever switch again, I really would love to see my favorite DAM running on the other OS :-))

In the end, it should be an economic decision of Affinity, because their company wealth will bring us (hopefully) updates and improvements for a long time.

 

Features of a DAM / Image editing capabilities: given my non-professional background, I really would appreciate simple picture corrections. But IMHO, if you go and ask five people wether a DAM should offer image editing and what features it should have, you'll get 5 different answers ;-)

And for me: I still have AP to do whatever I want.

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Features of a DAM / Image editing capabilities: given my non-professional background, I really would appreciate simple picture corrections. But IMHO, if you go and ask five people wether a DAM should offer image editing and what features it should have, you'll get 5 different answers ;-)

And for me: I still have AP to do whatever I want.

 

Except AP is an awful RAW editor. LR with ACR excels in this regard. It is a bridge that needs to be crossed before I see AP as a serious contender.

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Considering doing a multiuser DAM would involve writing both client and server software (along with all the complexities that leads to) and dealing with the amount of data that has to be sent back and forth between the client and server, it could be a while (if ever) before there will be a DAM of that type on the market.

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  • 4 months later...

"My family is doing digital pictures only since 2001. While we are far away from being semi-professionals, we "pimp" our pictures - at least some of them - from time to time for print-outs or because we took them for someone who is expecting to get a decent looking picture from us. We tag them and augment their meta-data. And we split work in the family and we like to see changes (including those another member has done) reflected on our screens. We need a chance to sync with a central store.

 

We need a central store that is multi-user robust and syncable to our devices - at least to our computers! And this is one thing most other (not considering enterprise products, which costs a little fortune) are lacking. LR is not good at it (in fact it is one-ever-again-upcoming feature request), Pixave can't do it, Aperture was not good at it, Photos - forget Photos, iMatch: no (loved it though during my "Windows time"), digiKam - no. IDimager might have the potential, but they don't offer a family license and not making my living out of photos I can not find any reason to pay almost $ 1000 ($189 per user for 5 family members). For private, for hobby - not for commercial use: 5 users = $ 120 might work. 

You see, I've been through some DAM-tools over the years.

 

So, with respect to this topic, I am not hoping for a LR competitor. I am hoping for a superior product."

 

I have to fundamentally agree with this the real downside of lightroom is the ability to sync it across multiple computer, to allow my teenagers (who all have laptops as a requirement for school) to add photos to the same data management system and to switch from working on on the desktop to a lap top should I want take it on holiday with me, currently to do this with lightroom I have to copy the catalogue to a back up and paste it back when finished.... in the digital age this is really an antiquated system, and I found lightroom mobile quite difficult to use.....  And yes we also moved to digital in and around 2001. And I too would hope that they would recognise the number of devices that those of us with teenager or older children have in out home, because as the internet age goes through they have had or have likely an iPad as well as a laptop from school and of course the phone - it would certainly be very nice if when creating yearly phonebook or one of our vacation if I could access and compare a photos taken by my  teenagers in the DAM, select my favourite from the range of "cameras" to edit it in APh and then add it to a book in publisher, with the benefit of a comment they had added in the DAM. I am sure I am not the only parent for these features would save a lot of time.

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