Is there a way to use the Photoshop feature "Filter Gallery" (or similar) on Affinity Photo?

[Aldeney]

Hello everyone.

AP have turned into my new favorite photo editor application that is out there. I've been using since Jan 2020 and it completely replaced the Adobe buggy program. But there's some features that I miss using on AP, like the filter gallery.

For those who don't know what is it, it's a feature that can stylize a certain image or layer as you wish, with very specific filters and each one it's 100% customizable.

I've read about using "macros" but I didn't get it at all.

I really want this feature on AP to finally forget about the PS.

[loukash]

I somewhat vaguely recall that it used to work in an earlier version of Photo on MacOS Mountain Lion. But I could be wrong.
On El Capitan, I can see the Filter Gallery from PS CS5.1 in the Filters > Plugins > Effects menu but it's grayed out. In fact, no PS filter works for me.

[ashf]

FilterForge as a replacement would be an option.
Affinity is officially supported.
https://filterforge.com/

[Dan C]

Hi @Aldeney,

Welcome to the forums

On 4/23/2021 at 11:19 AM, Aldeney said:

But there's some features that I miss using on AP, like the filter gallery. (...)

I really want this feature on AP to finally forget about the PS.

Unfortunately Affinity Photo doesn't directly support a built-in 'filter gallery', my apologies. This is something our developers hope to add in the future, however we cannot provide a timescale for this at this time

In the meantime, you might want to check out the Tone Map persona (shown around 3:30 in this tutorial) - which can add certain tonal creative looks to an image, but will not allow for the more 'artistic' looks, such as Coloured Pencil, Watercolour, Rough Pastels etc.

On 4/23/2021 at 11:19 AM, Aldeney said:

I've read about using "macros" but I didn't get it at all.

Macros are a predetermined set of steps that another user (or yourself!) has recorded against a document. When 'playing back' the Macro, the steps you recorded will automatically be performed on your open document. This means you can add multiple adjustment and filter layers to an image with one click and these adjustments/filters/blend modes etc can be set to create the 'artistic' looks you're hoping to achieve.

You may be able to find macros that perform these steps for you available to download in our Resources section of the forums, these are macros created by other community members for the Affinity apps, some of which I've linked below -

Pastel Watercolor Effect   

Graphic Novel Effect 

Add Film Grain 

Affinity Photo - Macro Bundle 1 (15 Styles)

Pencil Effect Macro

Classic engraving effect (copperplate engraving) Macro

B&W play Macros

Matte Colour Macro

On 4/24/2021 at 5:01 AM, ashf said:

FilterForge as a replacement would be an option.
Affinity is officially supported.
https://filterforge.com/

Another option is to use third party plugins, such as the one recommended above by ashf

I hope this helps!

[R C-R]

Adding slightly to what @Dan C said about macros, note the difference between a *.macro & a *.macros file. The first is a single macro that you import into the Macro panel, & then optionally save to some library in the Library panel. The second is a collection of one or more macros that can be added to the Library panel via the "Import Macros..." item on the Library's 'hamburger' menu.

[jaedee]

 

Free Gmic Plug-in (Destructive Filter Effects)

 

[Aldeney]

I got to say thanks to everyone, you all helped me a lot.

[loukash]

11 hours ago, jaedee said:

Free Gmic Plug-in

No official Mac version.
A Mac port seems to exist, but I haven't found a compiled installer, only the source code for the "brave".

[jaedee]

 

On 4/27/2021 at 5:31 AM, loukash said:

No official Mac version.

Unfortunate. 

[PaRunk]

Also I would be really happy if in the near future, maybe in version 2 of photo more creative filters, similar to in Photoshop, would give. I miss it very much and the many free and paid filter programs I find a matter of taste or not as effective as these filters work destructive and you can not change the parameters back or subsequently. Especially you should be easier to use, so without any formula writers, as the filter synthesized textures is the case. Is far too complicated for beginners and too, these textures are always the same and not as coincidentally in Photoshop on the principle, so that the textures always apply to each other.

[RevTim]

I totally get where you are coming from, but stick with Affinity, it looks like artistic filters will appear at some stage. One of the brilliant things in Affinity is that many of the filters can be 'Live'. If you go in through the Layer menu to New Live Filter you'll see what I mean. I know the Macros and Procedural Textures can be daunting, but you should be able to find many examples on the forum which you can either download or copy and paste. You only have to set up a macro once and you have a one-click filter.

Through A LOT of perservence and experimenting I have discovered just how powerful the Procedural Texture in particular is and I have managed to create chalk, watercolour, oil paint, acrylic and other macros, all of which give a better result than the Photoshop artistic filters that I have relied on for decades.

I plan to do a Procedural Texture 101 tutorial for absolute beginners - no maths or programming (I don't understand it myself ☺) - just tips on what I've learned so far.

In the mean time have look at some of posts to see if they help at all.

This is a We-in-Wet Watercolour I've managed to produce just with Affinity's filters and tools. (Very) full tutorial on my posts.

[TMHaffinityforGraphics]

so ive been able to get the photoshop base plugins/filters to launch in affinity via the filters menu, but my image content doesnt migrate to the new window...has anyone else solved that last piece

[Dan C]

Hi @TMHaffinityforGraphics,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums

As mentioned above, these plugins aren't officially supported in Affinity at this time and therefore we cannot guarantee their functionality, my apologies.

It may be worth opening Edit > Preferences > Performance and disabling Hardware Acceleration, then trying again - as this may be interfering with the image transfer process.

We'd also recommend ensuring your GPU drivers are fully up to date, as outdated drivers can cause anomalies when rendering the canvas in Affinity, and possibly the PS plugins also.