Add ability to scan directly in Affinity Photo

[RevTim]

Please would you add the ability to scan straight into Affinity Photo in the next release?

[walt.farrell]

Serif have previously stated that the lack of scanning capability in Affinity Photo on Windows is due to the lack of 64-bit scanner driver support by the scanner manufacturers. Unless Windows provides better functions, or the scanner manufacturers provide better drivers, I doubt we'll see any changes in this area within Photo.

[markw]

If you are on a Mac, go to; File > Acquire Image

[RevTim]

On PC. No Acquire Image in the File Menu. The help says to scanning is not supported.

"For Windows, Affinity Photo does not offer scanning directly from within the app. We recommend using your own scanner's software to acquire image."

[RevTim]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

Serif have previously stated that the lack of scanning capability in Affinity Photo on Windows is due to the lack of 64-bit scanner driver support by the scanner manufacturers. Unless Windows provides better functions, or the scanner manufacturers provide better drivers, I doubt we'll see any changes in this area within Photo.

Neverthless I CAN scan directly into PS Cs3 on my 64 bit system. It may not be a 64bit image, but it's the workflow that's important. The twain scanner driver and software PS uses are better than the very basic Canon scanning utility in Windows.

[John Rostron]

This is how I get my scans into Photo.

John

[Catshill]

13 hours ago, John Rostron said:

This is how I get my scans into Photo.

John

I couldn’t see a workaround on that link apart from a similar thread and suggestion to use scanner software and open the image in Affinity. I don’t see this as a workaround.

 I use Serif PhotoPlus to acquire and image. Again, not ideal.

[John Rostron]

1 hour ago, Catshill said:

... use scanner software and open the image in Affinity. 

My point is that, if properly configured, the saved scanned image will automatically open in Affinity Photo. If you have both the scanner software and Photo open, then the transfer from one to the other is smooth. Almost, but not quite, as smooth as having Acquire Image in Photo.

John

[RevTim]

It's a brilliant workaround. I found that by default my Canon scanner is set to idiot mode - automatically choosing jpeg, standard quality and sent to Documents(?!?!?), but once I went deeper into the settings I found I was able to set what I wanted to do with the scanned image.

On my Canon TS6050 scanner I had to select the Scangear option, instead of selecting "Photo". That allowed me to change to TIFF or no compression jpeg and then send to Affinity Photo. In the Scangear I had to first add Affinity Photo as an Open With program (In my Windows 10 Affinity Photo exe is in Programs, not Programs 86. I also had to make sure that checked Preview so I could see what was being scanned. However, having done all that, I'm pretty much back to where I was with Photoshop ☺, the main difference is that I have to choose where I want to save the 'document' before the image opens in Affinity. So long as I set that to Desktop, I can then work away in Affinity, save the result wherever I want and then delete the desktop file when I'm done.

It's not quite as smooth as going straight into Affinity, but it works. I believe the phrase 'happy bunny'. Thanks John.

[Catshill]

 

On 8/20/2021 at 8:31 AM, John Rostron said:

My point is that, if properly configured, the saved scanned image will automatically open in Affinity Photo. If you have both the scanner software and Photo open, then the transfer from one to the other is smooth. Almost, but not quite, as smooth as having Acquire Image in Photo.

John

 

I agree that would be good IF your scanner allows a document to be automatically opened after scanning.  I am unable to find such a function for the Epson Scan 2 tool.

[John Rostron]

5 hours ago, Catshill said:

I agree that would be good IF your scanner allows a document to be automatically opened after scanning.  I am unable to find such a function for the Epson Scan 2 tool.

The automatically opening is nothing too do with the scanner. It is a property of the Operating System. You need to configure your Default Programs in the OS, so that the default program to open .tif files is Photo.

John

[walt.farrell]

34 minutes ago, John Rostron said:

so that the default program to open .tif files is Photo.

But that will only apply if something (the scanner program?) performs an Open. It won't happen if the scanner just does a Save.

[John Rostron]

48 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

But that will only apply if something (the scanner program?) performs an Open. It won't happen if the scanner just does a Save.

It does for me. If I save from VueScan or Silverfast, it automatically opens in Affinity Photo.

John

[Wosven]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

But that will only apply if something (the scanner program?) performs an Open.

Scanners can  do this with a command line if apps are filled in the  preferences. They can have by default buttons to scan and send by email, open by app... 

For this they should be connected to the PC that handle them, of course, not one dedicated partly to this and saving on a server folder, so people could access the files later.

[John Rostron]

1 hour ago, Wosven said:

Scanners can  do this with a command line if apps are filled in the  preferences. They can have by default buttons to scan and send by email, open by app... 

For this they should be connected to the PC that handle them, of course, not one dedicated partly to this and saving on a server folder, so people could access the files later.

I have not seen anything like this in the  documentation for either VueScan or SiverFast. I have used the software that came with my scanner.

John

[walt.farrell]

8 minutes ago, John Rostron said:

I have not seen anything like this in the  documentation for either VueScan or SiverFast. I have used the software that came with my scanner.

I thought you had previously said you used VueScan, John. And it certainly has a setting for this, where you can choose to view images using either the default viewer for them or a specific program. But the defaults are not to do that.

Here's the setting, if changed from that default value:

 

[John Rostron]

1 hour ago, Wosven said:

Scanners can  do this with a command line if apps are filled in the  preferences. They can have by default buttons to scan and send by email, open by app... 

For this they should be connected to the PC that handle them, of course, not one dedicated partly to this and saving on a server folder, so people could access the files later.

@walt.farrell, I was just in the process of amending my post. There is indeed that facility in VueScan, but as your post indicates, the default is to do as I describe above.

John

[Wosven]

From memory —I don't have anymore big scanners around—, but only big network photocopiers/printers... it was a physical button (or 2 depending of model) on the beast, to scan with default  settings and do the action(s).

[walt.farrell]

22 minutes ago, John Rostron said:

but as your post indicates, the default is to do as I describe above.

No, the default is to do nothing.

You have to change the default Preference to get it to Open the file for external viewing.

[Catshill]

The ability to scan and have the result open automatically in an application requires scanning software that supports this functionality. It’s certainly possible with my Canon scanner but not my Epson scanner. Windows 10 by itself is not able to do this.

[Catshill]

15 hours ago, John Rostron said:

The automatically opening is nothing too do with the scanner. It is a property of the Operating System. You need to configure your Default Programs in the OS, so that the default program to open .tif files is Photo.

John

Incorrect. Opening after scanning is a function of the scanner software. Some support it, others do not.

[John Rostron]

OK, I stand corrected. But the scanner software has that ability, and it relies on the default program defined in the operating system to open the image.

John

[John Rostron]

I have just tried a SilverFast scan. I have not used this for some time (I have more-or-less done scanning my slide collection) and it did not open Affinity automatically. I can find nothing in the SilverFast documentation which covers opening in an external program.

My original assertion was made because I found that my saved tif images from VueScan opened automatically in Affinity Photo without me having to do anything in VueScan.

My recollection (not as reliable as it used to be) is that the same happened in SilverFast. In recent years I have had a new version of Windows (10) and of both VueScan and SilverFast.

John

[John Rostron]

I contacted SilverFast and discovered that it does have the same property:

Quote

Please go to the SilverFast Preferences and check the box "Show image after scan" and select the program you wish to see the scan in through the box on then right.

On my system it was like this:

You need to restart SilverFast for this to take effect though.

John