Oil paint actions or filters

[Bold Venture]

An "oily paint" action came in handy with Adobe Photoshop. I design book covers, and the various paint actions lent a painted look to mystery and science fiction books. Especially popular with guys (and gals) who appreciate pulp fiction from the 1940s and up.

Since the sinister Adobe managed to catch up with me and deactivate my legally purchased copy of CS3, I'm using Affinity Photo and Designer. But Affinity doesn't seem to have any "actions" like Photoshop. Unless I'm missing something. Can anybody point me toward a few of these handy action shortcuts for Affinity Photo?

[v_kyr]

AFAIK there are no macros but several procedures & tutorials for getting an oil painting effect, see:

• Playing with painting tools
• Oil painting effect or plugin
• Oil Painting Look Tutorial (video)
• Oil painting effect
• ... etc.

[lacerto]

Obsolete.

 

[firstdefence]

JixiPix do some nice plugins such as Artista Oil: https://jixipix.com/artista-oil/details.html

[Bold Venture]

Lagarto, I believe they have discontinued all support for CS3. That's the part that angers me — I never needed their support. I just want the software to work. But the landing page to put in your "activation code" was removed by Adobe. It's like a particularly sleazy municipal council hiring a shady mechanic to remove the starter from your car, then threatening to tow the vehicle if you can't drive it away. Many of the pages to download the software are gone. Basically, Adobe is forcing people to get onboard with their subscription. I figured I'd pay the $20 per month for InDesign, just to keep my assembly-line going for a while. Then I realized Adobe wants to charge $14.95 per month just for a full version of Adobe Acrobat.

I clicked on the link you provided ... when I sign in, it goes to the page where my CS3 is registered. But they want an "activation," which they didn't ask for in the past. But since there's no place to "activate it," I can't use it. Those pages were removed, Adobe says, because the servers are old and outdated. What the hell are they talking about?? It's a line of code ... simple ... but most people probably just fume (like me) or accept it.

At this point, unless I could get my CS3 working, I don't really want to continue with Adobe.

[Bold Venture]

v_kyr and firstdefence, thanks for the suggestions! I'll check these out.

Dynamic Auto Painter (https://www.mediachance.com/dap/) seems pretty good. You can download a free version that watermarks your images, but you can test it and see how it performs. Some photos are miraculously transformed, while others are just "meh," depending on your needs. I'm trying to create covers similar to the vintage pulp covers, like the attached examples. Dynamic Auto Painter (DAP) works wonders sometimes. A designer could create several versions and piece together the ones they like. Run the software, actions, whatever, then go in with brush and make adjustments. A few times I've sampled DAP and the results are ... well, let's just say they wouldn't understand them at the Museum of Modern Art.

I'll check your suggestions ... thanks to Lagarto, too!

[Bold Venture]

Wow ... I didn't think the attached images would be so ... large ...

[lacerto]

Obsolete.

[R C-R]

7 hours ago, firstdefence said:

JixiPix do some nice plugins such as Artista Oil: https://jixipix.com/artista-oil/details.html

Is Artista Oil offered as a plugin? From what I can tell from the link it is just a stand alone app.

[firstdefence]

44 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Is Artista Oil offered as a plugin? From what I can tell from the link it is just a stand alone app.

Yes, it is also a plugin.

 

[firstdefence]

5 hours ago, Bold Venture said:

Wow ... I didn't think the attached images would be so ... large ...

You can edit the post and you can double click on the images to edit the size.

[jmwellborn]

43 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

Yes, it is also a plugin.

 

Is there a plugin for the stand-alone version (Hobbyists & Enthusiasts Apps) or only in the Professional Software category, Premium Pack?

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, jmwellborn said:

Is there a plugin for the stand-alone version (Hobbyists & Enthusiasts Apps) or only in the Professional Software category, Premium Pack?

I could not find any mention of a plugin in the Hobbyists & Enthusiasts Apps section, & when I tried downloading the demo from that section it included only the stand alone app. There is also a note in the Premium Pack that no plugins are included with the App Store version of that pack.

[jmwellborn]

@R C-R   that is what I thought I was reading.  I have sent an email to Jixipix asking for clarification.  They were really helpful at quickly upgrading their plugins to work with the new M1 chip.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, jmwellborn said:

@R C-R   that is what I thought I was reading.  I have sent an email to Jixipix asking for clarification.

Please let us know if they say a plugin is included with the Artista Oil app (the one for $12.99 US in their Hobbyists & Enthusiasts Apps section).

If it is, they need to make that clearer on the https://jixipix.com/artista-oil/details.html page, since there is no mention of a plugin or its compatibility with AP, PS, or any other app.

[jmwellborn]

@R C-R  I definitely will.  Jixipix is located in California, so I would hope to hear something early next week.  

[jmwellborn]

@R C-R  You are correct.  Here is the word from Jixipix.  

[R C-R]

12 minutes ago, jmwellborn said:

Here is the word from Jixipix.  

Thanks for sharing that. From what I can tell from https://jixipix.com/bundles/premium-pack.html, the Premium Pack comes packaged as 18 apps sharing a single UI, which I think means it includes a single plugin to access everything in it.

They could be clearer about that.

[jmwellborn]

20 hours ago, R C-R said:

Thanks for sharing that. From what I can tell from https://jixipix.com/bundles/premium-pack.html, the Premium Pack comes packaged as 18 apps sharing a single UI, which I think means it includes a single plugin to access everything in it.

They could be clearer about that.

I agree.  Also their image for the Premium Pack shows plugins only for Photoshop, etc. but not Affinity Photo, even though they have Affinity listed in their Plugins tab at the top of their website.  Nevertheless, their plugins for Photo do work very smoothly, when available.  Guess Artista Oil will have to be a File>New>etc. etc.>Export>Save (png or jpg)>FILE>Open or FILE>Place operation for people who want all of their nice-looking app, or a pretty good workaround with AP, using brushes and the Lighting Filter.🤔

[joe_l]

What about the G'MIC plugin which has a bunch of artistic filters?

[Bold Venture]

I'm completely lost as to how to install the Grey's thing. Can't find the Affinity plugin folder. The instructions refer to Affinity 1.0 ... since the program has been updated, where to find the folder?

[walt.farrell]

14 minutes ago, Bold Venture said:

Can't find the Affinity plugin folder.

In Affinity Photo, open your application Preferences, and click on the section for Photoshop Plugins. The default folder is listed at the top, along with a button to open it in File Explorer on Windows or (I presume) Finder on Mac.

[Bold Venture]

Thanks, Walt!

G'MIC is nice ... some interesting filters ... but not certain I can get the results I want. I'll experiment with the program.

[firstdefence]

I like the JixiPix plugins, they are a favourite of mine, they are well designed and produce nice results, but, I think it is a bit mean of them to not supply the plugin with individual filters. I do have the premium pack so that will likely be why I have the plugins.

I love the Artista Haiku filter...

Original

[R C-R]

53 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

I like the JixiPix plugins, they are a favourite of mine, they are well designed and produce nice results, but, I think it is a bit mean of them to not supply the plugin with individual filters. I do have the premium pack so that will likely be why I have the plugins.

So with the Premium Pack, in AP is there one plugin for everything in the pack or individual ones for each filter? The way the Premium Pack is described here, it says "Also included is a plugin..." which makes it sound like there is a single plugin UI which can be used to access any of the plugin versions of the apps.

If there is just one plugin UI for everything, that might explain why there are no plugins included with the individual filters.

Edited January 25, 2022 by R C-R
fixed typo - thanks Walt!