Affinity Photo 2 cant open *.bmp file

[SKE]

Just tried to open a simple file in *.bmp format. The file is opened but is empty. With my old CS4 version, however, the content can be seen and edited normally.

Win10 actual Version

Affinity Photo 2.0.3
 

NO.SIGNAL.bmp

[Sam LaGargouille]

I tried your file and get the same issue with photo V2 but not with photo V1.

Same issue with Designer v2

but with other bmp files I've got, no problem.

Don't know why, sorry, but i can't help you.

 

[carl123]

Not sure what's going on but...

Go into Channels panel

Right click on Background Alpha and select Fill will correct the problem

[SrPx]

I can confirm this: it happens. 

Does anyone know if 32 bits BMPs are supported? this is a 32 bits BMP, indeed, checked with an utility to read headers (one tag BMPVersion says Windows V3, and another Numcolors says UseBitDepth (if the 32 bits part is giving issues, then...), as two that caught my attention, the others are pretty normal, unless the PixelPerMeterX (and Y) which I believe are related to DPI, are somehow wrong... DPI file headers gave problems to a user recently in affinity, with a pair of PNGs, removing those problem solved. But I think I can't do it with BMP).

If I open it in Photo 2.0.3,  indeed a full transparent canvas is all I get. (Edit: And composition red, composition green, etc, in channels panel,  seem to be empty).

But... if I open it in certain other software (I just don't  know if I can say the name  here, direct competitor), I can save it as BMP 24 bits. The exported 24bit BMP file then does open in Photo 2.0.3 , showing a black image with some text ("el gato") and a logo, as expected I think, and like Irfanview opens it (which says it's a 32 bit image, btw).

Another way to solve it, staying inside Photo 2.0.3, requires handling the channels window, as already said.

It is having each channel (red, green, blue) info in the "background red, background green, background blue" channels (not in composition red, composition..). The grayscale info of each channel is there. Yep, I checked that  right click->fill on 'background alpha' seems to restore the image.

You can also right click on "background red" , create grayscale layer, creates a layer in  the layers list, with supposedly the grayscale info of the red channel. And  you can create masks also from those ("background red...), to affect only red , green or blue colors (but being aware of what layer you are on, and how you handle the layers. In all honesty, I don't know yet much about channels in Affinity (it is different to Adobe's, to which I was used to).

Probably it's just some issue to fix to open well 32bits BMPs, that the devs can easily solve, no need to get into complex workflows.

[SrPx]

BTW, the most obvious workflow (someone pointed sth out), if you happen to have purchased both versions, 1.x and 2.x... is open it in Photo 1.10.6, NOT saving as *.aphoto native extension (as somehow it looks great on 1.x, but opens as a transparent canvas on 2.x), export as PSD (I used "preserve edition" template, in "more" export options, and sampling as lanczos3 (does not affect here as I am not reducing, but just in case)) , and then such PSD opens correctly in 2.x. I had not yet tested that you can have both Photo versions open at the same time, but yep, you can. Surely not recommended if tight in  memory, I guess.

[SrPx]

BTW, I don't understand why in Metadata panel in Affinity, RAW data shows it like if it were a Photoshop tiff. Metadata++ and ExifTool say it's a BMP version Windows V3, of 32 bit depth, but nothing about tiff.

[Sam LaGargouille]

One "funny" thing :

 in photo v2, in the panel "recent", the preview picture is properly showed.

[Chris B]

I'll log the regression - thanks.

[Arachnida]

Same same here! But I uninstalled my V1 so can't test.

 

[Arachnida]

On 1/4/2023 at 4:21 AM, carl123 said:

Not sure what's going on but...

Go into Channels panel

Right click on Background Alpha and select Fill will correct the problem

That worked for me too, nice find! Thx!

[Sonny Sonny]

On 1/4/2023 at 10:21 AM, carl123 said:

Not sure what's going on but...

Go into Channels panel

Right click on Background Alpha and select Fill will correct the problem

Is there a way to enable "fill background alpha" by default whenever I open bmp file?

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue ".bmp file doesn't open correctly in V2 (it does in V1)" (REF: AF-5821) has been fixed by the developers in the latest beta build (2.6.2.3213). The fix is planned for inclusion in the next customer release.
Customer beta builds are announced here and you can participate by following these instructions.
If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including @Affinity Info Bot to notify us.