Affinity Photo - Plugins or similar for period colour film look?

[iconoclast]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

But can G'MIC & its presets be used with Macs?

As far as I know there is at least no official build for MAC. But I heard about one made by someone else. I'm not sure about that. I'm on Windows. Is this a thread concerning Affinity Photo on Mac?

[v_kyr]

• G'MIC OSX packages
• G'MIC Online

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, iconoclast said:

Is this a thread concerning Affinity Photo on Mac?

It was not clear to me if it was limited to either Macs or Windows versions, but I was just curious if anybody knew of a way to use the G'MIC stuff with the Mac version.

[iconoclast]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

It was not clear to me if it was limited to either Macs or Windows versions, but I was just curious if anybody knew of a way to use the G'MIC stuff with the Mac version.

If v_kyr is right, it seems so. But I think there can be no warranty. As I already said above, at least one of the filters ("CLUT from After - Before Layers") doesn't work in Affinity Photo. Probably a problem with Photo's layer management, because you need two layers for this filter. G'MIC works pretty good with GIMP since many years. But the 8bf-version for Photoshop, Photo and others seems to be still a bit buggy.

[Old Bruce]

20 hours ago, PedroOfOz said:

You're no doubt aware colour prints contain layers of cyan, magenta, yellow and the key (black).

Photographic prints made in the darkroom have only Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. No Black. No Grey. 

[lphilpot]

6 hours ago, iconoclast said:

You can do this using the LUT-filter or the Adjustment Panel.

Using Infer LUT (my LUTs are pngs)? I tried that and was able to cause <some kind of> difference but I'm not sure if it was correctly done. However, again that's not my area.

[walt.farrell]

16 minutes ago, lphilpot said:

Using Infer LUT (my LUTs are pngs)?

LUTs are not PNGs; they're basically just a conversion table of numbers, with input values to be replaced by output values.

Roughly speaking, Infer LUT compares two versions of an image, and determines the color differences pixel-by-pixel, creates that table, and applies it as a LUT adjustment to the current image.

[Old Bruce]

The acronym LUT is for Look Up Table.

[lphilpot]

39 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

The acronym LUT is for Look Up Table.

Yes, of course. That was loose terminology on my part -- My apologies. Yesterday I used a PNG from RawTherapee's HaldCLUT collection (http://rawpedia.rawtherapee.com/Film_Simulation) for the G'MIC filter. This time, I clicked Infer... then loaded the reference image first and a Kodachrome 25 image second. Both are from the collection at the above link. It appeared to create the same effect but I've not tried to verify. These images appear (?) to have been created by applying a LUT to a reference image and saving it as a specific film simulation. The software then applies that specific simulation to an image. I was just curious if it could be used by AP.

This is from the above page and is part of the explanation of how it works in an RT context. It may or may not be the same here in "infer LUT" context:

The Film Simulation tool uses specially prepared images in what is called a HaldCLUT pattern. "CLUT" means "Color Look-Up Table", while what "Hald" means is anyone's guess. A HaldCLUT image contains a set of gradients of various hues arranged in a matrix. The neutral, unaltered state is called an "identity HaldCLUT image". Applying an identity HaldCLUT to a photo will result in no change at all. To create a "look", the identity image is opened in an image editing program - any image editing program - and the colors are modified in some global way, for example using levels, curves, adjusting hue and saturation, etc.

[iconoclast]

If you create a LUT with the G'MIC-filter "CLUT from After - Before Layers", you have the choice also to create such an image that, as far as I understand, contains the color informations of the LUT. Unfortunately, as I said above, this filter doesn't work in AfPhoto. But I think in some Apps, you can also use this PNG-images as LUTs. Probably also in G'MIC. There are different types of LUTs anyway, as far as I know. The Cube-file-format  (the "C" in "CLUT" stands for "Cube") is only one of them.

[lphilpot]

Just out of curiosity, I took the image below and using three of the RT film simulations, applied them both with G'MIC and by using AP's Infer LUT (load reference image then the simulation LUT image). Then using a color picker I compared the RGB values of the six primary / secondary color swatches. They're generally close -- sometimes exactly the same -- but not 100% across all samples.

[BlueLiner]

I would not buy anything. I would start with a gradient map, set its blend mode to say overlay or soft light. Opacity can be adjusted to lessen the effect if you like.  Add a vibrance adjustment and bring down vibrance, and maybe saturation. I made the gradient map from one of the old NASA pics you supplied to simulate the color. I could have just made LUT I suppose but I think by providing a .afphoto file you can see the process and tweak it as desired (Nasa001.afphoto). Lastly add a curves (or levels) adjustment to flatten a bit. Next steps if you want to take it further would be to add noise or, better yet, a nice film grain overlay and maybe a light leak.

 

[PaoloT]

On 1/9/2023 at 12:41 AM, Twolane said:

Download this old version of the Nik collection.

Do you know how to install it? I'm on a Mac, and when doing it I can't select the Affinity programs as the targets. Should I install them for Photoshop, and then copy them somewhere inside Affinity Photo?

EDIT: Sorry, I chose Photoshop, and I see it is installing them as a separate folder on their own. I'll then be able to add them to Photo by choosing them manually from the program.

EDIT 2: Hum. But I fear they are not working. The containing folder is in my Plugin Search list, but the filters don't appear in the Filters > Plugins menu. I'm still on Photo V1.

Paolo

 

[v_kyr]

2 hours ago, PaoloT said:

Do you know how to install it? I'm on a Mac ... Photoshop ... I'm still on Photo V1.

I have them in V1 and reuse them from a PSE installment, just point to where the plugins do reside ...

... even some will be listet as "Status: Unknown" the old NIK collection plugins works fine here in V1.

[PaoloT]

15 hours ago, v_kyr said:

I have them in V1 and reuse them from a PSE installment

I wonder if something has changed, since when you installed them for Photoshop. I just noticed that what I downloaded ("nikcollection-full-1.2.11.dmg") is not a set of plugins, but of stand-alone applications.

So, while AfPhoto can see the other Photoshop plugins I indicated, these can't, because they aren't plugins!

I wonder if the plugins are still available, or they can now be downloaded only as separate apps.

Paolo

 

[v_kyr]

49 minutes ago, PaoloT said:

I just noticed that what I downloaded ("nikcollection-full-1.2.11.dmg") is not a set of plugins, but of stand-alone applications.

If it's "nikcollection-full-1.2.11.dmg" ~ 618,2 MB, then everything is inside there, aka also the plugins. - You have to take a more closer look!

Other than that, you can also download the NIK Collection Mac plugins from here (use Google translate if needed by you)...

• https://www.chip.de/downloads/Vollversion-Nik-Collection-Photoshop-Plug-ins-fuer-Mac-OS_91417094.html

Further see how to install on Macs here (since site is in DE use again Google translate) ...

• Nik Plugins in Afffinity Photo installieren

How to install Google NIK collection on Win into PS 2021 is described here (again a DE site use again Google translate) ...

• Photoshop Tutorial: Google Nik Collection unter Photoshop 2021 installieren

[loukash]

5 hours ago, PaoloT said:

I wonder if the plugins are still available

4 hours ago, v_kyr said:

If it's "nikcollection-full-1.2.11.dmg" ~ 618,2 MB, then everything is inside there, aka also the plugins

I think the installer looks for a compatible Photoshop installation first (I have PS on my Mac). 
If not, it may likely install just the standalone apps.

However, you can easily install the plugins manually:

1. ctrl/right-click on the "Nik Collection" installer (the one with the green arrow-down)
2. select "Show Package Content" from context menu
3. navigate to 
   /Volumes/Nik Collection/Nik Collection.app/Contents/Resources/AnalogEfexPro2.tar.gz 
   or:
   …/ColorEfexPro4.tar.gz
   …/Dfine2.tar.gz
   …/HDREfexPro2.tar.gz
   …/SelectiveTool.tar.gz
   …/SharpenerPro3.tar.gz
   …/SilverEfexPro2.tar.gz
   …/Viveza2.tar.gz
   whichever you need
4. double click them, they should expand on your desktop
5. look into the expanded folders on desktop for *.plugin files, those are your PS plugins
6. move them all to a folder of your choice which will then be the one you should point APh to.

[v_kyr]

1 minute ago, loukash said:

I think the installer looks for a compatible Photoshop installation first (I have PS on my Mac).

See my above adding of two Link-references to Tutorials of how to install the Google NIK Collection on Macs/Win. - The informations, as mostly, are all already there on the Net, people have just to search after them !!!

[loukash]

Just now, v_kyr said:

The informations, as mostly, are all already there on the Net, people have just to search after them !!!

Eh, you know that they won't… 

[R C-R]

23 minutes ago, loukash said:

I think the installer looks for a compatible Photoshop installation first (I have PS on my Mac). 

The old Google version includes an option to install the plugins in a different location, but that has to be done in one of the early steps of the install process. As has been mentioned, there are instructions for how to do that in various places on the web.

So for example, on my Mac I have a Nik Collection folder in Applications, & in it are both the stand alone apps & in a "Google" subfolder there folders for each of the *.plugin files & their associated *.config files.

[PaoloT]

@v_kyr, @loukash, @R C-R, thank you for the hints! Yes, I found the plugins inside the folder where Photoshop is installed. Moved them to a common repository, and AfPhoto sees them perfectly fine!

Paolo

 

[loukash]

An update on installing the free Google Nik Collection on "unsupported" systems like MacOS Ventura on a brand new MacBook Air M2 15" (yay!). 
While the original installer application will refuse to proceed with installation – babbling something about "requires Mac OS X 10.7 or later" (duh!) – you can still use the Niks if you already had a working installation on your old Mac:

1. copy the following folders/files to the same respective locations on the new Mac:
   /Applications/path_to_you_nik_apps_folder (I have renamed mine so I don't remember its original folder name)
   optionally the Nik PS plugins folder if it was stored elsewhere (mine was in the apps folder since I can't run PS CS5.5 on Catalina, obviously)
   /Library/Preferences/Google (folder)
   /Library/Preferences/Nik Collection.plist
   /Users/your_user_name/Library/Preferences/Google (folder)
2. check all the standalone Nik apps first if they work (they should)
3. quit APh
4. Get Info in Finder on the APh app
5. check "Open using Rosetta"
6. launch APh (may take quite some time the first time)
7. do the usual known procedure to enable 3rd party plugins for APh
8. don't forget to select the layer you want to apply the plugin on, otherwise the plugins will be grayed out…

Works for me.
Since I don't use the Nik plugins very often, I'll be runing APh natively, only switching it to Rosetta mode if I'd actually need one of the plugins – which is usually only the Analog Efex. 

[jellevant]

Well, slowly some things started working.  I found the files (under Google as you suggested) in my old macbook.  Copied them into the AP2 plugins folder in Application Support, launced plugins in Settings, chose the folder and it actually now lists them all - but only two are usable.  Why would two show 'working' and the rest 'Unknown'.  Once I figured out the 'Open in Rosetta' fix, those two worked.  But none of the rest.  So, with your help, I a little bit there, but would like to be able to use some of the other nik filters too.  Any idea why some say Unknown and some say Working?

I do appreciate getting this far by the way..  Thank you!

[jellevant]

OK!! After several hours of doing and redoing what I thought I did before all my Nik apps (original paid-or Nik before Google bought them and updated after google) as well as my Topaz Studio 2 are now working in Affinity Photo 2.  Thank you all so much.  I'm not sure what I did the last time that I hadn't done earlier but maybe it was selecting a higher-level folder in the app support / plugins folder.  And of course opening in Rosetta as mentioned by Loukash.  That did it.  Have a great weekend all who are following this!