Affinity Photo RAW Preset Selection

[PA1NT]

• Affinity Photo is running and I already loaded a RAW picture and chose a develop preset. Picture is previewed correctly. Ok.
• I then open another RAW. Although the preset of the last developing process is still selected the picture IS NOT previewed correctly but as if the "standard" preset would have been chosen. And if I trigger develop (with the custom preset selected) it is developed as if no preset would have been chosen.
• Although in the above workflow my custom preset is already selected / displayed it IS NOT in effect and I have to MANUALLY choose that preset a second time to finally activate it.

This may not be a big problem for most users but I need to apply the correct costum preset BY default because I use Affinity Photo for a tethering job where I need to show the client how the photo will turn out after the custom preset will be applied. As far as I know Affinity has no inbuild function to display tethered cameras nor does it have the feature to automatically poll and display newly added images to a given "watched folder". Therefore I scripted this function myself with Apple tools and everything is working fine EXCEPT that the chosen preset is not in effect.

As it seems the "standard" preset is ALWAYS in effect if you load a new picture no matter what preset was selected in the last develop process and IS STILL DISPLAYED in the selection field.

• Is it possible to somehow override the "standard" develop preset?
• Are there any keystrokes / shortcuts to jump the input focus to the "select preset" field?
• Does Affinity Photo provide an API for remote controlling via AppleScript?

My System:

• Apple OSX 10.14
• Affinity Photo v1.10.4 (the last version which works on my machine)

Thanks for any helpful ideas!

BTW, there have been more request for a "tethering" function in Affinity (AFAIK Lightroom, Capture One, and some camera specific software can do this). But if your studio workflow is based on Affinity nobody seems to have a solution so far. Therefore I am happy to report that MY solution is working pretty well - it only lacks the correct preset selection.

[user_0815]

I'd be interested in this too. The non-active preset is still there in Photo 2. When editing several raw files from a series, I also use presets and I have to re-select it as you describe it.

Are you willing to share how you scripted it?

[NathanC]

Hi @PA1NT welcome to the forums,

The develop persona preset issue you have described is a known issue in the current V2 release build (2.1.1) and it looks like the issue is also present in V1. This has been fixed in the current 2.2 beta, but is not likely to be retrospectively fixed in V1 since it's no longer receiving updates.

7 hours ago, PA1NT said:

Is it possible to somehow override the "standard" develop preset?

It's not possible to override/edit the default preset, they can only be added/deleted and the default present can't be deleted.

7 hours ago, PA1NT said:

Are there any keystrokes / shortcuts to jump the input focus to the "select preset" field?

Not that i'm aware of, apologies.

7 hours ago, PA1NT said:

Does Affinity Photo provide an API for remote controlling via AppleScript?

Photo doesn't currently have API/Scripting support, but this is something that is currently being worked on, you can find out more in the thread linked below.

 

[PA1NT]

9 hours ago, user_0815 said:

I'd be interested in this too. [...] Are you willing to share how you scripted it?

Sure!

I'm on Apple. So I use "Automator" and "Applescript". Years back when I was on Windows I would have used "AutoIt" for this kind of work.

1. I prepared a "watched folder". (*1)
2. Because I use a Panasonic / Lumix camera I have their tethering software installed. Computer and camera are connected via USB. This serves me as live-preview on a big screen and to automatically get (download) any shot picture as RAW from the camera into the above "watched folder".
3. The watched folder then automatically triggers my script which...
   1. Gives me an (acoustic) message that a new picture arrived. This is for comfort only because downloading the RAW takes around 10 to 20 sec (I guess) and that time I don't want to stare at the screen.
   2. Checks if the new file has the correct extension (.RW2 in my case). This is because the script is always (!) triggered if a new file appears in the watched-folder, even it is the developed and saved photo in Affinity format. Or "sidecar" files if you should use these for storing metadata.
   3. The script then tells Affinity Photo (AP) to load that particular RAW file.
   4. And then AP will be switched to the foreground.
   5. Then the Mouse will be moved over the selection field where you select the preset and clicked twice. Voila, that`s it.
   6. In AP v2 I would let the script rename the RAW file before (!) opening it with AP because I have a certain naming scheme for my photos. And because v2 can store the filename of the RAW / link to the source. AP v1 unfortunately can't do this, so I can rename the photos afterwards as a batch.

Footnote 1: You can configure a "watched folder" by hand but "Automator" does this for you automatically. That's the only reason I used this app. For most other tasks I prefer Applecsript. I am not a programmer / developer - I just use whatever sees the simplest solution.

I will attach the script in case you or anyone else wants to have a look. But beware, it is not pretty / professional, maybe not even working on a different machine. AND you definately WILL HAVE to EDIT the mouse-click task so it fits your screen layout.

Watch Folder Lumix Tether.workflow.zip

Edited August 14, 2023 by PA1NT

[user_0815]

Interesting, thanks a lot!

[PA1NT]

On 8/14/2023 at 3:45 AM, PA1NT said:

[…]

As it seems the "standard" preset is ALWAYS in effect if you load a new picture no matter what preset was selected in the last develop process and IS STILL DISPLAYED in the selection field.

• Is it possible to somehow override the "standard" develop preset?

A short update:

• In Affinity Photo v1 the „standard“ stettings CAN be overwritten. Just set the desired settings and save them as “standard”.
• But unfortunately this won’t help in my case. Although on freshly opened RAW pictures the setting defaults to “standard” it is only the display which shows “standard”. The parameter values are actually the nul-values , everything turned off or set to zero / middle position etc.
• I would then rather prefer to have a shoot-specific name for my preset instead of always overwriting the “standard” presets.
• I will modify my script settings (above #5) as follows:
  • Move the mouse over the preset selector.
  • right click mouse
  • Type the first character of the name of the desired preset.
  • Send “enter” to activate that preset.
• BTW, the individual tabs of the development settings have separated presets. If you rely on these as well, eg like lens correction, you would have to save separate presets and recall them individually with the script (first click on the tab, then on the preset selector).

 

[Pšenda]

On 8/14/2023 at 9:00 PM, PA1NT said:

"AutoIt" for this kind of work

"AutoHotkey" is often recommended here on the forum.
https://www.google.com/search?q=autohotkey+site:https://forum.affinity.serif.com

[Dazmondo77]

PA1NT - thanks for the automator script, the only problem I have is, I've changed the application to Affinity Photo 2 but it still opens in 1 so I created an automator script from scratch and just used 'Filter finder items' (which I have set to CR2 for my EOS 7D) and 'Open finder items' and select Affinity Photo 2 which works and opens in V2 but also in V1 which is a bit annoying, even so, this will still be really useful   

 

[Dazmondo77]

Changed to open with default application and it's now working great

[PA1NT]

On 8/16/2023 at 1:51 PM, Pšenda said:

"AutoHotkey" is often recommended here on the forum.
https://www.google.com/search?q=autohotkey+site:https://forum.affinity.serif.com

Yes, thanks, a good mention. I have used it myself. It is even easier to use than AutoIt but may have some restrictions. Eg. I’m not sure if it can be triggered by a watched folder.

Edited August 17, 2023 by PA1NT

[PA1NT]

3 hours ago, Dazmondo77 said:

Changed to open with default application and it's now working great

Thanks Dazmondo for sorting that out and for posting!