Capture One / Affinity Photo Plugin

[Walter Rowe]

I would like to see Affinity Photo to collaborate and develop a plugin for Capture One.

I would like to see a plugin that lets me render multiple selected raw files into intermediate RGB files in Capture One then send those to Affinity Photo for Pano Stitching HDR Merge, and Focus Merge documents. I'd like the choice to retain or throw away the intermediate RGB files, and to add the resulting stitch / merge back into the Capture One catalog or session.

I also would like to see some collaboration between Capture One and Serif to provide support for Affinity native file formats in Capture One. Capture One supports PSD files. Support for Affinity Photo files would be welcomed.

[John Friend]

I'm also a Capture One Pro user and an Affinity Photo 2 user.   Since Capture One has no internal capabilities to do focus stacking, I would like to use Affinity Photo 2 for that function, but the workflow to that in Affinity Photo 2 is quite cumbersome.  It involves these steps:

1. Select the RAW images (that may have some common edits such as white balance or highlight adjustments) to focus merge in Capture One
2. Select export
3. Find a disk location for the temporary exported files that's not directly in my photo library
4. Select an appropriate export format (I guess I have to choose 16-bit TIFF with ProPhotoRGB to preserve as much RAW info as possible)
5. Run the export
6. Open Affinity Photo 2
7. Choose to start a Focus Merge
8. Go find all the exported TIFFs you just created from Capture One and select them all
9. Do the focus merge in Affinity Photo
10. When done to your satisfaction, export that again to a 16-bit TIFF in ProPhotoRGB.  Pick a location for that file.  Pick a name that is based on the last file in the merge so it can be sorted by name and will group with the source files
11. Delete the temporary TIFF source files
12. Go back to Capture One
13. Import the merged TIFF into Capture one
14. Do any more editing in Capture One

I would like Affinity to create a plug-in for this process that would change the above 14 steps into this:

1. Select the RAW images to focus merge in Capture One
2. Choose Image/Edit With/Focus Merge in Affinity Photo 2 (here's where the plug-in adds value)
3. Do the focus merge in Affinity Photo
4. When done to your satisfaction, just indicate that you want the result back into Capture One
5. You are returned back to Capture One with the resulting file already imported into the same location as the source RAW files were (session or catalog)
6. Do any more editing in Capture One

So, I'd like to see a plug-in developed that reduces the 14 steps to these 6.  This includes generating the intermediate files in a high fidelity format, bringing those into Affinity Photo, preconfiguring those into a focus merge in Affinity Photo, letting you complete the focus merge then generating the resulting merged file in a high fidelity format that Capture One can read, then getting Capture One to import the result, then cleaning up the temporary source files.

For reference a focus merge competitor already does this with a Capture One plugin so it certainly seems possible.

P.S. I think there are great opportunities for collaboration between Affinity and Capture One.  Lightroom has Photoshop and great integration between the two.  Capture One has ??? with generally poor integration.  Affinity Photo could be that goto pixel editor for Capture One users and fixing the workflow for focus merging would be one step in that direction.  Probably opportunities for some co-marketing/promotion too since there's some overlap in your target customer.

[Nidal]

I'm a fan of this plugin idea.

[RoiF]

19 hours ago, Walter Rowe said:

I would like to see Affinity Photo to collaborate and develop a plugin for Capture One.

I would like to see a plugin that lets me render multiple selected raw files into intermediate RGB files in Capture One then send those to Affinity Photo for Pano Stitching HDR Merge, and Focus Merge documents. I'd like the choice to retain or throw away the intermediate RGB files, and to add the resulting stitch / merge back into the Capture One catalog or session.

I also would like to see some collaboration between Capture One and Serif to provide support for Affinity native file formats in Capture One. Capture One supports PSD files. Support for Affinity Photo files would be welcomed.

UpVoting this request.

[Dave.Kelly]

Sort of related, I use on1 photoRAW and would like the ability for Affinity Photo to send files to other app after export. I send a file to Affinity from the file menu in on1 as a .psd and get Affinity to save over the file after saving. I still have to manually reload the file into On1 after the edit as a layer.

[Walter Rowe]

28 minutes ago, Dave.Kelly said:

Sort of related, I use on1 photoRAW and would like the ability for Affinity Photo to send files to other app after export. I send a file to Affinity from the file menu in on1 as a .psd and get Affinity to save over the file after saving. I still have to manually reload the file into On1 after the edit as a layer.

I am asking for Affinity Photo to provide a plugin where Capture One can send file TO Affinity Photo.

You are asking for a way for Affinity Photo to send files to another app. I support your idea. Please create a separate thread proposing it so others can provide their support.

[myclay]

What you want is scripting capabilities + an API for Affinity Photo. The Serif Team has posted this;

 In other words; the Capture One Developers can do it themselves once the scripting feature is available.

[Walter Rowe]

23 minutes ago, myclay said:

What you want is scripting capabilities + an API for Affinity Photo.

[ ... ]

 In other words; the Capture One Developers can do it themselves once the scripting feature is available.

My hope is Affinity might be incentivized by possibly further drawing people away from Adobe. There is no Capture One interface to Adobe. Adobe has no incentive to provide one since they would not want to erode their Lightroom user base. A collaboration between Capture One and Affinity would be a nice solution that takes Adobe out of the equation. This also offers users a persistent license ecosystem. Both Affinity and Capture One offer perpetual licenses. Adobe only offers a subscription.

[EHTPhotos]

I too am a CaptureOne and Affinity Photo user.  Thank you for your time and consideration regarding this matter.

[Walter Rowe]

I have successfully scripted sending files from Capture One to new Affinity Photo merge documents: Focus Merge, HDR Merge, Panorama, and Stack. See this video demonstrating each.

This is not an automated round-trip. It simply makes it faster to select files in Capture One and add them to the file list of a new AP merge document. Each merge document type offers some customization options before it completes the merge. Choosing your options, completing the merge, exporting your output to a file format compatible with Capture One, and importing / synchronizing it back into Capture One is a manual process for the user.

Due to the considerable effort and time invested in writing this I cannot offer it for free. If you are interested in it send me a private message.

[Walter Rowe]

Here is a new video demonstrating updates I have made to these scripts.

https://youtu.be/WH-MQEYiFlc

The scripts now offer to create intermediate RGB files to ensure your Capture One adjustments are included in the merge you create. If you create RGB files it stores them in the same folder as their source images. If you are working from a catalog it imports them back into the catalog. If you are working from an album within a catalog it also adds them to the album.

You can get this script from my Buy Me A Coffee page.

https://buymeacoffee.com/walterrowe/e/214323

NOTE that these scripts are compatible only with the English user interface in Affinity Photo because they look for specific UI elements.