Affinity Photo Customer Beta (1.5 - Beta 1)

[Andy Somerfield]

Status: Beta Release

Purpose: New features, fixes, improvements

Requirements: Purchased Affinity Photo

Mac App Store: Not Submitted

Download: 1.5 Beta 1 Here

 

This is an early beta of a substantial change to our codebase and as much as we have tried to ensure the quality of the code, it should be considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity that you may be adversely affected by the application failing. In addition it is definitely worth noting that files created in Affinity 1.5 cannot be opened in 1.4 so always make a copy of your important documents before opening them in 1.5 to ensure you do not accidentally overwrite them and are unable to open them in your 1.4 version.

 

To use this beta, simply download the file from the link given above and double-click on the file to open the installer. Follow the instructions to install the beta version. The beta sits alongside the Mac App Store version and will not interfere with it.

 

With all that said, here is a list of all the new things we can do with 1.5. This will be a fairly short beta (approx. 6 weeks) and things will likely be bad / broken for the the first week or two. After that, we expect the beta to become more stable and usable.

 

Please understand that all betas must start somewhere - and that they are beta for a reason!

 

Thanks once again for taking the time to download and use our beta :) - here's the list:

 

Focus Merge Support

 

Focus merging allows you to generate a detailed composite image from a number of images focussed at differing lengths. Use File -> New Focus Merge to get started.

 

HDR Merge Support

 

HDR merging lets you create a deep, unbounded 32-bit image from a number of exposure bracketed source images. Use File -> New HDR Merge to get started.

 

New 32bit RGB Editing Mode

 

Photo now offers a full compositing / editing environment for 32bit unbounded images. It correctly deals with 0-alpha cases (as per the OpenEXR spec) and generally operates in linear space.

 

Known Issues: Whilst most filters will work out of the box, we still have significant work to do to make all adjustments / blend modes work correctly in 32bit. Don't be surprised if you get weird result sometimes.

 

Known Issues: Our renderer will seem very slow when dealing with 32bit documents - it's because we are (at the moment) falling back to CPU where we should be able to use the GPU. This will get faster soon :)

 

Tone Mapping Persona

 

Full tone mapping Persona for both HDR and LDR images. This is obviously best used with an image merged by HDR merge - although you can use it on any image.

 

Known Issues: The UI still requires refinement and eventually there may be more sliders!

 

OpenEXR / HDR (Radiance) Import / Export

 

Photo can now import and export .hdr (Radiance, RGBE) and .exr (OpenEXR) images.

 

Known Issues: We know that people need lots of export options - mainly for OpenEXR - these will drop in in the next few weeks.

 

Macros

 

Using the View -> Studio -> Macro and View -> Studio -> Library menu items, you can access new panels which will allow you to record actions, save them, then play them back later. You can also store them in a handy gallery which will offer you live previews of what each stored macro would do to your document if you applied it.

 

Known Issues: You will find that you can not record some actions which seem natural / obvious (eg. selecting layers). This will be fixed soon.

 

Batch Processing

 

Using File -> New Batch job, you can queue up processing on a large number of files. You can resize, convert format and apply any number of macros to each file. The batch processing happens in the background - so you can continue working whilst the jobs are processed.

 

Live Projections

 

Photo 1.5 contains a new mechanism which allows you to edit an image in different spatial domains - we currently support the “Equirectangular” domain (360 pano - Ricoh Theta, etc.). You can use all tools when editing - and you can convert back once you have edited. This is especially useful for cleaning up stitching artefacts, or artefacts at the zenith / nadir of the image. Use the options in Layer -> Live Projection to get started.

 

Known Issues: Perspective projection is disabled. Will be introduced soon.

 

Improved Pixel Tool

 

The pixel tool is improved in 1.5 - you can hold shift when dragging to constrain the direction of painting (sorry we did not get this working sooner!). You can also select what happens when you hold Alt and drag - erase to transparent, erase to background colour, or erase to whatever the nominated snapshot / history location is (like in the Clone tool).

 

New “Pixel Art” Document Resizing

 

Photo now contains an alternative way to resize a document - using well known pixel-art resampling algorithms. If you work with pixel art and want to use this feature, it’s located under the Document menu.

 

Known Issues: This can crash if your document is huge - we will fix this.

 

New “Accumulation” Brush Dynamics

 

Many users have asked for “Opacity Jitter”. For us, opacity is a constant thing and will remain constant. However, we have added a new property to brushes - “Accumulation” - which should allow you to get what you need :) Please let us know how this works out for you..

 

Text Styles

 

Affinity Photo now has the same Text Styles support as Designer - it’s all shared code so it should work right out of the box :) Let us know if you find anything odd about it.

 

New Marquee Modes (Polygonal, Magnetic) [NOT AVAILABLE YET]

 

We are committed to adding these modes in 1.5. There are already icons / modes for them in the context toolbar of the Freehand Marquee tool. At the moment, it won’t let you enter these modes - but it will in a subsequent beta build :)

 

Even more RAW cameras supported

 

We have upgraded our RAW support again! I’m sorry I can’t give a full list of supported hardware right now, but I aim to do so tomorrow :)

 

Improved Metadata Mining

 

Our detection of RAW / JPEG / etc. metadata has been upgraded - after reports of certain lenses not being properly recognised - hopefully this update will fix the missing ones, but if not, please let us know!

 

Massive Improvements to Export Persona

 

Our Export Persona has seen huge upgrades in this cycle - you now have total control of exactly what resolution sets get exported. You can also use our handy batch export builders to quickly generate content for external consumption - ie. Xcode .assets - even Spline compatible metadata can be generated!

 

Layered TIFF Interop

 

Users have constantly asked us to support “Layered TIFF”. Layered TIFF is not a thing. TIFF with embedded data is a thing - and I’m happy to report that we now import embedded PSD / Affinity data and can write TIFF with embedded Affinity data.

 

Halftone Filter

 

We have a marvellous new halftone pattern filter in 1.5 - it can approximate monochrome, colour, circular and line halftones and can even be applied as a “Live Filter”.

 

Known Issues: This filter can be a bit funky in "Live Filter" mode - and if you have a retina screen, you will see some jittering even in non-live.

 

Dust & Scratches Filter

 

Many user have asked us for a “Dust & Scratches” filter - so we have made one. It’s extremely useful for removing sporadic small defects in images. Please let us know if it works for you.

 

Layer Linking [NOT IMPLEMENTED YET]

 

Layer linking will happen in 1.5 - at the moment it is currently not exposed in this beta. Look out for it soon though - it should set the benchmark for how linked layers should work in a raster editor.. More on this soon!

 

“Edit in Affinity Photo” Photos extension

 

This is something which we didn’t think we could do - a Photos extension for Mac OS 10.9 and above which simply allows you to use the full Photo app to edit your images - and stores the changes you have made as a layered document.

 

New Colour Picker Tool

 

After literally thousands of requests, we have implemented a dedicated picker tool for colours. It requires little explanation - so let us know if it works for you :)

 

New Clone Sources Panel

 

We now have a new studio panel which allows you to store up an unlimited number of global sources for the Clone / Healing brush - it even works across multiple documents.

 

Direct PSD Write-Back

 

One of the most requested features - direct write-back to PSD. A number of 3rd party DAM applications will happily deal in PSD - but until now, Photo required you to File -> Export for PSD. No longer! You can now just hit File -> Save! You will need to turn this on - in File -> Preferences - please read the warning there carefully!

 

No Thumbnails Option

 

This is more a Designer feature, but I promised it some time ago so here it is - you can choose (in Preferences) not to write out a thumbnail with your documents. This has the advantage of making your documents use less space - but obviously you won’t get Finder thumbnails, etc.

 

Improved Vectorscope

 

Our old HSL vectorscope is no more - replaced by a vastly more appropriate Rec.709 YUV scope with an improved graticule :)

 

Improved Photoshop Plugin Support

 

We have found a significant bug with our plugin code - it has been fixed :) That said - please don’t expect all your plugins to now work. This fix primarily puts us in a position to work properly with plugin makers to move forward. That said, some plugins will now spring into life - “Focus Magic” being a notable example.

 

Multi-monitor Colour Profile Support

 

Sorry it took so long to get this fixed - we now can profile different on different monitors.

 

Adjustment Performance Improvements

 

Found and fixed a simple issue which made changing adjustment parameters appear to be slow. Fixed.

 

This update also includes literally hundreds of fixes and small improvements, some of which are listed below:

 

- User control over two pass rendering on Retina devices.

- PSD import / export improvements.

- PDF import / export improvements.

- Snapping improvements - candidate-free snapping, gaps-and-spans (Alt key in Move Tool), so much more!

 

- Performance and stability improvements for macOS Sierra.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to use this beta!

 

Affinity Photo Team  :ph34r:

[A_B_C]

Has there been a more impressive feature upgrade list at any time before (well, I mean apart from the recent Affinity Designer list … ;))? I doubt that … can’t wait to try this out …  :D

[000]

Wow, that's quite a list … thanks for all the hard work!

[Andy Somerfield]

Thanks guys - but please be aware that this is Beta 1 - and as it says in the post, not everything is working properly (or at all) yet!!

 

A

[Flaz]

[…]

Batch Processing

[…]

 

Dust & Scratches Filter

[…]

 

Great! Thanks Andy!!! Hope in future also live preview saving files and it will be almost perfect  ;)

First bug: export persona right panel is empty on "old" os x 10.8.5

[Andy Somerfield]

Thanks Flaz,

 

We will get that fixed :)

 

A

[anon1]

-

[william7]

I was starting to worry we wouldn't get the new beta today... THANK GOODNESS. Great work team! day = made!

[william7]

Two quick questions,

 

1. Is the reason for the short beta to try to coincide with mac OS Sierra launch? I am assuming 1.5 will be the version to have official support for sierra?

 

2. Can some explain to me the differences between rendering modes?

 

thanks

[rwakeford]

It doesn't support Fuji X-Pro2 RAW unfortunately :-(

At least not with the beta of Sierra. It soaks up the memory and then crashes every time.

Richard

[Arno Nüm]

I get an error message when I try to start the beta. It says I need a purchased copy of Affinity Photo, which I have (AP 1.4.2). They are both installed in the /Applications folder.

Any help?

 

Thanks!

[achilles177]

You guys rock!! Many, many thanks for your work! 

[Toto]

AP crashes if "Dust & Scrtches Filter" is used in combination with "Clarity Filter"... I didn't try another combination of Filter-Layers.

 

Another Bug: Saving a file in HDR-Persona results in undoing any customization of the image. Activating/Deactivating for example "Exposure" will bring back any customization of the image.

 

In HDR-Persona every translation to german is missing.

 

Sorry for my bad english... it's only german shool-english ;-)

[Andy Somerfield]

Thanks Toto, 

 

We will get these fixed :)

 

Andy.

[Nana]

Hi Andy,

 

Could we have the same Denoiser dialog and setting for both Develop and Photo Persona?  The Denoiser in the Photo persona really needs to love.

 

I really like the percentage values showing on the right of the sliders in the Develop Persona which are not available on the Photo Persona.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Nana

[kirk23]

Thanks for Macro. It's already more useful and convenient  than Photoshop Actions.       When the  layer linking is expected to be available?  I need it asap  to start using Affinity Photo for actual work.

[Andy Somerfield]

Nana - I agree it needs input boxes - I'll get that done :)

 

kirk23 - Probably about half way through this beta - so about 3 weeks - but don't quote me on it - things can be quite variable :)

 

Also, please be careful using the beta for actual work - we never recommend it..

 

Thanks,

 

Andy.

[p_mac]

Thank you Andy, and your team for all your great work.

So many things to play with and there were a few crashes last night. I automatically send crash report to Apple and developers. Was working with the HDR and using the denoise and scratch live filter. The crashed happened when trying to move filter from child position.

 

One thing that I was having problems with was inverting a mask. The 'invert' command did nothing for me both thru the menu and shortcut. Is this a bug?

[Andy Somerfield]

Hi p_mac,

 

I saw your crash reports come in today :) Currently, D&S, Median and Bilateral filter are not available in 32bit mode - we disabled them in the menu - but forgot to disable their "Live Filter" versions - so you can easily crash the app if you use those..

 

The invert mask thing sounds like a bug - I will investigate :)

 

Thanks,

 

Andy.

[p_mac]

Thanks for the response Andy. Glad that you get the crash reports.

 

Will the live filters work if one is not in the 32 bit mode or have they been disabled for all. Currently I am using my iPad Pro and have not opened the program as of yet.

[pmi]

Massive Improvements to Export Persona

 

will be ready when the preview of export for the web?

I need to see a preview of the exported image.

[Nana]

Nana - I agree it needs input boxes - I'll get that done :)

 

kirk23 - Probably about half way through this beta - so about 3 weeks - but don't quote me on it - things can be quite variable :)

 

Also, please be careful using the beta for actual work - we never recommend it..

 

Thanks,

 

Andy.

 

Thanks Andy.  I will look forward to it.

 

Cheers,

 

Nana

[csp]

it´s always great to see new features and for many this update is exactly what they hoped for but it is also a disappointment for those doing professional image retouching. what i use and need regularly seems unimproved and unchanged,   even long time bugs like the proof layer export bug  is not solved. tool settings still don´t stick - i do  often work on more than one image at once and this is very very annoying .   the adjustment layer panel is a mess as before, the hsl tool got no color picker and produces the same artifacts with lightness adjustments as in the version before .  the highlight / shadow tool is far away from being usefull and the print dialog  has no rendering intent option....       i  understand that it is vital to have new features which are great  for marketing,  a improved color correction tools is not sexy enough but i and others doing commercial work need robust tools for daily work more than features but i´m a probably a minority ......

[Andy Somerfield]

Hi csp,

 

Please understand that this is the first beta of 1.5 - not everything we intend to achieve in this beta is done yet. Some of the points you raise certainly will get done for 1.5 - although some will not.

 

We must balance our time very carefully between adding new features (yes - in essence marketing - lots of people have not bought Photo yet because it does not have the features we are trying to add) but we do aim to improve other parts of the app for existing users. Usually, a beta starts with "features", then "improvements", then "bug fixes" - in that order..

 

Don't get downhearted because the fixes you need are not in the first beta - we have plenty of time :)

 

Hope this helps,

 

A

[James Ritson]

Hey csp, amongst your comments you mentioned the shadows and highlights adjustment - have you tried the filter version accessible from either the Filters menu or as a live filter layer? It behaves more closely to what your expectations would be.

Having said that, I regularly use the highlights slider in Develop to compress or pull back the highlight detail, but I do it in addition to removing the applied tone curve and adding my own via the Curves adjustment. Combined with this method, the highlight slider actually becomes very powerful. Might be worth a try? This video details it: