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So.….

 

About a DAM for the Affinitys?

 

This thread's contributors have taken this topic in a direction that eases the pressure on the developers.  Yes, they are great, just like their products and it is true that widening the user base with Windows and iOS will, in time, improve the current products.

 

But, whatever alternative we consider, it would be fair now (in May 2017) for Affinity to reveal a fixed time-line for a separate DAM for their products to interact with.

 

Perhaps they aren't going to develop one?

 

Well, fair enough.  There are many excellent reasons for this set of developers to avoid that direction.

 

But I've been following this thread since I was a beta tester and, frankly, waiting this long to make my choice (to wait or go elsewhere) is stretching users' dedication to the developers....

:)  CoolCmsc

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Personally, as a user/owner of both Photo and Designer, I'm a lot more interested in the developers concentrating their time and attention on perfecting (or as close as any developer comes) the apps they already have out than in having them possibly spreading themselves too thin trying to introduce too many things at once.  Photo and Designer are both young and while showing great potential, both need further development in order to be the Adobe killers that many of us are hoping for.  In the meantime, there are other options for DAMs, some free, some not.

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But I've been following this thread since I was a beta tester and, frankly, waiting this long to make my choice (to wait or go elsewhere) is stretching users' dedication to the developers....

 

I have to say I agree.  I'd like to know if they are actually working on something and to have some kind of timeframe.  Choosing a DAM is not like choosing an imaging app.  The time investment implications are far greater.

 

As for spreading their resources too thin, on too many apps ... I agree with that as well, but Serif are in business and so they want to make the best profit they can.  I can't help feeling that producing the Windows version seriously slowed other development, but more than that ... each decision now has far greater implications as it has to be replicated across 3 platforms and 2 apps + perhaps a DAM and a Page Layout app.

Grumpy, but faithful (watch out all you cats)

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Personally, as a user/owner of both Photo and Designer, I'm a lot more interested in the developers concentrating their time and attention on perfecting (or as close as any developer comes) the apps they already have out than in having them possibly spreading themselves too thin trying to introduce too many things at once.  Photo and Designer are both young and while showing great potential, both need further development in order to be the Adobe killers that many of us are hoping for.  In the meantime, there are other options for DAMs, some free, some not.

 

Couldn't agree more. It's already difficult to keep up with bugs and improvement on AD and AP, can't imagine what would happen with the introduction of other programs.

I wonder how much people actually use AD/AP when they make requests like this.

Andrew
-
Win10 x64 AMD Threadripper 1950x, 64GB, 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD + 2TB, dual GTX 1080ti
Dual Monitor Dell Ultra HD 4k P2715Q 27-Inch

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I'm currently using AFP a LOT (10 hours per day) having switched from a long time app and currently working on the post for a large book project.

 

I'd still like a DAM.  As for AFP and AFD, I am carefully noting all the bugs I find along the way ... AFD I'm using a lot less, but dipping my toes from time to time.

Grumpy, but faithful (watch out all you cats)

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GFS,

 

I'm glad you are using AP extensively.

I switched to AP as well, although I can't use it at work but only for my projects at home. I tried to introduce it at work, but crashes and poor performance have been a serious deterrent. With all the bugs and the improvement I wish would have already been addressed, I can hardly imagine shifting part of the already limited Serif's resources to another application.

 

Just my 2 c.

Andrew
-
Win10 x64 AMD Threadripper 1950x, 64GB, 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD + 2TB, dual GTX 1080ti
Dual Monitor Dell Ultra HD 4k P2715Q 27-Inch

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  • 1 month later...

https://petapixel.com/2017/06/27/affinity-may-building-lightroom-competitor/

 

Update on 6/28/17: Serif has confirmed to PetaPixel that it’s building digital asset management software.

 

“We are starting to work on an Affinity DAM app,” the company says. “It’s something which will come to fruition after we have launched Affinity Publisher next year, so probably at least 12 months from now…”

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 10/6/2016 at 3:58 PM, MEB said:

Hi amazme1,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

Lightroom is not a photo editor but a RAW developer. It's editing tools are not up to what Photoshop offers. Affinity Photo is both a RAW developer and photo editor.

We already announced plans for an Affinity DAM software which will work seamlessly with Affinity Photo.

Thanks for the info

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Sorry to revive a dead-ish thread. Have there been any further developments for this?

Will there be a beta test version?

I'm currently still holding on to outdated OS (i.e. 10.8 and 10.9) in the interest of preserving Aperture. Would be nice if the DAM software would work with these older OS, as I'd definitely want to try before upgrading my OS and therefore potentially screwing up my ability to use Aperture. I understand Aperture *could* work on the newer OS, but it's a risk that some functions are broken as I've read from what other users have reported.

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Aperture still works fine with OS X 10.12.6, only for your information. No broken functions - at least all what I need works. Can't speak about creating books, slideshows. It kept even my coloured icons (I hated the grey ones to the point of nearly abandoning the best DAM I've experienced so far). Capture One, on the contrary got better again in the development part, but with the management part I experienced weird behavior (like lost pictures). That was very annoying because C1 10.1 was the reason to update OS X, and to update C1 the reason was the compressed X-T2 RAW files. As much as I hate that kind of "want something simple, need to do two costly or not working other updates" cases, I only got a small scratch. Sure, if I would remain with Nikon D810 and Fuji X-E2, everything would work with Aperture. But the X-T2 was just too attractive to not try it.

 

And we're still waiting for a proper Affinity DAM.

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22 hours ago, JoJu said:

Aperture still works fine with OS X 10.12.6...

Thanks, I appreciate you sharing your experience with Aperture on 10.12. I'm still hesitant because I'm hearing a mix of things working perfectly and things that went drastically wrong. Just in case I end up in the second camp.

I was tempted by Capture One but too costly considering the light usage volume for me (I don't do photography for a living so it's not like my life depended on an expensive tool).

Honestly, I value the idea of an integrated ecosystem like Adobe's, where you can get an image to open up into PS for the heavier editing, then go back to LR with the edited image. If Serif can do the same with their software, then it's worth the wait. I'm just hoping that the wait wouldn't be too long from now. We have passed the second half of 2017 after all.

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4 minutes ago, st87 said:

...integrated ecosystem like Adobe's, where you can get an image to open up into PS for the heavier editing, then go back to LR with the edited image. If Serif can do the same with their software,

 

You can edit LR images with any software, including AP. Opening an image from DAM to editor and save back is a simple trick.

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st87, it wasn't Aperture getting a hiccup after I went from 10.10 to 10.12, it was Mail. One intelligent folder was not working. A call at Apple support set things straight (and I was for the first time in years amazed again by this kind of support...)

 

I can understand your points and hesitation. I wish I could go back to iTunes 8or 9 i.e.

 

On Affinity, I gave up hope since they went Windows. That's exactly the same path Adobe chose. Getting Windows user on board alters the feature list and weakens the whole system - it has been ages since the last real update happened. And now the tablet version as well - somebody called that a dead end, I join that opinion.

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3 minutes ago, Fixx said:

 

You can edit LR images with any software, including AP. Opening an image from DAM to editor and save back is a simple trick.

 

A simple trick, which increases the consumption of diskspace. There are things only Photoshop or the like can do, then there's a reason to go the TIF road. I want to stay in RAW files for as long as possible.

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31 minutes ago, Fixx said:

 

You can edit LR images with any software, including AP. Opening an image from DAM to editor and save back is a simple trick.

Noted, but I don't actually have LR, I'm just pointing to LR as an example. I'm not planning on buying LR either as Adobe is not getting a cent of my money after they have decided on forcing people to pay a subscription.

27 minutes ago, JoJu said:

 

A simple trick, which increases the consumption of diskspace. There are things only Photoshop or the like can do, then there's a reason to go the TIF road. I want to stay in RAW files for as long as possible.

Ditto :-)

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4 hours ago, JoJu said:

On Affinity, I gave up hope since they went Windows. That's exactly the same path Adobe chose. Getting Windows user on board alters the feature list and weakens the whole system - it has been ages since the last real update happened. And now the tablet version as well - somebody called that a dead end, I join that opinion.

How do the Windows versions 'alter' the feature list and/or weaken the whole system?

 

I am strictly a Mac user but I am glad the apps are available for Windows. If nothing else, it increases the user base substantially, which in turn means wider support from plugin developers, more interest in resolving import/export/upload issues for users not working exclusively in the Adobe ecosystem, & so on. Basically, everybody wins when the user base increases.

 

The tablet version, specifically the iPad version of Photos running on the latest iPad Pros used with an Apple Pencil, gives sketch artists a very powerful drawing tool. Just guessing, but I think they would not share the 'dead end' opinion.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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2 hours ago, R C-R said:

The tablet version, specifically the iPad version of Photos running on the latest iPad Pros used with an Apple Pencil, gives sketch artists a very powerful drawing tool. Just guessing, but I think they would not share the 'dead end' opinion.

 

Not only "sketch artists"!!

 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/44512-some-paintings-of-mine/

 

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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14 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Not only "sketch artists"!!

Well, I meant sketch artist in most general sense of someone who works with pencils, brushes, & other 'natural media.' but I have to admit "sketch" is totally inadequate as a description of the work of @Andych56!!! Awesome!

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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5 hours ago, R C-R said:

How do the Windows versions 'alter' the feature list and/or weaken the whole system?

 

Windows doesn't include RAW-processing, therefore Affinity programmers must take care of another task.

A lot of Windows versions don't include color management - I'm not sure, if Affinity needs the newest (CM-supporting) version Win 10?

Some capabilities have to be dedicated to the whole mess of drivers, especially for graphic cards.

I agree that more users mean more incoming sales and therefore more human resources - but these are needed because Windows users need to address more support.

Within Mac OS, there are intelligent folders usable for all apps, Automator scripts and a lot more comfort functions, Developing these for Windows... I see the results in Adobe Bridge, in CaptureOne (I'm working with Windows on a daily basis) - these poor copies of OS X functions and their usage just suck.

 

Affinity will need some manpower to bring Affinity Photo in Windows to the same level as the ease of use in OS X - this kind of manpower is missing for a development of a "Aperture successor". I tried a lot of photo-organizing apps. Aperture, two years after death, still sets a benchmark. I was hoping very much Affinity could create something cool, instead they took the money road.

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15 minutes ago, JoJu said:

I was hoping very much Affinity could create something cool, instead they took the money road.

 

I'm afraid I agree 100%.

 

The honeymoon period with Affinity is probably over.  The contagious enthusiasm and excitement in the early stages, was fantastic and such a breath of fresh air compared with Adobe.  However, the money is hard to refuse and entirely understandable.  Also of course, Serif is a Windows software company.  It was the Mac software thing that was 'out on a limb'.   I'm all for the iPad version, but with the launch of the Windows vs, even though Serif say it's a separate team etc., the astonishing pace of progress has pretty much ground to a halt.

 

I'm hoping that the ex lead-engineer on Aperture, who has released the very excellent 'Raw Power' raw processing software, which is  closely based around Aperture, will find the resources to move onto a DAM as well.  I think it is tentatively in their sights ... and so it should be, because there is definitely a great market for the Mac, especially as you point out the advantages of the Mac having great raw processing and colour management built-in.

Grumpy, but faithful (watch out all you cats)

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GFS, thank you for agreeing. I had contact with the Aperture developer and maybe I'm wrong but I sensed a lot of frustration that Apple abandoned - without a real reason (they are literally bathing in money...).

 

Possibly I'm only stubborn, but so far I've still some spirit of getting happy about awesomeness - if I can recognize it.

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39 minutes ago, JoJu said:

Possibly I'm only stubborn, but so far I've still some spirit of getting happy about awesomeness - if I can recognize it.

 

I couldn't agree more and in fact, it was one of my disappointments with Serif and Affinity.  They've copied Adobe's UI and to be honest it is and always has been, crap.  Copying it was a missed opportunity. They could have done something fab instead.  Of course, I understand perfectly why they did copy it.  I wish though, that they'd *at the very least* changed the totally dumb system of using colour to paint masks in/out. 

 

As for Apple dumping Aperture.  It is still stunning to me, that Apple could treat a group of professionals in such a way.  Thousands of hours of work, per pro, summarily dumped in the dumpster without so much as an explanation.  Shocking.  I'll never ever ever trust Apple with a pro app again.

Grumpy, but faithful (watch out all you cats)

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The app is "fab", at least in most parts - and if they change the UI colour to be set lighter, the even better.

 

What Affinity is not doing "fab", not even remotely: Creating an excellent RAW-file manager. I mean, I still use Aperture if not daily, then weekly. ALTHOUGH it's dead end, ALTHOUGH I will not get updates, ALTHOUGH I invested some dosh in Capture One (not Media Pro, though, as I hate their UI), in OnOne, PhotoLine, Lyn, PhotoMechanic (only trial), Photo Supreme, Picktorial, GraphicConverter (because of it's library module), DxO (as trial), Pixelmator and Affinity. So many apps, none as convincing, reliable, easy to use and robust like Aperture - it's a shame to all these apps!

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