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No Affinity Photo Book / User Manual??


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I find it odd, that after many, many requests by users to publish / provide a users manual for Affinity Photo (and being told to use the online tutorials) that Affinity decided to publish a "manual" for Designer and has still elected to forego a user manual for Photo.  Not meaning to beat a dead horse here, but is this something we will see, other than Affinity "considering it"? I, for one, would certainly appreciate and buy it.

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I cannot get a copy soon enough.  My migration to Affinity Photo is severely hampered by having little to no overview of what features are there and how to use them.  I know this software can do a lot, but it's done so differently than in Photoshop that I fight to do the most basic things.  I find the tutorials helpful, but they are more like a reference manual - there's no large scale overview that gains insight into the way AP designers think.  (Reminds me of the jokes about source revision systems, where people say "just type in this line and you'll get the latest version.)

 

I think it would be awesome if someone could make a book partially targeting Photoshop users to say how similar things are done in Affinity Photo, and partially to give a high level overview of the high level way AP works.  One hangup is there seems to be a lot of modes and contexts in AP, and if you're not in the right state, you can't do basic things that you could do a minute before.

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I will soon have Affinity Photo for a year and am really surprised that Serif has not come out with a manual or someone has not written one to sell on the market. I have learned and can do all the basics but still dont understand some of the concepts for photo editing so that I can further my skills.

 

I have seriously considered switching to Photoshop, monthly fee and all because there is so much written info out there on Photoshop.

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Perhaps I am spoiled. I've used every version of Photoshop up to CS6 since before v1.0 (I was a beta user back in 1989). And once Affinity Photo supports macros and batch processing I likely will stop using Photoshop altogether. Having used image editing programs for as long as I have it is clear to me that the engineers for AP and AD "get it". For most things I can just intuit where the feature I want is and sure enough it ends up easy to discover. Again, easy for me. Likely not easy for a beginner. So yes, documentation is needed. Yet the free videos supplied by Serif are a superb resource. As much as I have a ton of experience with image editing, I have watched every single Serif support video multiple times. Each time receiving a little bit more insight. So my take is that the more you invest the more you will be rewarded. The fact is, there is no "hurry" here -- if you can't produce quality images with Photoshop you won't be able to produce quality images in Affinity Photo -- and vice versa. I'm a big fan of rewarding those who stick their necks out. In this case, Serif has done just that and I feel they deserve the kudos due them.

 

YMMV

 

Michael

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I'm brand new to Affinity, and have just started working my way through the tutorials, which are helpful for a beginner, even if I can't absorb everything---they show me what's possible. But I would love to have a manual, for reference when there is a particular feature I need to review. I had a big fat manual for PSE 8 for Mac, it covered absolutely everything,  and I  ended up using it a lot. So when the Affinity manual comes out, I'll want one of those too!  In the meantime, I agree with Michael,  those videos are very helpful, and you can watch them multiple times. 

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Perhaps I am spoiled. I've used every version of Photoshop up to CS6 since before v1.0 (I was a beta user back in 1989). And once Affinity Photo supports macros and batch processing I likely will stop using Photoshop altogether. Having used image editing programs for as long as I have it is clear to me that the engineers for AP and AD "get it". For most things I can just intuit where the feature I want is and sure enough it ends up easy to discover. Again, easy for me. Likely not easy for a beginner. So yes, documentation is needed. Yet the free videos supplied by Serif are a superb resource. As much as I have a ton of experience with image editing, I have watched every single Serif support video multiple times. Each time receiving a little bit more insight. So my take is that the more you invest the more you will be rewarded. The fact is, there is no "hurry" here -- if you can't produce quality images with Photoshop you won't be able to produce quality images in Affinity Photo -- and vice versa. I'm a big fan of rewarding those who stick their necks out. In this case, Serif has done just that and I feel they deserve the kudos due them.

 

YMMV

 

Michael

 

What Micheal said!!  :)  :) 

 

I am, like Michael, an Adobe 'exile' since CS6. The hardest part is not learning, it's adapting, and unlearning the ingrained habits.

 

But .......

 

....... call me old fashioned if you like, I also hope that one day there will good printed material that I can lay on the desk beside me to absorb at my own pace instead of stopping, starting and sometimes back stepping videos.

 

But ......

 

....... there is an excellent 'printed' and printable instruction source. It's right here! It's this forum! The quality of support and help here is second to none. I have never failed to have a question answered helpfully and promptly.

 

The only difficulty is the embarrassment I sometimes feel about asking too many questions .......... I can only hope that, with time, I will become experienced enough to give back what I have received by answering other people's questions in turn.

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Just my 2¢ on this but both Affinity apps are still evolving at a rapid rate, adding features & changing (usually just a bit) how a few of the existing ones work. So any physical, printed manual will likely not be comprehensive for long, if at all. Another thing to consider about printed manuals is they rarely cover all the languages an app supports, so if English is not your native or preferred language, you may not get as much out of it as you might hope for.

 

Electronic manuals can eliminate or at least minimize these drawbacks, as well as including interactive features & videos. In this respect, the built-in help system is better than many users think, but the biggest problem with that is finding what you are looking for often isn't easy. Apparently, that is at least partially due to how Apple indexes help topics in OS X, but it would be great if the Affinity folks could improve the search results ... somehow.

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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Yes thanks for that. You are quite right. It's not necessarily printed material I want so much as 'static' material that doesn't need scanning back and forth and stopping and starting. I am very happy indeed with a PDF onscreen for example.

Affinity's Help files are far better than most. I find them invaluable. But, as you point out they need to be searched, and that's a question of reader and writer using parallel terms. As a user, trying to discover something you don't know, you may be unsure of the correct term you are looking for. Often I draw a blank in the Search box and just open the index and look for where I hope what I need might be found and take it from there. 

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I feel a need for writing that includes a level of principles underlying the details of how you do it. What one is trying to achieve using BW or gray masks, blending and combining separate images, modulating color selectively, many principles that would apply to a variety of situations.

AP 1.7.3, MacOS 10.14.6 (usually latest of each, but not going to Catalina until more issues are resolved)

Mac Mini, Late 2012, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB; HD replaced with SSD

 

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  • 1 month later...

I too would like a printed manual rather than a pdf one. However, it seems that Affinity Photo has been developing so rapidly that it would be a moving target for them. I have to cut the developers a lot of slack for their pace of development and can wait awhile for someone to come up with a printed version. I am just thankful for the program, the things it can do, and the ability to avoid Adobe. Thanks Affinity.

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I personally am (trying) to migrate from Photoshop CC 2017 to Affinity Photo, but am having serious trouble doing very BASIC stuff. I actually feel like I have gone back 15 years (experience wise) :(

I also dislike the different "personas", as I feel it fragments my workflow. A PS-AP conversion manual would be great.

 

If anyone is interested in doing this with me, then please get in touch, and we can make a start.

 

Thanks

High-End Photographic Prints

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just want to add my voice to the requests for a user manual while I'm learning to use Photo and Designer. Even if it isn't perfect or complete, a written guide would go a long way for me personally. I tend to learn better with written documentation than with videos, no matter how many times I watch them. As a writer and photographer, I used Serif products before I switched to Mac and really liked them, so I was thrilled to see Affinity catching up. I'm very impressed with Affinity so far and would love to switch to it and away from PS, but I need to be confident that the resources I need are in place before I make that commitment. Hope it's available soon. I love the product so far, and now my husband is learning to use it as well :)

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  • 3 months later...

Hi canoeman42,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

Thanks for your words.  I'm glad you're enjoying Affinity Photo.

We will have an Official Guide like Designer but it will take some time until it's ready.

Any updates on a Guide Book to our software? Online tutorials are okay, but nothing beats self-paced learning for soft skills. There are two available online for German, but wish we had an official English version. Just hoping after four months, there's been an update. :huh:

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  • 4 weeks later...

And here we are 6 months or so on and still waiting for "the book". Amazon are carrying guide books printed in German-but where is the English edition???!

 

Meanwhile, you can check this.

 

Best regards!

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We will have an Official Guide like Designer but it will take some time until it's ready.

Whenever a project like AD or AP is beginning, there's a need to specify, what it achieves (I don't know the correct vocable :unsure: ). So it it necessary to write a TECHNICAL REFERENCE. Every command, all parameters, their range, absolutely everything has to be specified and written down. Otherwise no program could be designed, no code could be written at all.

And, first of all, it already exists.

This TECHNICAL REFERENCE could be packed in a PDF or, with some examples and screenshots printed in a book.

Very simple, very useful. :)

 

Peter

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You will find detailed descriptions for all functions/features in the Help file. The Workbook will also cover them in general but it mostly a project based approach so you can actually build something while you learn the software.

I admit, that the AD-Help is much better than the help of many other programs. But if more hard facts are known, it as so much easier to avoid silly errors. The begin of Designer Workbook was promising, but then it didn't fullfill my expectations. There were good examples, but not my subjects.

I hope you can read my terrible english :unsure:

Peter

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  • 3 weeks later...

I find it odd, that after many, many requests by users to publish / provide a users manual for Affinity Photo (and being told to use the online tutorials) that Affinity decided to publish a "manual" for Designer and has still elected to forego a user manual for Photo.  Not meaning to beat a dead horse here, but is this something we will see, other than Affinity "considering it"? I, for one, would certainly appreciate and buy it.

I've opened the Help file from within Affinity Photo (PC), then clicked on any topic while holding the Shift key, got online, then saved the page form my browser onto my computer, bingo! Got the complete file saved! Hope that helps.

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  • 4 months later...

I went back and looked at the date of my original question regarding when would a user manual be available for Photo.  The date was October, 2016.  Here we are, a year later and what has been developed and published - Affinity Designer workbook, which is a program developed and released after Photo.  We keep hearing that "there is one coming".  When, I have no idea, but as much as I like Photo, I am beginning to think that I am going to go back to CS, or Lightroom, etc, which has good documentation.  I think the Affinity team puts together an excellent piece of software, but are very weak on delivering after the fact documentation.  Videos are OK, but maybe I am not the brightest bulb in the pack as often, the videos don't pull together what I am trying to figure out.  Why a piece of support documentation cannot be developed jointly with the software is beyond me.  I think all (we) are asking for is a good PDF file / manual that can be updated rather than a hardcopy that is almost obsolete before printing is complete.  Thanks for listening, and hopefully someone will get off the mark and release a written tutorial as has been asked for by many.

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