Topaz Studio works with Affinity Photo Windows

[John Rostron]

Topaz Labs is currently offering Topaz Studio as a free standalone or Plugin for both Windows and Mac. I tried the Windows version. It installed OK and it also installed into Affinity with no problems. 

 

Topaz Studio seems to be a general editing program to act as a host for  other Topaz  plugins. This host program/plugin is free and you can add additional free or paid-for 'adjustments'. From ten minutes working on an image, my conclusion is that the Topaz Studio host does not offer anything that Affinity Photo does not, so I feel that it is well worth the money!

 

I have to say that the interface was not particularly clear. If you thought that the Affinity black-on-black UI is bad, you ain't seen nothing yet! It could be that a more thorough investigation would reveal more uses.

[Callum]

Hi John Rostron,

 

Thank you for taking the time to write this to make everyone aware that the studio is free and it works with Photo :) If anyone would like to download Topaz Studio you can do so below.

 

https://web.topazlabs.com/downloads

 

C

[MikeW]

It was on my system for less than 5 minutes before it was uninstalled. Slow is a word I would use.

[John Rostron]

It was on my system for less than 5 minutes before it was uninstalled. Slow is a word I would use.

Yes, I would agree with you there. I did think that I might explore further before removing it.

[toltec]

No thanks, I had a look but I shall stick with Affinity Photo.

 

Now I am getting the hang of it, I like it more and more.

 

Bye bye Adobe !!!

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Yes, I would agree with you there. I did think that I might explore further before removing it.

I'd agree with that. However, Topaz Studio is not intended as a Photoshop replacement, nor an Affinity Photo replacement for that matter. ;)

 

It is a host program for the previous generation Topaz plugins, and for their new plugins. Some of that plugin functionality is rather difficult to achieve with PS or AP, so it's a good thing that AP allows to access that power as well.

 

Cheers,

Bart

[R C-R]

From what I can tell, the main reason that Affinity Photo users might be interested in this is the 'limited time offer' to get the Topaz Pro Pack for $70. That assumes that there are enough "pro" adjustments (which I assume would all function as AP plugins) in the pack that do something enough better or quicker than what AP (& possibly the free NIK Collection) already does to make buying it worthwhile.

 

For some users, the internet based custom effects sync thing might be useful, but that apparently only works through the host app, & requires "signing in" to a Topaz account. I also noticed that somewhere in one of the pages it mentions that you have to be connected to the internet at least once every 60 days to keep the account current, whatever that means.

 

Overall, there does not seem to be any really compelling reason to install or use this, at least for me.