Affinity Photo Beta for iPad (1.6.7 - Beta 2)

[Andy Somerfield]

Status: Beta Release.

Purpose: Fixes, improvements, features.
Requirements: TestFlight Acceptance.
App Store: Not Submitted

 

Hi Guys,

The second beta of 1.6.7 has been deployed on TestFlight. The changes are detailed below.

You can download the App Store version at any time to stop using the beta - and download the TestFlight build at any time to go back to the beta.

 

Thanks,

 

Affinity Photo Team  

 

Changes this version.

 

- Now fully supports open-in-place - including saving back directly to the original location.
- New “Import from Camera” - supporting RAW and automatic HDR bracketed merge. Has fancy histograms and scopes.
- New ability to install custom fonts in preferences (these will be shared with Designer iPad once it is released).
- New “Average Blur” filter.
- Added ability to export brushes.
- Added ability to both import and export styles.
- Added option in preferences to cache screen updates - you will see much less pixelation when painting etc. - but it uses more memory.
- Adjustments panel now has an option to show a simple list (by popular request).
- Overhaul of pencil / touch input mechanism - this enabled much needed functionality such as long pressing with Apple Pencil to pick colours in brush tools, etc.
- Fixed marching ants disappearing when canvas is rotated.
- Apple Pencil can now dismiss flyouts without passing a tap through.
- Fixed transform studio aspect ratio lock.
- Improved long-press behaviour in Liquify tool.
- Made the “Protect Alpha” mode of the paint brush tool more obvious.
- Further develop Clarity improvements - including negative clarity.
- Further develop shadows / highlights improvements.
- Improved software keyboard toolbar.
- Ask a better question when leaving a feature persona without committing changes.
- Further performance improvements in develop persona.
- Preferences option to choose default storage location.
- Improved support for the dropping of files into an open document.
- Bitmap fills are now available on vector objects.
- Numerous other small fixes and improvements.
- Localisation tweaks.

 

Changes since last App Store release.

 

- Brand new shadows / highlights algorithm in Develop.
- Brand new clarity algorithm in Develop.
- Can now open / edit files in place - directly from the Files app.
- New “Solo” layer option in layer properties panel.
- New preferences option to show touches - good for screen recording.
- Improved iOS11 drag & drop support.
- Can now rotate image in Develop.
- Pasting now keeps things in the right place.
- Maximum / minimum filters now obey the current channels properly.
- Brush scatter works properly when controller is “random”.
- Improved angle / tilt support for Apple Pencil.
- Handle vertical panoramas better.
- Fixed some HDR merge crashes.
- Fixed multiply blend mode in 32bit documents.
- Improved crop tool behaviour when using ratios.
- Improved retouching tools in 32bit mode.
- Fixed issues with “Direction” brush controller.
- Improvements to selection refinement.
- Improved TIFF support.
- PSD export improvements.
- Channels page improvements / fixes.
- “Save a copy” stability improvements.
- Ability to clear history (hopefully will help some people who encounter crashes when trying to return to the home screen).
- New “Constrain” modifier button for Depth of Field tool.
- Snapping candidates can now be selected by hovering over them whilst in a drag.
- All other relevant fixes from 1.6.6 desktop version.
- Help improvements.
- Localisation improvements.

[MEB]

Wow, a few nice improvements in this build! 

[A_B_C]

What he said … 

[A_B_C]

Installing fonts works like a charm! Thank you … 

 

Here are some issues I found:

• I am having still no luck with dropping .afphoto files from the Files app onto the project organizer panel or an image. When I click the Plus sign in the project organizer, select Open From Cloud, and navigate to the folder On My iPad, .aphoto files will be greyed out and not available for being opened. Seems the file system doesn’t deal well with the file format.
• Maybe you should rename Open From Cloud, by the way, since you can access locally stored files by clicking this option. And maybe you should reconsider using the cloud icon for uploading fonts as well. It is somewhat counter-intuitive that you can tap this icon and access the internal file system of the iPad, not only the cloud. Hmm.
• When using Pen Tool + Modifier Key for Node Tool, the handy loupe (which is available again with the Apple Pencil … thank you!) gets stuck quite regularly. Not so with the Node Tool. See my video.

But thanks again for this update! Great work. 

Alex

 

Loupe-Gets-Stuck.mov

 

[Alfred]

2 hours ago, MEB said:

Wow, a few nice improvements in this build! 

 

More than just a few, IMHO!

 

13 minutes ago, A_B_C said:

Installing fonts works like a charm! Thank you … 

 

Yes, I can see me using AnyFont even less than I already do.

[dinoburner]

Quote

these will be shared with Designer iPad once it is released

 

Go on....

[Puca]

42 minutes ago, dinoburner said:

 

Go on....

I know, right? How tantalizing! #everybodyswaitingfordesigner

 

Back to the Photo beta…

 

THANK YOU for the integration with the Files app! After some testing, it looks like Photo is slightly different from most apps that use the Files app. In Affinity Photo, it creates a linked copy to the original document. You can edit it all you want, and those edits are saved to local storage (so you can kill the app, but the changes are still there), but only on the linked copy. The original document in the Files app is unchanged—but still linked, so if you tap on it in Files, then the modified copy is opened in Photo. If you tap the little 3-bar menu in Photo’s files window, you can Close or Save the document. If you Close without saving, you lose all your changes. If you Save, then your changes are copied back into the Files app (iCloud). If you then Close the file, your changes have already been saved out to iCloud so you’re OK.

 

That’s an interesting workflow, although the duplication (locally cached copy) is unusual. Is this the final implementation? I wonder if users would get confused that their changes aren’t save to iCloud until they click Save in the little menu.

 

In any case, it all seems to work perfectly, except for one thing. The Files app’s thumbnails are never updated, even when you click Save. This is presumably a known issue and will be fixed eventually?

 

Thanks for this great integration.

 

[A_B_C]

So you sucessfully loaded an .afphoto document from the Files App, Puca? Is there something I am doing terribly wrong? 

[Alfred]

3 hours ago, Alfred said:

I can see me using AnyFont even less than I already do.

 

Having said that, I’ve just tried to install the eight styles of Ostrich Sans from Font Squirrel, and Ostrich Sans Medium refuses to show up. Additionally, the ‘Light’ and ‘Dashed Medium’ entries in the list are all but illegible.

 

[Puca]

1 hour ago, A_B_C said:

So you sucessfully loaded an .afphoto document from the Files App, Puca? Is there something I am doing terribly wrong? 

Does the Files app recognize it as an Affinity Photo Document? Tap-and-hold on the filename and then choose Info from the popup menu. Does it show it like this, with a thumbnail and correct file type?

[hochdave]

Shadows issue is still there

[aaandy]

Fantastic improvements here. Thank you for your work 

 

Regarding fonts, would it be possible to point AP to a folder on iCloud Drive and have it stay up to date? - Check for changes on launch, manual check in settings.

[Alfred]

On 15/12/2017 at 11:02 AM, Andy Somerfield said:

- New “Average Blur” filter.

 

When changing my settings in Preferences, I discovered that the label for this in the Filter Studio hasn’t yet been localized for other languages.

[marcoborghesi]

Loving updated integration with file.app from the previous beta. I’m not yet in deep review of the rest but I think what I still really miss is the ability to develop Raw to a non destructive level to be able then to go back to to further adjustments at every time. 

Serif you are doing. Wonderful job providing these software on iPad (I hope designer is round the corner) and you deserve all the awards.

well done.

 

wish to see in the next beta: RAW non destructive develop persona.

 

m

[marcoborghesi]

Is it possible to add the ability to see folders and navigate them when importing from photos?

I think it might be,interesting and it could help to improve the workflow.

m

[A_B_C]

Hi Puca,

 

great idea. So I simply saved an .aphoto directly from my Affinity Photo app (iPad) to the dedicated folder of Photo on the iPad. Then I had a look at the file info, as you suggested. And it just says “Document,” not “Affinity Photo Document” as in your screen shot. I would say, the system doesn’t recognize this as a valid Affinity Photo file. Strange.

 

Thank you,

Alex 

 

 

[marcoborghesi]

Sorry guys. I’m might sound stupid but what it is the Solo Layer option? 

[aaandy]

On 15/12/2017 at 9:02 PM, Andy Somerfield said:

- Overhaul of pencil / touch input mechanism - this enabled much needed functionality such as long pressing with Apple Pencil to pick colours in brush tools, etc.

 

I feel the timing of this feature needs revisiting. It's too fast. It's incredibly frustrating when you don't understand what it's doing, and a minefield when you do. 

I was doing some edits last night and wanted to throw my iPad Pro across the room. I came back to the thread and reread the feature list. Back to my file, filled with knowledge, it was still incredibly hard to finish putting a Mario moustache and hat on a shark (I am trying to do the lord's work here).

 

  Anyway, yeah, a timing tweak would be great.

 

[Skm]

I also feel the color picker is activated too fast. At times while drawing quickly the color picker seemed to activate before I could actually draw on the screen. Maybe a slider in the general setting so users can customize how fast they want the color picker to activate? I also feel, as a general criticism, that the activation of a line when drawing seems more sluggish compared to other sketching programs like Procreate, Clip Studio Paint (iPad Pro) and others. Even with simple brushes there’s more brush lag compared to the competition.

 

The beta is progressing nicely otherwise. Can’t wait to import and export color palettes. 

[A_B_C]

Sorry guys. I’m might sound stupid but what it is the Solo Layer option?

 

It does what it says. When you solo a track in a digital audio workstation, you will hear this track alone. When you solo a layer in Affinity Photo, you will see this layer alone. 

[Hank the Tank]

I am trying to install fonts from Dafont.com, but they all come in zip files. Can Affinity open the zip files to extract the font? I haven't had any luck so far. 

[aaandy]

1 hour ago, Hank the Tank said:

I am trying to install fonts from Dafont.com, but they all come in zip files. Can Affinity open the zip files to extract the font? I haven't had any luck so far. 

I use Zipped app to unzip/zip things. Worth a look for now: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/zipped/id1275135452?mt=8

[ReO2]

I’ve not seen this reported. On the latest Beta the cloning and healing brush have some erratic behavior. After the click and hold that point won’t stay in place but it follows the pen tool. I went back to the regular build and reloaded the beta with same results...

[MEB]

Hi ReO2,

Not sure i understood you issue. Have you enabled the Aligned setting in the context toolbar on bottom (you have to click the white arrow on the right of the context toolbar to access/show more options) - if so it should have a stroke around the circle? Have you tried to disable it? Or are you refering to the use of the Apple Pencil when you say "follows the pen tool"?

[ReO2]

I click and hold to set the source but that spot will not stay in place but instead follows the Apple Pencil to the location I want to repair... I have tried all the different settings but it still happens.... I reloaded the store version and didn’t have this problem then went back to the most current beta and it still occurs.... I’m not a newbie so this is something in the current beta