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Where oh where do I go for support????


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Please will someone be helpful and advise where and how I get ANY support for Affinity Photo???

 

I have just spent all morning trying to use 'Free Hand Selection Tool' on a RAW image.

 

Google, Vimeo, Youtube, Affinity Photo WorkBook (I have the hard copy).  I've tried to search for some help and, of course there is a wealth of information out there. somewhere.  An overwhelming flood of information indeed that gives me answers to every possible conceivable thing I would like to do in Affinity Photo - EXCEPT the one thing I want to know!!!

 

I expect it's out there somewhere but what (in simple words on one syllable please!) is the Affinity suggested route that users go through to get some support from them?

 

How I mourn the passing of the good old days when you could ring and talk to a human being!   Affinity, like so many companies today, see customers that would like to actually speak on a phone to them as being a great nuisance that they need protecting from!

 

Rant over and I apologise for the frustrated tone of this post.  My only excuse is that I am, well, FRUSTRATED!

 

Someone please bring some clarity to me.

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This is where you should come for support. If you just browse through a few topics you will see that both the staff & many other users like yourself are willing & eager to help you with any problems you have.

 

Regarding this one, there is no Free Hand Selection Tool in the Develop Persona, which is the persona RAW image format files must open in. That is because they must be 'developed' before they can be used. After being developed (which you do by clicking on the blue "Develop" button at the top left of the Context toolbar), you will be taken to the Photo Persona, where the Free Hand Selection Tool & many others that work on developed images can be used.

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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Thank you R C-R.   I did know about having to 'develop' a raw image before moving to the Photo Persona from where one can use the Free Hand Selection Tool.   And I didn't for a moment wish to suggest that there aren't lots of people willing and eager to help me, of which you are obviously one.

 

Having gone to the Photo Persona and selected the Free Hand Selection Tool, my need is then about the operation of the tool.   I am wanting to select and separate an image from the background that is made up of both straight and curved, complicated lines.

In attempting this, the selection often drifts into areas that I don't want and it strikes me that I must be missing a trick to be able to more accurately make my selection.    It is this aspect of the operation that I was trying to find some help with and which led me to spend a whole morning of time thrashing around looking for a solution.

 

In the olden days, a simple 10 minute phone call to a support number would have provided the help I needed.

 

I contend that Affinity Photo is a wonderful application that it is unfortunately let down by the support mechanism that is in place via a support forum that it seems anyone can post an answer to - whether it is right and accurate or otherwise.

 

If I was of a mind to I could, without control or regulation, post replies to all and sundry whether I have the knowledge and skill to do so or not.   Such a free-for-all can, IMHO, only lead to inaccuracy and confusion amongst end users.

 

I'm not suggesting you are are incorrect in what you posted to me R C-R and I thank you for it.   But I hope my point can be recognised in a more general sense.

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By far the best approach is to draw a path with the pen tool, Once drawn it can be edited using nodes etc.

 

Watch this video, the menus are in French but shows the technique very well.

 

When finished, on the Context Toolbar select Mask to completely isolate the object. The path (and image edges) can be modified at any time.

 

mask.jpg.adeff7e2437e18a9e3a39d006ea194e8.jpg

Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions.

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16 minutes ago, FrankL0 said:

In the olden days, a simple 10 minute phone call to a support number would have provided the help I needed.

In olden days, we paid dearly for phone calls for technical support, either indirectly as part of the retail price or directly on a per call or supplemental purchased subscription/contract basis. Plus, in those days the apps were considerably less complex, there were far fewer users who could justify the cost of the apps & the computers they ran on, & they did not have built-in support for multiple languages.

 

These days, companies that offer free phone technical support are few & far between, mostly because it is very expensive to do that, particularly on an international basis, & those costs must be passed on to the user somehow.  Among the few that do, it would be quite unusual to get through to a customer support representative without waiting for considerably more than 10 minutes in a phone queue ... most likely listening to poorly reproduced music you don't particularly like, interrupted periodically by a recorded voice asking you to stay on the line because your call is important to them. When you finally do get to talk with a human, there is a good chance that they will misunderstand your problem, or offer little more than reading from a script that basically said the same things you already know, or put you on hold for an indeterminate amount of time while they research the issue.

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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I respect you point of view R C-R but beg to differ.

 

An example of a modern, international, customer focused company that is an exemplar of telephone based support is Shopify.

When you speak to a Guru (as they call them) they are truly knowledgeable, happily accept ownership of the issue at hand and work with you to resolve the matter to your satisfaction.

 

Other excellent examples?   First Direct and Apple Care.   All three of these companies usually score very highly in surveys of customer satisfaction and delight.  Not least they exude an image of being companies that recognise that talking to customers matters.

 

The Affinity Photo product is world class but I again contend that it's customer support if very far short indeed of being in that class.

 

If the only justification for not providing world class customer support is cost then that in itself proves my point.  I would certainly pay more for it.  Why not make it optional for those, like me, who would be prepared to pay?  Those not wanting to pay can all pile into the morass of forums that is currently on offer.

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28 minutes ago, FrankL0 said:

If the only justification for not providing world class customer support is cost then that in itself proves my point.  I would certainly pay more for it. 

How much would you be willing to pay & what would you expect for your money? 24/7 toll-free international support? An unlimited number of calls, & for how long? A yearly subscription plan or something else?

 

Beyond that, consider how many issues are most easily explained & resolved when files & screenshots are included in this 'morass of forums' & how often people who use the apps professionally take considerable time to share their 'in the trenches' expertise with other users, not just about the Affinity products but also about other apps from other vendors. There is also free content, tutorials , news, etc. available here.

 

As far as I am concerned these forums offer among the best world class customer support anyone could reasonably hope for, & it is free for anyone to use, including those who have not spent a dime on any Affinity product.

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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I was going to stay out of this thread...

 

What R C-R says about expertise of users is true, as is their willingness to help. I would add that in general, users who share their knowledge most often know more about the applications than a call center person does (something which was mentioned above). It takes a call center person years to catch up to such a diverse user base. Too, such aid is generally quicker than going up through a tech support escalation chain.

 

One can decry the lack of direct telephone support. It's your right (gawd knows I've complained about certain things here enough). I don't believe I have ever availed myself of telephone support even back through "the good ol' years." I have had phone calls from various companies following up on a bug report, but never a user issue.

 

Seeing how we (the USA) still has pennies (even if they aren't worth such anymore), that's my two cents on the issue.

 

Mike

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Well I guess I must accept that I'm certainly not going to succeed in persuading at least two people - R C-R & MikeW to my point of view. I think we must just agree to disagree.

 

Having direct experience of Shopify, First Direct (a UK bank), Apple Care and Affinity support I can only state the first three are an infinitely more satisfactory support experience than Affinity.   

Perhaps others agree with me.  Perhaps not.  But that is certainly my experience.

 

Another more directly relevant experience I have had recently is ON1 Photo Raw.  When I first used ON1 software, they had an excellent telephone support service.   By making use of that I got up to speed with using their software very quickly indeed.

ON1 then decided they didn't want customers calling them and they ceased the service.   Customer satisfaction suffered and for this customer (me) it was a significant factor in my decision to cease using ON1. 

 

Best wishes to all.

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Hi, FrankLO,

 

I'm almost as much of an antique as R C-R. 

 

"How I mourn the passing of the good old days when you could ring and talk to a human being!" When I started this sort of stuff, there weren't any phone calls. My recollection was that long distance phone calls in  the country still cost .10/min, and no Muzak in the interim. Som get on Usenet if you had an address, and see if you could message a dev. Took me 6 months in a newsgroup for 1 app posting daily till the company forwarded my asks for clarification to the dev. 

 

After all, there is at least a 600 page manual you've read thru, right? (Remember the acronym RTFM?) When they can, the Affinity team posts here.

 

Don't know about Shopify, I'm a penny pincher, and anything that lets me spend money easier is a no go. Apple Care, OK, but support over all, half the questions I ask get useless answers, and most of the useful ones come from other user groups. 

 

Darnit, I'm sounding like "Lazy whippersnappers, in my day you had to walk 7 miles to school down a muddy path." Nevertheless, chill, and be diligent.

iMac 27" Retina, c. 2015: OS X 10.11.5: 3.3 GHz I c-5: 32 Gb,  AMD Radeon R9 M290 2048 Mb

iPad 12.9" Retina, iOS 10, 512 Gb, Apple pencil

Huion WH1409 tablet

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Regarding AppleCare, phone support is free for 3 months, or 3 years if you buy that as an extra. After that, they charge (last I checked) $50 per issue. These days, you can't just call, you have to schedule a callback or wait for what could be 30 minutes or more before an agent is available. All this is usually done online. They are generally quite knowledgeable for 'first tier' agents but for anything unusual or complex you are escalated to a second tier specialist, or they ask to call you back after researching the issue. (They are generally very good about that.)

 

But like just about all the other software companies, they encourage users to use online support wherever possible, because it is generally faster & more efficient than trying to explain things over the phone.

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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... and so we see demonstrated another disadvantage of forums.

 

One needs to have quite thick skin if one wishes to espouse a point of view that is at variance with those of several others.

 

I didn't purchase Affinity Photo so that, when I needed some support I would expose myself to being lectured on the approach I should take and my diligence.   Put in my place (in French) for my choice of words.

 

Granted I did receive some useful help for which I am thankful but sad to observe that some could not resist indulging in correcting me and my point of view.

 

I rest my case and will ignore any further additions to this stream.

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3 minutes ago, FrankL0 said:

I didn't purchase Affinity Photo so that, when I needed some support I would expose myself to being lectured on the approach I should take and my diligence. 

I didn't purchase Affinity so that when I came here either needing help or offering it, I would have to be subjected to self-indulgent rants like the one in your first post, but it happens from time to time. I accept that as just another part of human nature. Despite that, I still believe this by far the best way to get support for the products, not to mention a great source for advice from knowledgeable pros.

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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Quick demo of using pen tool to create a selection. On the iPad version, my tool of choice, but principal is the same on Mac and PC versions.

 

 

IMG_4988.MOV

 

My dad always told me, a bad workman always blames their tools….

Just waiting for Ronny Pickering…..

Affinity Photo, Designer, Publisher 1.10 and 2.4 on macOS Sonoma 14 on M1 Mac Mini 16GB 1TB
Affinity Photo, Designer, Publisher 1.10 and 2.4 on Windows 10 Pro. Deceased
Affinity Photo, Designer, Publisher 2.4 on M1 iPad Pro 11” on iPadOS 17.4 
 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AffinityForiPad

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AffinityPhoto/

The hardest link to find https://affinity.help

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