Unreadable text in Nikcollection as plugin

[Mirjam]

Using the Nikcollection as plugin in affinityphoto gives a very small text on a 4k monitor, you can hardly read it. When I tried the Nikcollection as standalone, not as a plugin, there is no problem. So what can I do in affinityphoto to change the settings? I looked in preferences and IU but I could not change the resolution there.

[stokerg]

Hi MirJam and welcome to the Forums,

 

Other image editors also have the same issue (just Google Nik Collection 4K) with running the Nik Collection on a 4K screen and sadly there isn't anything we can do from within the app, as it's mainly an issue with how the Operating System launches the plugin from within another app. 

[Mirjam]

I don’t understand why not, I am not technical enough! But it is a pity! I googled of course the issue and I understood that someone wrote that in photoshop you could change the resolution via preferences, interface, UI, scaling to 200%. But I could not find it in Affinity. Wouldn t it be possible in future? I hope so. Otherwise I will return my new screen! Or I learn to make the same pictures with Affinity itself.

[John Rostron]

A new release of the Nik collection is said to be due in June. The new owners, DxO have filed for bankruptcy but still say the June release is on track. Price is unknown. Wheter it will fix the font size is also unknown.

John

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, John Rostron said:

DxO have filed for bankruptcy

 

 

[firstdefence]

12 minutes ago, Alfred said:

 

 

https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/30/camera-maker-dxo-labs-files-for-bankruptcy/

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, Alfred said:

3 hours ago, John Rostron said:

DxO have filed for bankruptcy

 

There has been considerable speculation on the web that the company's venture into the hardware market (basically, the DxO One camera & related accessories) was a financial disaster, too expensive & specialized to sell well enough to offset its considerable development & manufacturing costs. But I don't know if or how true that actually is.

[stokerg]

13 hours ago, Mirjam said:

I googled of course the issue and I understood that someone wrote that in photoshop you could change the resolution via preferences, interface, UI, scaling to 200%

Me and @Sean P tried that trick on his 4K monitor and it didn't work for us  

 

Hopefully this is something that DxO can address in the new version of the plugin, as the problem is effecting lots of other apps as well.  

 

A bit more information as explained to me by @Sean P

 

The reason the standalone app has scaled text is for the following reason:

Windows asks the application 'Are you High DPI compatible?' Both Affinity and Photoshop respond 'Yes' to this because they've been designed to scale the UI themselves. The Standalone Nik plugins respond 'No' to this because they've not been designed to scale. Because they've said 'No' Windows then says 'Right, OK I will scale you up myself!' 

 

However as the plugin is being launched from our app, Windows is not doing any scaling because as mentioned above it is leaving it down to the app. It is an unfortunate side-effect.

[Mirjam]

Thanks for your explanation!

[Claudio60]

To solve this problem you have to do this:

go to regedit, then go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > SideBySide, right click on SideBySide and select NEW > DWORD (32 bit) Value giving it the name PreferExternalManifest then Enter; double click on  PreferExternalManifest and change the value from 0 to 1 and click OK, then exit the Registry editor.
Now you have to create a text file with this content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">

<dependency>
  <dependentAssembly>
    <assemblyIdentity
      type="win32"
      name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
      version="6.0.0.0" processorArchitecture="*"
      publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
      language="*">
    </assemblyIdentity>
  </dependentAssembly>
</dependency>

<dependency>
  <dependentAssembly>
    <assemblyIdentity
      type="win32"
      name="Microsoft.VC90.CRT"
      version="9.0.21022.8"
      processorArchitecture="amd64"
      publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b">
    </assemblyIdentity>
  </dependentAssembly>
</dependency>

<trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
  <security>
    <requestedPrivileges>
      <requestedExecutionLevel
        level="asInvoker"
        uiAccess="false"/>
    </requestedPrivileges>
  </security>
</trustInfo>

<asmv3:application>
  <asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">
    <ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware xmlns:ms_windowsSettings="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">false</ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware>
  </asmv3:windowsSettings>
</asmv3:application>

</assembly>

 

 

Now save the text file with this name/extention: Photo.exe.manifest (without .txt extention) and put it in the same Affinity photo.exe folder (C:\Program Files\Affinity\Affinity Photo) and you're done.

Now Nik collection's ui is scaling properly as a plugin on high dpi monitors, hope it helps

 

[Mirjam]

Hi Claudio, thanks very much for your solution! Sorry for my late response. I have not tried it yet, because the actions seems quit professional to me. When I have the courage I will try it and than let you know. 

[firstdefence]

If you don't fancy tinkering in the registry, which is completely understandable and potentially dangerous for the less technically minded, there is a small app that you can use: http://techie007.3utilities.com/software/dpiawarenessenabler/

[Claudio60]

3 hours ago, firstdefence said:

If you don't fancy tinkering in the registry, which is completely understandable and potentially dangerous for the less technically minded, there is a small app that you can use: http://techie007.3utilities.com/software/dpiawarenessenabler/

Interesting, tks :)

[Claudio60]

5 hours ago, Mirjam said:

Hi Claudio, thanks very much for your solution! Sorry for my late response. I have not tried it yet, because the actions seems quit professional to me. When I have the courage I will try it and than let you know. 

Hi Mirjam, you can take a look at the little program firstdefence suggested and maybe this could be the easiest solution for you (I never tried the program); anyway my instructions are very simple (2 minutes' time) , I post some screenshots so you can check the procedure step by step.

[KrithyK]

Hi

I tried what Claudio60 said, yes, now Nik Collection works well, but the pic have a bad resolution