Affinity Photo: My Thoughts & Experiences So Far

[Gecko1993]

Hello, I would like to take this opportunity to discuss what I like about Affinity Photo & Designer (Excitedly anticipating the inevitable final release of Affinity Publisher :D). It was purchasing these 2 $50.00 programs to me are an excellent alternative for those who do not care too much for Photoshop's new subscription-based model (myself included-as in you buy it, you should OWN it-no strings attached). I have been using both programs for QUITE a while, and I think that I should give some constructive feedback, ideas, and potential future features I think I could suggest to help make it better; or help pin-point me toward the more appropriate direction when it comes toward getting a better use for Affinity Photo since I used to be a Photoshop Brat back when Adobe used to be Macromedia (2003 more specifically).
First is that I am a sprite artist. What I mean is that I work A LOT with pixels (from 8-bit to 32-bit). A feature that I saw in Photoshop that allows for indexed colors (here is a link for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-aQvP7CUAI). The problem that another YouTube video points out with Photoshop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZj04DFOVY at 33:00 to be more specific) is how it's kind of like a wolf in sheep's clothing when it comes to sprites for retro games. You can't have your cake, and eat it, too. With Photo, I think that maybe with it could have a higher-up edge over Photoshop would be to include BOTH editing photographs, AND working with tile-based & indexed colors (maybe add a tiny sidebar for a mode for 8, 16, 32-bit sprite index colors maybe web for a wider variety? Possible Alpha Channel?) while not reversing the palettes completely, or adding any unneccesary colors (kind of like Gimp in some regard).
Second pertains to the Filters. Photoshop has those pre-installed in every version that they had since the get-go. I believe that Photo can outclass Photoshop by adding more (like a woodgrain? A Comic Print with the print dots to make them "believably" print-aesthetic; fresh off the presses-either color or monochrome, and finally a pixelly/loss setting (like the Super NES's Mode 7 transition from Super Mario World's map screen, and one of the erase options in Mario Paint) to help compliment the already-existing filters Photoshop has. One feature I kind-of miss is the Oil Paint filter. A hidden feature I implemented with Photoshop, and sprites is to make a kind of "epic flowing cape" effect with villain sprites (it was a happy accident). As what Orson Welles once said, "The lack of limitations is the enemy of creativity". And a feature that Paint (yes Paint of ALL programs-not to be confused with the newer Paint 3D) has the option to turn your graphics into bitmapped graphics. With Photoshop... unfortunately, that feature has been GONE for years (RIP Convenient Bitmap Export option). :(
One last thing I will mention that is VERY irksome to me is the allocation and/or merging of sprites, as well as the default grid. Affinity Photo has this very BAD habit of whenever you merge sprites together, they degrade, and become a blurry mess (like a VERY low-rez JPEG). As a sprite artist, that to me is unacceptable. Sprites I think need to LOCK to pixels properly. Hopefully with these index color checkbox options I suggested, they can be patched? Maybe? Unless there is an option I am missing out on, could anyone let me know? And about the grid. Whenever I start a new file, it always defaults to 10 divisions with only 1 subdivision or 64x1. The true grid I recommend would be 16 divisions with 2 subdivisions. This, to me works with sprites in games. All consoles either use 8x8 sprites which is considered "The Norm" for old-school graphics. 16x16 tiles with four 8x8 sprites that make up the 16-color tile (check this source out for more information https://wiki.neogeodev.org/index.php?title=Sprites).
Third pertains to Implementations for the web. This was something I enjoyed on Adobe Photoshop as a Web Graphic Designer (It is my Associate's Degree). This was (to me) a godsend for selecting the proper colors (shortcuts if you will). Hopefully in the next future update, a color web for "web-friendly" colors may be implemented? It doesn't have to be exactly like Photoshop's web color selector, but maybe a matrix, or honeycomb?
What do you think of my critiques of the Affinity Family so far? I am offering these suggestions, and as a means of helping to improve the program as a whole the TRUE Photoshop & Illustrator Competitors. As it currently stands, I have found an article that compares Affinity Photo to another $50.00 program called "Paint Shop Pro" (successor to the Deluxe Paint Family on the Amiga and DOS if anyone remembers those programs from the late 1980s, early 1990s). The article in question did state that Affinity Photo is like an entry program where I think it is far from the truth. Paint Shop Pro can't handle layers like Photoshop, or Photo can (in a podcast I listened to one of the members mentioned that Paint Shop Pro was a nightmare because it could not work with layers in one of it's earliest versions). I feel that Photo has some room to improve (especially in the sprite department with the pixel tool since it is great for sprite artists).

[Medical Officer Bones]

Photo is great for general image and photo editing, even quite good for digital painting, but (sorry) rather inept for pixel art and 'old-school' game sprites and tile maps. It completely lacks an indexed colour mode, although one could argue that Photoshop's indexed mode is quite limited as well (no layers, etc.).

Indexed remappable colour palettes are not possible either. In other threads a fairly large number of other issues are pointed out, such as no real aliased workflow options (the coverage map is a shoddy workaround), no 1bit bitmap support, no frame-based animation, no true pixel snapping, no single-pixel drawing mode, no dithering control, ... It just isn't meant for this kind of work, and the workflow very, very akward.

Again, Photo is otherwise really good. Perhaps it will be improved in a future update, but I personally can't tolerate doing any pixel art in Photo in its current state.

Btw, Paintshop Pro is NOT the spiritual successor to Deluxe Paint (which I used to work in during Amiga times and produced game assets with at the time): the REAL spiritual successor is Pro Motion. Pro Motion NG even works with brushes just like Deluxe Paint did :-)

Pro Motion NG is completely focused on pixel art and old-school graphics. You can even define old non-square 2-1 pixel ratios to work with (like the Commodore 64 or Amstrad multi-colour 160x200px modes). Full support for indexed colour palettes, with limits and remapping. And sprite animation as well as tilemapping.

In short, Pro Motion is the perfect combo with Photo. They complement each-other perfectly well, each having strengths where the other one is missing things. In my opinion nothing comes close to PM for pixel work. It's like Photoshop for pixel artists (and viewed like that in the game industry).

https://www.cosmigo.com/

[Gecko1993]

On 12/21/2018 at 12:00 AM, Medical Officer Bones said:

Photo is great for general image and photo editing, even quite good for digital painting, but (sorry) rather inept for pixel art and 'old-school' game sprites and tile maps. It completely lacks an indexed colour mode, although one could argue that Photoshop's indexed mode is quite limited as well (no layers, etc.).

Indexed remappable colour palettes are not possible either. In other threads a fairly large number of other issues are pointed out, such as no real aliased workflow options (the coverage map is a shoddy workaround), no 1bit bitmap support, no frame-based animation, no true pixel snapping, no single-pixel drawing mode, no dithering control, ... It just isn't meant for this kind of work, and the workflow very, very akward.

Again, Photo is otherwise really good. Perhaps it will be improved in a future update, but I personally can't tolerate doing any pixel art in Photo in its current state.

Btw, Paintshop Pro is NOT the spiritual successor to Deluxe Paint (which I used to work in during Amiga times and produced game assets with at the time): the REAL spiritual successor is Pro Motion. Pro Motion NG even works with brushes just like Deluxe Paint did :-)

Pro Motion NG is completely focused on pixel art and old-school graphics. You can even define old non-square 2-1 pixel ratios to work with (like the Commodore 64 or Amstrad multi-colour 160x200px modes). Full support for indexed colour palettes, with limits and remapping. And sprite animation as well as tilemapping.

In short, Pro Motion is the perfect combo with Photo. They complement each-other perfectly well, each having strengths where the other one is missing things. In my opinion nothing comes close to PM for pixel work. It's like Photoshop for pixel artists (and viewed like that in the game industry).

https://www.cosmigo.com/

Thank-You so much for the advice, I really appreciate it! I'll still use Photo, and Designer... just not as sprite tools anymore. And I also thank you for the introduction to Pro Motion! I can ALSO use this as an animation tool as well! Didn't mean to make a misnomer on the PaintShop Pro. I'm rather new to the Amiga scene (I don't even have one... yet) since I LOVE and respect that computer lineage more and more!