Will Affinity ever integrate with other programs?

[AlanDWyatt]

For photo development and enhancements, I've come to believe that Affinity Photo is at least as good as Photoshop; it just can't do everything PS can. But no development program can do everything, and I've found that I'm best served for my enhancement needs by a combination of Affinity, Topaz, Luminar 3, Nik and On1 RAW. Each of these programs specializes in an area that the other do not. Photoshop's  big advantage over any other program is that it can put all of these filters and programs into its plugin folder, and smoothly take you to these areas and return a photo back to its desktop with all enhancements intact. Affinity can't do this, nor can any of the other programs. If Affinity can mimic  Photoshop and provide a central processing hub, unlike its competition, it could gain a distinct advantage over other companies.

Nor, at the moment, can Affinity access all RAW or developed photos. Some it will display and some it will not, even if they're from the same camera, regardless of whether  they're RAW or developed photos.

If Affinity could some day overcome these limitations I see no reason why I wouldn't want it as my default photo developer. And I would certainly pay for an upgrade cost to cover the expenses of these upgrades. So this leaves me to ask the question: Does Affinity have definite plans in place to compete head-on with Adobe in these very important areas? 

[Pšenda]

https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Filters/plugins.html

[AlanDWyatt]

I appreciate that you've taken the time to give me this information. However, with all due respect, I know and have used these methods. I can get Nik and a few Topaz filters into the Affinity filters menu, but that's all. I can't get all the Topaz filters, or Luminar 3 or On1 RAW 2019. To interact with these programs I have to create a special folder in my Photographs folder just for images developed by Affinity, open those images in either On1, Luminar or Topaz for special processing, save and return them to the folder and then open them up again in Affinity. That's a real headache. I don't have to do that with Photoshop. All images open in Bridge for viewing, and all of the above-mentioned programs work perfectly in the plugins folder in Photoshop. As I've said, it's easy for me do enhancements in these programs and then return to Photoshop quickly and smoothly. 

Again, I will ask the same question. Does Affinity have any plans in the future to create a Bridge-like browser, being able to view all photos, and are there any plans that will allow Affinity to shake hands with other photo development programs, as Photoshop does?

[emmrecs01]

8 hours ago, AlanDWyatt said:

Does Affinity have any plans in the future to create a Bridge-like browser, being able to view all photos,

If you do a search in the forums for "DAM" you will see this is a much-requested feature which Serif have said/implied they hope to offer eventually.

9 hours ago, AlanDWyatt said:

I can't get all the Topaz filters

Specifically, which?  I have a number of Topaz filters working successfully in APh, but perhaps not the ones you refer to?

HTH

Jeff

[John Rostron]

Those plugins that work with Affinity are those that conform closely to the interface specification provided by Adobe. Some plugins seem to be able to get away with deviations from this specification and will still work with Photoshop, but will not work with Affinity. All the plugins that do work with Affinity will have a .8bf suffix. Affinity will not work with scripted plugins.

I have several of the older Topaz plugins that work well. They also work under the newer Topaz Studio interface, as do some of the newer Topaz plugins that I have.

For those .8bf plugins that do not work with Affinity, the only way for them to work is for the manufacturer to change the software so that it either conforms to the Adobe specification or will provide a revised interface that works with Affinity. Some manufacturers perceive the Affinity user base as too small to worry about. It should be up to Serif to persuade them otherwise by showing them their sales figures and user base size. 

John

[R C-R]

47 minutes ago, John Rostron said:

Affinity will not work with scripted plugins.

Which is quite understandable since there is (as yet) no support for any kind of scripting language built into the Affinity apps, or for that matter for anything other than the limited support in Affinity Photo for some Photoshop .8bf style filter effect plug-ins. 

[Pšenda]

11 hours ago, AlanDWyatt said:

I know and have used these methods. I can get Nik and a few Topaz filters into the Affinity filters menu

Sorry, but your first post is not clear about using plugins in APhoto:

15 hours ago, AlanDWyatt said:

Photoshop's  big advantage over any other program is that it can put all of these filters and programs into its plugin folder, and smoothly take you to these areas and return a photo back to its desktop with all enhancements intact. Affinity can't do this,

 

[John Rostron]

17 hours ago, AlanDWyatt said:

Photoshop's  big advantage over any other program is that it can put all of these filters and programs into its plugin folder, and smoothly take you to these areas and return a photo back to its desktop with all enhancements intact. 

Rephrasing somewhat, Affinity's  big advantage  is that you can put all of these conforming 8bf filters  into its plugin folder, and Affinity Photo will smoothly transfer control to the plugin, and then return an image back to its user interface with all enhancements intact. 

What it can not do is to invoke an external program (exe in windows) and pass the image to it, or receive an image back from it.

John

[Tim Gummer]

I there anywhere a master list of  plugins which work with affinity?
Even an unofficial one?

I already have Designer and Photo, still mainly using photoshop for image editing and would love to minimise that

I  want to invest in broadening my filter toolset a bit but focus on plugins which are known to work - even partially, with affinity.

Any clues on this will be appreciated. 

 

[Pšenda]

2 hours ago, Tim Gummer said:

Any clues on this will be appreciated. 

http://www.miguelboto.com/affinity/photo/plugins-support/win/

http://www.miguelboto.com/affinity/photo/plugins-support/mac/

[Tim Gummer]

lovely  -exactly what i was looking for - thanks @Psenda