Possible macro alternative?

[Phil_rose]

I used to love Actions in PS and would write them occasionally. Affinity is still so lacking in this area and I wonder what people think of this. 

https://www.macros.com/features5.htm

I feel like I could write a series of macros to do things like changing images sizes by percentages there. What do others think? I will probably get the trial and try it. Just wondered what others thought.

[casterle]

1 hour ago, Phil_rose said:

I used to love Actions in PS and would write them occasionally. Affinity is still so lacking in this area and I wonder what people think of this. 

https://www.macros.com/features5.htm

I feel like I could write a series of macros to do things like changing images sizes by percentages there. What do others think? I will probably get the trial and try it. Just wondered what others thought.

I haven't looked into Macro Express but I have to wonder how you would get calculated values inserted into the proper numeric input fields since Affinity has yet to provide an API. Do you have a good approach?

Also, there are powerful free alternatives like AutoIt that may do all you need.

[Phil_rose]

Oof. Programming? Eeek! I run and hide.

[casterle]

Just now, Phil_rose said:

Oof. Programming? Eeek! I run and hide.

Using something like AutoIt isn't really programming, but it does require a technical understanding of some aspects of the OS. The bottom line is that unless and until Affinity provides external access to their internals (an API) there is no non-fragile approach of which I am aware. 

Nothing to do with macros, but do you use a MIDI controller?

 

[Phil_rose]

I use one of these though I don't use it with AP. I just use it with Alien Skin Exposure although I think I could set it up for AP. It's not great but it was cheap. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079BTFFQN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Phil_rose]

(What do you use and why do you like it? I'd be interested to know!)

[casterle]

7 hours ago, Phil_rose said:

I use one of these though I don't use it with AP. I just use it with Alien Skin Exposure although I think I could set it up for AP. It's not great but it was cheap. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079BTFFQN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've not seen that one before. What I use is a bit different, a MIDI controller - if you open the post you can see the controller, it's cropped out of the image in the link below.

I selected the X-Touch Mini because it was inexpensive ($60 on Amazon but the price fluctuates - I bought a used one in excellent condition on Adorama for $47 delivered). It's got encoders (knobs) which can be used to control brush size in AP (and more once more keyboard shortcuts are added) as well as buttons. 

You might wonder how I can set a numeric value (brush size) after complaining about the lack of an API to allow access to numeric fields. You don't need the API as long as there is a keyboard shortcut that increments/decrements the value of interest, like the [ and ] keys for adjusting brush size. Unfortunately, brush size is the only brush value with a shortcut - as more are added I'll be able to control them with an encoder knob as well. 

How to set this up is documented in the attachment to my post.

 

[John Rostron]

14 hours ago, Phil_rose said:

I used to love Actions in PS and would write them occasionally. Affinity is still so lacking in this area and I wonder what people think of this. 

https://www.macros.com/features5.htm

I feel like I could write a series of macros to do things like changing images sizes by percentages there. What do others think? I will probably get the trial and try it. Just wondered what others thought.

Affinity macros can do many (but not all) things that PS actions can do. It is  possible, for example, to write a macro to enlarge an image by (say) 50% (admittedly not as easy as shrinking it to 50%). You should explore these first. Unfortunately many AP actions (such as Resize) tend to get baked into the macro making them less versatile. However using Filter > Distort > Equations,  you can get round this.

John

[Phil_rose]

5 hours ago, John Rostron said:

Affinity macros can do many (but not all) things that PS actions can do. It is  possible, for example, to write a macro to enlarge an image by (say) 50% (admittedly not as easy as shrinking it to 50%). You should explore these first. Unfortunately many AP actions (such as Resize) tend to get baked into the macro making them less versatile. However using Filter > Distort > Equations,  you can get round this.

John

That's true but I'm not actually wanting to resize an image and wanting to add a border of 10 or 15% to an image.

[Phil_rose]

This is the unit that I use and which cost about 20 bucks on eBay. This wouldn't work on Affinity photo of course for the reasons you stated. I use it with Alien Skin Exposure because that does have the ability to use buttons to change all these different aspects.

[v_kyr]

Another one for Win is AutoHotkey. Most of such tools allow sort of scripting to some degree, hooking into OS window events, determining open panels and the running app in front, filling out some fields etc. - However, applications with own scripting and more powerful build-in macro capabilities still have some advantages here, examples for the later are certain of the Adobe tools and free software things like the Gimp etc.