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Updating Fonts


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Hi!

There seems to be a bug. Whenever I open color efex pro it works as it should, however Affinity Photo starts "to update fonts" and this bricks the open session of Affinity Photo.

Is there a way to stop affinity photo from "updating fonts"?

Regards,

Screen Shot 2019-06-08 at 12.56.26.png

Edited by Max123456
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I just encountered this same exact issue. After updating to new AF version 1.7.0, the first time I opened my Nik filters, AF hung and an alert popped up " Updating Fonts " with the spinning sprocket.

After 5 minutes of this, I had to use Activity Monitor to Force Quit Affinity Photo  to kill the process.

It's a serious bug, for sure.

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This has already been reported and responded to in numerous other threads on this forum.

First, most of the Nik collection plugins have issues if you are not running the current version (v2) from DxO.

Second, a few specific plugins from the collection (including this one I believe) are still not working for all users.

My understanding is that Serif has been in contact with DxO and is trying to work with them to get this resolved, but it is likely that if they are successful, it will only be resolved for the v2 Nik plugins.

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The base differences between Affinity Photo 1.6 and the new version 1.7 were not dramatic, mostly incremental.

I see NO reason why the Nik plug-ins that worked in v. 1.6 should not also have worked in version 1.7  with proper coding . But I have a theory why it may have gone down this dark path.

That the Nik bundle  does not work or result in some really bizarre  behavior  is highly suspicious to me .  Honestly- hanging the app and dishing out an alert that says " Upgrading Fonts... " in  a horrible loop ? ---WTF do Fonts have to do with anything here ? Macs  are really smart about Fonts in most cases. Always have been.  This is not a Font issue... it's something else.

If after ruling out a simple coding mistake or a previously unknown software incompatibility , that 'something else' could be something a little more  sinister.

NIK plug-ins a long time ago were a very pricy software bundle. Then Google bought them to acquire the wonderful tech for its own photo editting platform  ( Picasa and friends ) to add value  to Google's suite of useful docs. Once Google extracted what theyw anted , they CHOSE to make the entire Nik bundle a  free  app. Gave it away , with the caveat they would no longer support it or upgrade it. Google was done with NIK and gave it all away. Yes, NIK could be installed into Affinity Photo as it turned out, but that was never a snug fit. There were " issues" and many folks were flummoxed by the atypical means required to install any alleged Photoshop compatible plug-in to Affinity ( Meanwhile over at Thorston Lemke's excellent GraphicConverter, all you needed to do was ' Click-Drag-Copy ' the Nik folder into GraphicConverter's own plugins folder, and it immediately and seamlessly worked. I use it there all the time. It is my saving grace for this whole fiasco )

So---enter DXO.  They saw an opportunity  to acquire NIK and improve it, adding their own features and values, and turn it into a new/old commercial product.  Except that DXO is not the most savvy software marketer on the planet.  They made it known right away that the NIK bundle would be wothdrawn from the market as a free bundle, and from then on we had to go back to paying for it. Nik  went from being a few hundred dollars at first ; a free bundle when Google reissued it ; and finally DXO makes it a paid bundle again....  I believe they sold it for $ 69  or something  while they were developing it forward from version 1.2.1  to the latest version 2.0......  which DXO says they will sell at retail for a startling $ 150.00  ( but if you hurry you can get it now for a mere $ 100.00...........twice the price of the Affinity Photo app it can be installed to.

During this travail, DXO went into bankruptcy. Yup. They had to reorganize.  The Nik bundle was obviously a company  asset that came into play, and was worth something.

So---  why does the old Nik version 1.2.1 bundle not work in the new Affinity Photo upgrade 1.7 ....???  After ruling out other motives, it comes down to one basic thing. A LOT of people are dumping Adobe CC Photoshop   these days and switching over to our beloved Serif Affinity line. DXO is watching a large portion of its market for the Nik bundle evaporate. The Adobe sector.

I am going to postulate a theory --- and it's just a theory ---  that DXO and Serif came to some kind of arrangement to neutralize Nik v. 1.2.1 going forward. Yes, it still runs in AFP 1.6.7 as we all know. What we don't know is this: Was Nik purposely  deprecated by the new version of Affinity Photo ?  That could only have happened by  Serif and DXO colluding to make it so. DXO needs to make money ...that whole bankruptcy thing, plus just plain old general business in an increasingly competitive photo imaging world.

My theory is the old Nik 1.2.1 bundle was purposely deprecated to not work in Affinity 1.7 and beyond. Purely for monetary reasons, with both software companies looking past one another with a wink and a nod. Serif improved Affinity Photo's plugin handling and feature set, and that is good. DXO needs to make money, and that is desirable  and necessary , especially with the specter of Chapter 11  bankruptcy lingering  . Although the company exited bankruptcy last year, there have to be consequences met. Serif Affinity  probably considers NIK to be a nuisance at worst, or a distant relative's  orphan they were forced to adopt at best, so they reluctantly agreed to nurture it , without investing much into it beyond feeding it.

Today we have a new deal all around.  We Affinity users are forced to purchase version 2.0 of a perfectly good software bundle we already have that was working great last week , but hardly at all this week.  I really REALLY want my Nik Color Efex 4.0 to work in A. Photo 1.7 ---  I use it several times a week  . I also make good use of the other Nik apps, especially DFine.  Oh by the way , I am a commercial photographer, so all this goes straight to my bottom line.

The frustration with Nik not working for me this week is real. I can still use GraphicConverter 10.7  to do my Nik work...in fact my workflow has both Affinity Photo and GraphicConverter open all the time and I use both together, with Nik commonality.  It's sweet. But now has soured somewhat.

If it is just a simple software coding fix and we get existing Nik 1.2.1 to  work in Affinity Photo 1.7 +  , that would be most excellent. The best solution . Just...Fix...It.

If however it turns out that Nik won't work in AFP 1.7 and we are forced to purchase version 2.0 of Nik from DXO for what I consider a gouge price of $ 100- $ 150  to get back Nik compatibility, I probably won't buy DXO's version of Nik. Not because it doesn't work , just because I feel I am being played. Taken advantage of.

The new NIK from DXO as an Affinity plugin is not and cannot be worth more than the Photo app it is being installed into...  the MOST I would ever pay for Nik now is $ 50.00 , tops. Take it or leave it, DXO.  If you expect me to pay  $ 150 for your new Nik bundle, it is incumbent on you to add a very huge amount of new features , capabilities, and real value to justify that    steep price jump. It had better make rainbows out of thin air...

Bottom Line :   I really hope Serif comes thru with a clean fix for restoring Nik 1.2.1 to Photo 1.7 , and very soon.

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You are reading into this too much.  Serif updated to a newer version of Apple's development tools, and those tools changed the way that the software interacts with the plugins enough to break some of the ones that had previously been working; these just happen to be one of the victims.

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All I have been reading here are posts which amount to, "well, not very many people are using this, so it's not a big issue". Well, folks it IS a big issue, because a lot of pros and semi-pros are using Nik, and they're using DxO, and neither work on Affinity anymore. I mean, sure, the software doesn't cost much, but WTH?

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Hi Max123456, dolunaykiz, everyone,

Regarding Nik Collection: the old Google Nik Collection and the previous Nik Collection 1 by DxO don't work with Affinity Photo 1.7 - it just displays a loading fonts dialog and freezes Affinity Photo - this is a known issue we can't do much about (they only work with Affinity Photo 1.6). This happened because we start using the latest Apple build tools (Xcode) to build/compile Affinity apps and this broke compatibility with the Nik Collection.

Meanwhile DxO has launched Nik Collection 2 a few days ago which does work with Affinity Photo 1.7 except HDR Efex Pro 2 - it doesn't show any image in plugin's preview window. There's also a known issue (colour shift) in Viveza 2 preview window (usually zooming in displays the correct colours/correct the shift). We have seen a few users reporting the same loading fonts issue with version 2 when running the plugin in Affinity Photo 1.7 however it's not yet clear if this is due to an incorrect Nik Installation (or update) or something else - we are investigating this. I advise you to wait a little until we find out what's going on or download the Nik Collection 2 trial and check if it works for you on your system.

The Nik Collection (and other third-party plugins) were originally developed for Photoshop using the Adobe Photoshop SDK (software development kit). Due to the lack of feature/functionality parity not all plugins work in Affinity Photo - we only support basic image filters. Any other plugins types, import/export file formats support or any plugin relying on automation is not supported/will not work in Affinity.

@Max123456,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

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1 hour ago, MEB said:

Hi Max123456, dolunaykiz, everyone,

...The Nik Collection (and other third-party plugins) were originally developed for Photoshop using the Adobe Photoshop SDK (software development kit). Due to the lack of feature/functionality parity not all plugins work in Affinity Photo - we only support basic image filters. Any other plugins types, import/export file formats support or any plugin relying on automation is not supported/will not work in Affinity....

You do realize what you're saying here, right? If you didn't want to be an alternative to Adobe's overpriced products with a similar functionality, why do this at all? You must have known that professionals switching to you would expect their plugins to work, or at least not crash like this. I'd recommend y'all go back to the drawing board and decide what business you want to be in. In the meantime, please make it possible to roll back from the 1.7 update to Photo so I can go back to editing pictures. Please and thank you.

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3 hours ago, dolunaykiz said:

professionals switching to you would expect their plugins to work, or at least not crash like this.

It is those expectations which need a reality check.

There are a few standards for professional audio plugins which are designed to work across different hosts - audio units, VST, etc. - and even those have issues between some plugins and some hosts.  In some cases, a plugin that works perfectly in one host will crash another - and those standards are designed to support different developers' plugins on different developers' hosts.  Some hosts actually spin up separate processes for each plugin so that if a plugin crashes it doesn't bring down the host along with it, as this has become a common occurrence...

The Photoshop plugin SDK is designed to allow plugins to work with... Photoshop, and possibly Lightroom.  Nothing else.  The fact that the Affinity apps can work with any of them is already more than the plugin format was designed to handle, so being able to use any Photoshop plugins within Affinity Photo is an accomplishment to begin with.

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Hi dolunaykiz,
Affinity Photo is Serif's alternative/offer for prosumers/professionals, not necessarily a cheap clone of Photoshop built around its functionality. While we provide support for PSD's and Photoshop plugins and keep working to improve/expand compatibility with them as much as we can, we aren't driven nor constrained by its features. Serif's vision is to tightly integrate all apps of the suite, provide a smooth workflow between them and keep pushing each one's tools/features as far as possible while keeping them focused on each own area. Whenever we can we provide support for third party apps but they don't dictate the development/direction we take.

Plugins shouldn't be able to crash Affinity Photo - If that's happening with you please create a thread in the Bugs section so we can track and fix the issue. Regarding Nik Collection, the latest version (Nik Collection 2 by DxO) should run in Affinity Photo 1.7 without crashes. There's a few users still reporting the loading fonts issue but we are still checking if this is something related with a faulty Nik Collection upgrade/installation or something else.

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38 minutes ago, fde101 said:

It is those expectations which need a reality check.

There are a few standards for professional audio plugins which are designed to work across different hosts - audio units, VST, etc. - and even those have issues between some plugins and some hosts.  In some cases, a plugin that works perfectly in one host will crash another - and those standards are designed to support different developers' plugins on different developers' hosts.  Some hosts actually spin up separate processes for each plugin so that if a plugin crashes it doesn't bring down the host along with it, as this has become a common occurrence...

The Photoshop plugin SDK is designed to allow plugins to work with... Photoshop, and possibly Lightroom.  Nothing else.  The fact that the Affinity apps can work with any of them is already more than the plugin format was designed to handle, so being able to use any Photoshop plugins within Affinity Photo is an accomplishment to begin with.

I've waited for decades for somebody to take on Adobe's monopoly. I am not expecting Photoshop. I expect a program I can actually work with, not something where a bug is fixed here and then something else breaks.

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23 hours ago, MEB said:

Only Nik Collection 2 by DxO works with Affinity Photo 1.7. The version you own only works with Affinity Photo 1.6 (see first paragraph here in this same thread for more info).

Well, then give me an option to roll it back. And it would have been nice to know before the update.

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4 minutes ago, MEB said:

Hi dolunaykiz,
Where did you bought Affinity Photo? In the Affinity Store or in the Mac App Store?

I am on a Mac. And if you now try to tell me that too bad, it's not possible because that's how I got it, we all know these are files in the end, and if you have them for Windows, you can make one available for Mac. I want to like this software, but you're not making it exactly easy.

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Hi dolunaykiz,
I'm just trying to help you. I have no interest in making things more complicated than they are. I've asked where you bought the application because if it was through the Mac App Store then there's no mechanism/way to revert to a previous version unless you have a time machine backup or a regular backup from where you can get the previous version (we have no control over the Mac App Store).

If you bought it from (our) Affinity Store I may be able to help you revert back to the previous version if that's what you want.

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Original Poster : I bought Affinity Photo thru the Apple App Store. [ Henceforth I will give Serif all the opportunity and money ]

Apple is notorious for DEPRECATING  their own software over time ( not all that is new is progress) and demanding others do the same , for various reasons not all of which are defensible - unless you believe in Gordon Gecko's  ' Wall Street ' quip  that " greed is good.

I certainly hope it was not Apple that monkeywrenched Affinity, but I suspect it probably  is .   That Xcode 10 SDK thing.

Others posting say that SOME of the Nik apps still work in AfP v.1.7...such as the very useful DFine . I haven't tried since the ' Updating Fonts...' debacle.    I only desire that Color Efex 4 work.  It is at the least very weird to me  and at most a little sinister that some of the Nik bundle  still worked, and some did not , after the Affinity 1.6--->1.7 update. I checked to be sure that everybody was on the same Bit plane....  all were and remain 64 bit apps; and the older Niks were installed cleanly. To Wit:  my Photoshop CS 5 ( which I have not opened in a year thanks to Affinity  supplanting it )  ran the Nik bundle just fine years ago, and CS5  works all the way back to Mac OS Snow Leopard 10.6  and all the way forward to High Sierra 10.13 ( I am stuck at  El Capitan 11.6 because my Mac Mini cannot do the  Sierras )

I just want the stuff to work today like it did last week after what should have been a  rudimentary upgrade.  Semi retired on low fixed income means my days of paying $ 600 for full Adobe Photoshop like I did in 1995 are long gone.   That would be $ 1500 in current dollars. And I am wella ware that Nik used to sell for big bucks in another epoch. But here and now being able to afford $ 150  for the new Nik v2.0 is not really a financial  option.... DXO is w-a-a-a-y  down my   $oftware wi$h li$t.   

 

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20 minutes ago, Dewey said:

Original Poster : I bought Affinity Photo thru the Apple App Store. [ Henceforth I will give Serif all the opportunity and money ]

Apple is notorious for DEPRECATING  their own software over time ( not all that is new is progress) and demanding others do the same , for various reasons not all of which are defensible - unless you believe in Gordon Gecko's  ' Wall Street ' quip  that " greed is good.

I certainly hope it was not Apple that monkeywrenched Affinity, but I suspect it probably  is .   That Xcode 10 SDK thing.

Others posting say that SOME of the Nik apps still work in AfP v.1.7...such as the very useful DFine . I haven't tried since the ' Updating Fonts...' debacle.    I only desire that Color Efex 4 work.  It is at the least very weird to me  and at most a little sinister that some of the Nik bundle  still worked, and some did not , after the Affinity 1.6--->1.7 update. I checked to be sure that everybody was on the same Bit plane....  all were and remain 64 bit apps; and the older Niks were installed cleanly. To Wit:  my Photoshop CS 5 ( which I have not opened in a year thanks to Affinity  supplanting it )  ran the Nik bundle just fine years ago, and CS5  works all the way back to Mac OS Snow Leopard 10.6  and all the way forward to High Sierra 10.13 ( I am stuck at  El Capitan 11.6 because my Mac Mini cannot do the  Sierras )

I just want the stuff to work today like it did last week after what should have been a  rudimentary upgrade.  Semi retired on low fixed income means my days of paying $ 600 for full Adobe Photoshop like I did in 1995 are long gone.   That would be $ 1500 in current dollars. And I am wella ware that Nik used to sell for big bucks in another epoch. But here and now being able to afford $ 150  for the new Nik v2.0 is not really a financial  option.... DXO is w-a-a-a-y  down my   $oftware wi$h li$t.   

 

That is just it. This worked OK last week, then automatic updates are applied, and "poof". I don't have the $$ to pay for Nik 2, either. And frankly, I shouldn't have. I am not sure if they do ANY testing before they roll these out? And then the claim that b/c you got this from the AppStore, too bad for you? AFAIC the "right" thing to do here is to apply a bug fix so that Nik, whatever the version, or for that matter other plugins are usable. DxO plugins instantly crash the software. If you're building an app like this, wouldn't you be thinking about stuff like that as you develop it?

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Hi dolunaykiz,
I understand your frustration and I'm sorry for the inconvenience this is causing you. We are checking if there's anything we can do on our part to make the old Nik versions work in 1.7. Please bear with us. I will get back to you as soon as there some news/info.

Regarding automatic updates: To turn automatic updates off, go to System Preferences, Software Update section, click the Advanced button and disable/untick Install app updates form the App Store.

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