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Filter Forge V7 NOT WORKING with Affinity Photo 1.7


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Hello, on behalf of some Face Book  Fans of Serif Software ( which also includes Affinity)   have updated to Affininty Photo V1.7 release. They currently have Filter forge V7 which up to last release of

Affinity Photo V1.6x  worked well in Plugin mode.  However, this function no longer runs in Affininty Photo V1.7x.

 

I have messaged Filer forge and they are awaiting  information from Affininty. 

 

^^^  Sorry I just cannot SPELL Affinnity correct.Please excuse!.^^^^^^^

 

Could someone please advise  here what steps need to be taken to get this solved. I know Affininty is flat out with pending arrival of Publisher.

 

 

Seems I am the Unofficial liaison between Affininty and Filter Forge!

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

Angela H Evans

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Hi LyricsGirl,

We have made various updates with 1.7 that has affected compatibility with quite a few plugins. Please could you tell me these problems are on Windows or Mac? Currently the only confirmed supported plugin with 1.7 is the NIK collection 2.

Thanks

Callum

Please tag me using @ in your reply so I can be sure to respond ASAP.

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2 minutes ago, Callum said:

Hi LyricsGirl,

We have made various updates with 1.7 that has affected compatibility with quite a few plugins. Please could you tell me these problems are on Windows or Mac? Currently the only confirmed supported plugin with 1.7 is the NIK collection 2.

Thanks

Callum

Hi Callum, I am posting this for a couple of  users.I have FF8 and Photo 1.7 and they work OK.  One user I know has Win 10 ., another i am unsure of. I am awaiting further info from him.

 

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6 minutes ago, LyricsGirl said:

Hi Callum, I am posting this for a couple of  users.I have FF8 and Photo 1.7 and they work OK.  One user I know has Win 10 ., another i am unsure of. I am awaiting further info from him.

 

Please let me know once you have more info :)

Please tag me using @ in your reply so I can be sure to respond ASAP.

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Sooo, here's how to install Filter Forge 7 or 8 on AP 1.7.1 on Mac. Note you can do it only manually now cause unfortunately we can't get the answer from the nicest guy Mark Ingram since the version 1.6

 

1. Open AP and go to Affinity Photo menu -> Preferences.
2. In the Plugins Search Folder area click Add button and choose Applications -> Filter Forge 8 (or 7) and press OK.
3. In the Plugins Support Folder area click Add button and choose Applications -> Filter Forge 8 (or 7) and press OK.
4. Tick the Allow Unknown Plugins.
5. Close Preferences and Restart Affinity Photo.
6. Now you can find Filter Forge 7 or 8 in the Filters -> Plugins -> Filter Forge and use it.
NOTE! Progress bar is still not working, so if you render a large image or the filter has complex structure, please wait. Fitler Forge is not frozen, it works.

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And here's how to install Filter Forge 7 or 8 on AP 1.7.1 on Windows. Note you can do it only manually now cause unfortunately we can't get the answer from the nicest guy Mark Ingram since the version 1.6

 

1. Open C:\Program Files\Filter Forge 8\Plugin\x64 .
2. Copy there both files: right-click and Copy (or Ctrl+C).
3. Open AP and go to Edit -> Preferences -> Photoshop Plugins.
4. Click on the "Open Default Folder in Explorer..." and paste there two files from the Clipboard using right-click and Paste (or Ctrl+P).
5. Then open "Filter Forge.config" file in NotePad and change the IndependentUI value="false"/> to IndependentUI value="true"/>. Save changes (Ctrl+S).
6. Tick the Allow Unknown Plugins.
5. Close Preferences and Restart Affinity Photo manually.
6. Now you can find Filter Forge 7 or 8 in the Filters -> Plugins -> Filter Forge and use it.
NOTE! Progress bar is still not working, so if you render a large image or the filter has complex structure, please wait. Fitler Forge is not frozen, it works.

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9 hours ago, Filter Forge said:

Sooo, here's how to install Filter Forge 7 or 8 on AP 1.7.1 on Mac. Note you can do it only manually now cause unfortunately we can't get the answer from the nicest guy Mark Ingram since the version 1.6

 

1. Open AP and go to Affinity Photo menu -> Preferences.
2. In the Plugins Search Folder area click Add button and choose Applications -> Filter Forge 8 (or 7) and press OK.
3. In the Plugins Support Folder area click Add button and choose Applications -> Filter Forge 8 (or 7) and press OK.
4. Tick the Allow Unknown Plugins.
5. Close Preferences and Restart Affinity Photo.
6. Now you can find Filter Forge 7 or 8 in the Filters -> Plugins -> Filter Forge and use it.
NOTE! Progress bar is still not working, so if you render a large image or the filter has complex structure, please wait. Fitler Forge is not frozen, it works.

Thank you so much! I will copy and post to relevant  F B groups. Awesome! Affininty team I am sure will sort this out asap, but right now they have a new baby to deliver on the 19th!

 

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  • 1 month later...

Well, I re-installed Filter Forge in Affinity Photo on my 27" iMac, as per the above instructions, and I am still having problems. Here is what I did:

1. Open .psd document in Affinity Photo.

2. Use the "Flood Select Tool" on a layer, followed by the "Invert Pixel Selection" under the "Select" menu to select a specific element in the layer.

3. Select Plugins/Filter Forge/Filter Forge.

4. Filter Forge refuses to launch.

In contrast, if I choose a layer, but don't select a specific element in that layer, Filter Forge will launch, and it will apply the effect. However, it applies the effect to the entire layer, and NOT just to the element in the layer.

So the question is, why does Filter Forge refuse to launch when I select a specific element in the layer on which to apply a Filter Forge effect?

Am I selecting an element the wrong way perhaps? Is there a better way to do it? This is my first day using Affinity Photo.

UPDATE: Okay, I just tried to select an element in a layer a different way. Instead of using the "Flood Select Tool", I discovered that I can just use the "Selection From Layer" option under the "Select" menu. But I still get the same result. Filter Forge will not launch once an element is selected. :(

Edited by LongtimePhotoshopUser
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Well, after posting the previous message, I posted the following message on the Filter Forge support forum:
 

Quote

 

Hello, I am trying to use the Mac version of Filter Forge with Affinity Photo 1.7.1. The problem I am experiencing is the following:

In Affinity Photo, if I select an element in a layer, and then choose Filters/Filter Forge/Filter Forge, Filter Forge refuses to launch.

However, if I select a layer in Affinity Photo, but DON'T select a specific element in the layer, then Filter Forge will launch, and it will apply whatever effect I select. But, Filter Forge will apply the effect to the entire layer, and not just to the element in the layer.

I know that the Filter Forge staff and Affinity Photo staff have had some communication regarding these compatibility issues. Do you have any idea how soon Filter Forge will work properly in Affinity Photo?

By the way, Filter Forge continues to work fine in Adobe Photoshop CS6. I can select a specific element in a PS layer, and Filter Forge will apply the effect just to that element, and not to the entire layer. This is what I expect to happen. So why doesn't it work in Affinity Photo?

Thank you in advance.

 

The Filter Forge developers just responded to me with the following:
 

Quote

 

You actually narrowed down the issue to the point: Affinity doesn't follow the Adobe SDK used for plug-ins. The 8BF plugin format was developed by Adobe, and all compatible host applications should conform to this standard. Serif needs to acknowledge the problem is on their side and fix their incompatibility.

Apart from that, we have never supported any host other than Photoshop under Mac. Instead of using a plugin, you may want to copy-paste your image from Affinity to Filter Forge and back.

 

So based on what they said, the problem seems to be that Infinity Photo does not strictly adhere to Adobe's plugin SDK format. That is why some plugins -- such as Filter Forge -- will work in Adobe Photoshop, but not in Affinity Photo. So apparently, the problem needs to be fixed on the Affinity Photo side.

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I just tried this with FF8 and Windows 10. If I make a selection on my image, and then invoke Filter Forge, it gives me an error message "Unexpected mask presence state". However, If I then copy the selection and paste it onto a new layer and delete the selection marquee (Ctrl-D), then Filter Forge works fine on that layer. 

FF7  work as well with the above.

John

Windows 10, Affinity Photo 1.10.5 Designer 1.10.5 and Publisher 1.10.5 (mainly Photo), now ex-Adobe CC

CPU: AMD A6-3670. RAM: 16 GB DDR3 @ 666MHz, Graphics: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 630

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John, apparently Filter Forge works a little differently on a Windows machine than it does on my iMac. As I already said, if I select a particular element in a layer and then invoke FF, it won't even launch. So in my case, there is no error message whatsoever. Furthermore, we should not have to copy the selection to a new layer, even if it does work that way, at least on your Windows machine. This needs to be fixed. I cannot entertain the possibility of switching to Affinity Photo until my plugins are able to work with it. I have made over 4,000 images using these particular plugins in Photoshop, and I occasionally update them as well. So again, my plugins not working in Affinity Photo is a show stopper for me.

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I cannot really see why you would expect any plugin to perform on a selection of an existing layer. The marquee is a property of the document, not the layer. Are you telling me that PS will invoke FF without error if you have a selection active. I think that the behaviour seen in Affinity Photo is eminently reasonable.

John  

Windows 10, Affinity Photo 1.10.5 Designer 1.10.5 and Publisher 1.10.5 (mainly Photo), now ex-Adobe CC

CPU: AMD A6-3670. RAM: 16 GB DDR3 @ 666MHz, Graphics: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 630

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Filterforge will launch from PS after a selection is made, it will load the whole image into filter forge but only affect the selection area.

Selection Made in PS. 
Screen-Shot-2019-07-30-at-21-47-01.png

 

Filterforge loads image and only affects selection area. 
Screen-Shot-2019-07-30-at-21-43-26.png

 

Filterforge applied to image and back in PS still showing selection. 
Screen-Shot-2019-07-30-at-21-46-19.png

iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
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6 hours ago, John Rostron said:

I cannot really see why you would expect any plugin to perform on a selection of an existing layer. The marquee is a property of the document, not the layer. Are you telling me that PS will invoke FF without error if you have a selection active. I think that the behaviour seen in Affinity Photo is eminently reasonable.

John  

I don't know what platform you are on, John -- I am on an iMac running Mojave -- but, yes, that is exactly what happens, and what needs to happen.

I don't know how much experience you have with Filter Forge, but with the Mac version at least, if you invoke one of Filter Forge's filters, it applies the filter to the entire area of the layer. In other words, the chosen effect fills the entire area of the layer. That is, unless you specify a specific object/element in that layer.

So, if I have a transparent layer with an image of a person in it, and I only want Filter Forge to apply an effect to the image of the person, and not fill the entire layer with the effect, then, yes, I need to select just the image of that person.

Furthermore, if I want to apply the Filter Forge effect to just a part of the image of that person, then I need to select just that part of the image of the person before applying the effect.

This is how Filter Forge works in Adobe Photoshop CS6 extended on my 2017 5K iMac.

In the case of a text layer, I have to rasterize the text first, and then select the text, before applying the Filter Forge effect. Just as with the previous example, if I don't select the text first, then Filter Forge will apply the effect to the entire area of the layer.

All of this makes perfect sense to me, because it allows me to apply an effect to just a certain part of a layer, whether it is an object or text; so I don't understand why you find it unreasonable.

I would expect Filter Forge to work the exact same way in Affinity Photo, and it would seem that it tries to do that, except for the fact that if I select something in a layer, Filter Forge won't even launch/run, when I select it under Affinity Photo's "Filters" menu.

As I already explained, if I don't specifically select anything in the layer in Affinity Photo, then Filter Forge does indeed launch, but it applies the effect to the entire layer, which is not what I want in every case.

So, I have to agree with the Filter Forge team when they state that the reason that Filter Forge is not working properly in Affinity Photo on my iMac, is because the Affinity Photo team is not fully adhering to Adobe's SDK plugin standard. They can't say that Affinity Photo is compatible with Photoshop-style plugins, if they don't properly and fully implement Adobe's SDK in Affinity Photo. And that is the root of the problem, as far as I can tell.

 

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FirstDefense, thank you for providing the images so that John can see exactly what I am talking about. I see that you are also working on a Mac. I would expect Filter Forge to work the  exact same way in Affinity Photo. But, as I have already explained, it most definitely does not. In fact, it won't even launch if you make a specific selection in a layer. It will only launch and work properly if you DON'T specify a selection, and let it add the effect to the entire layer, which, as you know, we don't always want to happen. :(

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OK, @firstdefenceand @LongtimePhotoshopUser, that is how it works in Photoshop. I  would still argue this this is not the behaviour that I would expect. I also think that my workaround is the logical way in which you should be applying FilterForge (or any filter) to a selection. 

John

Windows 10, Affinity Photo 1.10.5 Designer 1.10.5 and Publisher 1.10.5 (mainly Photo), now ex-Adobe CC

CPU: AMD A6-3670. RAM: 16 GB DDR3 @ 666MHz, Graphics: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 630

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I can't see an issue with making the selection a separate layer and in some ways possibly better because it is nondestructive. 

Just because PS does it one way doesn't mean it wouldn't work better another way. Lets not forget that FilterForge was written with PS compatibility in mind, not, with PS and Affinity compatibility in mind. I have to say though FilterfForge does work elegantly with PS and is quicker to render, I also like the fact you can see the whole image as you apply filters to a selection in Filterforge, I honestly can't say a bad word against the awesome software. Lets hope the people at FilterForge can get FF working just as well in Affinity, I know they are trying hard bless them but maybe there is only so much they can do.

iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
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On 7/30/2019 at 5:28 AM, LongtimePhotoshopUser said:

The Filter Forge developers just responded to me with the following:

Quote

Apart from that, we have never supported any host other than Photoshop under Mac.

 

The "under Mac" part is significant. As the Wikipedia article says in the Host applications section, "Much support is limited to the Microsoft Windows platform and .8bf filter plugins."

I am not sure why that is but I do remember that quite a few years ago some of the sites that listed available PS filters that I checked allowed filtering for those that could run on Macs in PS itself. That list was shorter than the Windows one, so this has been an issue for a long time.

Also, Filter Forge is not completely forthcoming about this limitation: on the https://www.filterforge.com/features/ web page, "Affinity" is listed as a host app that will support the FF plugins.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Yes even if you clone (copy/paste) an area of an image to a layer, when filterForge subsequently applies an effect the whole image area is affected, again see below for the affect of the effect. You can change the layer blend mode to Screen but that make the effect brighter, you can tone it down a bit with a levels or curve adjustment but what you are effective doing is reducing the effect.

Screen-Shot-2019-08-01-at-06-49-22.png

 

after changing the blend mode and toning down a smidge. 
Screen-Shot-2019-08-01-at-06-59-45.png

 

iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
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1 hour ago, R C-R said:

The "under Mac" part is significant. As the Wikipedia article says in the Host applications section, "Much support is limited to the Microsoft Windows platform and .8bf filter plugins."

I am not sure why that is but I do remember that quite a few years ago some of the sites that listed available PS filters that I checked allowed filtering for those that could run on Macs in PS itself. That list was shorter than the Windows one, so this has been an issue for a long time.

Also, Filter Forge is not completely forthcoming about this limitation: on the https://www.filterforge.com/features/ web page, "Affinity" is listed as a host app that will support the FF plugins.

Yes, I can certainly confirm what you are saying. I've been a solid Mac user since 1990, so I am fully aware of how with many Windows developers, building apps for the Macintosh is just an afterthought, and a way to increase their revenue stream. I have come across so many apps over the years where there has not been a Mac-compatible version; and often, even when there is, it is seriously lacking, compared to the Windows version of the same product. As I said, they want to milk Mac customers, but without really putting their heart into development, either because they are just being lazy and selfish, or because they lack the skill to really make a great Mac-oriented product. And, yes, when it comes to commercial apps, there is definitely dishonesty on both sides of the fence. Some unscrupulous developers will say anything -- even if it is a partial truth -- in order to snag a few more users in their net. So, in this case, yes, I would have to agree that both Serif and Filter Forge are not being completely above board regarding this issue.

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12 hours ago, firstdefence said:

Lets hope the people at FilterForge can get FF working just as well in Affinity, I know they are trying hard bless them but maybe there is only so much they can do. 

That is indeed the bottom line. There is only so much that the FF team can do to make Filter Forge compatible with Affinity Photo. Not to drag the horse through the mud, but in this case, I am convinced that the onus is really on Serif at this point. They are the ones who appear to be dragging their feet about this. If what I've been told is correct -- that is, that they are developing their own plugin system -- if it does not include full Adobe SDK compatibility, then they've lost me as a potential customer. I am not about to learn a whole new plugin system, or go out and try to find plugins that do the same thing as my Adobe plugins, when I am already very comfortable with Photoshop and my Photoshop plugins. I would rather just bite the bullet and pay Adobe $20/month, and thus avoid that hassle altogether.

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A work around to the selection issue is to go into Refine... and select layer with mask, this produces a similar response to PS selection flow, it negates the use of blend mode changes and adjustment filters to reduce the effects of blend modes. 

Screen-Shot-2019-08-01-at-07-25-32.png

iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
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Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions

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