RAW editor not performing as expected

[Chrisburgess]

Since the update to 1.7.2 i've had problems with RAW editing in the develop persona. The slightest movement of most of the sliders will cause parts of the file info to disappear and the chequered canvas underneath to become visible. Highlights in particular blow out easily, even on under exposed images. In addition to this the performance seems to have regressed to pre 1.7. By this i mean when i make an adjustment, say the exposure slider, there is a pixelated appearance on the screen as the adjustment is made. This was a feature of Affinity up until 1.7.1. I have reported this to Affinity and provided RAW files, they have confirmed the software isn't handling the RAW file as expected. This is disappointing as when the update to 1.7.1 was released, in my opinion Affinity truly became a genuine alternative to Adobe. Whatever bug has occurred is currently making Affinity unusable to me.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced similar issues?

[MEB]

Hi Chrisburgess,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Do you have Show Clipped Highlights or Tones enabled in the top right of the interface (Develop Persona)? If so, go to Affinity Photo Preferences, Performance section and turn Enable Metal compute acceleration off (untick it). This should fix these issues. Do you mind attaching a screenshot of you Mac specs please (menu Apple > About This Mac) - except the Serial Number keep it hidden or out of the capture. Thank you.

[Chrisburgess]

Hi and thanks for your response.  I do have the  'show clipped highlights' button turned on, I was in contact with someone at Affinity called Gareth last week who advised me to uncheck the 'enable metal compute acceleration' so this has already been done and made no difference. I As requested i've attached a screen shot with my mac  specs. I hope you are able to help me resolve this as Affinity is currently unusable to me. This issue has been a problem on many of my RAW files lately, i think since the update to 1.7.2 as i was nothing but impressed with the 1.7.1 release.

 

 

[MEB]

Hi Chrisburgess,
Sorry the insistence, but are you sure the transparency in the clipped areas is still an issue with Metal compute acceleration turned off? After changing this setting Affinity Photo must be restarted for it to take effect. Do you have tried after restarting the application?

Can you also please try the following: with Metal compute acceleration checkbox ticked/turned ON (after restarting the application if you had to enable it again) open a RAW file then go to menu View > Assistant Manager and change the RAW output format to RGB (32 bit HDR). Does the transparent/overexposed areas become red (with the Show Clipped Highlights button enabled)?

[Chrisburgess]

Hi, yes with metal compute acceleration turned on and RAW output at 32 bit the red highlight clipping does show. 

[MEB]

Hi Chrisburgess,
Thanks for checking it with the RAW output format set to RGB (32 bit HDR). And regarding simply turning Metal compute acceleration off? It should also work - no matter the RAW output format setting. Have you checked it?

I'm insisting on this because this is an issue that apparently only affects some specific Mac configs. The more info we gather/check about this issue the more likely it will get fixed. Thanks for your patience and support.

[Chrisburgess]

Hi, yes i also tried it with metal compute acceleration turned off, again not much difference. I don't think i mentioned to you that the performance has also slowed down greatly. When making any kind of adjustment in the develop persona there is a 'pixelated' effect on the screen as the adjustment takes place, this was normal for affinity up until 1.7.1 was released but.

Also, for reference i've put the same RAW file into lightroom and there is no problem.

[MEB]

So with Metal acceleration turned off you still see the clipped areas rendered as transparent parts rather than red in Develop Persona (with the Show Clipped Highlights button enabled). I wasn't expecting this. They should also be rendered red as when you set the RAW output format set to RGB (32 bit HDR) and Metal acceleration turned ON.

Do you mind recording a small clip/video showing that pixelation "effect" you are talking about when adjusting the RAW in Develop Persona? Seems there's something more going on here.
What's the camera/model of the RAW files you are using?

 

[Chrisburgess]

Hi, having double checked i've followed your instructions correctly, i can confirm that when metal acceleration is turned off there is red showing with the clipped highlight button on. There is also red showing with the metal acceleration turned off and RAW output set to RGB 32 bit HDR. (which setting do you recommend?)

When the settings are as per the latter, the pixelated effect i mentioned has stopped, when i make an adjustment the adjustment happens with no lag.

My RAW file is from an Nikon D7200.

Whilst Affinity photo is superb software offering excellent value for money, am i maybe being unreasonable expecting it to handle RAW files in the same manner as Adobe lightroom?

[MEB]

Thanks for double-checking this Chris. That's indeed what I was expecting to happen. Unfortunately it fails to work properly with the RAW output set to RGB16 and Metal compute acceleration turned on in some specific machines/configurations using Intel graphic chips. We have this logged and are looking into these issues. Ideally Metal compute acceleration should be turned on as it speeds up quite a few operations in Affinity Photo - we only advise to turn it off when there's issues (like these). If your system becomes too slow with Metal compute acceleration turned off, leaving it on and setting the RAW Output to 32bit may be a better option...

Affinity Photo is not directly comparable to Lightroom which was developed having photographers requirements in mind - it doesn't manage libraries (nor deals with databases), .xmp sidecar files, or applying the same preset(s) to multiple photos from the same photoshoot for example. It's closer to a Photoshop + Adobe Camera RAW workflow where you usually perform the RAW development in the Adobe Camera RAW module them move on to Photoshop for further localised edits. It should however handle most RAW formats without issues and allow you to get the most out of your photos. The problems you are reporting are due to some unfortunate bugs/issues in Metal compute acceleration which we are still dealing with and only affect a specific set of configs.

[Chrisburgess]

Ok, thanks for all your help so far. So are things as good as can be expected for the time being? Until recently i've been loving Affinity and hope to become a long term user. Are these bugs due to be resolved in the near future?

Any word on when the DAM is likely to be released, is it intended to be a lightroom alternative or simply a file management system? I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that you have a potentially massive customer base in the photography community!