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Using Photoshop Plugins


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I just purchased Topaz B&W Effects 2 and installed it in Affinity Photo. I was able to call the plugin, apply an effect, return to Affinity and save the image in both the MAS and beta versions. I did not try calling or applying multiple plugins.

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I just purchased Topaz B&W Effects 2 and installed it in Affinity Photo. I was able to call the plugin, apply an effect, return to Affinity and save the image in both the MAS and beta versions. I did not try calling or applying multiple plugins.

It might be helpful if you could see if you can call that plugin more than once for an image. I have some trouble on the second call to one of my plugins for the same image even though the first call works.

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Mike, per your suggestion I called the B&W Effects plugin, made a change, and returned to Afinity. I then called the same plugin twice more without any problem. This was in the beta version.

Thank you for the test. Some of my Topaz plugins work that way as well. I can call Adjust, Detail and DeNoise sequentially or repeatedly for a single image without a problem. Clarity is different. If I call it first it will run properly but the next plugin I call will crash. If I call something else first, like Adjust, and then call Clarity, it will crash.

 

ReMask will not even launch. For me, this is not too bad. I have 5 plugins and 3 of them run properly, one will run once if it is the only plugin called and one will not run at all. Fortunately for me the ones I need the most are the ones that run properly.

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I have now received a reply from Topaz about the ability of their plugins to work with software from the App Store and it is not a very promising reply.

 

Basically the "Customer Happiness Specialist" said that their software will not work with any photo editors sold through the App Store due to the memory restrictions and gave no indication that Topaz has any plans to try to find a way around this. Instead the suggestion was made that Serif sell its software through its website. Since I don't think Serif intends to do that, or to produce two versions, one conforming to the App Store restrictions and one not conforming, I think we will not see AP conformance with many of the plugins available on the market.

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Not good news.  

 

Not a solution, more of a conditional workaround ... but if anyone has Aperture on their Mac, you can access all the Topaz plugins from it.  Makes a bit of a nonsense of Apple's MAS restriction. 

 

And as Mike points out some of them do work OK straight from AP.

 

(BTW, I'm curious why Serif won't sell direct - wouldn't saving the cut that Apple takes make it financially worthwhile having two versions?  No doubt there's a reason somewhere).

Retina iMac (4K display, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM) OS X 10.11.6  Capture One 10.

 

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It is curious to me why he would say their "software will not work with any photo editors sold through the App Store due to memory restrictions" when if fact some of them do work. I am not a professional photographer but I have seen enough to know that pros use plugins. While I am intrigued by the various plugins and the amazing results and effects achieved with them, I can do what I need to do without them so Affinity is still a viable choice for me. Sadly, I can not do all that I would one day like to do with out them so I will have to hang on to PS CS6. Affinity is young and I believe these plugin issues will get resolved because I don't see how Affinity Photo will truly be seen as a professional level software by those who are professional photographers without plugin support or the ability to do on it's own what plugins can do.

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It is curious to me why he would say their "software will not work with any photo editors sold through the App Store due to memory restrictions" when if fact some of them do work.

I am curious as to which editors that sell through the App Store will actually run the Topaz and/or Nik plugins properly. I know of none.

 

I do know several editors that will run them, photoLine, Elements and Photoshop among them, but they don't sell through the App Store. And I do know several editors that sell through the App Store that will run the plugin executables, but none that will run the actual plugins.

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(BTW, I'm curious why Serif won't sell direct - wouldn't saving the cut that Apple takes make it financially worthwhile having two versions?  No doubt there's a reason somewhere).

Bill,

 

I am curious as well, but assume it has something to do with the idea that the App Store gives them a larger potential market. Add to that the fact that both Designer and Photo are now listed as Editor Choices in the App Store and it is easy to see how that kind of recommendation can boost sales, especially given the extremely reasonable price of both products.

 

Personally I see three potential solutions to this problem (although there may be more or fewer that are practical). One - sell an off-the-website version that does not have to live with the App Store restrictions, two - produce a Serif plugin that can launch plugins themselves and sell that through their website, and three - introduce an external editor interface to allow AP to call external binaries rather than plugins. But, as they say, talk is easy, doing is hard.

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Here is the message I sent to Topaz on the 15th:

 

Hello, 

Affinity Photo is splendid new software that is attracting widespread admiration. However, the Topaz plugins are not supported. Many Affinity Photo users are devoted to Topaz products and the situation is very frustrating. 

Indeed, this issue is currently the most active topic on the Affinity Photo forum. 

I hope you will consider supporting Affinity Photo soon. 

Russell Carpenter

And here is the reply I received this morning:

Russell,

Thank you for contacting Topaz Labs!

At the moment, we do not support Affinity Photo, but each inquiry we receive is a push in the direction of providing that support. Thank you for your feedback!

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns, and I will be happy to assist!

Respectfully,

Joe Fedric
Customer Happiness Specialist
Topaz Labs
Monday - Friday 8:30am - 5:30pm CDT

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I posted this elsewhere, but I got turned down by On1 too. Here's their response to my query:

 

"Thank you for using ON1! We will pass on your feedback to our development team. However, we do not expect to integrate with the Affinity Application for future versions. We apologize for this inconvenience, if there is anything else we can do for you please feel free to send us an email."

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Mike,

 

I can launch and use several Topaz plugins through Affinity, which is obviously sold through the App Store. Clearly all of them do not work and that means that they do not "work properly" as you say. But some of them do work. That was the basis of my comment about not understanding the Topaz response that "their software won't work" with Affinity because of App Store restrictions. If it "won't work" then none of them should work. And if some of them work then clearly it is possible to adjust the code so that all of them work. I understand they don't work as they should but is it a coding issue or some arbitrary guideline put in place by the APP Store? 

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I posted this elsewhere, but I got turned down by On1 too. Here's their response to my query:

 

"Thank you for using ON1! We will pass on your feedback to our development team. However, we do not expect to integrate with the Affinity Application for future versions. We apologize for this inconvenience, if there is anything else we can do for you please feel free to send us an email."

 

They don't even hint at a reason why. Some of this may be because AP is new. But I can't help but wonder if plugin developers simply don't want to rock long standing lucrative relationships with Adobe. That may prove to be a bigger hurdle than software code or App Store restrictions.

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Mike,

 

I can launch and use several Topaz plugins through Affinity, which is obviously sold through the App Store. Clearly all of them do not work and that means that they do not "work properly" as you say. But some of them do work. That was the basis of my comment about not understanding the Topaz response that "their software won't work" with Affinity because of App Store restrictions. If it "won't work" then none of them should work. And if some of them work then clearly it is possible to adjust the code so that all of them work. I understand they don't work as they should but is it a coding issue or some arbitrary guideline put in place by the APP Store? 

My mistake. I misunderstood your post as implying that there was some pixel editors being sold through the App Store than properly ran all of the Topaz or Nik plugins.

 

Thank you for the clarification.

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As far as I can see from the various posts, the reason is that "the Apple App Store imposes restrictions on IPC Memory use" (see post #44 from csp).

 

I wouldn't begin to pretend to understand what that means ( :huh:) but it is/was a reported issue in the Windows world versions of some Topaz plugins.  

Retina iMac (4K display, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM) OS X 10.11.6  Capture One 10.

 

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Topaz response:  "Thank you so much for your feedback and for your stolid support of Topaz Labs!  We currently do not support Affinity Photo, but each request like yours pushes us closer to that reality! I am going to tentatively mark this ticket as solved, but if you have any further questions or concerns, please let me know and I will be happy to assist. Respectfully,  Joe Fedric  Customer Happiness Specialist"

 

Not sure about the "mark ... as solved"

Retina iMac (4K display, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM) OS X 10.11.6  Capture One 10.

 

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Topaz response:  "Thank you so much for your feedback and for your stolid support of Topaz Labs!  We currently do not support Affinity Photo, but each request like yours pushes us closer to that reality! I am going to tentatively mark this ticket as solved, but if you have any further questions or concerns, please let me know and I will be happy to assist. Respectfully,  Joe Fedric  Customer Happiness Specialist"

 

Not sure about the "mark ... as solved"

In this case "solved" is a code word for "don't contact me about this again".

 

Your response from Topaz was much more positive than mine, which went into some detail about the App Store memory restrictions and why Topaz will not/does not/can not (?) work with apps from the App Store. Given that everyone else seems to be sharing, so will I. Here the response I got:

 

==============================

Thank you for contacting Topaz Labs!

At the moment, the App Store version of any host editor will not be compatible with our software, due to restrictions on IPC memory use that our plugins violate. However, during the open beta, we tested our plugins and found no issues. The reason for this is the restriction from the App Store, alone. If Serif were to release their application on their website, then we would not face this restriction. The guidelines on the app store are so strict that even our own software, Impression, which we list on the App Store, can only be used in standalone mode, and not as a Photoshop plugin. Many PS plugins violate the IPC memory use rule, due to the very nature by which Photoshop plugins must be able to access IPC memory.

I realize this is a somewhat technical explanation, but the outcome will be the same with all software from the App Store that our plugins attempt to interact with.

=============================
 
It is hard for me to see much positive in this response.
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FYI...ReMask 5 will be released next Tuesday and will function both as a plugin (though probably not with Affinity Photo) and a stand alone app. Free upgrade from 3 or 4.

Oh. That is good. Thanks for the information.

 

Even though it probably will not run from AP I can still use it with photoFXlab. All of my plugins work through that.

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In this case "solved" is a code word for "don't contact me about this again".

 

Your response from Topaz was much more positive than mine, which went into some detail about the App Store memory restrictions and why Topaz will not/does not/can not (?) work with apps from the App Store. Given that everyone else seems to be sharing, so will I. Here the response I got:

 

==============================

Thank you for contacting Topaz Labs!

At the moment, the App Store version of any host editor will not be compatible with our software, due to restrictions on IPC memory use that our plugins violate. However, during the open beta, we tested our plugins and found no issues. The reason for this is the restriction from the App Store, alone. If Serif were to release their application on their website, then we would not face this restriction. The guidelines on the app store are so strict that even our own software, Impression, which we list on the App Store, can only be used in standalone mode, and not as a Photoshop plugin. Many PS plugins violate the IPC memory use rule, due to the very nature by which Photoshop plugins must be able to access IPC memory.

I realize this is a somewhat technical explanation, but the outcome will be the same with all software from the App Store that our plugins attempt to interact with.

=============================
 
It is hard for me to see much positive in this response.

 

I'm not sure it's all bad. At least they bothered to offer an explanation and seem open to the possibility if the App Store restrictions can be over come. On1 seems to have no interest at all.

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On the on1 blog they do mention affinity. They state that their suite currently does not wotk but also  "That said, as the popularity of these third-party applications increases (such as Affinity Photo), we’re doing our best to offer ON1 integration with them in the future." I have already left a comment there in support of on1 suite working with AP. I think the more people leaving such comments this may help. The link is http://www.on1.com/blog/

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Hi, 

 

I've installed the non-beta AP and got my Topaz filters working. My DxO film pack 3 shows up in plugins, but only launches and appears to only be affecting a blank page, not the image. The Topaz filters are working like they're supposed to. Any ideas why the Dx) film pack isn't? I've got the photoshop plugins pointed at the Application Support for DxO labs, and it shows up under plugins, then launches, but doesn't appear to be loading the image that I have opened in AP. 

 

Any ideas what I might have done wrong?

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