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Post by BuckSkin on Nov 30, 2020 4:17:07 GMT
Like a cow standing belly deep in Clover, I am always looking to slip under the fence where the grass is not necessarily greener.
Although I have dozens of image editing programs installed, I got to reading about Affinity and decided to install the free trial and check it out.
Although it claims PSD support, and does load and edit PSD, and "Export" PSD, so far I have ran against a huge deal breaker for me (and maybe I just don't know what I am doing).
When I load a layered PSD in Affinity, there are all my layers, just exactly like they were in Elements 7; BUT, it completely disregards all the layers and displays the background as if it were the top layer.
Has anyone else experienced this ?
I believe Affinity is a really good program in it's own right and would be really good if a person knew absolutely nothing about Photoshop and Elements, PSD files, and such; I actually believe that a knowledge of working Photoshop style is a huge impediment to learning how to work with Affinity.
The Hue/Saturation adjustment is nothing at all like I am familiar with.
And, I was playing around trying to remove the sickly pond green color-cast from a summertime image with Fescue in the foreground and thick woods on both sides and the background.
I Control + J (duplicated) the background, and it responded to the command just as if I were in Elements.
I did Filter > Blur > Average and it turned the duplicate layer the sickly green = so far, so good.
I opened a Levels adjustment layer --- no eyedroppers anywhere; if there was a neutral grey color picker, I sure could not find it.
I played with the black and white sliders until I came up with a neutral grey and thought maybe I was on the right track.
I discarded the Blur layer and my image remained grey.
I could not figure out any way to make my adjustment reflect on the background; it is as if the Levels adjustment had became a solid grey layer.
I had ten days, now eight, to check it out; it looks like I will need at least six months to make an educated decision.
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Post by Sepiana on Nov 30, 2020 4:25:17 GMT
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Post by BuckSkin on Nov 30, 2020 7:19:39 GMT
I will say this much in it's favor --- I Control/Dragged/Dropped the entire NIK folder straight from Elements 7 into Affinity's entrails and downloaded the 64-bit version of WireWorm and did likewise, restarted Affinity, and there they were in the filter menu; and, everything works as well or better than it does in Elements.
One improvement in NIK that I noticed right off = NIK requires a normal image layer as top layer in the stack (I always create a stamp-visible layer at the top of the stack to become my NIK layer; if another filter has been previously used, the actual NIK window must be called upon; always in Elements, NIK will then create yet another top layer that is the NIK layer and the stamp-visible layer then becomes redundant; not so in Affinity, it places the NIK right on the stamp-visible layer, thus I don't have to go through the motions of discarding the stamp-visible layer.
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Post by Lillias on Nov 30, 2020 11:02:40 GMT
When I load a layered PSD in Affinity, there are all my layers, just exactly like they were in Elements 7; BUT, it completely disregards all the layers and displays the background as if it were the top layer. I’ve just seen this thread. Unfortunately I am just rushing out to a dental appointment but when I come home I will come back to it. The one thing I can say at the moment is that having quickly opened 3 PSD files (all created in PSE) in Affinity Photo all 3 opened exactly as in PSE with the layers exactly the same - all backgrounds showing where they should be. So unless I’m misunderstanding something Buckskin...anyway got to go just now. |
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Post by Lillias on Nov 30, 2020 13:38:26 GMT
Buckskin...I believe Affinity Photo to be a very good programme and it is still being perfected. As I said in my other thread that Sepiana kindly pointed to (thank you) it is not a clone of PS so of course there are differences. The good thing is that there are now a whole plethora of very good helpful YouTube videos out there on Affinity Photo. As to why you are experiencing the problem you have in opening a PSD in Affinity Photo and being presented with the background layer as if it were the top layer...I don’t have an answer to that as I am not experiencing that behaviour. See my example page...I created the file in PSE and opened it in Affinity Photo and the layers are the same in both. No problem with the background layer showing as if it was the top layer. I can only suggest that you post a question on their Forum and I’m sure someone will come along with help for you. Regarding your comments re HSL and removing a colour cast...I hope this helps...the first link below is a very good explanation as to how to work with HSL in Affinity Photo And the second link is a great way showing how to use Average Blur to fix a colour cast using Affinity Photo. www.youtube.com/watch?v=06wL5Lnc2vY www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NoAVUqGHuU  |
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Post by Sepiana on Nov 30, 2020 13:53:29 GMT
I believe Affinity is a really good program in it's own right and would be really good if a person knew absolutely nothing about Photoshop and Elements, PSD files, and such; I actually believe that a knowledge of working Photoshop style is a huge impediment to learning how to work with Affinity. I had ten days, now eight, to check it out; it looks like I will need at least six months to make an educated decision. BuckSkin, see if this will help. How to Use Affinity Photo vs Adobe Photoshop Elements - Full Review |
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Post by BuckSkin on Nov 30, 2020 18:07:38 GMT
BillieJean, if your dentist trip is anything like my last one a couple years ago, you may be out of commission for weeks.
I often have trouble explaining things exactly as they are happening; to clarify (or confuse), my Elements PSD layers are showing up correctly in Affinity in the layer stack; however, what I see in the working window does not reflect the layers; it is as if I had loaded the bottom/background minus all the other layers.
When I start at the top of the layer stack and start un-checking the layers, one by one, making them invisible, as I click each one off, there is no change whatsoever in what I am seeing in the working window.
My reason for downloading/installing Affinity when I did is that I do believe it is a good program with some powerful features; and, currently, it is still available for Windows 7 (which I intend to stay with for a long time).
I wanted to have Affinity installed in my Windows 7 machine, even if it is just laying dormant after the trial expires; in case they ever decide to drop Windows 7.
The sale may be over now; but, it was $35 American for the weekend; normally $50.
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Post by Lillias on Nov 30, 2020 18:53:33 GMT
I often have trouble explaining things exactly as they are happening; Oh don’t worry about that Buckskin, so do I. Let me see if I can work this out...you say all your layers are showing up correctly in the Affinity layers panel just like in Elements...I take it that means your background layer is also where it should be in the layers panel...but when you look at the working window all you see is the background layer - the other layers are not visible - am I correct? If that’s the case then I admit to being puzzled and I’m afraid I don’t really have an answer. I don’t experience this myself and I’ve opened quite a lot of psd files in Affinity. I wouldn’t know how even to try to replicate this. I can only say again please try the Affinity forum where hopefully some of the more technically proficient folks can help. |
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Post by Lillias on Dec 1, 2020 12:06:17 GMT
BuckSkin... the wheels of my old brain work slowly these days but I had a thought and wondered if you would like to try it...it works for me and hopefully it will work for you too. Instead of saving your file as a PSD save it as a tif using the settings in the image below. If that works it could be a fairly easy workaround for you. Fingers crossed and good luck. 
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Post by BuckSkin on Dec 1, 2020 18:57:44 GMT
Instead of saving your file as a PSD save it as a tif using the settings in the image below. If that works it could be a fairly easy workaround for you. Thanks; I will see how that works. I appreciate the TIFF settings as I never know what any of those options mean. I see where some people somehow managed to get a 90-day trial; it tells me I only have ten days; ten days sounds like a lot until you blink and it is gone. |
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Post by Lillias on Dec 1, 2020 20:30:35 GMT
I see where some people somehow managed to get a 90-day trial; it tells me I only have ten days; ten days sounds like a lot until you blink and it is gone. Ten days is the normal trial period. I believe Serif stretched this to 90 days nearer the start of the Covid lockdown as a sort of gift at that time. I think I'm right in saying quite a few other places did a similar kind of thing. |
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