Seeking advice: Slow transition from PS CS6 to Affinity Photo?

[earlybird]

Hi,
 I finally bought a license for Affinity Photo. I had run a trial a while back, did not make the time to learn enough about it, and now want to get more experience with it.

 My first big question is about making a transition from working with .psd and .psb formats to formats Affinity Photo saves or exports. I assumed that since Affinity Photo opens .psd and .psb format files that it wold also save them in the same format, but it seems that Affinity Photo only exports to .psd and not to .psb formats.

 For the time being I would like to contextualize my questions to saving or exporting files without changing the pixel dimensions. In other words, no resizing is being considered at the moment.

 The .psd export option has some choices that are presented, and I need to learn what matches a typical Photoshop "save" as .psd, function as well as the ramifications of selecting the other choices available.

 I am especially concerned with the absence of .psb format export as I have been making more and more pictures that end up being composited from over 2GB of data. I am a bit annoyed at myself for assuming that Affinity Photo would both open and save the .psb format.

 In preparation for leaving the confines of the Adobe ecosystem, I have imagined adopting a *universal* .TIFF workflow, and after spending a few minutes with Affinity Photo I think I would like to pursue that approach.

 I am writing to ask for recommendations for selecting parameters when exporting to the .psd format, and for parameters when exporting to the .TIFF format.

 Additionally, any insights about planning for a future with larger and larger file sizes will be greatly appreciated.



 Thank you!




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[earlybird]

I am disappointed to have just learned that a multi layer .TIFF file exported from Affinity Photo will only open in Adobe Photoshop CS6 as a flattened image. That was a big surprise.

This sort of undermines all my hopes to utilize the .TIFF format as a non partisan interchange format.

Apparently, if I want to work with larger than 2GB data sets in Affinity Photo I will have to use their .afphoto format, which seems to only be used within the Affinity framework, or their exclusive .TIFF layering which also seems to only be used within the Affinity framework.

I had imagined that a migration to editing and post processing with Affinty would be a step towards a more open circumstance that would enhance flexibility far in to the future, but now it seems to me that adopting the Affinity software amounts to choosing some other proprietary system with none of the actual benefits I had hoped for.



 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Hi,
 I finally bought a license for Affinity Photo. I had run a trial a while back, did not make the time to learn enough about it, and now want to get more experience with it.

 My first big question is about making a transition from working with .psd and .psb formats to formats Affinity Photo saves or exports. I assumed that since Affinity Photo opens .psd and .psb format files that it wold also save them in the same format, but it seems that Affinity Photo only exports to .psd and not to .psb formats.

 For the time being I would like to contextualize my questions to saving or exporting files without changing the pixel dimensions. In other words, no resizing is being considered at the moment.

Hi,

.psd and .psb are proprietary undocumented (for those outside of) Adobe file formats.

There is some support of .psd formats since people have successfully reverse-engineered stuff, but PSB is an intermittent file format till Big-TIFF gets more traction, so I suppose not too many folks will invest time in decyphering .psb files.

Affinity Photo is supposed to have a file size limit of 256.000 x 256.000 pixels (I have not tested that) when saved in the Affinity (.afphoto) file format, but when you 'Export' it to another format you again hit the specific file type's size limitations (either in pixels, or in total gigabytes).

The .psd export option has some choices that are presented, and I need to learn what matches a typical Photoshop "save" as .psd, function as well as the ramifications of selecting the other choices available.

Can't really help with that, I've been saving as TIFF for ages, never as .psd. Much more universal, except for the 4 Gb limitation of TIFFs.

I am especially concerned with the absence of .psb format export as I have been making more and more pictures that end up being composited from over 2GB of data. I am a bit annoyed at myself for assuming that Affinity Photo would both open and save the .psb format.

If the file size is due to Layers, maybe flattening the file in PS will at least help with opening the file in AP or other applications.

I am writing to ask for recommendations for selecting parameters when exporting to the .psd format, and for parameters when exporting to the .TIFF format.

This is what the Help file says about the available Export options:
For PSD file format:
•Compatibility mode—when selected, the exported file will be compatible with other applications which do not support some features (file size may also increase). If this option is off, the exported file may not be readable by other applications (depending on the features used in the image).
•Smallest file sizes—when selected, the exported file will be compressed where possible but may not be readable by other applications. If this option is off, no compression will take place for the exported file.
•Rasterize all layers—when selected, layer content is rasterized in the exported file (the layer structure is retained). If this option is off, no rasterization takes place on export.
•Strategies—set the way to export specific project attributes. Select from the pop-up menu.◦Preserve accuracy—the listed attribute will be rasterized to preserve its intended design.
◦Preserve editability—the listed attribute will be exported with its original settings to allow for easy editing.

For JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and GIF file formats:
•Pixel format—sets the color mode for the exported image. Select from the pop-up menu.
•Matte—sets the background color for the exported image. Select from the pop-up panel.
•ICC Profile—by default, this is set to the ICC profile of the project (document). However, the project's ICC profile can be overwritten for this export area. Select from the pop-up menu.

For JPEG, PNG, and TIFF file formats:
•Embed ICC profile—when selected, the ICC profile is included within the exported image's data, allowing the image to be viewed using the correct profile on any device. If this option is off, the viewing device must possess the ICC profile otherwise a substitute profile is used.

Additionally, any insights about planning for a future with larger and larger file sizes will be greatly appreciated.

Possibly the BigTiff format will be formally released someday. But Since Adobe is the owner of the TIFF file format, and they want to lock people into the Adobesphere, they may need some pressure to allow that extension to be officially released.

The .exr format is already a popular format since it was made publicly available by Pixar studios. And as said, Affinity supports large .afphoto file sizes from the start. It depends on the number of users whether it will become a defacto standard. To early to tell.

Cheers,
Bart

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I am disappointed to have just learned that a multi layer .TIFF file exported from Affinity Photo will only open in Adobe Photoshop CS6 as a flattened image. That was a big surprise.

Have you tried selecting the "Save Affinity Layers" option when Exporting? I just tried a file myself, and that also opened a flattened file in CS6, but that may be due to specific blending modes that Photoshop cannot interpret.

Cheers,
Bart

[earlybird]

I was curious to learn how Affinty Photo handles opening the .psd format and exporting to the .psd format so I made some "round trip" observations on some of my landscape photos.  I was opening the .psd files in Affinity Photo, then without making any edits I was exporting them as .psd files and opening the new files in Photoshop CS6 to see how the looked after the "round trip".

In the examples I was using I had several layers with reduced opacity. These blended layers added very subtle character to the picture, and upon viewing the .psd files exported by Affinity Photo I began to suspect that there we slight differences in the result of the blending effects. In the examples I was using the difference seemed difficult to discern so I set up a test and ran an experiment, the results of which I will show here.

I made a simple 4 layer picture in Photoshop CS6. It had a white background and three layers with painted blobs of color. Two of the layers with color, red and blue, were reduced in opacity. I saved this file and opened it in Affinity Photo, where it appeared to be exactly what I had contrived in Photoshop. I then exported the picture from Affinity as a .psd and opened it in Photoshop CS6 where it was immediately apparent that the blending effects had been greatly altered during the export from Affinity Photo.

Here is a screen shot of the original Photoshop .psd file and the .psd file exported from Affinity Photo and opened in Photoshop CS6. The solid white and yellow layer were preserved as intended while the semi transparent red and blue layers were somehow made more transparent by the round trip excursion.:




Here are screen shots of the original Photoshop .psd files opened in the respective programs. It seems as if the character of the original file is preserved in the Affinity Photo display:







These further observations lead me to think that an attempt to migrate to Affinity Photo, will require a sort of "all in" approach where I need to anticipate that any work done with the application will depend on that application until I export to a final distribution format.

It does not seem that migrating to Affinity Photo will serve my interest in a long term goal of moving beyond proprietary boundaries.



Having said that, I will appreciate your insights or comments about how I may utilize Affinity Photo to its best potential.

Thank you.




   

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I haven't tried such roundtripping, but Affinity Photo allows to set Blending gamma per Layer, where Photoshop only allows a single gamma for blending all layers. Maybe it has something to do with that?

Otherwise, you can always ask on the Affinity Forums.

Cheers,
Bart

[earlybird]

Have you tried selecting the "Save Affinity Layers" option when Exporting?

Cheers,
Bart

Hi,
 Yes that was the test I made. The resulting .TIFF opens in Affinity Photo with the layers but opens in Photoshop CS6 in a flattened state.

 Thank you!


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[kirkt]

Hmm.  I just created a document with a few layers in AP (a text layer, a pixel layer with an image placed on it, and two other pixel players with a large area of color brushed in, one in Normal blend mode, 50% opacity and one in Screen blend mode, 100% opacity).  I exported the file from AP as a PSD and chose to enable the "Preserve Editability" option in the Export dialog (see screenshot).  I was able to open the PSD in PS CC 2019 and all of the layers were intact, with the prescribed opacity and blend mode options.  However, the images were visually different in AP and PS, most notably when there was an opacity change to the layer or a blend mode changed.  This appears to be where AP and PS have compatibility issues.  For example, in AP, when I brush a splash of blue onto its own layer above a white canvas, and then change the blend mode of that layer to screen, the blue is unchanged- when I import that into PS, the blue over the white background disappears to white.  If in PS I select a brush and grab the original blue color and paint on the layer with the Screen blend mode, then nothing appears over the white background.

AP appears to be handling the screen mode "incorrectly" - the solution to getting AP and PS to behave the same is to add a pixel layer at the bottom of the AP layer stack and fill it with white (in this example, the color of the canvas).  Then everything appears to behave correctly.  It is as if AP does not have an explicit "Background" layer that is the same color as the canvas of the new document, whereas PS does have an explicit Background layer with the prescribed color.

To rectify the opacity rendering difference between AP and PS, setting the blend gamma of the layers with transparency to 1.0 in AP makes the appearance of the AP and PS layer renderings much closer (not identical, but very close).

To recap:

1) Export the PSD with "Preserve Editability" enabled (I am using v 1.7.1 on a Mac, by the way).
2) Make sure that if you have layers that need to blend correctly over the white canvas, you place a pixel layer under the artwork (your painting example) that is the background color you want (white, for example).
3) Set the blend gamma for layers with transparency in your painting example to 1.0 in AP.  When you bring the PSD into PS, the appearance of the transparency rendering will be much closer between AP and PS.

Have fun!

kirk

[earlybird]

...It is as if AP does not have an explicit "Background" layer that is the same color as the canvas of the new document, whereas PS does have an explicit Background layer with the prescribed color...

kirk

Hi,
 Thanks for making the realization and sharing the info. After you have pointed this out it seems obvious, but I missed it entirely, even though the "background" layer is clearly missing in the Affinity Photo screen shot I posted.

 Thank you!

[kirkt]

You're welcome!

kirk