YOUR ACCOUNT

Login or Register to post new topics or replies
SpaceRay
SpaceRay

Posts: 12299
Filters: 35
Once again this year 2021 is back the 50% discount for all the Affinity Design Software and also 50% on the store addons

The famous and popular Affinity Photo Software (more information here)than can be used as a host of Filter Forge is offering a 50% discount that is a one time payment without subscription and is available for Windows, Mac and Apple iPad

So if you may be interested and thought to buy it sometime, now is the best time to do it, I do not know when it finishes

Even if you already have Photoshop, this software may offer other things that are different and can be complementary and is like having two tools

It is recommended to buy it from the Microsoft App Store, or the Apple Mac Store, or iPad App Store than on the Affinity photo software website as it will let you then use it on multiple computers that share the same account and you do not need to download it from the website and install it.
  Details E-Mail
Ghislaine
Ghislaine

Posts: 3142
Filters: 270
Merci pour l'info. Je crois que je vais l'acheter. Ca ressemble a ceux que j'ai déja comme In Pixio et Luminar AI qui sonr fameux.
  Details E-Mail
SpaceRay
SpaceRay

Posts: 12299
Filters: 35
Quote
Ghislaine wrote:
Merci pour l'info


heureux que cela vous ait été utile

glad that it has been useful for you

Quote
Ghislaine wrote:
Je crois que je vais l'acheter. Ca ressemble a ceux que j'ai déja comme In Pixio et Luminar AI qui sonr fameux.

I think I will buy it. It looks like the ones I already have like In Pixio and Luminar AI which are famous.


Well, I know the ones you tell but from my point of view is more comparable to Photoshop in some way and it even has more things than Photoshop
  Details E-Mail
westdale

Posts: 60
Filters: 7
I use Affinity a bit (WIn10 64) . Mostly Designer/Publisher for newsletters, posters.... but I do find Affinity Photo very good at the price.
It misses some things that are in its 'future' list but is quite powerful.
( I use A-Photo for panorama creation from multiple photos as well as simple layering/painting of items in posters/cards etc)
I am retired now and cannot keep paying the Adobe prices!

I bought Filter Forge a couple of weeks ago to try what effects can be achieved.
I created two filters that would be useful to me and found that the interface to Affinity has some issues.
Lessons so far......
1. The item that you give to FF has to be rasterised - you cannot keep it 'editable' although its layer effects like embossing can be kept.
2. Many filters (most?) in FF just return a rectangle to *replace* the item you give it.
If you make two copies of the item, you can give the copy to FF and drag the result inside the original (Paste Inside as other software would call it)
You can change the blend method, opacity etc at that point. You can rasterize again to reduce the size of the file.
3. I took a copy of the FF Chocolate Factory filter and modified it to take the alpha channel from the image and blend it into the Result.
This crops the effect to the outline of the item (text in my case) - but can leave some rubbish that just needs to be erased (because of not being integer shape )
For a filter like Chocolate Factory, which depends on 'depth' , I use a black object with lighter details to give texture.
4. I modified my Workshop5 filter to have a 'use transparency' option (not released yet as I am still testing)
This means I can use the effect in both ways....
a) create a pixel layer, run the filter and drag the result into the item - resizing it if required to change the scaling of the pattern.
then altering the blend mode. This method may be useful if you have an item that is already coloured? Not sure - still testing.
b) turn on the transparency option of the filter and let FF clip the effect to the provided item - changing the scaling in FF.

This works for me - hope that helps - I do not know if my transparency option would work cleanly in Photoshop - I think it might.
  Details E-Mail
westdale

Posts: 60
Filters: 7
top one is my version of 'Chocolate Factory', others are Workshop5 - 3 with transp option, last without the option and dragged inside.

To be clear - beveling and shading is done by Affinity Photo before passing it to FF
Chocolate Factory adds a bit more subtle depth

edit: another issue is that the item to be processed must be within the square formed on the shorter side of the Photo document - for instance not in the bottom third of an A4 portrait document - Filter Forge likes squares! So I cannot create a complete A4 background, I think - more tomorrow as it is bed-time!

  Details E-Mail
SpaceRay
SpaceRay

Posts: 12299
Filters: 35
I have bought this with the discount and have used it just a little, but what is really awesome and amazing is the way that is able to make a panoramic stitching from multiple images that gives an excellent result, from the tests I have done, and is better than the one in photoshop that is limited and not comparable to the one in Affinity Photo.
  Details E-Mail
angelize
angelize

Posts: 123
Filters: 17
I have Affinity photo and I use it with Filter Forge as a plugin. In the latest version there is a new feature called Pattern layers. you can turn Filter forge textures into pattern layers and save them as assets and use them over and over

1. In Affinity Photo create a new square document ( filter forge likes squares smile:) ) I often use 600px by 600 px
2. From the layer menu sel ect New Pattern Layer and set the dimensions to the same as your document. Affinity Photo will create a new pattern layer, you will see it in the layers panel.
3. With the pattern layer selected go to the filters menu and choose Plugins > Filter Forge > your Filter Forge version (in my case Filter Forge 9)
4.Filter forge will launch and you can choose your texture filter and set the settings as you like. Make sure that you tick seamless tiling on. Click apply to go back to Affinity.
5. your texture will be rendered on the pattern layer and will fill your entire document. It is easy to scale, rotate, and skew it and you can clip it inside any object.
6. To save it as an asset is easy, create a category in the assets panel (if the panel is not showing go to view and sel ect studio and select assets fr om the list to enable it) Make sure your pattern layer is selected and near the top right of the assets panel click the menu button and select add fr om selection and your pattern layer is added as and asset. you can drag and drop it into any document!
  Details E-Mail
angelize
angelize

Posts: 123
Filters: 17
Here is an example of the chocolate factory. I modified a copy of the filter and changed it from using an image for the height to a simple perlin noise with a distortion component. Once I had the filter rendered as a pattern I clipped it into my text and added the 3d effect. The really nice thing is the text is still fully editable!

  Details E-Mail
westdale

Posts: 60
Filters: 7
I will explore pattern layers - that is good news - thanks for the tip.
If it's a pattern to use several times in one document that wil be much faster, too.

And yes we are I think all loving the panorama ( I use CaptureOne to process my Raw photo sequences and create TIFFS that I stitch) - For many pictures the auto-fill works quite well - though I usually have to do a little patching.

....................................and here's my first pattern layer ! Thank you !

  Details E-Mail
westdale

Posts: 60
Filters: 7
And the pattern asset will import to Designer ..... I am a very happy bunny .....

  Details E-Mail
angelize
angelize

Posts: 123
Filters: 17
Yes you can use the pattern assets in designer! And Publisher!
And another tip, You can create your pattern document with the pattern layer set up and save it as a template. I have a series of them in different sizes depending on what size the final out put will be. I keep these templates in a folder and I pointed my Affinity Photo to it in the file >new dialogue. You can use the templates in Designer but only in the pixel persona so I usually use them only in Photo, and then I use the pattern assets in designer.
  Details E-Mail
westdale

Posts: 60
Filters: 7
A small extra I found useful -- putting the prepared patterns in a holder like an circle or square so that when you bring them into a document they don't immediately fill the page .... they act just like an artist's palette.
These are page 1 of my Workshop5 patterns, for instance - which is never ending source of random fun smile:-)

  Details E-Mail
ZAYAR
Posts: 7
I have FF10 and tried to use with Affinity Photo but it crushed. Can anyone help ?
Mine is Mac App Store version.

  Details E-Mail
westdale

Posts: 60
Filters: 7
Hi Zayar -- I'm not an apple user so I cannot help much .... but I'll comment with some suggestions as not so many people will be reading this message.
Looking at the error message, it suggests that the FilterForge workspace is pointed at an area that needs you to have access privilege.

Is there an option to tell FF where to put its workpace, and you could put that within your user area?
Or perhaps the log file already exists and is read only (or owned by a different user) so you cannot write to it ?
Or the actual ???/tmp folder ( /tmp is a link on the Mac ?) needs a chmod to make it writeable for you?
  Details E-Mail
ZAYAR
Posts: 7
Hi westdale. Thanks for your kind reply. I do not see any place to set directory on Mac. FF10 works by itself and photoshop as well but not with Affinity. I think they mentioned on frontend is for Windows not for Mac.

  Details E-Mail
SpaceRay
SpaceRay

Posts: 12299
Filters: 35
The 50% is still available but do not know when it will end because it seems that is related to the Covid-19 support help

The 50% discount is ALSO available for all the other store products available in the Affinity photo and not only the software, the only things that are not included are the books

Quote
Angelize
thanks very much for explaining step by step the topic of turning Filter forge textures into pattern layers and save them as assets, I did not know about this. Will have to see how it works.

Quote
westdale,
nice pattern applied to the text, well done
  Details E-Mail

Join Our Community!

Filter Forge has a thriving, vibrant, knowledgeable user community. Feel free to join us and have fun!

33,712 Registered Users
+19 new in 30 days!

153,534 Posts
+31 new in 30 days!

15,348 Topics
+72 new in year!

Create an Account

Online Users Last minute:

25 unregistered users.