Qimage One printing vs Affinity

[rcsilber]

I had an email communication with the developer of Qimage regarding a plugin for Affinity. It's been a while and can't remember the exact reason, but it had to do with a tech issue on Affinity's side of a potential plugin.

Hello,

Just to clarify this point - the Qimage One and Qimage Ultimate Adobe plug-ins, which allow export of multiple open image files from Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, are made up of two modules:

- An Adobe Export Plugin (which exports a single image)

- An Adobe Automation Plugin (which allows the Export plugin to run on each open image)

Affinity Photo does not support Adobe Automation plug-ins, so it is that part which causes the lack of support for the Qimage Adobe plug-in.

We have attempted to contact Serif several times to request support for Adobe Automation plug-ins, or to see if there was another way to make a more streamlined connection to a third party application. We did not receive any response.

However, image files saved from Affinity Photo can be opened directly by Qimage.

Unless I am doing something wrong, I cannot open afphoto files in Qimage, which is why I save them as layered tiff files. Please advise if I have an error here... obviously this will be of great interest to many on this forum. ;-)

Andrew Wilford

Binartem, Inc.

 

[rcsilber]

I had an email communication with the developer of Qimage regarding a plugin for Affinity. It's been a while and can't remember the exact reason, but it had to do with a tech issue on Affinity's side of a potential plugin.

I love Affinity Photo so much it's almost illegal, but do any plug-ins actually work with it?

It's supposed to support Photoshop plug-ins, but neither of the two I tried work.

I use the Photoshop plug in feature for my NIK filters. Admittedly, it was not necessarily intuitive, but does work. What helped me is the understanding that one has to 'install' the NIK filters to a folder that is then linked to Affinity.

All of my printing is done through Qimage. The printer interface on Affinity and PhotoLab are simply insufficient.

Again, on Macs the printer interface is the macOS driver, which is fine for printing out letters but primitive if you're printing pictures.

Yes, but. My Epson and Canon printers were installed, and Qimage use those drivers.

As to file types, it is not mandatory to save in the Affinity formate.

No, but for what I do (abstract modern art) it is so that I can go back to the original picture and access layers that have been added successively, either to tweak something or to grab things to use in other pictures. Or to create a variation.

I'm not using it for traditional photography, however, I sort of "paint" with heavily manipulated fragments of photographs that are very abstract to start with.

I am with you! :-D We do a lot of abstract (my wife's passion) as well as painting in Corel Painter. This is why I use Tiff layered files. And if one thinks printing from Affinity is tough, just try Painter. Qimage provides the consistency I need.

My example workflow is: 1) Raw processing and edits in PhotoLab, and typically export directly to Affinity as a Tiff. 2) In Affinity, any final work, i.e. compositing, pixel edits like retouching, softproofing and such, then saving the file with layers. I don't have to export since it's already a Tiff. 3) In Qimage I navigate to the folder of my project and the image file appears. 4) Print. 5) If a further edit is needed, the Tiff file is right there, with the edit layers, ready to go.

Once you establish a routine, it's quite simple and the ease of error-free printing is a joy.

Yes, that's a normal routine for normal photography, and you can do pretty much the same thing with Pro Print & Layout - as long as you have a Canon printer that it works with.

Yeah, I never tried Pro Print and Layout, preferring Qimage.

 

[awilford]

However, image files saved from Affinity Photo can be opened directly by Qimage.

Unless I am doing something wrong, I cannot open afphoto files in Qimage, which is why I save them as layered tiff files. Please advise if I have an error here... obviously this will be of great interest to many on this forum. ;-)

afphoto files are a proprietary format written by Affinity Photo, not a standard image file format. Qimage One can open standard image file formats, so you would need to save as TIFF or similar.

I can see how my original statement may have caused some confusion.

Andrew

 

[rcsilber]

However, image files saved from Affinity Photo can be opened directly by Qimage.

Unless I am doing something wrong, I cannot open afphoto files in Qimage, which is why I save them as layered tiff files. Please advise if I have an error here... obviously this will be of great interest to many on this forum. ;-)

afphoto files are a proprietary format written by Affinity Photo, not a standard image file format. Qimage One can open standard image file formats, so you would need to save as TIFF or similar.

I can see how my original statement may have caused some confusion.

No worries... I do it all the time. ;-) By the way, thanks for a great product in Qimage!

Andrew

 

[nickbatz]

We have attempted to contact Serif several times to request support for Adobe Automation plug-ins, or to see if there was another way to make a more streamlined connection to a third party application. We did not receive any response.

However, image files saved from Affinity Photo can be opened directly by Qimage.

Andrew Wilford

Binartem, Inc.

You'd think that everyone who uses Affinity programs needs to print. I'm surprised that they would ignore you.

While I have you buttonholed, are there any arguments for using QImage rather than Canon Pro Print & Layout (on a Mac) that I've missed?

I've only read positive things about it from users, and the demo worked fine (other than the nagging) when I tried it. It's one of those things I'd like to be able to justify, but I haven't found a compelling reason!

 

[awilford]

You'd think that everyone who uses Affinity programs needs to print. I'm surprised that they would ignore you.

While I have you buttonholed, are there any arguments for using QImage rather than Canon Pro Print & Layout (on a Mac) that I've missed?

I've only read positive things about it from users, and the demo worked fine (other than the nagging) when I tried it. It's one of those things I'd like to be able to justify, but I haven't found a compelling reason!

Well, as many Qimage users would tell you, the results often speak for themselves. I don't really have space here to list ALL of the features and benefits of using Qimage. And I don't want this to turn into a marketing thread for our product.

So I will stick to the primary benefit of using the Qimage printing pipeline.

Many applications that offer printing functionality rely on the printer to do the heavy lifting. We are not privy to the source code of other photographic applications, but it often seems that printing is an after thought.

The first key thing Qimage does is to interpolate image data to the native resolution of the printer. This is 600 for most Canon printers and 720 for Epson, although there are some variations. It does this regardless of whether image data is added or removed. We use our own proprietary interpolator to do this.

The reason this is important is that it prevents the printer from doing any scaling with the data it receives (apart from simple doubling, etc. such as 600 -> 1200). Software will typically be better at scaling than the printer.

In addition to this, we use our proprietary deep focus sharpening to both balance the interpolation and account for media type.

The pipeline is also fully color managed, making use of the LCMS (https://www.littlecms.com/) for accurate and consistent results. This includes the ability to completely turn color management off for printing color targets - a feature removed from several Apple and Adobe products.

As you mentioned, we offer a free demo, and I would encourage anyone curious to try it for themselves at binartem.com (for macOS/Windows) or ddisoftware.com (Windows only).

Andrew Wilford

Binartem, Inc.

 

[nickbatz]

As you mentioned, we offer a free demo, and I would encourage anyone curious to try it for themselves at binartem.com (for macOS/Windows) or ddisoftware.com (Windows only).

Andrew Wilford

Binartem, Inc.

Okay, thanks Andrew, I'll try it again and A/B the results.

 

[awilford]

As you mentioned, we offer a free demo, and I would encourage anyone curious to try it for themselves at binartem.com (for macOS/Windows) or ddisoftware.com (Windows only).

Andrew Wilford

Binartem, Inc.

Okay, thanks Andrew, I'll try it again and A/B the results.

If your demo has expired, send an email to [email protected]. I can send you a download which will extend it for another 14 days.

Andrew

 

[Kev The Doc]

You'd think that everyone who uses Affinity programs needs to print. I'm surprised that they would ignore you.

While I have you buttonholed, are there any arguments for using QImage rather than Canon Pro Print & Layout (on a Mac) that I've missed?

I've only read positive things about it from users, and the demo worked fine (other than the nagging) when I tried it. It's one of those things I'd like to be able to justify, but I haven't found a compelling reason!

Well, as many Qimage users would tell you, the results often speak for themselves. I don't really have space here to list ALL of the features and benefits of using Qimage. And I don't want this to turn into a marketing thread for our product.

So I will stick to the primary benefit of using the Qimage printing pipeline.

Many applications that offer printing functionality rely on the printer to do the heavy lifting. We are not privy to the source code of other photographic applications, but it often seems that printing is an after thought.

The first key thing Qimage does is to interpolate image data to the native resolution of the printer. This is 600 for most Canon printers and 720 for Epson, although there are some variations. It does this regardless of whether image data is added or removed. We use our own proprietary interpolator to do this.

The reason this is important is that it prevents the printer from doing any scaling with the data it receives (apart from simple doubling, etc. such as 600 -> 1200). Software will typically be better at scaling than the printer.

In addition to this, we use our proprietary deep focus sharpening to both balance the interpolation and account for media type.

The pipeline is also fully color managed, making use of the LCMS (https://www.littlecms.com/) for accurate and consistent results. This includes the ability to completely turn color management off for printing color targets - a feature removed from several Apple and Adobe products.

As you mentioned, we offer a free demo, and I would encourage anyone curious to try it for themselves at binartem.com (for macOS/Windows) or ddisoftware.com (Windows only).

Andrew Wilford

Binartem, Inc.

Andrew, you missed another BIG advantage of Qimage One, fantastic technical support, second to none in fact!

 

[nickbatz]

Andrew, you missed another BIG advantage of Qimage One, fantastic technical support, second to none in fact!

That is worth a lot.

 

[awilford]

Andrew, you missed another BIG advantage of Qimage One, fantastic technical support, second to none in fact!

Thank you, Kev!

 

[mujana]

You'd think that everyone who uses Affinity programs needs to print. I'm surprised that they would ignore you.

While I have you buttonholed, are there any arguments for using QImage rather than Canon Pro Print & Layout (on a Mac) that I've missed?

I've only read positive things about it from users, and the demo worked fine (other than the nagging) when I tried it. It's one of those things I'd like to be able to justify, but I haven't found a compelling reason!

Well, as many Qimage users would tell you, the results often speak for themselves. I don't really have space here to list ALL of the features and benefits of using Qimage. And I don't want this to turn into a marketing thread for our product.

So I will stick to the primary benefit of using the Qimage printing pipeline.

Many applications that offer printing functionality rely on the printer to do the heavy lifting. We are not privy to the source code of other photographic applications, but it often seems that printing is an after thought.

The first key thing Qimage does is to interpolate image data to the native resolution of the printer. This is 600 for most Canon printers and 720 for Epson, although there are some variations. It does this regardless of whether image data is added or removed. We use our own proprietary interpolator to do this.

The reason this is important is that it prevents the printer from doing any scaling with the data it receives (apart from simple doubling, etc. such as 600 -> 1200). Software will typically be better at scaling than the printer.

In addition to this, we use our proprietary deep focus sharpening to both balance the interpolation and account for media type.

The pipeline is also fully color managed, making use of the LCMS (https://www.littlecms.com/) for accurate and consistent results. This includes the ability to completely turn color management off for printing color targets - a feature removed from several Apple and Adobe products.

As you mentioned, we offer a free demo, and I would encourage anyone curious to try it for themselves at binartem.com (for macOS/Windows) or ddisoftware.com (Windows only).

Andrew Wilford

Binartem, Inc.

Andrew, you missed another BIG advantage of Qimage One, fantastic technical support, second to none in fact!

Here I agree 100%! First hand experiences. Support is VERY good. Other developers/companies can learn a lot from it!