Please add Affinity Photo v2 support

[lphilpot]

XnView MP 1.3.1 can read (and display) the header of Affinity Photo v1 files, but Photo v2 has been released, replacing v1: https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/affinity-2-faq/

The new Photo v2 files have a different format than v1.

I don't do anything directly with Affinity Photo files in XnView except to browse and use Alt+1 to launch them in Photo. While Photo 2 properly launches and loads files from XnView, the embedded preview doesn't show v2 files nor does XnView recognize them as an images. That means when I use the "Images (+folders)" display filter new AP files don't appear in the browser. I can use "All" but that clutters the view with additional non-image files.

Thanks.

[xnview]

could you send me some sample files?

[lphilpot]

Here are three files:
1. An Affinity Photo 2 file that's a screenshot of my desktop with the XnView forums open in Firefox. I just opened the PNG then straight away saved it as an afphoto file.
2. The original screenshot PNG for comparison if needed.
3. An Affinity Photo 2 file of water lilies (originally JPG) I opened and saved in Photo.

All files are relatively small, since a full res TIFF from my camera will create a Photo file typically around 135 MB or more. Note the v2 images have the same extension as v1, but per Serif they're a different (and not backward compatible) format. I don't have the spec, which I'm sure is proprietary. If XnView can read and display the embedded preview, that's good enough for me.

Get the files off my Google Drive here, since the forum won't support afphoto uploads:
Screenshot PNG - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I37lp7 ... share_link
Screenshot afphoto - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OIQMzu ... share_link
Lilies afphoto - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jBeGEt ... share_link

Thanks!

[Rick]

It is working ok for me. Have you added it to the file types in the configuration?

2022-11-10_10-25-18.png (101.1 KiB) Viewed 3248 times

[lphilpot]

This is strange. Earlier it wasn't working but now it is. I repeatedly tested before posting...

I added afphoto to my custom filters and if I used "All" or "Custom", the v2 files were displayed, albeit as a icon not a thumbnail. If I switched to any other filter (e.g., "Images" or "Images + folders"), the v2 icon remained visible until I navigated away and came back to the folder. Then it was gone.

All the while, the v1 files were visible as thumbnails.

But now v2 files appear to be working the same as v1 - Consistent thumbnails. I've restarted XnView and it still works properly. Oh well.... ignore my request, apparently!

This is XnView MP Version 1.3.1 64bits (Oct 11 2022), Libformat version 7.126 on Windows 11 Home 22H2 build 22621.819, Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22636.1000.0

[Steel Rat]

I don't do anything directly with Affinity Photo files in XnView except to browse and use Alt+1 to launch them in Photo. While Photo 2 properly launches and loads files from XnView

Hello, I'd be curious to know how you setup Affinity Photo 2 to launch from XNView. Photo V2 is installed as an app in Windows, not as a standard program, and as such is "walled off" from applications installed typically in "Program Files".

I know where the location of the Photo 2 executable is, but when I try to select it in MP under Configure Programs, it tells me "The file cannot be accessed by the system". Indeed, there's a giant discussion about it on Affinity's forum.

SO how did you do it? And does it take care if there are spaces in the path/filename?

[lphilpot]

I pasted in the full path to the executable instead of browsing there, since the folder security / ACLs won't let you browse (not even as an admin user, which in Windows doesn't mean much anymore):

1. User reparse point (execution alias):

Code: Select all

%localappdata%\Microsoft\WindowsApps\affinityphoto2.exe

2. Expanded:

Code: Select all

C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\affinityphoto2.exe

3. Photo 2 executable path:

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\SerifEuropeLtd.AffinityPhoto2_2.0.0.1640_x64__3cqzy0nppv2rt\App\Photo.exe

Although I used #3, I recommend trying them first in this order. #1 is the official Microsoft method, but more than a few found it didn't work. 2 is just a literal expanded version of 1.

I recommend reading through the exe path related threads on the Affinity forums first. If you're not already aware there's been a LOT of (sometimes heated) discussion regarding this topic over there. It's all related to the v2 apps being packaged as Windows Store apps. Someone from Serif wrote and posted a generic exe that you can put in your path and call, then it will run the app. But that's apparently just a temporary stop-gap. I think I read they (Serif) will be releasing an update that will sort of address the issues, although unfortunately they're not going "back" to a standard installer scheme.

Affinity forum: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index. ... d-windows/
Generic exe I mentioned: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index. ... ent-985022

[Steel Rat]

Thanks Len,

Option 3 was the only one that worked for me. And for some reason, I had to re-activate my license.

Anyway, you've saved me a lot of headache!

[HFNotts]

Please could you do a step-by-step so that I can understand how to do this.
Sory to be a pain but I guess I'm not the only semi-literate computer user who needs hand-holding.
Would be most grateful for your help.

[lphilpot]

Not to put you off, but I recommend waiting just a bit. Serif has announced they'll be releasing a standard MSI installer for Affinity apps as soon as possible, that means you'll be able to link to the standard C:\Program Files\Affinity\* path instead of the MS Store-installed paths.

[lphilpot]

But here's the basic process:

In XnView MP, select an image, right-click, choose Open With, then Configure Programs...

From the dialog box that pops up, click the Add button:

XnV2.png (14.79 KiB) Viewed 3096 times

From there, select the executable file (see earlier in this thread) and it will be added to the list. You can drag and drop the programs to change the sort order.

[HFNotts]

Thank you very much.
I got to thed point where Photo 2 was added to the configure programmes but clicking that as Open With, it did not open Photo 2. The link to open V1 worked perfectly.
Am i missing something in looking to find the exe file because I copied and pasted that. Only line 3 worked though.

I guess i'm missing something here.

[lphilpot]

That's why Serif will release an MSI installer version. There have been MANY issues with the MS Store version. Even though mine works, I'll reinstall with the MSI when it's available.

[HFNotts]

I hope it is released immediately because I'm on the point of dumping it and swallowing the cost of Lightroom/Photoshop

[Larry Adamache]

Rick (above) asked if you had added the file type to the configuration. What did he mean by that? I looked thru the Settings menus and didn't find anywhere to add filetypes.

afphoto file types are not displaying as thumbnails for me either - just as Affinity Icons.