Linked layers
In 1.9, you now have the ability to duplicate linked layers, then unlink particular attributes. You can also link specific attributes of completely different layers, then manage everything on the Links panel.2. Astrophotography stacking
You are now able to stack deep sky astrophotography imagery, including FITs documents in addition to RAW files. Developer Serif claims that this makes Affinity Photo one of the very few cross-platform apps that can perform the entire astrophotography post-production workflow, from stacking to powerful editing and retouching—all in 32-bit precision.For stacking, you can auto-detect hot/cold pixels and manually highlight column defects to produce a cleaner stacked result. There’s also a dedicated background removal filter for removing difficult background gradients (light pollution, airglow, moon illumination, sensor defects) after tone stretching.
Faster on Windows
Hardware acceleration uses your computer’s GPU devices to dramatically increase rendering performance for raster-based operations, such as compositing pixel layers, adjustment layers, live filters and raster tools. Mac users have enjoyed the benefits of Metal Compute hardware acceleration since version 1.7 and now Windows users have this same benefit: ‘experience some massive performance gains, especially with more esoteric workflows like complex layer compositing in 16-bit or 32-bit pixel formats.’
Pattern layers
Create endlessly-repeating patterns just by painting into the bounds of this new layer format, then rotate, shear, scale, clip and mask it for some fantastic design ideas. You can also create pattern layers from existing raster layers, giving you another approach to bitmap pattern fills for architecture and other design workflows.
Studio presets
In Photo 1.9 you can create, save and recall different interface layouts with ease – useful if you have multiple users that prefer different layouts, or if you have specific workflow setups that you wish to toggle between – colour grading, retouching, brushwork, vector design and compositing, etc.
Affinity Photo also sees its list of supported cameras expanded, plus the addition of the SerifLabs RAW engine to its iPad counterpart, which ensures consistency between how RAW files are developed on desktop and iPad. It also allows for better noise reduction and manual lens corrections, as well as more cropping flexibility.
RAW engine processing in Affinity Photo has been improved with new linked layer functionality as well as a completely new mode for control how astrophotography images are combined during stacking. Version 1.9 also includes GPU acceleration which can achieve up to 10x speed improvements for Windows users on many pixel-based tasks. This brings the Windows versions into line with the GPU acceleration in the macOS and iPad versions of the apps.
There’s currently a full-function 90-day free trial on offer in addition to the 50 percent discount on purchase price.
Below is a 10-minute ‘third party’ review of Affinity Photo 1.9 from the YouTube channel, Affinity Revolution.
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