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25 Aug 2019 - Podcast #657 - (18:31)
It's Like NPR on the Web
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Powerful features and low cost are rarely features of a single computer application. Normally you get one or the other, but software developer Serif is trying to provide both in its new series of Affiniy products.
Affinity Publisher was reviewed here in mid July and, although I described the Photo and Designer applications in 2017, now seemed a good time to give them another look.
Founded in 1987, Serif created a series of low-cost photo and publishing applications. PagePlus was a page layout application for Windows 3. DrawPlus, PhotoPlus, and several other products were added. A US company acquired Serif in 1996 but sold it back to the original owners in 2001. Since then, they've been working on the Affinity line and, although the old applications are still available for purchase, they're no longer being developed or maintained.
The three current applications are Affinity Designer (a vector design application similar to Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw), Affinity Photo (with features similar to those found in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop as well as Corel Photo-Paint), and Affinity Publisher (a page layout application). Designer and Photo run on Windows, MacOS, and IOS; Publisher is limited to Windows and MacOS computers.
Anyone who has used a modern photo editing application will recognize some parts of the Affinity Photo interface and may be perplexed by some of the other parts. Familiar-looking tools appear on the left side of the workspace, context-sensitive functions appears near the top of the screen, and a space for adjustments is on the right. At the top of the screen, though, there are five buttons for "persona" settings:
Photo: This is where you'll find the usual photo editing tools such as fills, brushes, blur, and text. It's the default persona if you open a standard image file such as a JPG.
Liquify: This persona makes it possible to change an image's perspective or to warp it.
Develop: This is the default if you open a raw image, but it can also be used to modify JPG images. Many of the tools are similar to what you would expect to find in an application such as Adobe Lightroom.
Tone Mapping: This persona is used to create high dynamic range images (if you have multiple images) or to add HDR-like effects to a singe raw or JPG image.
Export: Possibly the most remarkable of the personas, this one makes it possible to export multiple versions of the same image simultaneously.
Unlike applications that store image modifications of raw files in either an associated database, write them to a DNG file, or create a sidecar file, Affinity Photo creates an entirely new file that will be at least as large as the original raw file and possible several times the size of the raw file.
Click any of the small images for a full-size view. To dismiss the larger image, press ESC or tap outside the image.
Adjustment layers ensure that changes are non-destructive, a feature called "inpainting" works much like content-aware fill, and undo information can be saved with the image so that users can return to an image and delete previously made changes to restore a previous version.
Affinity has a series of videos that introduce the application and explain the operation. More than 150 videos in wide variety of categories cover everything from opening & saving, layers, adjustments, filters, and exporting, to high dynamic range, live editing, and focus merging. Most of the videos are 10 minutes or less in length and clearly explain how a specific feature works.
Affinity Photo has no way to organize images and view thumbnails. Adobe Lightroom handles this task natively and Photoshop uses Bridge. Affinity depends on the operating system or a third-party organizer.
This is still very much a work in progress and it has a lot of potential, particularly once the developers create an image management function.
Not everyone likes the software-as-a-service model as used by companies such as Adobe and Microsoft despite the advantages of the system. Adobe's fees, for example, are less for Creative Cloud than the user would pay to upgrade every year and it also makes new features available immediately.
Perpetual licenses mean that users upgrade only when they want to and the subscription model ensures that all users are on the same version. Both business models have advantages and disadvantages.
As with Affinity Photo, the Designer product has a Persona toolbar. Several other toolbars and present and most will be familiar to users of similar programs. The Persona toolbar has 3 options — Draw, Pixel, and Export — that allow the user to switch from one overall set of tools to another with a single click.
New projects begin in the Draw persona and it's where most users will spend most of their time because its where the tools exist to create or edit vector objects. The Pixel persona opens up additional editing tools that work at the individual pixel level — brushes and retouching tools, for example — and the Export persona will be the final step that's used to export the image for use in other applications.
Affinity Designer can import and export projects from Photoshop. Illustrator files can also be placed in new Design document or opened for editing. Scalable vector (SVG) files are also supported.
Designer and Photo are priced at $50 for Windows and MacOS; $20 for IPad. Publisher is priced at $50 and is available only for Windows and MacOS. For more information, check the Serif website.
Manufacturers of hardware reviewed on TechByter Worldwide typically loan the hardware and it must be returned at the end of the review period. Developers of software reviewed on TechByter Worldwide generally provide a free not-for-resale (NFR) license so that all features of the application will be unlocked.
Last week's Spare Parts included a short note about updates to Adobe's photo applications. This week, we'll take a closer look because several of the updates are ones you'll want to know about.
Lightroom Classic and Adobe Camera Raw can now export files in PNG format. This is an important format, particularly for Facebook and other web-based images, and it's helpful to have a quick and easy way to export a PNG. It's a feature that users have been requesting for years. Previously, the user would need to open a file in Photoshop and then choose the Export option for a PNG file. Now the task can be accomplished without leaving Lightroom Classic or Adobe Camera Raw.
Each file format has positive and negative qualities and now users have a full range of choices:
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): Smallest possible size, but at the cost of some quality. Commonly used on websites.
PSD (Photoshop Document) and TIFF (tagged image file format): Large files that can support layers. These are usually used to transfer images from one developer to another. They are not used on the web.
PNG (portable network graphics): Files are considerably larger that JPEG, but full image quality is maintained and the format supports transparency.
DNG (digital negative): These are the largest possible files because they contain the maximum amount of data.
In the old days, processing was done only in the CPU but Adobe started supporting the graphics processing unit (GPU) in Lightroom version 6. The update to Lightroom allows it to use higher-performance GPUs to get better and faster on-screen feedback. The flip side is that users need to have high-end GPUs in their computers. For Windows 10 that means a graphics card with DirectX 12 support, at least 2GB of VRAM, and a recent driver. Mac users need MacOS 10.14 or later, a graphics card with Metal support, and at least 2GB of VRAM.
Additionally, users need to select "version 5" processing, which means that you may need to update the processing for some older files. Because computer manufacturers select from a wide variety of GPUs, you may find that the Performance tab of Preferences is set to Auto, which is the default. If you change the setting to Custom and always enable GPU processing, you'll see a clear improvement in response if the hardware supports it. If not, you may see some crashes. In that case, go back to Auto. If the hardware doesn't support the function, you may need to turn it off. Those kinds of situations have been reported, but they generally occur on older systems that have been upgraded from Windows 7 and have GPUs with obsolete drivers.
Merging a series of images to a panorama, a high-dynamic-range image, or an HDR panorama is a long and involved process even for a fast computer. If you have several groups of images, perhaps you've wished for an automated process. Well, your wish has been granted.
It's now possible to select more than one stack of images and run the process on each stack without any additional intervention. It's important to note that you cannot mix HDR and panoramic merges in a single function and it appears that the combined HDR-pano merge isn't yet supported. It's still a time-saving feature for those who need to process a lot of images (real estate agents come to mind). Just select the stacks you want to merge and select the HDR or panorama option from the Photo > Photo Merge menu.
Accidentally deleting an image from a computer is easy to recover from. Just restore the image from the Recycle Bin. But on the cloud-based Lightroom system, you might have had a problem. Now Lightroom for MacOS, Windows, IOS, Android, ChromeOS, and lightroom.adobe.com all have a special Deleted folder.
When you delete a file, it goes to the Deleted folder and stays there for 60 days. If you want to get it back, you can pull it out of the Deleted folder. This works only on the device where you deleted the file if you're using one of the free apps. For Creative Cloud users, deleted files can be restored on any device.
As usual, the update includes support for new cameras and lenses, bug fixes, and a bunch of important but less dramatic new features and improvements.
If you're wondering how to get the update, you may already have it. If not, go to Help > Updates in one of the applications or click the Update button in the Creative Cloud app and choose Check for Updates.
Assuming you have a Wi-Fi router, you may have noticed that the router offers to maintain a log and email it to you occasionally. The log will contain a lot of information that can create unnecessary alarm.
How many households have Wi-Fi routers? About 75% of homes with broadband internet access have a router. The Leichtman Research Group says about 82% of US households have high-speed internet access. So 75% of 82% means that about 62% of US households have a router. One or more computers may be hardwired to the router, but notebooks, tablets, televisions, and numerous other devices depend on Wi-Fi for access to the internet.
Of course we've all heard about security issues with many of those devices that connect to the internet, so maybe you've decided to have the router maintain a log and email it to you. Then you receive something like this. The highlighting is all mine. The report itself is just plain old boring black text on a white background, but look at what the report says!
Line after line of [DoS Attack: SYN/ACK Scan] from source: 193.111.173.246, port 443. Am I being attacked? Should I panic? The answer is NO and NO. Panic is never wise and decisions made in panic mode are often exactly wrong. If something catches fire on a stove, your first thought might be to douse the fire with water, but water makes the problem worse because it spreads the fire. Smothering in the fire with a pan lid works much better and it's what you'll do if you take a moment to consider the situation.
The computer equivalent of that involves finding out what the heck [DoS Attack: SYN/ACK Scan] from source: 193.111.173.246, port 443 means. A search engine will probably help but first let's see who that IP address belongs to. 193.111.173.246 is registered to someone in Ukraine. So now should we panic? Bear with me here, but no.
Now what about SYN/ACK Scan? SYN scanning is a tactic that a malicious hacker (or cracker) can use to determine the state of a communications port without establishing a full connection. This approach, one of the oldest in the repertoire of crackers, is sometimes used to perform denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, which is why the router is reporting is as a DoS possibility. Yes, we have an hostile attempt here, but the router caught it and blocked it. The computer in Ukraine was trying to set up a TCP/IP connection, probably using every possible port. The computer in Ukraine sent a synchronization (SYN) packet.
The creeps who want to gain access to your computer are legion. You can't stop them by changing your IP address because they are constantly sweeping through every possible IP address and port combination. That's right: There is nothing you can do. The router's firewall function has blocked access. Your computer is not in danger. So in the inimitable words of Bobby McFerrin, Don't Worry, Be Happy. Unless you're an IT professional, those router logs might do more harm than good.
When I was back in my hometown a few weeks ago, I took several pictures of the newly renovated Logan County Courthouse. The building was severely damaged by a windstorm in 2013. Several million dollars worth of repairs and renovations saved the building from demolition and retained the stately 1870 building at the center of town.
For one of the pictures, I was standing across the street, south of the courthouse because I wanted to include Court Street, the oldest concrete street in the United States. Then I decided to concentrate on just Court Street.
A statue of George Bartholemew stands at the entrance to the street. He's the guy who convinced the Bellefontaine City Council to give his "artificial stone" a try in 1891. It must have seemed like a good idea and the courthouse had been there for just 21 years at the time. Bartholemew guaranteed that the pavement would last at least five years. One hundred twenty-eight years later, it's still there. The statue has been there only since 1991.
The photo is all right, but there's a dead branch from a tree in the picture and that bothered me. With the photo open in Lightroom, I selected the option to edit it in Photoshop, where I added a new layer where I could clone some leaves over the dead branch.
The original image is at the top, the modified image is in the center, and the contents on the new layer is shown on the bottom. This was a simple, easy change — one that took no more than a minute or two to make — yet it significantly improves the image.
Oh ... if you find yourself in Bellefontaine and you're hungry, you won't be that way for long. Check out Don's Downtown Diner (Facebook link) if you're looking for an outstanding hamburger, Six Hundred Downtown for one of the best pizzas you'll find anywhere, or Brewfontaine for a sandwich and some craft beer.
The Licking County Computer Society is holding its annual computer recycling event September 6 and 7 at 123 South Third Street in Newark.
The computer group has been recycling and refurbishing computers for more than two decades and is looking for old computers, faxes, printers, monitors, ink and toner cartridges, and cell phones. It doesn't matter whether the devices are working or not, but the organization cannot accept televisions or CRT monitors.
If you have a computer or a truckload of computers that you'd prefer to keep out of landfills, take them to Newark. The Licking County Computer Society is a Microsoft registered refurbisher and provides repaired and working unit to qualifying organizations and individuals.
Hours are 9am to 4pm both days. For additional information, see the LCCS website.
