To say that I am an enthusiastic user of Affinity Photo would be an under statement. It is the most used app on my iPad and always a pleasure to use. I’ve been using it for client projects literally since the day it was released in June 2017. With the first update of 2018, version 1.6.7 the developers added the ability to open and save files in place. This is great because while the app has a decent built-in interface for managing files and folders that interface does have limitations. I’ve mostly been ignoring those limitations until today. By chance I was poking around the iPad Settings app and took a look at my iPad’s storage and saw that Affinity Photo was using up 22GB! I’ve got quite a few projects but expected it to be half of that. But using the apps built in method for file interaction provides no indication of file sizes so really, it’s all just guessing. Another limitation is that if I want to back-up a bunch of files, copy or move them I have to do it one at a time via the “Save as” option. Very tedious.

In this class we will be learning the basics of Affinity Photo on iPad by creating a photo composition. A composition is just compositing different elements tog. Intro to Affinity Photo on iPad: Making a Photo Composition Ben Nielsen, Good design is the beginning of learning. You can get Affinity Photo from the Mac App Store / Microsoft Store in Windows 10, or you can download it directly from Serif’s website for a one-time price of $49.99. If you also want the iPad version of Affinity Photo is costs you $20. How much does Photoshop CC Cost? The Udemy Affinity Photo for the iPad: Special Effects free download also includes 4 hours on-demand video, 5 articles, 38 downloadable resources, Full lifetime access, Access on mobile and TV, Assignments, Certificate of Completion and much more. I just purchased the iPad version of Affinity Photo for my iPad Pro 10.5. As an author I make several mockup images of 3D paperback boks for web pages. I have a standard photograph of a paperback book and place the front page image (2D flat image) as a layer on top.

Using the Affinity Photo file browser to browse a folder containing 4 files

Now, I’ve got plenty of storage on my iPad but I don’t like the feeling that if I want to move or copy my files I have to do it one file at a time. There’s no way to tag or search files either. That’s not a problem if I’ve just got 10 files. But if I’ve got 150 files in 12 folders you can see how cumbersome this can be. File management is the only part of the app that I found average. So, I decided it was time to have a serious look at how Affinity Photo uses the Files app. I’d previously tinkered with it but it seemed a bit confusing.

By default files are stored within the Affinity Photo built in storage system on the iPad. A sort of hidden storage area which only shows up in the documents browser within Affinity Photo. It’s not possible to see file sizes from this location. How do I move these over to the Files app and what are the options? There are two options for storage in the Settings, general tab: iCloud or “On my iPad”. If I had better internet I would have gone with iCloud. But given the bandwidth Iimits I have (rural satellite) I chose “On my iPad”.

To save my Affinity Project files to this Files accessible storage area I access the corner widget of the document icon in the built-in document browser and chose “Save”. The file is then saved into “On my iPad” in the “Photo” folder on iPad. After that I can open it up from the Files app using the “On my iPad” location in the side bar. From the Files app I can now see the file size and easily share the file via the share sheet or via drag and drop from the Files app to any location or to email as an attachment or Messages or whatever.

The Affinity Photo folder is very easy to spot thanks to the icon.

So, going forward, I’ll be moving my current Affinity Photo files over to this local iPad storage and will save all new files there. I’ll save in folders by project and/or client and also begin using some of the tags that I have set-up for the Files app. After a file has been saved to Files I will delete the original that remains within the Affinity Photo app storage system so as to not have duplicates. Interestingly, the way to delete a file from the application storage is simply to select the same corner widget where the Save function is, but choose Close. They really should call it Delete not Close. Now, if I then open the newer copy of the file from within the Files app and make changes I can choose the option (again, the widget is in the bottom of the file icon) to Save and then Close. In this latter case it is closed from the application but remains in the Files app as one would expect. It’s a bit confusing and I hope the folks at Affinity change the way it is labeled. Files stored internally should have the option to Delete. Files stored in the Files app should have the option to close.

As long as the files are in the “Photo” folder on “On my iPad” they can easily be opened “in place” from Files by a simple tap to it’s icon. I can save at any time and any changes I make get saved back to the file just as I would expect. Note, again, saving is done while looking at the document icon from within the Affinity Photo file browser and choosing save from the widget from the lower right corner. Files can also be nested in other folders within that Photo folder in the Files app.

What happens if I copy these folders or files to another location, for example, to the a Documents folder in my iCloud Drive? In that case tapping it does not open into the app but rather opens a preview of it in the Files app. I can then use the “Copy to Photo” option in the share sheet to send it to Photo. As long as I leave don’t use the above mentioned “Close” option I can repeatedly open it for editing. I can save changes and those changes will take place on that file. If I close it I have to reopen again via the same “Copy to Photo” option in the share sheet. So, it’s still open in place with changes saved back, but it’s opening process is slightly different.

Affinity Photo is an app I’ll be using for many years and many client projects. It is a “Pro” app. Given that, I’m hoping that the developers add an option to use the Files app as the default method for managing files. Maybe even making that the default rather than the current storage within the app’s hidden away storage. The current options that I’ve discussed above are in the app’s help pages but some of the specifics are missing. For now it would helpful if they could emphasize the option for saving out to files stored in the Files app.

Affinity Photo for iPad is a glorious app. I’ve done my two part series on it, I’ve created a 45 minute screencast for ScreenCasts Online (not out yet) and I’ve started doing the user group circuit to demonstrate its awesomeness. Last weekend I presented at SMOG (Southern California Macintosh Owners | Users Group). While I was teaching it, I realized I’d figured out a few tricks to how to effectively use the tool.

Two Taps or One for Layer Effects?

The Layer Effects Studio includes 10 different effects you can apply to a layer. From Guassian blurs to glows to shadows and more. With the correct layer selected, tapping on fx in the Studios panel on the right brings up the Layer FX studio.

If you tap on the switch next to an effect, for example Outer Shadow, absolutely nothing happens. No default shadow is applied and there are no controls to change the shadow. The only way you can tell that something has happened is by tapping on the Layers studio and now that layer will have fx written next to it.

After turning on the switch for an effect, tap a second time on the name of the effect. Now the controls will pop up on the bottom of the screen with some default settings. You still won’t see a shadow because the radius and offset default to zero but as soon as you change them by dragging your finger on the control or tapping and entering a value, you’ll see the effect.

There is a way to accomplish this in one tap, but I came across it by accident. After you open the Layer Effects Studio, don’t tap the switch, just tap the name. This will not turn on the switch but it will bring up the controls on the bottom of the screen. As soon as you start adjusting the controls, the switch will turn on automatically.

Affinity Photo Ios

This is a very weird way to make an interface, but I hope this tip will get you moving and clear up confusion.

Selection Tools Don’t Let Me Copy and Paste

Serif Labs designed Affinity Photo for iPad to accommodate our fat fingers. In order to avoid wee tiny targets for the tools, they moved all of the selection tools into a separate Persona from the rest of the standard Photo Persona tools. While a great way to go, there is a little bit of a trick to using them.

In each Persona, there’s a Commands menu, designated by 3 dots inside a circle. If you’re in the Selection Persona, after you make a selection, the Commands menu will show you select all, deselect, reselect, or invert selection. There are also commands for selecting tonal range, hue range, transparency range, and selection as layer.

Those are all swell commands, but what if you want to copy this selection and paste it somewhere else? The only menu at your disposal is the Commands menu and copy and paste aren’t in there.

Affinity Photo Ipad Tutorials

Here’s the trick. Tap over to the Photos Persona and tap on the Commands menu again. Now you’ll see a completely different set of commands. One of them is called Pasteboard, and inside there you’ll find cut, copy and paste.

There’s a lot more goodness in this Commands menu, but if you don’t know to flip back to the Photos Persona from Selection, you’ll never be able to find all that goodness.

I Can Import from Photos, Why Can’t I Export to Photos?

Affinity Photo has a set of import options. You can import from all kinds of cloud services, and you can import directly from Apple Photos. A recent change to the way Affinity Photo handles Apple Photos albums is tying me in knots (they don’t reveal the structure of “My Albums” so it’s a jumbled pile of unsorted albums), but I’ve chatted with them and they assure me they’re working on it. But let’s get back to the tip.

While you can import from Apple Photos, the Export options don’t appear to include exporting the modified image back into Apple Photos. You can export as PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF and more but when you choose one of those formats, you’re only allowed to export to cloud services, not to Apple Photos.

But there’s a trick. If you’re on the export page, before you tap OK, look in the bottom left corner of the page. You’ll see a Share button which reveals all of the classic share sheet options, one of which says simply, “Save image”. Tap that and your image will swoosh into Apple Photos.

Affinity For Ipad

At this point you’ll be tempted to tap the OK button, but that will open up the export to Locations page. Your image is already saved to Photos, so you have to Cancel to back out of the Export page. Kind of a clunky way to leave but it works.

An Easier Way to Move Through Options

I was demonstrating Affinity Photo for iPad for a local user group when I stumbled across something wonderful. The good news is that Affinity Photo has lots of options. The bad news is you often have to scroll through these options to get to what you want. Let’s take a look at the options under Filters for example. When you first select the menu you’ll get a loooong list of filters. They’re in alphabetical order so if you know the name of the filter, you’re golden.

Affinity Photo For Ipad Manual

But what if you just want to look at blurs or sharpening filters? At the top you’ll see All Filters, and chevrons pointing to the right and left. If you tap on those little chevrons, you can cycle through all six of the filter sets. But that’s tedious. So here’s the trick.

Affinity Photo For Ipad Review

Instead of tapping on the chevrons, tap on the name All Filters. You get a scrollable list of all the filter sets! It’s an odd little menu because it cycles around and around with no end.

Once I found this method, I tried it wherever I saw those side-to-side chevrons. If you look in Layer FX at the Outer Shadow effect, it has a Blend Mode. If you tap on the chevrons in that one you’ll lose your ever loving mind because there’s so many options. But if you tap on the name of the blend mode that’s shown, you’ll be able to scroll through all 29 options! Unlike the Filters menu it’s not an infinite loop, but with 29 options it feels like it.