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Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Rick Churchill
I use Affinity Photo (v 1.10.6) to batch process HEIC and RAF image files to convert them to JPG or TIFF files. With my old MacBook Pro it converted them 4 at a time but this MacBook Pro, although converting each file at a faster rate, only converts 2 at a time and so is slower. The old MBP at 4 cores, this has 2 efficiency and 8 performance.

Is there any way I can force Affinity to use all the computing power of the new MBP?

(The MBP is plugged in to the supply)

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Stuart Affleck
Rick, my guess is that it's the Intel version, therefore running under Rosetta 2. It'll be running faster, of course, because the Apple Silicon chips are so much quicker, but as you say, it should be using more of that power (not necessarily all, but that's another matter). I see from Serif's blog https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/press/newsroom/affinity-apps-are-ready-to-go-on-apples-new-macos-and-macbook-pro/ that Photo was ARM-native from 1.10.3, so I'm not sure how that could happen. Did you copy the apps with Migration Assistant? A clean install might sort it, also check via Photo's Get Info box that Rosetta 2 is not being used.

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Stuart Affleck
Further to the above, I just did a quick test in Pixelmator Pro- a comparable app but it takes full advantage of M1 Pro bells and whistles, with the CPU History monitor active in Activity Monitor. Even quite demanding tasks (like a 500% upscale of an image) only hit the first 4-6 cores, the later cores increasingly less. When I really pushed it, then it started using all of the cores. This is by design- the efficiency cores are scheduled first, and it still wants to conserve power whenever possible.
Ah, that's another thing: using High Power Mode (not an option on the 14 inch I have)?

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Rick Churchill
Thanks Stuart. Yes it seems that from version 1.10.3 they have released it for Apple silicon. I have it plugged in to the power supply and Low Power Mode set to "Only on battery" on my 16 inch.

I used migration assistant. There is a version 2 out (and no upgrade path just a new payment) and this is the only one shown in the Apple Store so I don't know how to clean install a version 1.

How do I find the Get Info box?

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Stuart Affleck
Get info: Select Affinity Photo in Applications, right-click/two fingers on the touchpad, Get Info from the pop-up menu. In the Info window, Kind should say 'Application (Universal) if you do indeed have an Apple Silicon version If so, there's a checkbox for 'Open with Rosetta'. If it's checked, uncheck it. If it's the Intel version, it'll say (you guessed it) 'Application (Intel)' and an update is in order.
As to making sure you have the newest version, is there an update option in Affinity Photo's File menu? The App Store app should also be able to update it if necessary. Reinstalling should be as simple as trashing the existing copy then selecting install from the App Store, if need be.

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Rick Churchill
Thanks Stuart.
It shows Kind is Application (Universal)

I have a feeling that it wasn’t in the Apple Store until Version 2 was released and unfortunately I deleted the download files long ago. There is no update item in the menu and so if I delete the application I'm not sure how to re-instate it. I could always pay them more money and hope the version 2 runs faster. I read that it is better but am a bit peeved they offered version 1 owners the same slightly reduced price as everyone when announced.

Is anyone else using Affinity Photo version 1 or 2 with a multicore processor?

If so just go to File>New Batch Job, “Add” 10 photos and on the right hand side, select the conversion file type - for example “Save as TIFF” (It leaves the original files intact) and click OK. Observe how many files are processed at any one time shown by the rotating icon next to each file.

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Stuart Affleck
Curiouser and curiouser. So it's running natively, but not getting the full benefit…
If you've got a Serif account, you should (operative word!) be able to download from there, even though it's no longer available for purchase. Your download link from purchase might (again) still work… Failing that, ask nicely?

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Rick Churchill
Damn this site it timed out on me while I was gathering information so I'm having to type this in again and am suffering from RSI at present!

I dumped Affinity Photo and downloaded a replacement. The same.

On the forum (and I've searched again and was unable to find the quote but better not search anymore as this will time out) it mentions that although the app has been "made universal" some plug-ins may still need Rosetta. So I made Affinity load with Rosetta but no change still only 2 cores working.

Perhaps I would upgrade to version 2 but there is no mention of this problem with versions 1 or 2. It is a pity that none of our members have version 2 (or at least those that read the website) so we could experiment.

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Mick Burrell
Euan (Affinity's advertising manager!!!) will be along in a minute but I'd expect him ti be running version2.

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Rick Churchill
Yes (as per my last paragraph) I would like to know if this is fixed in version 2 to help me decide whether to pay for the new version or not

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Euan Williams
Mick has (separately) asked me to venture down this rabbit hole, normally something to be avoided for fear of upsetting anyone with my interests.

I cannot imagine why any user would not want to upgrade to Affinity V.2. Sadly the recent 25% discount has now lapsed.

For those determined to stay with V1 this Dropbox unofficial 'manual' may be interesting.

For others these settings in AF Photo V2 Help could be useful, especially the Batch Job settings:

<<
Settings (or Preferences)
The following settings are available in the Batch Job panel:
• Parallel processing-when checked, allows images to be processed asynchronously-one for each processor core or thread. For most modern machines with dual/quad -core processors, leaving this on is recommended for more efficient processing.
• Output:
• Save into original location-writes the new image files into the same directory as the originals. To use, you need to click Authorise, then navigate to your root Macintosh HD folder, then click Authorise. Once done, the OK button will be available to click. There's no need to navigate to the folder containing your images for batching.
• Save into:-allows you to specify a different directory to write the new image files into.
• Save as AFPhoto-writes an .afphoto version of each source image.
• Save as JPEG-writes a JPEG version of each source image.
• Save as PNG-writes a PNG version of each source image.
• Save as TIFF-writes a TIFF version of each source image.
• Save as OpenEXR-writes a 32-bit OpenEXR version of each source image.
• Save as WEBP-writes a Web version of each source image.
• Save as JPEG-XL-writes a JPEG-XL version of each source image.
• Available Macros-lists all macros in their respective categories for adding to the batch job.
Click Apply to add the currently selected macro to the Applied Macros list.
• Applied Macros-lists macros that will be applied to each source image in the batch job.
>>

Good luck, over and out.

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Rick Churchill
Thank you Evan, unfortunately I have already ticked Parallel processing which allows Affinity Photo (version 1) to behave as above (using just the 2 efficiency cores). Unticking it is worse as it then only uses 1. Thank you for reproducing the manual but it casts no more light on the issue it just advises leaving it ticked (the default state).

My question is "Has this been fixed in Version 2 so that all cores are being used?"

It is just a matter of adding say. half a dozen JPEGs to the batch job panel and ticking conversion to PNG. Click OK and observing how many files are processed at any one time shown by the rotating icon next to each file.

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Euan Williams
Why not download V2 as a trial and see what happens?

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Euan Williams
This page offers detail on V2 and V2.1 new features.

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Rick Churchill
I took Euan’s advice and got hold of a trial version of Affinity Photo v2. I was concerned that it may overwrite my existing paid for version but it allowed me to run both.
Unfortunately after testing (see below) there is no change in the way it uses the M1 processor, only 2 cores are employed.

Having gone to the trouble of signing up to version 2 and downloading it I decided to run some tests to see whether it was in any way different from version 1 in terms of speed, and for good measure I would try it on the old computer too. As I had ported the licence for version 1 across to the new computer I downloaded a second copy of a trial version 2 (under an alias email address). The results were surprising but not in the way I expected.

I batch processed 16 images in Sony RAW, Fuji RAW and Fuji HEIC each to convert to JPG and TIFF. There was no speed improvement in version 2 however there was a significant difference between computers. Here are the results M1 MacBook Pro v MacBook Pro (Intel i5)
Sony RAW 51 sec v 3min 6sec (3.6 times faster)
Fuji HEIC, 2m 6s v 9m 48s (9 times faster)
Fuji RAW 2m 34s v 21m 5s (13 times faster)

So I was under a complete misconception that the new computer was slower. In my defence I had been processing only Sony RAW as the Fujifilm camera is a new acquisition and I would be converting many more images at a time and would just leave the computer and make a cup of tea so was less aware of the time taken to process.

In conclusion then v2 has not improved the way it uses the M1 Processor (there may be technical reasons why it cannot) but it now will process Fuji RAW and HEIC files. The new MacBook Pro is faster despite my recollection!

Incidentally Capture 1 converts Sony RAW to JPG and TIFF in 19 secs (2.7 times faster than Affinity) but I don't know how many cores it uses.

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Trevor Hewson
I have always understood that image processing is one of those operations that lends itself to parallel processing, so just because it only works on two images at a time may not mean that it isn’t making full use of all its processors.

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Tony Still
I don't use Affinity Photo but I do have v2 installed because I bought the discounted bundle (it's on my list to get into it). That said, here's my take on it:

I presume you're using Activity Monitor (ideally CPU Usage window) to assess the usage. Also, it is 2 performance cores that you're seeing in use (I think you said Efficiency at one point)?

I have RAM usage limit (in Settings>Performance) set to my installed RAM size. On Photo's Help menu there is an entry for Benchmark that assesses the comparative performance of the host computer; I assume that this is a valid proxy for running Photo flat-out as in a batch operation.

When I run the benchmark I see all 10 CPU cores saturated during the second and third test phases, which is what you were hoping for. The GPU is also heavily, though not fully, loaded. Depending on what you are doing, it may be that it has mostly been offloaded onto the GPU. You can view the GPU load in Activity Monitor using the GPU History window.

My results show GPU faster than CPU for all of the tasks:
Vector 516 (1 CPU) vs 3597 (GPU) - 7x faster
Raster 1062 (multi [all?] CPU) vs 33933 (GPU) - 32x
Combined 1049 (multi [all?] CPU) vs 26161 (GPU) - 25x

Looks like preferring the GPU would be a good strategy.

Re: Performance and Efficiency

Avatar Rick Churchill
Thanks Tony.
Have been away on an extended holiday in Ireland and returned with a 1000 photos and an hours video which I have edited into a 23 minute movie. Faced with the problem of re-formating so many images from my new camera (Fujifilm RAW) and iPhone (HEIC) to something my outdated Lightroom photo editor/catalogue can handle I bit the bullet and am now a subscriber to Adobe and the updated Lightroom.

This means I don't have to use either Affinity or Preview as transcoding software modules but do have to pay£10 a month!

Thanks for your effort.
 
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