ACEScg in Affinity Photo

[kn9]

ACES OCIO support & workflow in Affinity Photo by Serif

In addition to 32-bit editing support, Affinity Photo also implements OpenColorIO; a color management system that provides a full color managed workflow. It is predominantly used for motion picture production but can be used for any situation where accurate end-to-end color management is required.

OpenColorIO setup instruction: https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/HDR/ocio.html?title=Using%20OpenColorIO

• Download and extract your chosen OpenColorIO configuration to a folder.
• MacOS: From the Affinity Photo menu, select Preferences.
• Windows: From the Edit menu, select Preferences.
• On the Color tab, under OpenColorIO Configuration File, choose Select and navigate to the extracted directory. Choose the .ocio configuration file.
• MacOS: Under OpenColorIO Search Folder, click Select and choose the extracted directory (it should already be the current highlighted directory from when the .ocio configuration file was selected).
• You will be prompted to restart the app, which is necessary for the OpenColorIO settings to take effect.
  
  
  
  
  

Known issue

Affinity seems to bake the ICC at export, especially when exporting 8bit JPG files. This is a dramatic issue and making the export to JPG impossible as it results in an unwanted “double sRGB (transfer function)” effect.

Some useful links:
• ACES > ICC sRGB Kit for Affinity Photo
• https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/59321-is-32bits-linear-workflow-well-implemented-in-ap

[Jacob (Jacob Danell)]

To convert log footage from cameras to ACEScg in Affinity Photo, follow these steps:

1. Add an OCIO layer and convert from role_scene_linear to Utility - sRGB - Texture. Now the image looks exactly like your log footage.
2. Now add a second OCIO layer above the first OCIO and convert from your log format (slog3 in my case) to ACEScg and we’re now in ACEScg linear space.
3. Set your Preview to OCIO Displace Transform and set your wanted output (sRGB in my case)