Installed Photoshop-compatible 64-bit plugins can be made available to Affinity Photo 2 to extend the range of effects available to you.
About plugins
Configuring plugins in Affinity Photo 2 can be automatic or be configured manually on a per plugin basis.
Automatic: Some third-party plugins can install automatically to Affinity Photo 2's default plugin folder. No further configuration is needed.
Manual: Installed plugins are located manually and then linked to from within Affinity Photo 2 as described below. You'll need to target the parent plugin folder itself, then allow supporting files, necessary for the plugin to operate, to be accessed.
Manual: Installed plugins are located manually and then linked to from within Affinity Photo 2 as described below. You just need to target the parent plugin folder itself.
To view auto-configured installed plugins:
From the Affinity Photo 2 menu, select Settings (or Preferences).
From the Edit menu, select Settings.
Select the Photoshop Plugins tab.
Click Open Default Folder in Finder.
Click Open Default Folder in Explorer.
To enable untested or potentially unsupported plugins:
Check "Allow Unknown Plugins to be used" beneath the Detected Plugins list.
To link to your plugin file manually:
From the Affinity Photo 2 menu, select Settings (or Preferences).
From the Edit menu, select Settings.
Select the Photoshop Plugins tab.
Under the Plugin Search Folders box, click Add, then navigate to the parent folder that contains the .plugin file. For example, this could be in a Photoshop folder such as /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS6/Plug-ins.
Under the Plugin Search Folders box, click Add, then navigate to the parent folder that contains the .plugin file. For example, this could be C:\plugins\nik.
To allow access to supporting plugin files:
From the Photoshop Plugins tab, under the Plugin support folders box, click Authorize Global.
The folder dialog will default to root ("Macintosh HD"). You can click Authorize here and access to support files will be applied recursively, or you can specify a particular directory that contains the support files.
The folder dialog will default to root. You can click Authorize here and access to support files will be applied recursively, or you can specify a particular directory that contains the support files.
Press Close.
To apply an installed plugin:
From the Filters menu, select the plugin from the Plugins pop-up menu.