Serif have just released version 1.7 of both of their flagship applications, Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer.  These tools provide excellent alternatives to Adobe products such as Photoshop and Illustrator with a much lower, pay once price tag.  The 1.7 update applies to all platforms, Windows, Mac and iOS.

Affinity Photo changes:

• Big performance increases across Mac, Windows and iPad
• Pen and dial support for Surface devices
• HDR / EDR monitor support
• At least 2x faster loading of RAW files
• More effective noise reduction, hot pixel removal and wide colour space development
• New Sub Brushes to combine multiple brushes in a single stroke
• Symmetry (up to 32-way) is now supported – including on-canvas controls and optional mirroring
• On the fly nozzle rotation now available with shortcut keys
• New “Procedural texture” and “Voronoi” filter effects
• Live filter effects have been rewritten to improve performance
• An all-new HSL adjustment layer has been added, supporting custom hue ranges, new UI and picker controls
• Layers studio revamp
• Alternate futures for document history
• HEIF images can now be loaded, including loading of any depth map
• Added support for 12bit and 16bit CMYK TIFF files
• New Assets Panel available to store and drag and drop regularly used assets

Affinity Designer changes:

• Big performance increases across Mac, Windows and iPad
• Pen and dial support for Surface devices
• HDR / EDR monitor support
• Create and edit directly in any isometric plane
• Arrowheads!
• New transform mode in Node tool
• Lasso selection of nodes
• New sculpt mode added to pencil
• Add unlimited strokes and fills to a single shape
• New point tranform tool
• Many grid improvements, including a new cube grid and column guides
• Many PSD import / export improvements
• Layers studio revamp
• Pixel persona now supports sub-brushes and symmetry (up to 32-way)
• Alternate futures for document history

Learn more in the video below.

GameDev News Applications

The Switch is quickly becoming the platform of choice for JRPG fans. Square Enix has shown ongoing support by releasing multiple Final Fantasy games on the system and more recently it announced Star Ocean: First Departure R would arrive in the near future.

GungHo Online Entertainment has now revealed the Grandia HD Collection – previously known as Grandia + Grandia II HD Remaster – will be “coming soon” to the Nintendo Switch. The collection was originally revealed for Nintendo’s platform in August last year.

In an official news release, GungHo said more information about this upcoming title would be revealed at E3 2019. If you haven’t had the chance to experience this series before, it’s known for its great characters, mature storytelling, memorable music and fun battle system. Below are some additional details.

Key Features:

● Real-time, turn-based action – Experience and employ a unique action bar system for real-time fighting with distinct characters
● Magic-based combat – Gather Mana Eggs to learn and use magic-based skills, ranging from elemental attacks to character-enhancing magic for defense and offense statistical boosts
● Illustrious worlds to explore – The vibrant worlds in GRANDIA HD Collection include nostalgic starter cities such as Parm (GRANDIA) and Carbo Village (GRANDIA II) to iconic fields and areas such as The End of the World (GRANDIA) and Valmar’s Moon (GRANDIA II)
● Gather Skill Points and ATTACK! – Skill Points or Skill Coins can be used to earn incredibly intense moves that make for an extraordinary fighting experience
● Eclectic Enemy Encounters – The worlds of GRANDIA and GRANDIA II bring forth a plethora of challenging and epic enemies in the wild, as well as main storyline bosses
● Ear-Indulging, Melodious Compositions – Experience world exploration, momentous battles, and legendary in-game experiences in beautiful harmony with musical compositions from acclaimed Japanese composer Noriyuki Iwadare

Both games will also include the following:

● Enhanced details to UI, sprites, and texture art
● Original cinematic videos receiving visual enhancements
● Audio: Japanese and English
● Language Support: Original English and Japanese plus French and German translation

Have you played any entries in this series previously? Are you looking forward to the HD collection on Switch? Tell us below.

If you haven’t picked up a physical copy of the wonderful roguelike / Metroidvania hit Dead Cells yet, you might want to hold off just a little longer. Motion Twin has revealed publisher Merge Games will be releasing a Dead Cells – Action Game of the Year physical edition for the Switch and PlayStation 4 this August.

This updated hard copy of Dead Cells will include a key ring, art book and reversible cover. Most importantly, you’ll also get the recently released “Rise of the Giants” DLC on the game card.

This physical release is to celebrate a momentous first year, with sales of Dead Cells surpassing two million units. It will arrive in North America on 20th August and shortly after in Europe on 23rd August.

Will you be buying this Game of the Year edition? Tell us down in the comments.

Inspire 2019, taking place in Las Vegas July 14–18, is Microsoft’s premier event for partners and an experience for anyone interested in growing their business and strengthening their Microsoft partnership. The event brings together thousands of attendees from 130 countries around the globe for a week of networking and learning — all with the goal of increasing partner profitability and accelerating business growth. This year the keynote speaker lineup will include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, President Brad Smith, Executive Vice President Judson Althoff, who leads Microsoft’s Worldwide Commercial Business organization, and Corporate Vice President Gavriella Schuster, who leads Microsoft’s One Commercial Partner organization. You can find other featured speakers listed online. 

Fishing is a way of life for coastal communities around the world. An estimated four million fishing vessels sail the world’s oceans, providing fish for a global seafood market valued at over $120 billion.

“It’s hard to overstate the importance of fish,” says Nick Wise, CEO of the nonprofit organization OceanMind. “There are three billion people in the world who rely on seafood as their primary source of protein, mostly in developing nations. Twelve percent of the world’s population relies on the wild-capture seafood industry directly or indirectly for their livelihoods.”

Overfishing — when fish is caught faster than stocks can replenish — is a significant factor in the decline of ocean wildlife populations, not least because of the bycatch of other marine life such as turtles and cetaceans. Each of these creatures is an important part of ecosystems and the biodiversity of the ocean.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates one-third of all fish stocks are now overfished and are no longer biologically sustainable.

“A collapse in fish stocks and a failure to manage fishing sustainably,” says Wise, “would lead to a food security crisis and result in significant poverty around the world.”

To fight back against this overfishing, OceanMind is using the power of AI to map data and then feeding that information to government authorities to help catch perpetrators.

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Smart tracking

Regional, national and international regulations are used to manage fishing efforts and can include restrictions on fishing out of season, using banned gear or techniques, or catching more than a set quota.

There are many ways of trying to catch those flouting the law, such as patrol boats, on-board cameras, and the remote electronic monitoring of discards.

However, the vastness of the ocean makes the job difficult.

OceanMind’s system currently tracks thousands of boats, with the capability of tracking millions, across the globe by gathering data from a wide range of sources, including collision-avoidance transponders aboard boats; radar images; satellite imagery; and cellphone signals. Analyzing these enormous datasets is beyond the capability of any one person. OceanMind has developed machine-learning algorithms that predict the type of fishing behavior based on vessel location, and flags suspicious and potentially illegal activity such as fishing too close to the shore.

But the system can’t tell on its own whether anyone is breaking the law.

“The difference between legal and illegal fishing is simply whether or not the vessel had a license to do what it did in that place, at that time, and in that way,” says Wise. “That’s what makes combating illegal fishing challenging: One vessel making a particular maneuver might be legal, another vessel doing the same thing next to it might be illegal.”

OceanMind’s fisheries experts verify the alerts flagged by AI and coordinate closely with the relevant authorities, who can then decide whether to investigate further. The organization already has partnerships with governments, including Thailand’s, which can then target resources to catch offenders.

Real-time advances

Until now, OceanMind has used onsite servers to process the data that comes in every day. “We were basically running a day behind,” explains Wise. “We reviewed things that were happening yesterday.”

Through a Microsoft AI for Earth grant, OceanMind is moving its data analytics to the Microsoft Azure cloud. “The collaboration with Microsoft is going to bring all of that data through our system much more quickly and apply the AI in near real time.”

That transformation will make a big difference to enforcement. Real-time monitoring will help authorities plan patrols that can catch illegal fishing as it happens.