I love the Affinity suite. Thank you so much Serif. I’m an amateur designer. I don’t publish anything, I just love playing with text, winding up my friends and sending birthday, christmas and celebration greetings. The affinity suite has enabled me to do all of this. Keep going guys and gals. I’m not saying that your software couldn’t be better but what in the whole of life can we say couldn’t be better? Your single pricing structure enables me to be able to afford to tickle the small amount of creativity I have. Thank you so much.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Not sure they'll get this note. They don't like me much.

You're spot on. And the price reflects their software's capabilities. Does anyone think that the Affinity apps will be that cheap if they had all the bells and whistles? That being said, the fact that we have an Adobe alternative with 90% of the features which is good enough for 90% of the people out there for a fraction of the price is awesome! For my work, I've found that the Affinity apps do that job perfectly well so I don't need any of Adobe's apps. So I happily upgraded to V2. I think that Affinity is still growing. They are a small team, not a corporate giant like Adobe. It will take some time to catch up to them on the innovation front. This takes a lot of time and money.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yes, If I had to exist on version 1.10 for the rest of my life, I could. I'm happy for the updates strictly for making my life a little easier.

@0hffs

Жыл бұрын

@@TNBR-gl4pc you're putting way too much pressure on Serif. There's other developers who could have stepped up and taken over that space entirely but that too costs money and the right management to deliver the goods to match Lightroom. Everyone had been pushing for a digital assets manager by Serif but there's already a few apps out there that deliver that don't have to already take away from Serifs development team. I use EAGLE for my digital assets and I find that it works well with the Affinity file formats. Eagle is just $30.

@0hffs

Жыл бұрын

@@TNBR-gl4pc additionally your saying their throwing away an opportunity but in my eyes, it's best not to put all our eggs in one basket. We should all learn that lesson from what has taken place with Adobe. If and when they have the resources, I'm certain Serif will work on additional apps to tie in with the suite, they just proved that ability with the launch of Publisher last year and now with the ipad app. Give them time.

@slimhim

Жыл бұрын

@@TNBR-gl4pc they choose to ignore a Lightroom alternative?? You really think they’re ignoring it? Things take time and they are a small team with limited resources.

@jktolford8272

Жыл бұрын

@@TNBR-gl4pc Have you tried freeware alternatives like darktable & RawTherapee? Some people like them, some find them far inferior to Adobe products. But they've been around a heck of a longer time than the Affinity line. Have you been asking *them* for features or UI fixes & have they been ignoring you? Affinity's purchase fees are low, they are new, & they do not have market share to compensate. So check them all out & ask all these developers for what you want.

Great quick review, Dave. Thanks! I'm a traditional artist, not a graphic designer, but I have been using Affinity Designer to create embroidery patterns from my sketches. I love it. However I won't be in a rush to upgrade simply because there is no vector trace. I love that they have a way to warp in the new version (it's about time!) but vector trace would have been the thing that swung it for me. Hopefully they will bring that along soon.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks for the honest opinion Dave. As a photographer and graphic designer there's only one tool I was hoping for and that was auto trace. Illustrator has had it for years and I feel it would be the actual game changer people were looking for. I have to seriously think about whether the upgrade is worth it now.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I’m really perplexed as to why that wasn’t part of this package.

@GavinParsons

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey It's either really, really hard to do (althpugh several online programs now do it), or they don't see the value in it.

@syberpunk

Жыл бұрын

@@GavinParsons Or they’re saving it for V3 😅

@Kallah_DaughterOfYAHUAH

Жыл бұрын

They’re waiting to put it in Affinity 3 and then charge us another $100😊

@jktolford8272

Жыл бұрын

Auto trace has been around for decades, but it's hard to do well. If that's *all* you need, use Inkscape, it's free. I like Inkscape for lots of other reasons, but other people don't. But learning to use a *single* feature shouldn't be a problem. It's tricky to get good results, but that's do to the nature of the task. Results are better when you tweak the photo in the photo editor of your choice w/ tools like curves. Results also vary w/ input resolution. Where Affinity could have the advantage is through better integration of Photo & Designer. Perhaps that's what they're really waiting for.

Content aware and AI aside, I think the majority of professional design work can be done in Affinity. One thing not mentioned was the ability to share assets, brushes and palettes seamlessly among all three Affinity products. I think that is a major step in the right direction and something I will definitely use. I have yet to do the upgrade but it will be interesting to see how well it works and if you can identify the harddrive location for these shared resources. It's great for a single user on a single computer but if you have a design team working on multiple computers then I think you need to be able to point your computer to a server that stores the shared resources (brushes, assets, palettes, etc). This would allow teams to work more effectively rather than having to export the assets and palettes and brushes.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

There's definitely nothing that I would normally design that can't be done in Affinity. It's these incremental improvements that help boost productivity for me.

@yoRRnl

Жыл бұрын

I still have a lot of issues working in Affinity and having clients in the Adobe loop. it is not matching

When I saw the mesh warp filter, I immediately upgraded. The ability to edit text after applying the warp sold me. Then seeing the displace filter in Photo after that felt like validation. Image trace would be nice for some things, but I really don't have a huge need for it. Plus, there is always so much clean up to do after an auto trace that just using the pen and pencil tools are much quicker in the long run.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Good choice!

The new live masks really do go beyond what Photoshop can do. The luminosity range mask is an excellent example. In photoshop you have to play with the apply image tool to get a static mask. Typically you will repeat this to get a refined mask. In affinity, you add a luminosity rage mask, adjust the curve whatching the image update in real time or the preview. And it is a live mask. It will update if anything changes. You can even readjust it anytime.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I haven't dug into those yet, but I do think those are a neat concept. Not sure how much I'll use them, but time will tell.

@freetibet1000

Жыл бұрын

And on top of that you can let the mask intersect (subtract or add) with other masks such as a mask based on colour information. The possibilities are endless. And as you said, all these masks are Live and update with further adjustments you make to the image. Mindblowing!

Love your honesty. It’s super refreshing and although I’m not yet entirely sold on this upgrade just yet, I began realizing the benefits that it brings.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much. I’m happy to lend an honest perspective where i can.

When Affinity tries to innovate on something, people still says (yeah, but they lack on A, B, C...". So, it's a never ending struggle for them (or any other small company that does something associated with big corporations)

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

This is true, and honestly, it's those conversations that help the companies know which direction to take their apps in the future.

@Mithferion

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey The think is that after you have had conversations with X number of persons and all of them had different perspectives, what to do then? It's a hard decision to make

I think what a lot of folks don't consider is that Affinity products are a work in progress. This is only their second version of their software. There have been 20something versions of Photoshop, each with a handful of major changes. Adding a new feature requires a lot of work, so in Affinity's case, they have to pick and choose which new features to add. I'm sure they could add a ton of new features, most of which would have mediocre functionality, at best. Better to add a few new features that work they way they are supposed to than a lot of new features that sort of work. It will take more than a couple of new versions to get close to being on equal ground with Adobe. I think you'll see more and more innovation as time goes on, but right now they are still playing catch up.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Honestly, I think they'll be playing catch-up for a while.

@ComicStripArtist

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey Agreed. Still, if they can take two steps while Adobe takes one, they'll eventually get there. Also, depending on what a person needs the software for, it can still be perfect for them. I use it for cartooning, and it is more than adequate for that.

I’m not a designer, but when it came to pass that I had to create covers for my books and meditations, it was a nightmare. Couldn’t get anything going in any of the old programs. Nothing. Could make nothing happen. Then I found Serif (this was many years ago), and I could make something happen right away. It was really easy to learn for someone who knew nothing about graphic design and book layout. And it was affordable. Really glad I found them. And it took some research because way back then no one had heard of Serif. I’m glad they’ve grown and continue to grow.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Glad you found a good solution with Affinity.

I think in the majority of cases comparing Adobe and Affinity isn't really sensible--at least not in the way that many people do. With Affinity (insert program) we have a program that costs $40 one time (and has perhaps around 8 years of support given the initial release); with Adobe (insert program) we have a program that costs probably on average about $240/year. So even if we only compare 5 year costs there's a massive difference, i.e. $40 vs. around $1200. (No need to attack me on the math if it's off because regardless the difference will remain percentage-wise massive.) I think it's unreasonable to expect the same level of performance from Affinity. Adobe has a lot more revenue which translates to more personnel resources that can make things happen (including innovate). Affinity may never "catch up" with Adobe, but I'd argue that they have sure made up massive ground. Affinity is for those of us that don't see the value in an absurdly expensive subscription. Adobe is for those that do. For many professionals, $700/year for the suite is absolutely justified and worthwhile.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

It’s fair to note that the $700 (albeit expensive) covers the entirety of Adobe’s programs and all the additional resources (Adobe images, fonts, etc.). That said, most people don’t need all the extra apps the come with Adobe cc. Which is where Affinity can shine.

I think you make a good point! If you can’t design without all of Adobe’s bells and whistles, perhaps you don’t know how to design. Sure I miss a couple of tools from time to time (especially warp mesh that has arrived in 2.0) but I still prefer Affinity’s workflow before Adobe’s heavily bloated software. I’m a bit disappointed that Serif didn’t develop at least one feature that did not only catch up but went beyond what Adobe offer. I still wonder what thing Ashley Hewson were unable to tell us about in the Something Big is Coming-teaser, “I can’t say that yet *smug laugh*”. No feature Serif has added matches that smugness.

@raho2005

Жыл бұрын

Studio Link is what i would call a beyond Adobe feature?

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I agree with @StainX. Studio Link and the way the apps work so well together is definitely Affinity's innovation and Adobe can't touch that.

@bladechild2449

Жыл бұрын

Tbh it really depends "what" you're designing though. I much preferred Affinity compared to the unintuitive messy workflow nature of Illustrator, but freeform gradients and meshes were just a pivotal tool for my design style. And it looks like that feature is still missing from V.2. Sure, I could find ways to make a similar outcome in Affinity that I can get in Illustrator, but theoretically why should I when there's a tool for the job. What's considered a bell and whistle to others is a core component for someone else.

@joakimsvensson961

Жыл бұрын

@@raho2005 Sure is! There are definitely features that surpasses Adobe's. But I'm missing the killer feature that justifies the smugness delivered in "Something Big is Coming"-teaser. It's a bit late to announce Studio Link, it's been available since 2019(?).

It's good to listen your impressions. I'm wainting more detail in future and how this suite affect your workflow. I'm personaly glad with the footnotes and some improvements in publisher, to me it is very fun to lear how to make things diferently with affinity.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yes, I probably will do a follow up later down the road.

You are always providing that healthy does of truth and reality to the situation. Totally agree with you! and yes I will probably update my affinity apps and Laos continue to pay the $15CDN for the photoshop/lightroom bundle

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I don’t think affinity has any motivations to compete against Lightroom at this point

Thanks Dave! = totally love your authentic review of 2.0. Matched many of my observations, both cons as well as the pros. In watching a lot of these 2.0 launch reviews, I'd have to say it seems like a universal reaction everywhere (in videos as well as in their comments below) a sense of of surprise and disappointment that there still is no auto-trace tool (yet). For all the other things that were missed, many of them are wanted by certain people who do specific kinds of work (while others aren't bothered by their absence) and usually it was also tied to which of the 3 apps is your favorite workspace to design in. But on the other hand, auto-trace is different = seems regardless of which app you spend most of your time in, or what kinds of design work you tend to do most, everyone universally really wants the auto-trace feature. I think if they had just made sure that this was included in the 2.0 launch, then there would be far less disappointment. After all, there really is some other very great stuff that they just added -- but it's just been shadowed by a glaring missing feature which we all just assumed and were expecting to be there whenever 2.0 got released.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, of all the things missed, Auto Trace or a similar feature is the one I am most shocked didn't make it on the list of must-haves for the development team.

I was being promoted to the new graphic design job at the casino I work at, replacing a company we paid a lot of money to do for us, and the general manager had mentioned that he hates subscriptions when asking me about what software to buy. Looking at what they did, which is print ads, postcards, mailers, and digital signage; I told him I could use Affinity. So since May I have been doing an entire casino's design work and it gets the job done very well. I already put in a requisition for v2 for its improved productivity and the Shape builder and Vector Warp tools will help so much for more complicated graphics. I have Apples Final Cut, and Motion for our video projects as needed....avoiding subscriptions has made him very happy thus far.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I can imagine, definitely a much more reasonable expense.

Hi Dave, I'm a small publisher. I need layers-accross-the-PDF functionality, so that PDF customers can disable graphics layer accross the document with one click. Sort of a deal-breaker for me and it's not about my ability; I need this for my customers. The app is called "publisher" so... I would think there would be tools for digital publishers. No epub export either. For collaboration, I really would like to have PDF pass-through, so that an edited (forms and mark-up) PDF can be placed in a document. I'm working on Photoshop and inDesign right now with a borrowed account. The ability of Photoshop to select a subject and select out the sky is an amazing time saver. The built in artistic filters just are incredible.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, there are going to be some specializations that Affinity just won't go after.

you know AS SOON as affinity 2 dropped. I IMMEDIATELY thought of you Dave. Lol I came to your page yesterday and didn’t see a response video and was just waiting for your response!

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I spent the day watching everyone else's videos because I wanted to see how people were talking about it, and I wanted to do it different.

Innovation, yep you nailed that. It seems like they are still trying to catch up to some basic adobe features. Shape builder, knife and warp do look nice but I was hopping for some stuff in Designer we didn't get like vector trace, better vector brushes, scattering and controlling many vector objects with parent objects. And I've been looking over the release notes and I'm not sure if 2.0 has objects/text along a path or a true vector erase brush but I don't think it does. Anyway, I think I will hold off on buying 2 unless they drop more of those features in a later release. Thanks for the excellent work covering Affinity, art, business and design!

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Text on a path has been available for a while now, but they still don't have vertical text. There's no vector erase, but technically you could use the shape builder tool for that, depending on your needs.

Something that people need to realize is that Adobe launched Illustrator back in the mid 80s. Serif released Affinity Designer in 2014. There are at least 30 years of development time between these. Adobe has been working on refining their tools for DECADES. Serif has been working on their current offerings for maybe 10 years. Why do people think that just because Adobe has specific features that Affinity should be able to have those same ones in less time? Adobe also has SIGNIFICANTLY more money. Hell, they literally just bought Figma for $20 billion. BILLION. Now of course, there is probably some debt financing done there for that, but they have the means to make a $20 billion acquisition. Serif likely hasn't even cracked a quarter billion in profit, so what are they going to use to fund all of the hiring and R&D required to build the same features that Adobe has? It's asinine to think that Affinity will be 100% on par with Adobe anytime soon. And anyone complaining about that is either ignorant or just plain idiotic. Give Serif the time to develop these features. We are still getting these amazing programs at 1/6 of the cost that it would be to have an Adobe CC sub for a year. The fact that we have a low cost alternative to the predatory model that Adobe has is great. Any designer who refuses to support a company like this and instead continues to spend money every month for Adobe is part of the problem. (Obviously, there are some caveats here including niche features in Adobe products as well as access to things like Premiere and AE). Everyone has their preferences, and I am not trying to say that designers NEED to use one thing over another. But designers have for too long been held hostage by Adobe because it's the standard and it works really well. We should be pushing Adobe to make changes that benefit US, not the other way around. In my opinion, Serif is doing what benefits designers as a collective. Giving us affordable, really great software that we can use to realize our dreams and make a living.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I don’t think anybody believes that affinity designer should be on the same level as illustrator, but there are things that definitely should’ve come to fruition by now. Just as a history lesson, Sarah F. was the very first company to actually have a vector trace tool. So it’s logical that they would have this technology already, but it hasn’t showed up. Also, there’s something to be said about the speed of technology especially once a certain company has done the innovation. It’s safe to assume that other companies could come up to speed a lot faster because Adobe already did the work. For instance, nobody had designed a smart phone at the level of an iPhone until Apple did it. Shortly after, all these technology companies start building smart phones. we know these technologies exist and we know the potential, so it’s much easier to get up to speed because somebody already paved the way.

@codywlsmith

Жыл бұрын

​@@DaveConrey What you aren't accounting for though is programming differences and money. Just because Serif had the first vector trace tool 20+ years ago, doesn't mean they can copy and paste it into Designer. In an ideal world, they would have the know-how to implement a feature into a new program, but it really isn't that easy. Speaking as someone who works at a company developing software and applications, I can't tell you how many times our engineers have told people "It's going to take a while to implement this one feature we have in this application into another", it's never as easy as it seems. From the innovation standpoint, you are right. When one entity innovates, others should follow suit, but this is also where money comes in. In your smartphone example, you are talking about companies like Apple, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Google. All of which have money. As a Motorola, it's easy to buy some 2007 iPhones when they released and spend time and money to reverse engineer them to come up with your own versions. Software developers don't have that luxury. They can't just buy Adobe and dig into the code. It isn't like it's open source. For the most part, I think you are right. Even though these things aren't "easy", we live in a world where technology is moving so fast and as a company, if you aren't at least keeping up, you are getting left behind. I will be curious to see where Serif brings 2.0 to before 3.0 comes out and how closely aligned to their Adobe counterparts they are.

The biggest thing I took away was the price for value is there. To me the new productivity tools and new features are really great for the equivalent of a couple of "payments" to Adobe I was able to outright buy 3 products I use to create. * _If you go ahead and take advantage of the 40% off for the Affinity V2 Universal License._

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Definitely worth the value

@Revenant483

Жыл бұрын

@adam1762 This is also very true! Serif bring it to Adobe.

@wolfpack8275

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey sell out

The bells and whistles in Adobe are for more efficient workflow and experimentation...kudos to Affinityfor getting Publisher on iPad

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

👍

This was the review I was waiting for, thank you Dave! I was always going to purchase V2 as I've more than had my moneys worth from V1 and want to help fund the continued development of the suite. Totally agree with you, as far as innovation goes they'll always be playing catch-up as they're still perfecting the day to day tools themselves but I'm 100% with you in the belief if you are a real designer you can work with any tool. Affinity though, wins handsdown for me with their distribution and pricing model and its not like people can't continue to use V1 if they don't feel ready or arn't able to pay for V2 at this time.

@guy7622

Жыл бұрын

Adobe SHOULD be more innovative. Subscribers pay about six times more, right?

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

indeed

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

agreed, thanks for watching and the commiseration.

Thanks for your honest review. I made the upgrade to Affinity 2. (I have been a long time Adobe user). I found Affinity 2 to be just much more intuitive and it has everything I could possibly need at the moment.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

Im not a professional Designer, but I do design a ton of logos for fun and Affinity is to me what a video game is to a basement dwelling kid. The one thing I appreciate most about Affinity is the one time payment and not a huge monthly fee like the other guys. The new improvements are HUGE for me but again, Im no pro. I hope they continue to add great features which I personally dont mind paying a small fee for as long as they dont lock me out and force me to pay big bucks every month. If the program was paying my bills every month it would be a different story. There was a time back in the day when you could buy Adobe off the shelf and you were good to go but times change and everyone wants to get on that credit card and make you pay their rent to live there. Thanks Affinity for being a better solution for the little guy like me. Great video!

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

that's a great take. thanks for sharing

For my personal, and undoubtedly simplistic, use (I'm not a professional graphic designer) Affinity Designer 1.x was able to solve nearly all my problems and crazy without a monthly fee. I'm excited to try 2.0. It doesn't sound like they added an Offset tool - too bad. I'll have to investigate the DWG support, which could be useful since I'm a Fusion 360 user.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Oh you may dig that dwg functionality

I like what you said about getting the job done with the basics...because one thing that's hard to miss on KZread: there are a whole lot of people trying to sell "green-horns" things they don't need. And on KZread there is a sucker born every 2.3 seconds! So thanks for your honesty. (and "greenhorns": stop trying to impress and just learn your art! Then you won't need to be dropping to your knees yanking on Adobes zipper)

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Now that's a visual I won't get out of my head for a while. 😂

Maybe I've just been doing this too long, but I'm one of those who doesn't need all the bells and whistles, so I'm not disappointed in 2.0 at all. The new tools are ones that make sense, and are ones I'll use. I also do and handle a lot of engineer drawings, so the addition of formats to incorporate those is great. Things like image trace, I don't use it, a designer should be able to draw/ trace things with better and more accurate results. Does it take longer? Yes, but to have something you created, that you can easily edit and tweak to your project needs because you placed every node, it's always worth the extra time and effort. Having true vector brushes would be way more useful than trace. I think they're doing great.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I'm the same, get along without any fancy things. A little blur, some blending modes, and a healthy dose of halftone texture and I"m golden.

I instantly bought the complete package, tbh it is a steal for that price. The things they added to Designer are enough to justify the purchase for me personally. If they only added mesh gradients, image trace and something like the blend tool I couldnt even ask for more tbh. At least when it comes to my workflow. The best thing about affinity is that it is more fun to use than adobe. And I dont expect them to catch up or overtake them. Adobe getting 50 bucks a month from millions of designers. While affinity asks for a one time payment for a lifetime purchase per version. And at a reasonable price at that! 120 bucks for the full package including win/mac and ipad version... damn.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Right on, Thanks for sharing

As always great perspective on the Difference between Adobe and Affinity.🤘

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Kevin.

Thanks for the input on Affinity 2.0 Dave. I'm just recently getting the hang of affininity 1.0 now that I have some time since Christmas break from school is approaching. I am definitely going to be waiting for awhile to upgrade to 2.0 while it gains newer features that I might wanna get when I get the hang of this new software. It's been fun though learning the process of how vector art works.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Great to hear! Thanks for sharing

When I look into applications, I read and read, research and research, and often at some point I encounter the kill switch or the go for it confirmation. Thank you. Vector trace. Without it, no go.

@DaveConrey

4 ай бұрын

Yeah, I can see how no vector trace would be a deal breaker.

Vector trace is the single reason I can dump CorelDraw for affinity designer. In my opinion, Serif needs to catch up before they can really innovate. There are still basic features users needs that the apps lack. So many feature requests. Innovation takes a lot of work and time. If they spend so much time trying to innovate and users wait too long to get those basic tools, they may move on to other software.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I’m not sure how that one got skipped over, strange for sure

Color Mesh or Gradient mesh was added back in 1.8 as the Appearance panel. Actually it is more like free form gradient in Illustrator but can achieve the same thing. In the Appearance panel you can add more than one gradient fill and then set it as a circle or ellipse making the right side of the gradient transparent. Then set the blend mode to average or try the other blend modes for weird effects. Then move the points around and they will interact with one another.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I'm going to have to check this out.

@Graphicxtras1

Жыл бұрын

Yes, the appearance panel is great for combining gradients fills (would love to see it also in Photo) but the gradient mesh tool on Illustrator can do a whole lot more such as using it with effects to create some truly extremely distorted points / twirled / crackling points and gradient colors, I can't see anyway of achieving that with the current appearance tool.

I agree, Affinity is the 'value' option alternative to Adobe. AND you still need to learn/know/use design principles no matter which tool you use! - Well said Dave!

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

thank you.

Appreciate the review! Been an Affinity user for years (before they changed the name to affinity) Got busy when I downloaded the trial version of 2.0 and didn’t get a chance to check out the updates. Everything your saying is true and spot on! 10,000% I’ve been saying it for years you don’t need all the bells and whistles to get the job done. All you need to know are the fundamentals of art and design and understand the universal essential tools of the programs: if you decide to upgrade to the bells and whistles later or temporarily that’s fine. But I recommend Affinity and hope they eventually get a vector trace feature and other things you suggested. As for now I just use my tracer in Corel Draw that I bought 2 years ago while I was a student at school finishing my BA for graphic design media arts. I had 2 associates before that(just to note I’m not a beginner lol) Great stuff here!

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed the video.

@mikebcreative

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey welcome! Keep up the great work!

Honestly this software is the best. The biggest problem with subacription is access. The whole pantone stuff is a great reminder of why this own nothing aproach is madness.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, that Pantone part was a killer... however, that could end up biting Affinity too.

Thanks for letting us know about Affinity 2.0. Like you said they haven't really innovated much so I don't think I'll be upgrading and buying the new versions until they do. I will confess that I got a new job since I was last using Affinity so I'm using my Adobe license instead and it's just a better experience. The only reason I use Affinity now is for the tone mapping persona or if I need to access an old document I made in Affinity and since I have access to what I need, it's not really worth it. But, it's a great cost effective alternative and you can work with it so nice!,

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I think some of their updates are worth the upgrade, depending on how you work.

Great Video, but wanted to let you know in V1 you have been able to copy FX for a while, but only through a key command. You had to hit Command+C on the layer with the effect you wanted, then Paste with Command+Ctrl+V. So if anyone is still using V1 remember that.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, someone shared that with me. Affinity should have made that more prominent, but glad they made it more clear.

Thanks for the review. It was one of your videos that convinced me to buy Affinity in the first place. And I do most of my personal design work on it now. I still use CorelDraw (!) for precise designs and tracing. And Adobe? I only use it for work because they have CC license. (And I use DaVinci Resolve for editing.) I think Affinity is perfect for smaller organizations, charities, non-profits, etc, that need design software but don't have the budget for Adobe.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Great to hear. Thanks for watching.

Serif did a no no with the windows verion they decided to package the software in a MSIX file which is a microsoft store package so many business users are unable to install the software and now other applications cant reference the executables and you cant spesify the installation location like you could previously also the online only activation is bull when you could activate V1 offline now the software can no longer be installed and activated when the company someday either doesnt exist or the activation servers dont exist making it possible for them to kill the V2 whenever they want and this looks like they are slowly going towards subscriptions as you shouldnt need to activate online which also those business users are unable to do due to security and them using the LTSC version of windows 10 where the store doesnt exist so MSIX wont work and the activation wont work on those business versions of windows

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

oh wow, that's kinda nuts. I hope they get it fixed.

@322ss

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey And the software goes into Program Files/WindowsApps folder which is protected by Windows systems. You'll have to go through special steps to even get to that folder... like open task manager, find running app (Affinity Designer or Photo), then unfold that task, and right click to open file location. Or, if you actually want to be able to browse WindowsApps folder with file explorer (instead of getting access to single sandbox folder), you'll have to alter WindowsApps folder rights as administrator. Otherwise you can't even get into folder. Also custom install path is now out of question, you could change the drive where Windows App installs, but IIRC it still will go to a path MS decides.

Very good review. I have just bought the upgrade package but haven't used it yet. I'm old school Designer, pre computer era 😂. Adobe lost me at the subscription model, so I still use CS6 for all my work and Affinity for jobs it can do. For example, isometric illustration in Designer is excellent. As for the price of Affinity - has everyone forgotten how much we used to pay for their products? Thousands! And if you wanted to do anything exceptional you had to buy third party plugins because the software had limits. But we always found a workaround. You're right, it's just a tool and I think an outright purchase of 3 key design tools (at current discount) for the price of 3 months adobe is a fair price. Plus I get to retain all my files, fonts etc on my dystem and not in the cloud. Hopefully this new upgrade will give me the extra tools so I can finally drop CS6.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Fingers crossed. Thanks for watching.

Great review. I think more than innovation what we needed was accessibility to Applications that can to a certain extent do what adobe can do at a fee every designer (especially freelancers) can afford. Some of us are not keen on pirating software (adobe) we feel much better having advanced features on an application that despite its limitations is worth the once-off price. I love affinity and for what features it has I feel their price is very modest and gives me the exact tools I need for design. Even V1 was good enough for me. But like you said, a good designer can utilise any tool and that’s what makes the difference.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Indeed. Thanks for sharing.

@martharetallick1150

Жыл бұрын

I just did a 100-plus page book design with Affinity Publisher V1. (Thanks, Dave, for your help!) It worked just fine for me, and I'm about to go to press.

@SimonHakai_

Жыл бұрын

@@martharetallick1150 that’s wonderful, it’s as I thought, Version 1 by itself is already that good

@martharetallick1150

Жыл бұрын

@@SimonHakai_ Thank you! And, to be perfectly honest, book design is one of the more conservative areas of visual design. It doesn't have to be super graphic-design-y like, say, posters. So, I don't need the latest and greatest software to get the job done.

I think one good and valid point you brought up was how innovative Adobe is. Adobe has been in the game for years and years, whereas this team is probably a lot smaller and trying to catch up. Adobe has become nothing more than the Amazon/Walmart of design software-just swallowing everything in its path. Like Substance for example. Use to be a buy and own program per version. Now they sold their souls to these elder gods who lurk in the proverbial darkness holding us and our wallets by the balls. You want to hate them and for good reasons, but like you said--they are innovative and doing crazy cool things too. Who knows how small their development team is, so that could potentially be making them catch up more painful and sluggish. I think they have the potential to eventually get there, the problem is WHEN. Until they do, we're paying more money for very little bang and/or continued to be held hostage to our Adobe Overlords per month, while we wait and pray for Affinity to rescue us once and for all, haha.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Good perspective. Thanks.

Thanks for the review. You nailed it by saying it’s about productivity. The reason I deleted Affinity and swore I would never use it again is I lost 2 hours worth of work when the program crashed on me. Do you know if the new version does backups? I know Adobe does backups now so it’ll auto save that way if it crashes you don’t lose all you’r your work

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I’m my opinion, auto save works pretty well on Affinity now and I believe you can set the auto save duration. I’ve had crashes and when I reopened the apps, my projects were intact.

Your point about not needing highly innovative tools to be a good designer is even more evident in the music world. Today everybody can have a professional music studio in their tiny little bedroom. Yet, great albums were made with 1/100th of the technology we have today. And the point really, is that having all that technology can actually be more of a hinderance to productivity.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I just listened to an interview with Rick Rubin where he talks about how while everyone else seems to want to layer tricks upon tricks, he strives to eliminate as much stuff as possible. He also has almost zero technical or musical skill himself, operates strictly on instinct.

9:28 I can't imagine who would complain about the price. Especially with the current V2 launch special. But even full price is crazy reasonable compared to Adobe's extortion strategy.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Agreed

Big fan of the full bundle price, especially with the launch discount. Also glad they’re (so far) not going to subscription. Illustrator’s convert to vector and the DocsFlow plugin for Indesign (which enables placed linked google docs with easy auto-update of changes) are the two anchors really keeping me stuck with having a few Adobe apps installed.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

The vector trace is a big one and I'm shocked it didn't make the cut this time.

@jktolford8272

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey I wasn't aware an older Serif product included trace. Is there a reason they can't just port that code?

Biggest thing lacking for photographers is the lack of a proper asset manager (photo library) for culling images on the fly. The only viable solution that I can find is using Adobe Bridge. Otherwise, an amazing product suite with good capabilities. Agreed that if you can’t come up with a “good design” using this software (meaning vectors, layouts, etc) then maybe you shouldn’t be in a different business.😀

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

A digital asset manager would be ideal for sure.

Can we copy adjustments from one photo to another? by clicking copy whilst photo selected then selecting the photo you want to paste to and select command v? i used to be able to do this in lightroom but cant currently in version one of affinity.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

If you mean copying from one document and pasting it into another, yes you can. You can also do this with live filters, masks, and anything that will generate a layer.

Great review, agreed with most of the points. Hits my ego that clearly my Affinity tutorials channel is not on the Serif radar that I didn't receive an invite to look and check out the beta but I was quite happy to purchase it, the whole set / universal (clearly looking at the comments on here, you have 100s more comments than I ever get). I agree, Affinity is not innovating but I am also happy with productivity and tools that work in the way that I can use them quick and easy to achieve my results. I still use Photoshop, I don't think I would ever give up Photoshop to just move to Photo but I really like the application. Some of the new features are very useful but there was so much more that I really wanted to see in the applications (video for me)

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Honestly, I'm shocked they reached out to me on this because I've been more critical than some of how they operate.

Yeah, what you said, Dave. Here’s an innovation I’d like to see: A "shape hugger" tool, where a shape can be configured to share borders with one or more other shapes. In this environment, one could reshape shared borders without having to worry about the layer hierarchy of the involved. This would be very useful when editing busy graphic images. My 2 cents.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Hmm, I’m not sure I know what you mean, but it sounds interesting.

Hey Dave, do you know Regarding the number of computers I can install it on... it states on their site: "As a private individual, you can download, install, use and run for personal use, one copy of the Serif Software directly on each computer running either (depending on your purchased license) Microsoft Windows (“Windows Computer”) or macOS (“Mac Computer”) that you personally own or control." I own/control Mac's but my kids also use for school. Do you know IF I may I install it on the one I use & the ones they use for school (even if they're in different states)? I am a private individual, this is for personal use, not a commercial enterprise. TKS

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I'm pretty sure it's one license per computer.

I'm afraid to switch from Adobe to Affinity because I need a fast workflow. Is there a way to customize the keyboard shortcuts to make it easier for Adobe users to find their way around?

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yes, I’m the preferences you can change keyboard shortcuts to be whatever you want.

Love your whiteboard. 'Don't Make Me Think' should be rule number one for any software designer (not just the UI, either).

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

The title of one of my favorite books on design, albeit old, by Steve Krug

@leroycasterline1122

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey Was his focus software? I remember reading a book called something like 'the design of everyday things,' also about not making people think.

Since I can't be considered a professional or a designer, I'm pleased with what I bought. I've seen plenty of innovation from Adobe, but this is fine for people like me, who use it somewhere between a pro and a hobbyist. I've never been spoiled by half of the tools that people keep shouting about. Vector trace sure would be excellent. Of the tools that I have used to do it, so far, they have been crap. Too many nodes, Too many layers, and too much of anything except a clean SVG to work with. Thankfully it has forced me to get really good with the Pen tool. The Affinity Suit is the set of tools I'm using, so I'll see how far I can go with the toolset I have.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I agree completely. Affinity is definitely pro-level software for most of us, but it's also a great entry point for new designers and hobbyists.

I was completely bamboozled by the update and how to install it. Is it App Store? Is it separate? If so how does it update and how the heck do you get iOS to update from an external purchase? Kinda sussed it now. iOS apps just need you to log-in once you've downloaded them, they're free to download. I guess that's the same for the Mac apps too? My Mac is running on 10.14 so I can't upgrade yet... and I'm in the middle of a job so upgrading is not an option right now. (10.15 broke my partner's laptop!) so I'll be updating after this job and installing the apps then. BUT, will buy today so that I can install them later. Will just have to wait but not missing out on 40% off - bargain! Thank you for the advice, appreciated. Knew you would have an opinion on this and you've saved me trawling through a million other videos! If it's good enough for Dave, it's good enough for me! 🙌

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching and I hope you get it all worked out.

So is this just a promotional introductory price for a short while that I need to act on soon or is this going to be the price if I wait to upgrade for a few months?

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yes, and I'm sure that price probably goes away by the end of the month or the end of the year at the longest

I'm really happy with what V2 is, but I agree about the way it was marketed. Lots of people were taking the hype in the messaging to mean something absolutely radical, even imagining an Affinity Premiere or After Effects, and those people were left disappointed for no good reason. All that secrecy, too: they could have told me exactly what was coming for yesterday's relaunch, and I still would have been there with my credit card the moment it went live.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Agreed, Joe.

@IanMcCausland

Жыл бұрын

sadly the market dictates these kind of click bait marketing

In Affinity Designer I really wish they would fix the “Select By and Select Object”, its completely useless. If you have multiple layers containing text or objects with the same fill color, stroke weight, etc, the “Select By and Select Object” operation will select text or objects with the same fill color, stroke weight, etc. even if the layer they are in is locked or hidden. Its true you can’t move them, but you sure can delete them, even the locked or hidden. WHY HAVE A LOCK BUTTON IF IT DOESN”T EXCLUDE FROM A SELECTION? Is this user error? Am I missing something

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I think if you hide layers, that will keep them from being selected, but this kinda defeats the purpose of the multi-select options.

@dwon7781

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey It works if you hide the object itself. But if you lock/hide the layer that contains the object and even if you turn off "edit on all layers" it still selects the object. My day job is 3D Civil Eng/Arch visualization, so I am cleaning up very complex CAD DWG files in Illustrator. Turning off hundreds or thousands of objects is impractical. A lock layer button should lock the objects that are contained in the layer. A Hide(toggle visibility) button should hide the objects in the layer. Meaning they are excluded from selection. No workarounds necessary......Something Big is Coming, experience true creative freedom....the lock button locks. I really hope I am just missing something here.

I was not approached by Serif. I purchased because I like what they did with the software. I have been using all apps since yesterday and I am having a blast. I already did a client job with the apps.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

That's awesome. I'm rebuilding a project in AffPub2.0 right now too.

I didn't hestitate to update to Affinity v.2 (all 3 apps). I am a professional graphic designer and I've worked with Adobe software since the very start (way, way back). I'm currently using Affinity for almost all of my current design work. I think Affinity represents superb value (compared to its most obvious competition). What would I like to see improved? Easy. Tables! Publisher isn't quite as table-friendly as InDesign, and I work with complex tables a lot - but mostly still in InDesign, as that is where I find the most flexibility (very important, when clients are continually changing their minds and asking for amendments!). This means - I'm still financially tethered to InDesign for the foreseeable future. Hopefully Publisher gets there soon. But £90 (launch discount) for the complete Affinity v.2 suite? It's a steal, and if you're using it to work for paying clients it will pay for itself real quick!

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I agree with this. The tables are a bit clunky. I used to use them a lot in my former life and whenever I use them in Publisher, I find myself thinking that it was easier in InDesign

Can you do a video on how you create a account to purchase. I have yet to find a Setup new account button. I want to buy v2 while it's 99 but I can't find anywhere to create my account on affinity serif main screen!

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

At check out, you should be given a choice between New or Existing Customers. I just did it and it worked fine. Once you add your email, it will take you to the check out where you add your information. You may need to verify your email address.

Hey Dave, what are your thoughts on the software Vectorstyler? Did you use it? I see it has autotrace, more selection options, a blend tool, etc.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I've heard of it but never tried it.

Hi Dave! Question: How can I export my pdf to print with color separations. I'm trying to send the pdf file to the printer but they keep telling me that the body text and grayscale images appear in CMYK, as the colour images. I'm not sure how to fix it. Any ideas? Thanks man!

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Sorry I got to this comment a little late, but what's likely happening is that you're using a "rich black" or CMYK black. I recommend you go through all your text and make sure the color is set to only 100% K, with no other color in it. Unfortunately, no, you can't export to separations. It's a bit annoying that this isn't a thing, and I can only assume that the reason Affinity didn't make it a priority is that most print shops do their own separations from PDF these days.

@chuchocaba79

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey Dave thanks a lot man! I double checked as you wrote and went ok. It also helped me to sync the profiles for the images / artworks whether these are vectors or photos, and the profile use in the print house.. and with this applying the "embed profile" option to get a pdf with normal cmyk for colour and only black plates for grayscale images. It worked great (: Again, thanks so much for the advices and also this amazing channel! Keep it up and sorry for my late reply!

Here’s a tip for a possible story you might cover. There might be an internal scandal simmering from within Serif regarding their payments and licenses process. I am one of the many disgruntled customers who attempted to buy the Affinity v2 Universal license. I’ve made the purchase on their website and it seemed that my payment went through. But no license nor confirmation that it did and I was not issued any licenses. I checked the order history through their website as well, no trace of any orders or payments. I did check my bank transactions and it seemed like the charge went through. I have already contacted Serif’s customer service since last week. Followed up several times, NO replies. I did search Serif's forums because I wanted to post it on there in the hopes that someone from Serif would reach out and provide a solution. Apparently, a lot of other customers are encountering this issue and not only on their own website but on other platforms like the Apple app store as well! There are in fact multiple threads created with the same issue and with a sizable number of users encountering similar issues. Some were so unlucky they were charged multiple times! But no licenses issued. I’ve read from some threads that Braintree might be having some issues. But some ill-equipped moderators just responds in a blunt unprofessional manner throwing blame at either the customer’s banks or user error. I encourage you to try purchasing the universal license via their website and see the problem yourself. Even until now, they have not closed the online purchasing despite the issues they are encountering.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Hmm, this is interesting. I will look into this a bit.

I bought the affinity publisher suite with designer and photo with the hopes of importing my Microsoft Word Book of 200 pages with at least 800 pictures with ease. I tried their import or place function it didn't work but then again I am completely new to the software and do not know what is possible with it. I'm not sure if I have to create 200 pages blank and then copy and paste each item from my word document into affinity I hope it doesn't have to be that it's extremely labor intensive I hope there are ways of just throwing everything in and then just manipulating stuff with drag and drop and resize

@DaveConrey

4 ай бұрын

Sorry for the late reply. I hope you found your answer.

Thanks again Dave for your quick and to the point reaction to V2 - I know Adobe have a much bigger dev team, but what we got yesterday is a good point to build from. Question is, why am I still using DrawPlus X8 from 2015 for features that should be in Affinity Designer today?

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Damn good question.

@Kallah_DaughterOfYAHUAH

Жыл бұрын

Lol

@delightfulsquirtle316

Жыл бұрын

what features are these?

@atariexplorer1545

Жыл бұрын

@@delightfulsquirtle316 Has a great Raster to Vector (trace) feature which I still use...

@delightfulsquirtle316

Жыл бұрын

@@atariexplorer1545 Nice, I miss that feature too. Hope image trace, mesh gradient, text wrap and a blend tool will be added during the V2 lifespan. Couldnt ask for anything more tbh.

SO i do have affinity publisher 1.10.whatever, BUT i can't update unless i BUY the new version? am i right? (and btw, my latest version of affinity is getting tons of bugs, which it had not before...)

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yes, that's basically it, and it's kinda what studio software used to be. Same with Adobe before they went to the Creative Cloud subscription model.

@TheMetalFreshTiger

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey a ok, i didn't know that about Adobe. Btw with the latest version of publisher (not the 2.0) I'm getting more and more bugs, consisting in the program that crashes and closes itself instantly... Which is very strange because it has always worked very well... Now it crashes when i want to for example add or replace a photo, or choose a font.... 🤦. Anyway, do you think that Affinity will forget the versions of the programs previous to this new 2.0, or they will update even the older programs every once in a while?

Having bought all three programs a few weeks back, are they now unsupported / obselete now 2.0 is out?

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

No, they are still supported and probably will be for quite some time. You're good.

I thought you've been able to copy any layer, and paste only the FX - am I wrong on that or am I misunderstanding the feature being described as "absent" here?

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

YOu couldn't copy paste outright. Someone told me here that you can copy and then there's a second step you do to paste it, but it's absolutely not evident by sight. This new process is WAY easier and more intuitive.

Thanks for this, and especially for your free-from-paid-influence views! I'm not sure there's a big enough benefit for me to pay for the upgrade .. but mostly because I HATE the new interface! No matter what I change in UI Preferences, I can't get the light look I have in 1.0. Even at the lightest settings, it's not as light and readable for my eyes as 1.0 And I hate the dark dropdown menus in Studio in 2.0!! Unless there is SOME way to change these that I'm missing??

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

There should be a setting for that. Is it possible the rest of your system operates in “dark mode” and the app is borrowing from system settings?

@janesmith9628

Жыл бұрын

Thanks @@DaveConrey ! That was a good thought, but I checked and my system "Appearance" is set to light. I realize a big part of what I don't like are the dark drop-down menus in Studio and the dark buttons on the Toolbars. I definitely do not see any way to change those. (hope I'm wrong.) I do really like the Style Picker, though. I have a few more weeks left in my trial, so I'll continue to try out all 3 programs, but at this point it's quite unlikely I'll upgrade. Thanks again for a great review and for responding to my question!

How well will the old tutorials hold up as a reference if you get the new version. Has the UI changed enough to nullify the old videos?

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I think they hold up well except for some aspects of the User Interface. They did move some things around, but old tuts should still work well.

@robertthurman9866

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey Thank you. I have Publisher and Illustrator V1 (I haven't used either) And a bunch of videos for a very specific project. Most likely I'll be getting the new version as well. It's too good of a deal right now.

After watching the changes, that revolution makes just a nice update to the current version of Affinity programs. Just like you said Dave, Adobe i just too far a head. I currently can't afford the full subscription plan, so that where Affinity steps in. I can do the job I need to do and move on, but if I had to choose, I would go with Adobe every single time. It is just easier to work with.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I think that’s what a lot of Affinity users believe as well.

Apps are crashing since the update, tried everything and no solve fix yet, Everything works on V1 but since the update to V2 the apps crashes or won't load correctly on Windows 11

@DaveConrey

4 ай бұрын

late reply, but thanks for watching.

You can still buy Serif DrawPlus X8 which has stopframe and keyframe animation. Dedicated animation software is overcomplicated and painful to look at tiny icons.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

good to know.

Dave, what file extensions can you create with Affinity? Thanks.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Aside from the native formats, png, psd, jpg, tiff, pdf, svg, eps, and a few others I cant think of off the top of my head.

@JayDubCustoms

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey Oh ok, that’s plenty for t-shirt logos. Thanks Dave!

Just grabbed the universal license they offered for the three 2.0 programs. Really hard to say no to that sale. Just figured I like the programs enough, and they've paid for themselves early on through professional work of mine. If they're giving me more features, I'm down to support them further. Especially since it's a one time purchase where I don't need to be using the programs or new features every week to feel I'm getting value.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Got in just in time. I think it goes away after this week.

Great review!

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! glad you enjoyed it.

With the Vector Mesh you're talking about in Illustrator is call Gradient Mesh Tool. I would have liked to seen that too! :)

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yes! Thanks for that.

I love that Affinity is out there and that they are improving their apps. Good on them. Keep up the good work you have already started. BUT we need… • a UI/UX design app [Figma, etc.] • a video app [Premiere, etc.] • an html/web app [Dreamweaver, etc.] • an animation/interaction app [After Effects, etc.] Now, it may be that you can do some of these things in the current apps. I'm sure you can do some UI/UX design work in Affinity Designer. But we all remember folks designing web sites in Photoshop and we all recognize that a dedicated app like Figma is the better option. I'm just saying that the breadth of your product lineup needs to expand -- at least a little. And I'm not even talking about competing with Adobe or anyone else. You've got good tools. But these days I spend most of my time in Figma. And I would love to see an Affinity version of such an app Thanks.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I was so bummed for UI/UX designers when Adobe snatched up Figma because I knew lots of Affinity users were going to reamed and have to switch.

@Mithferion

Жыл бұрын

Let's see if Penpot ends up evolving so that it covers most of former Figma users

@realmeee

Жыл бұрын

​@@DaveConrey there is framer site / web and it is good alternative for figma , and figma is not going for subscription soon . although it's adobe we can't say anything .

@VinylSkillz

Жыл бұрын

Please understand their dev team is not equal the size of Adobe's so things are gonna take time

@artokmt

Жыл бұрын

I'm not understand why so many needs videoeditor from Serif. There is so many other options in world. Like me using DaVinci Resolve and that software just get 19.1 update. And it has free version and one-payment about 300€ version.. Somekind Lightroom alternative would be nice that Affinity Photo features can be used multiple photos same time.

One thing I would really like to know is, when you use the 'color picker' tool, select a color, then change to the 'brush tool', does it swap your two main color swatches around. I hope you know what I mean. I hate that and it slows my work flow so much, I've been waiting so long for this be taken out.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Ok, so this is interesting about Affinity. When you use the color picker, it doesn't actually change either of your two active colors but holds it off to the side waiting for you to apply it to either the foreground or background color. When in the color palette, pick which one you want to change, then click the color-picker in the palette and it will apply to that active color.

@cloudlabs9430

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey So basically I have to select the color picker then select one of your two main colors, then and there, it won't swap color palette back and forth. Finally it works right! Illuminating! Thank you! Affinity is very interesting it makes me laugh hysterically.

Allways funny to listen to you... without any affinity capturings.. great

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching

As a hybrid UX Designer and developer, I am still missing an open file format as well as a plugin API. It's requested since ages by users as they say themselves, but they seem to give not a single dime about making an ecosystem of 3rd parties a thing like sketch started so many years back (and Figma). This would completely change the game for me. I'm also split if I should update or better wait. Such a missed opportunity!

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

If you're functioning well enough now, and don't have an immediate need for the upgrades that came, then waiting is ok. They will still support v1.x for some time.

I'll buy the full bundle (an absolute bargain, as I will get all three apps on all three platforms), just to check on some not so easy to spot problems that make them more or less useless in my line of work. Still useful to solve the one or other problem. Sadly I can't switch from my old Adobe CS6 AI/InDD/PS to Affinity apps … maybe with version 3.0 …

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I think Affinity will always be a second choice for power users and people who have really specific needs

@c.augustin

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey There's one thing that Affinity apps do better than others, Adobe apps included: Gradients are dithered when rendered to pixels (no banding)! Yes, Photoshop can do dithered gradients (when using the fill tool), but if you try to render vector graphics, it doesn't, and worse, gradients are at best rendered with 9 bit per channel (even if you open the file with 16 bit per channel), which is not enough to get them properly dithered by color conversion to 8 bit. One of the special cases where Affinity saved my bacon 😁. (On the other hand: Affinity apps failed in importing and exporting gradients with complex settings from and to PDF - this is really bad, as it visibly alters the look of objects. This will be my first test with 2.0 …)

Thank you very much for this honest video review!. I don't like bought influencers.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

You got it. 🤜🏻💥🤛🏻

Well, I have Affinity Photo and Designer v1 for iPad, and it seems like you have to buy v2 if you want the new features.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Good to know. Thanks for that update.

I like the apps. They take me back to early 2000’s era design apps! Simpler times.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Indeed

Game changer on the IPad. Looking more like Desktop.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I just downloaded it last night, haven't dug too deep, but I do like the interface better.

Is version 2 designer glitchy and do weird things or is it that I just bought a new ipad? my old ipad and version 1 of designer worked great, but now I struggle with things like layers changing mysteriously etc.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I've haven't really tested the ipad version, but the desktop version definitely has some glitchiness to it. I haven't experienced those specific issues, but maybe that's a function of the touchpad interface.

Dave, i am facing a lot of craches in Affinity Designer lately. I see my Desktop wallpaper more than once while working and that is with a deadline no fun. With the -40% off with Adobe cloud.. i am considdering going back to Adobe again :(

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Might have something to do with the settings. Have a look at the Affinity forums. Plenty of knowledge base there.

I am not a designer so what I am about to say might be heretical. I quite agree with Jan White that too many designers misunderstand what design is, seeing it more like an end in itself rather than it's fundamental purpose as an aid in communication. From the communication point of view, Affinity ticks every box that Adobe ticks and it does so at a fraction of the cost. It also ticks those boxes with a human personality, showing what I would call compassion for designers and the communication process. To my mind Affinity understands that a beautifully designed piece of communication capable of selling a $400 million movie or a $6.99 printable is well within the scope of its software. This is why I think the comparison between Adobe and Affinity on the innovation front is a bit unfair, Dave. Given the size difference in the two operations, pricing philosophy differences, as well corporate ambition differences, the comparison to a certain degree misses the point of why Affinity exists. Affinity to me is not here to be an alternative to Adobe, really. I don't think developers at Serif really believe they can unseat Adobe as the "industry standard." I think the people at Serif are design purists and are committed to making design remain accessible at the digital level. The money they charge now for the software is really just to keep the software going and to keep it from becoming the ossified offerings we see in the free and open source world. That accessibility should be protected IMO -- I would even suggest that many Adobe subscribers (just for the sake of it) buy a universal license for the peanuts Serif offers the suite for. I mostly use Affinity to create book covers and advertising and version 1 does the job just fine -- often better than Photoshop and Illustrator, in fact. Version 2 improvements are not features I needed to keep going but I upgraded anyway. And I applaud your last point about designing with what you have. This is a powerful idea which is illustrated by Adrian Newey, the lead car designer for Red Bull Racing in Formula 1. I am not sure if you know about him, but he designs championship winning cars this day with a drawing board and a pencil. His drawing board competes with CAD software used to design airplanes and space rockets -- and WINS! Sorry about the long post, man. Keep your cool videos coming.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I don't think I was comparing them so much this time as sharing an understanding of what market they each serve, and I did that mostly for the people who want Affinity to become an Adobe killer, which in my mind, it will never be. They're serving their market well enough. That said, there are things that I believe are well within their capability and could have been added to this version, things users have been requesting for years, but for whatever reason, didn't make the list.

I agree that there is not a lot of innovation in Version2. It would be nice if the innovations came alongside the continued catch up to other design program competitors - so a focus on adding what are already common in competing programs but finding a more innovative way to do so. One of the moderators on the Affinity forum mentioned this update was largely a re-write of the code because it was initially a mac only program and branched out after to windows and iOS. Now that a new baseline is established with this updated code, hopefully we''ll see features added in the next few releases. Building a vector trace is very complex, so I don't see that coming until version 3, but I'd love to be wrong. I am pretty sure Adobe purchased the vector trace code for that to make their version. No one program is going to solve everyone's needs - using several programs and taking advantage of their unique strengths is a great way to get around the predatory Adobe subscription. I use vectorstyler alongside affinity designer, clip studio pro alongside affinity photo, and I have a handful of smaller one trick pony apps I use to fill in other needs

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

That's an interesting take. I guess we'll see where things head from here.

@wolfpack8275

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey nowhere 9 months later v3. U will come out as u not interested then give in yes get it buy buy buy u prob lying and got ur free copy top in a email dont front homie

How do you open a image in iOS photos.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

You can either download from IOS photos, or if your setup is similar to mine, from the open dialog box, access them via the left sidebar (usually located toward the bottom). Sorry, I can't share a visual.

Well, affinity have now live displacement maps, live raw Implementation in even publisher... it is quiet innovative dont you think? Nowhere else to find, though...

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

That's one feature that only a small handful of people will use. It's innovative, but it's not something they can hang their reputation on.

@tomwd.2825

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey well, Studio link, the masking features, and so many smart new options are in line with the ridiculous low price are!

I've just bought Affinity Photo 2 from the Apple App Store but it won't activate, please help. I put my in my Affinity ID and still it wont activation

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

You'll have to reach out to Affinity directly.

Ya, could of been cheaper maybe but I paid early. So adobes best value plan for 2 months equals that so…I also went all in the beginning, so if I just kept the original trio then no more updates (tools, I’m guessing).

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I believe it's still a bargain for sure.

Has anyone used the new Shape Builder tool? I might get ADv2 just for that if it's implemented well.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

I’ve tested it and it works well. Also, when you combine with the contour tool, you can do some really wild things.

@joeldcanfield_spinhead

Жыл бұрын

@@DaveConrey Had this epicly brilliant idea: I will download the demo version and see for myself. d'oh. But thanks for the feedback.

Auto trace is of course a nice feature, but even the one in Illustrator doesn't come close to good old fashioned hand tracing. I know time constraints in projects are a fact, but auto tracing should only be used for rough sketching to be worked over later. The problem is that many "designers" use the tool as is, which is just plain wrong in my opinion.

@DaveConrey

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I’ve always ended up using the pen tool anyway.