Postwork with Affinity Creative Suite of Photo - Designer - Publisher
hjake
Posts: 934
Serif has released a new version of the Affinity Suite (Photo, Designer, and Publisher) for Windows, Mac, and iPad at 40% off as of November 10th, 2022. They seem to hold two sales per year (Oct or Nov and Mar or Apr). You buy and own your copy with free updates (NO SUBSCRIPTIONS) until the next version is released. From my research, they have been very good about patches and feature additions in-between new versions.
BTW: Buying the bundle save you atleast 23% off buying each item separately.
I started using their software, about 6 months ago, for DAZ Studio renders postwork and instruction guide illustrated books. I will be using it for graphic novel creation. It is very stable and I am really happy with it. ( https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/ ).
I was using GIMP/Inkscape/Scribus but ran into issues of having to do work arounds and multiple copy saves. Adobe subscription model does not appeal to me.
How many of you are using Affinity software and which ones? How have you used them to work with your DAZ renders?
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Comments
I love Affinity products. I've been using Photo and Designer (vectors can be fun ;) ), and I love it. They do updates between the major versions for free. I'm also not a fan of a high monthly subscription that Adobe requires (though I understand it works for some people).
I like their current offer ($100 for all three apps across all the devices vs. $50 for one app for one device) - it's a steal. With other expenses in sight, I'm not sure I'll upgrade right away, but if someone doesn't have their software yet, it's a really good deal. If someone isn't a super-advanced-all-bells-and-whistles-necessary Adobe user, Affinity is a wonderful, subscription-free alternative.
I use Affinity Photo all the time. I haven't gotten the new version yet, but I intend to. I use it for my Daz renders frequently.
I use Photo off and on but still waiting for more goodies to be added to the program to give PS more of a run for the money I spend every month on my sub. I like that Affinity is non sub but yea, there are tools that I need that PS offers so I keep paying out.
I did have a niggle with the updated UI in Photo 2.0, there is no way to increase the UI scale or text scale, the healing brush icon looks like a blush brush, not the identifiable bandaid and I really want to move the main tool bar over to the right side of the UI as I don't work from the left and so that makes it more cumbersome for me. Hopefully in an update UI improvements will be made available.
It is also one of my quibbles about non-scalable UI. ALSO I would like to see bitmap vector tracing in designer. Right now I have to use Inkscape for that.
If I was a full-time commercial artist, then it is quite likely I would subscribe to Adobe Creative $uite since time is money and Adobe has many AI type tools to help quickly modify documents.
The current limited time offer for the universal licence is a really good deal for first time users.. Like I mentioned in my first post, the next time the software will go on sale is spring of 2023.
I considered the bundle but money is tight so while it seems like a good deal, I don't use Publisher and Designer isn't high on my list either since I still use Xara for my vector needs .
I was a Serif (Photo-Plus, etc.) user before they started branding as Affinity. I was then offered the Affinity equivalents at half price and bought Photo which I have used ever since and have never had to pay for an update. Now there is a new major version update and I am a little disappointed that existing users don't get a special deal but everyone is being offered a discount of 40%, so not really a serious complaint. My main disappointement, however, is the lack of AI features that are present in competing software and many AP users were hoping for. So I'm debating with myself whether I need the new version or not. I probably don't need the suite but it is quite a generous discount if you buy them all together right now.
In general I like APhoto and ADesinger (APublisher not so much):
I use APhoto for render pass compositing. It works for me, but the ocio implementation is borked (they don't follow the rules how the various options should be presented in the UI which makes it a bit difficult to use). But 32 bit editing in general is working.
Texture painting is ok but:
In my opinion the brushing is still one of the worst compared to: Corel Painter, Krita, Photoshop, ClipStudio. If you paint with a soft brush in 8 bit mode you always get severe banding once you paint multiple strokes on top of each other. A fix was requested for years but they did not fix it in V2.
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/169617-brush-banding-issue-in-8-bit-rgb-please-cross-check/#comment-972135
Installation desaster with V2:
Before you buy V2 better try to install the trial. Serif has created a desaster with their new install method (it is now an APP not a normal installation anymore). Read posts from crying users here:
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/170529-extremely-disappointed-that-this-installs-as-an-app-and-not-regular-software-program/
Softproof
For professional work you might find out that the Softproof function is not working correctly (to a degree that it is unusable). A fix was requested by a lot of users but it did not get fixed in V2.
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/161252-aphoto-wrong-result-with-softproof-absolute-colorimetric/#comment-916552
Brush cursor
If I am painting on a graphics display (with pen on screen) I can't disable the brush cursor. So there is always this damn cursor and the tip of the physical pen fighting for my attention - very distracting. A lot of users requested to get a "disable cursor" feature for years but it got ignored.
Mask visibility
When you create a mask, you can't see it together with the underliying image while painting on it (you know this red mask overlay you see in Photoshop). You can either see the mask in solo mode or the image but never the mask and the image. Again, fix rwas requested again and again, year after year but not delivered.
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/39891-how-to-show-red-overlay-when-masking/
Texture packing and alpha editing
If you are a 3D artist and need to edit the alpha channel and do texture packing you maybe not want to use APhoto.
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/76911-how-to-edit-the-alpha-channel/#comment-401891
GPU acceleration
GPU acceleration in V1 never worked for me and a lot of other users ("it feels like half of the posts in their forum get answered with "disable hardware acceleration"). Now in V2 trial it is ok for me, but alot of others posting in the forum still have issues. But nevertheless the software is working fast enough with a core i7 for me, even without GPU support. But with GPU now working in V2 it is really fast.
Blend ranges
Those blend ranges are a big helper in image editing. They are like luma masks but directly integrated into the adjustments. Really a nice feature.
Conclusion
In general I like the software but with Affinity ignoring issues and requests made by a lot of users I am now trying Krita and others more to see if they could be a better alternative. Not decided yet and it is not about the price. I think 119 € intro price (same price for new and existing users - no discount for those who already own V1) is ok (included in that price are all three apps for Win and MAC and the ipad versions).
Gimp suits me fine but some of the paid for apps have one or two features I wish I had
it's never enough to shell out for them though
I work with GIMP too, and am really satisfied with it. What features are you missing? I like the smart layer feature of photoshop, and that you can select more than one layer (comes in GIMP 3.0 and is already in GIMP 2.99 beta) , but the subscription model stops me from moving + I like open source projects.
I would love the puppet tool Adobe apps have, cage transform moves the whole selected area, you cannot anchor bits
another one is the animated paths some apps have to make stuff like water and clouds move and again mask off areas you want to stay still, you only need 3 images for an animation but in Gimp this is tedious
Corel Photo Mirage is one that does that but $70 is too steep for me to get that one feature
CGIdesign, I think your comments are an accurate account of the state of Affinity software. But I think adding features is a long process with a small development team and they have to bring out a new version atleast every 24 months if they are not going to the subscription model. Especially if they remain in the UK which will be in an economic down-turn for atleast the next 18 months.
WendyLuvsCatz and BlueFingers, GIMP is great and I still use it on occasion, but until the advanced layer managment and other features that are supposed to come in version 3.1x (not 3.0) arrive, I just find it is a lot of extra work to do DAZ post-work in GIMP. Plus the integration performance between Affinity Photo-Design-Publisher has improved alot since version 1.
For me, Adobe and Corel suites were just too expensive, but as I said if I earned my living by my creative software, then I would use Adobe because it has many time saving features and my profits should be paying the bills.
To anyone impatient with Serif (Europe) Ltd's pace of development, I would say please remember that they are a company with less than 200 employees and revenue under $50 million USD annually. Compared to the staff and revenue of Adobe and Corel, they are tiny.
Please give them credit for their user guide documents/videos and actively participating in their community forums. Figuring out how Affinity software compared to Adobe software was easier for me than for ANY other software I researched before buying. Most of my analysis was done BEFORE I downloaded their trial software.
Oh I love Serif, I'm patient and I do have my Sub with PS so it's not a huge ordeal for me.
I did find that setting the brushes spacing up to the full left can make a nicer, smoother paint line. I just double click on the brush and up pops the "under the hood" prefs.
Sadly there is nothing that I can find that will turn off the cursor.
@RAMWolff
have you made a feature request regarding the "turn of brush cursor" in their forum?
Maybe it helps to get that feature.
There are already a bunch of those requests but it seems they need more.
IT was one of your niggles. I just looked all over the prefs and interface to perhaps find a way to turn off the curor circle but didn't find anything.
Plus if you head over to their forums they are inundated with requests and have a big banner at the top of each page
"Our response time is longer than usual currently. We're working to answer users as quickly as possible and thank you for your continued patience."
Small company I guess only has so many folks moderating and taking notes behind the scene.
That would mean response to support requests, it doesn't mean the (much longer term) response to feature suggestions.
I think they have Serif people actively answering questions in the forums so they might mean forum response times too. Perhaps DAZ could learn a thing or two.
I love and use all three of the Affinity products, so I jumped at the bundle deal they had. It was hard to pass up getting all three programs for all three platforms since I also have an ipad. I especially love the updates for the iPad versions because the old versions were more difficult to use than their desktop counterparts. There also wasn't a Publisher for the iPad. That's new and I'll be interested to see how that works on the iPad. I use Publisher for Windows almost daily along with the Photo and Designer.
While I still use GIMP on occassion, I do most of my post-processing in Photo. I love that I can use the few Photoshop plugins that I own for my post-processing of renders.
I also have an iPad but it doesn't have a stylus so I'm guessing that it would be useless for photo editing. I don't wrtie books or publish any paper or web documents so don't need publisher but I have to say that I was tempted by the Universal deal. In the end I just bought Affinity Photo, not because of the new features but because any further updates over the next few years will be for Ver.2.
One more reason to buy an Affinity product is to help Serif resist the temptation to move to the darkside of subscription ... queue ominous music.
In one of their recent surveys, they asked how users felt about a subscription model. I hope the response was a HUGE thumbs down, but I think the temptation is there. IMO it would not be a good idea. I think subscription models work when you are the industry leader and the main go to for professionals. Examples are Microsoft Office and Adobe. They are the leaders in their market and business are not as hesitate to buy subscriptions for their staff. This dominance means individuals who want to play with the professionals have to also buy subscriptions and voila you have a sustainable subscription user base. I hope DAZ resists the temptation to move to subscriptions.
BTW with Photo and Designer it is easy to make templates for your comic book pages and to flip back and forth between them as you work on your project. When everything is tickety-boo, pass it on to Publisher for final layout desgin. Not necessary if you are just making sequential pages but you can have a lot of fun with layout design and make your masterpiece ready for print and web formats.
They recently confirmed that there will be a normal installer again in the future. The new msix app method created so many issues for so many users that the topic in their forum became a big shitstorm. But at least they understood how bad the APP idea was in the context of workflows and pipeline integration.
Version 2.0.3 of all the Affinity apps has just been released. Happy Holy Days :-)