I did not use Photoshop particularly long, but I have been using the Affinity Suite both on a pc and a tablet for over a year now and can say it’s definitely quite good. Everything is where you think it should be, the workflow feels very usable with no major learning curve (looking at you, GIMP), and overall the only thing I don’t like about it is its lack of Linux support.
I would assume that absolute professionals won’t be able to find everything they like/want, but if you’re reading this, chances are you’re gonna be more than satisfied, if FOSS options don’t quite work for you.
I use the suite professionally. I come from the Corel world (which I slowly got to hate, but sunken cost, etc.) which I have gladly escaped.
The suite is just a bonkers value.
I live in Linux, but have a windows virtual machine just for Affinity.
Check this video as well. I do share most of that experience of having to Google how to do some things because it’s not immediately obvious, and some other things do take more clicks/effort than they should’ve compared to Photoshop. All in all, it has completely replaced Photoshop for my use case.
It’s a very good app suite that gets the UX right esp if you use multiple of their apps but it falls short in areas that Adobe has had more r&d money thrown at, such as vector tracing, proper vector brushes, and proper psd support (you can import psd files, you cannot export fully editable psd files). I used it myself for branding and UI design for a few years and it’s definitely worth the money, but they do have some issues as I’ve said before. Their file format isn’t open source either afaik and there is no plugin support so it’s a friendlier looking and cheaper closed ecosystem.
Depends with what you might want to achieve, some people will say inkscape or gimp. In my minimal experience while they win in some departments like plugins and features their UX and UI is really not as good, but that’s just how it worked for me, some people would swear by them.
I have been using Affinity Photo for a couple of years now. Not in a professional way, just for some small personal things.
Before buying Affinity Photo I used PS for the same purposes for a few years.
I don’t see me going back to PS, since Affinity has everything I need.
Sadly, I don’t remember specifics, but a few things work a bit different in Affinity, but the workflow is quite similar.
Note that I am not using the latest version, so things might have changed.
Those who actually use it, can they write down a simple comparison?
Those AI features are completely absent from Affinity. That said, Serif was recently bought by Canva who have AI features in their web suite, so I expect those to come to Affinity at some point, possibly requiring a subscription for cloud-enabled features (regular Affinity feature set will remain pay-once and offline, according to announcements). I hope some AI-supported upscaler will come to Affinity. I currently use some free web tool for nicer upscaling.
Also, Affinity apps don’t support file format plugins at all. AVIF and HEIF aren’t supported, so you’ll need external converters to open those.
I checked it out last night. The photo editor is close enough to photoshop that I’ll be glad to buy it. From my preliminary perusing of the tools and features, the only thing I used in photoshop that isn’t in affinity photo was the ability to animate things. I’m sure there are some other more important details between the two, but as a hobbyist for graphic design it fits my needs just fine.
Those who actually use it, can they write down a simple comparison?
I did not use Photoshop particularly long, but I have been using the Affinity Suite both on a pc and a tablet for over a year now and can say it’s definitely quite good. Everything is where you think it should be, the workflow feels very usable with no major learning curve (looking at you, GIMP), and overall the only thing I don’t like about it is its lack of Linux support. I would assume that absolute professionals won’t be able to find everything they like/want, but if you’re reading this, chances are you’re gonna be more than satisfied, if FOSS options don’t quite work for you.
I use the suite professionally. I come from the Corel world (which I slowly got to hate, but sunken cost, etc.) which I have gladly escaped. The suite is just a bonkers value. I live in Linux, but have a windows virtual machine just for Affinity.
Check this video as well. I do share most of that experience of having to Google how to do some things because it’s not immediately obvious, and some other things do take more clicks/effort than they should’ve compared to Photoshop. All in all, it has completely replaced Photoshop for my use case.
It’s a very good app suite that gets the UX right esp if you use multiple of their apps but it falls short in areas that Adobe has had more r&d money thrown at, such as vector tracing, proper vector brushes, and proper psd support (you can import psd files, you cannot export fully editable psd files). I used it myself for branding and UI design for a few years and it’s definitely worth the money, but they do have some issues as I’ve said before. Their file format isn’t open source either afaik and there is no plugin support so it’s a friendlier looking and cheaper closed ecosystem.
What is the open alternative?
Depends with what you might want to achieve, some people will say inkscape or gimp. In my minimal experience while they win in some departments like plugins and features their UX and UI is really not as good, but that’s just how it worked for me, some people would swear by them.
There sadly isn’t a viable one at the same level of functionality.
Edit: some random other comment appeared here. Fixed.
That I noticed, I can only save in their format, not that good
I have been using Affinity Photo for a couple of years now. Not in a professional way, just for some small personal things. Before buying Affinity Photo I used PS for the same purposes for a few years.
I don’t see me going back to PS, since Affinity has everything I need. Sadly, I don’t remember specifics, but a few things work a bit different in Affinity, but the workflow is quite similar.
Note that I am not using the latest version, so things might have changed.
Those AI features are completely absent from Affinity. That said, Serif was recently bought by Canva who have AI features in their web suite, so I expect those to come to Affinity at some point, possibly requiring a subscription for cloud-enabled features (regular Affinity feature set will remain pay-once and offline, according to announcements). I hope some AI-supported upscaler will come to Affinity. I currently use some free web tool for nicer upscaling.
Also, Affinity apps don’t support file format plugins at all. AVIF and HEIF aren’t supported, so you’ll need external converters to open those.
deleted by creator
I checked it out last night. The photo editor is close enough to photoshop that I’ll be glad to buy it. From my preliminary perusing of the tools and features, the only thing I used in photoshop that isn’t in affinity photo was the ability to animate things. I’m sure there are some other more important details between the two, but as a hobbyist for graphic design it fits my needs just fine.
The issue is that they recently were sold to canva. An online, subscription service that offersjtemplate based graphics suite.
Affinity promised that they would not change their model to subscription but many users doubt their credibility after the sale to canva