Author Topic: affinity designer - photoshop alternative (Read 9257 times)

Microstockphoto · « **on:** June 30, 2016, 12:40 »

anyone trying this

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/windows/

i got the beta installed now, checking this out, seems very promising

been around longer on mac os

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #1 on:** June 30, 2016, 16:42 »

I checked out their trial (on the Mac) some months back. Definitely promising, but the lack of actions (I have a lot I've written to speed up a number of things I do) was a major drawback. I seem to remember some of my existing multi-layer images had blend modes changed on some of the adjustment layers that rendered them very differently from CS6 which was also a bit discouraging.

I'm sticking with CS6 and Lightroom 6 for as long as I can, and keep hoping for a good option when I have to do something

greengrapes · « **Reply #2 on:** July 01, 2016, 01:11 »

Affinity designer is a great tool. I have been using it as a replacement for both illustrator and photoshop for 6months now, esp any vector work. The UI is very similar to Adobe so the transition was pretty easy.

Probably the biggest issue is tool flow. When I get files from clients, they are typical Adobe proprietary formats so I need to convert in and out.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Chichikov · « **Reply #3 on:** July 04, 2016, 10:10 »

Very good software, really. But young.
It is too early to dethrone Photoshop.

Give it other 5 years and we could speak again.

Artist · « **Reply #4 on:** July 04, 2016, 10:15 »

Its great tool with some really good and new features.

But, I think no one can beat Illustrator.. I am in love with it

qunamax · « **Reply #5 on:** July 06, 2016, 04:41 »

For photographers the real bomb is the Affinity Photo which is not released yet (later this year they say), it's supposed to be like Lightroom and Photoshop alternative in one package.

Astonished · « **Reply #6 on:** July 06, 2016, 04:48 »

Quote from: qunamax on July 06, 2016, 04:41

For photographers the real bomb is the Affinity Photo which is not released yet (later this year they say), it's supposed to be like Lightroom and Photoshop alternative in one package.

It's been around for Mac for a couple of years now. I like it, it's faster than photoshop but it's not a lightroom alternative for indexing and keywording.

qunamax · « **Reply #7 on:** July 07, 2016, 09:47 »

Well that's a shame, it's supposed to be a complete replacement, ultimate one package solution for photographers and designers.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #8 on:** July 19, 2016, 11:31 »

For anyone interested in Affinity Photo, they are offering a 20% discount through July 21 ($39.99) and free upgrade to version 1.5 when it is released later this year. They made a video of some of the new features (although I think that for me, batch processing and macro recording are more likely to be the big hits in the new version)

stockastic · « **Reply #9 on:** July 19, 2016, 11:45 »

Another competitor getting ready to get in the air is On1 Photo Raw:

https://www.on1.com/apps/photo-raw/

I think this one will be good. Adobe is just begging for meaningful competition, and I think their subscription move will be the trigger. Many, many users don't want a subscription. But what is worse for Adobe is that the subscription model kills improvement and innovation: where's the motivation to spend big money on R&D when all your users are locked in to subscription payments until the end of time?

There are some big things about LR that people don't like, but which never change. On1 Photo Raw is taking aim at - among other things - LR's catalog and import system, which is a major pain. The lack of local (brush or layer) curve adjustments is another big one - and Adobe could easily give us this, but it would compromise a major goal of LR, which is to force everyone to buy Photoshop.

Chichikov · « **Reply #10 on:** July 19, 2016, 12:42 »

Quote from: stockastic on July 19, 2016, 11:45

Another competitor getting ready to get in the air is On1 Photo Raw:

https://www.on1.com/apps/photo-raw/

I think this one will be good. Adobe is just begging for meaningful competition, and I think their subscription move will be the trigger. Many, many users don't want a subscription. But what is worse for Adobe is that the subscription model kills improvement and innovation: where's the motivation to spend big money on R&D when all your users are locked in to subscription payments until the end of time?

There are some big things about LR that people don't like, but which never change. On1 Photo Raw is taking aim at - among other things - LR's catalog and import system, which is a major pain. The lack of local (brush or layer) curve adjustments is another big one - and Adobe could easily give us this, but it would compromise a major goal of LR, which is to force everyone to buy Photoshop.

These days I am using Capture One Pro 9 (but I still use Lightroom as my principal raw developper)
https://www.phaseone.com/en/Products/Software/Capture-One-Pro/Highlights.aspx
It is a good competitor to Lightroom too.
Adobe should be careful not to rest on its laurels…

Microstockphoto · « **Reply #11 on:** July 19, 2016, 13:15 »

LR is still available as standalone, so there is a need for RD me thinks

stockastic · « **Reply #12 on:** July 19, 2016, 14:13 »

Quote from: Microstockphoto on July 19, 2016, 13:15

LR is still available as standalone, so there is a need for RD me thinks

It is, but new features (like the black and white level brush adjustments) are showing up in the subscription version only.

Chichikov · « **Reply #13 on:** July 19, 2016, 14:41 »

Quote from: stockastic on July 19, 2016, 14:13

Quote from: Microstockphoto on July 19, 2016, 13:15
LR is still available as standalone, so there is a need for RD me thinks

It is, but new features (like the black and white level brush adjustments) are showing up in the subscription version only.

The new features will be integrated in the next major release of the standalone version of the software.

stockastic · « **Reply #14 on:** July 19, 2016, 15:15 »

Quote from: Chichikov on July 19, 2016, 14:41

Quote from: stockastic on July 19, 2016, 14:13
Quote from: Microstockphoto on July 19, 2016, 13:15
LR is still available as standalone, so there is a need for RD me thinks

It is, but new features (like the black and white level brush adjustments) are showing up in the subscription version only.

The new features will be integrated in the next major release of the standalone version of the software.

Supposedly. But who knows when that will be.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #15 on:** July 19, 2016, 15:18 »

The problem with LR (I have a standalone copy of LR 6 and Photoshop & Illustrator CS6) is that they've changed the RAW version so if you keep upgrading Lightroom 6 it's no longer compatible with CS6

http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2015/07/update-to-camera-support-policy-in-cs6.html

You can use DNG as a workaround, but nice integration like the Open as layers in Photoshop command in Lightroom will no longer work as you can't go from developing in Lightroom directly to Photoshop CS6

For the moment I've stayed with LR 6.1 which is compatible with CS6, but the minute I need new camera support, I'll be stuck without upgrading something.

Adobe says the incompatibility is because of improvements they're making to camera raw, but I'm sure if they wanted to, they could make improvements and keep compatibility; they just want to keep pushing those of us who aren't interested in subscriptions into giving in.

They aren't helping themselves that they keep effing up the "improvements" in Lightroom and I have yet to see anything of the new Photoshop CC features that was even slightly tempting.

I would be happy to pay for an upgrade with just OS support, bug fixes and camera raw upgrade support to the CS6 products. Shame their head's too far up their you-know-where to offer that option...

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Author Topic: affinity designer - photoshop alternative (Read 9257 times)

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