The Affinity Suite - thoughts?

A bit off topic, but here goes, just after some thoughts.
Over the pandemic years I’ve lost 6 clients (companies going bust, death, both covid and non covid related), so I’ve decided to call it a day on my graphic design company, Lunatix. So I’ll be cancelling my Adobe subscription.
I’m now going to make a push on my pet painting business, but probably do bits of graphics on the side, hence the question.
I bought the Affinity Suite a couple of years ago with a view to learning, and having dabbled with it, it’s similar but different. Some oddities, but maybe that’s because I’m used to Adobe. Even simple things like dragging guides into a photoshop/photos document eludes me.

Just curious about any other Adobe jumpers who have made the switch to Affinity. Any thoughts much appreciated.

Made the switch a few years ago and overall I have never regretted it.
For me, the three Affinity programs work more as a unit like the Adobe products, e.g. changing the file extension from Designer to Publisher or vice versa, no problem (this was impossible with Adobe) or copy and paste text/objects between the three Programs, no problem. The export of individual sections of a document via the export persona, is just a great solution, or just open pdf documents and edit them further, there are so many things why I like working with the Affinity programs.
But there are also a few things (which I don’t need that often) that I miss in the Affinity programs, such as the Illustrator function to convert images into paths (no other software can do vectorizing this well as Adobe’s Illustrator), non-destructive vector text effects (bending and distorting) or the lack of vector brushes.
Nevertheless I wouldn’t go back to Adobe programs, though.

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I used Photoshop and then Lightroom for 20 years, however I was a refusenik with CC and stuck with CS6. I now have the full Affinity suite, as well as Luminar Neo and Pixelmator Pro.

The big missing link for me in moving away is Lightroom, because nothing really fills that gap; not even close, if you find yourself editing, processing and archiving a lot of still images.

In terms of a straight shoot off between Photoshop and Affinity Photo I think my biggest problem is not having committed fully to the Affinity way. There are some things it does better and other things worse, but it’s more than adequate in the right hands for most purposes.

The app I really rate is Affinity Publisher. It’s beautiful and I’ve heard many say it is better that InDesign irrespective of price. I am by no means a real expert with Publisher, however I find it pretty intuitive and very useful, so it receives thumbs up with no hesitation.

I have used Designer very occasionally, however my daughter has used it to produce a few logos for my web clients and it seems to be similarly high quality.

One great feature of the Affinity suite is that you can open Publisher and click icons at the top to instantly enter Designer or Photo without leaving the app. That allows you to use those different features on the same file and hop back or export in whatever format you wish. All the affinity files are actually the same format, which is very clever.

Overall it is very good if you are prepared to make the effort and ween yourself off Adobe. Certainly at the price it’s an incredible bargain. They had a sale on and I think I bagged all three apps for around £80 as a one off payment, so it pays for itself in no time.

My basic thought on this has always been that Adobe has more features and a little slicker overall, but by the time Affinity 2 ships there will be no need at all for Adobe. Best of all if you create work with Affinity you won’t have a headache over how to open a project in 5 years time because you no longer pay the subscription.

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I jumped over to the Affinity and didn’t regret it for a day. Some thing need getting used to, but Indesign en Photoshop have left my machine…

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Thanks everyone, I think my mind has been made up to switch.
I’ve done a couple of very simple bits with affinity, quite liked it, so it’s down to me to get my head around it now.
Have a good weekend everyone.

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I’ve been using Affinity since it’s launch and would never go back to adobe products. There isn’t a lot that can be done in adobe that you can’t do in the affinity suite. As you say, it’s more about different ways of doing things in affinity. In many respects, I find tasks a lot easier to do in affinity than adobe. If you have all three products - Photo - Designer and Publisher, they work seamlessly together. One of the best ways to learn the suite is to adopt a “learn as you go” approach. Basically, start using the products with the knowledge you currently have. Then, if you come up against something you’re not sure how to do, simply search on youtube for what it is you’re wanting to achieve - there is sure to be a short video tutorial. Over time you will build up a good understanding of all the features of the entire suite as well as uncover some new tricks. One of the most useful features is the ability of publisher and designer to open and edit PDF documents. This can be a real timesaver if you need to make changes to a PDF document when you don’t have the original file or application that created the PDF in the first place. When imported, all the text and graphics are neatly layered ready for editing. You can even save the edited PDF as a new publisher or designer document. I also like the fact that if you open a document containing vector graphic elements, these can be double clicked to open the graphic in a new editing window so that you can change strokes, fills, or even reshape them. Once your edits are made, the original document is automatically updated.

I’m sure this can all be done in Adobe products, but it just seems a whole lot easier in Affinity. Anyway, if you have any problems using the Affinity product, be sure to PM me for advice if you get stuck - I’ll always be happy to help.

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I made the jump as soon as Adobe went subscription. I actually much prefer Affinity designer. One or two frustrating things (particularly lack of perspective tools), but I love the program.

I doubt you’ll regret it.

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There is little to mourn moving from bloated and expensive adobe software.

I say that as someone who made a living from Adobe Flash. I used to need more than flash simply because my clients would send me assets produced using illustrator or photoshop.

I really wish there was a good alternative to After Effects.

These days if I want to design things for websites or mobile software (I make IPhone and iPad apps) I usually use Sketch - it doesn’t have bloat. I’ve also made projects using Tumult Hype.

The Affinity suite is a no-brainer. I used to be very good at driving down my Adobe subscription to a fairly low level but it’s been great since I stopped it completely.

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If you like to do things the traditional way along with suite compatibility Affinity is the way to go.

If you want a couple backup options for image editing look at Pixelmator Pro and Luminar Neo as well. Both include a certain amount of AI and in the case on Neo almost entirely AI. In certain situations they just make life a lot easier. A few months ago I picked up Pixelmator Pro for £18.

The big one I am still missing though is a genuine Lightroom replacement.

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Day one Affinity roll out user here. I even used Publisher with the pre-release beta testing program. I actually wish I had more use for Publisher, its great. But I use Affinity Designer every day.

Same with Pixelmator, since launch day. Pixelmator/Pro and the Affinity suite have pretty much everything I need.

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IMO it depends on your needs. I use everything in Affinity but Photo; I have it, but I prefer Adobe. As a photographer, the photographer’s plan Lightroom/Photoshop at $10.00 bucks a month is well worth it for me. I have years of photographs cataloged in Lightroom, and I’ve found the yearly updates have been game-changing. I don’t want to learn another photography program.

I would not subscribe to any other Adobe products because I don’t use them daily.

Casey

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I’ve used Abobe products for decades before finally sealing off that well five years ago. Currently I use Affinity Designer, Photo and Publisher and adore them all. There’s no loss in features, usability, interaction between the set or third-party software that they can accommodate. Given that most people use less than 50% of the power of any given Adobe product, I find Affinity tools to be just as powerful, easier to use and exponentially less expensive. They also were remarkably proactive about re-coding their product line to Apple’s new silicon. Go for it!

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Check out some tutorials to get used to the Affinity way. I know a lot of smaller companies thst canceled Adobe and went the Affinity way and never looked back.

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Switched from Adobe and never looked back. Affinity is very powerful and has much potential to be best of the best. Its the perfect underdog making things right as compared to industry giant, Adobe that just want your money.

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Yes I’ve heard of various smaller design groups taking the plunge and switching totally to Affinity. No doubt it was done primarily to save money, but they obviously felt it could still do the job.

When sending files to printers for logos etc I’ve been tending to export pdf or vectors. I don’t know how many of them are set up to handle native Publisher or Designer project files, but given the low cost and capabilities I would imagine it is rising all the time.

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I moved to Affinity about 15 months ago. Never looked back.

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I have been using the three apps for a while. Publisher from when it was a Beta, and the others from about 6 months before that.

I’d second the view that Publisher is better than InDesign, and I’d add that I find Designer way better that Illustrator, which I felt was rubbish compared with Freehand.

I used to use Photoshop loads, along with Aperture. Now I use Capture One for DAM and most editing, with the occasional round trip to Affinity, or a denoiser. C1 has just gone subscription, unfortunately, but does allow a license purchase.

I love sticking it to Adobe. I used to update every second release, as far as CS6. The fact that you cannot pick and mix applications is a nonsense, there’s a cheaper price for Photosop and Lightroom, but if you want a couple more apps you have to have them all. Money grabbing. Also the fact that they were £=$ when the exchange rate was 2-1. (It was very satisfactory to be able to pick up an upgrade in Boston, Mass for $600, thus saving myself £300. Up yours Adobe!)

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I agree with you, but I think the Photographer’s bundle Lightroom and Photoshop is a good deal. I was totally against it initially, but I think it makes sense for me after seeing the advances.

The rest of the programs and bundles are overpriced; look at the bright side, I left Dreamweaver and found Blocs!

casey

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I use Affinity exclusively, but I only do light work with it. But it is completely enough for me. I purchased the apps in 2016, 2018 and 2019 - so great deal! If there is an upgrade coming at some point I will gladly purchase it.

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Thanks everyone, all great feedback and much appreciated.