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OT - Seriph's Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer come to Windows

JabbaJabba Posts: 1,461
in The Commons

Serif's Affinity products have been quite a hit on MAC computers and are in the process of being ported over to Windows PC's.  I don't use a MAC, so the Beta versions are my first look at them. 
I believe minimum specs are Windows 7 64-bit (but I may be wrong - both work perfectly on my Windows 7 64-bit rig).

Now here's the awesome news, you can try the Beta versions completely unrestricted and 100% free!  Simply sign-up and wait for your email with download link.  This does not commit you to buying the final product.
Assuming MAC prices are in play, the final version of each product will be around $50, which is very reasonable for the functions included. 

So, what's on offer?

AFFINITY DESIGNER is a powerful graphic design application, which is perhaps comparable with Adobe Illustrator.  I don't actually use Illustrator myself so I can't compare, but Affinity Designer is certainly very capable.  You can sign up here for Affinity Designer... https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/windows/

AFFINITY PHOTO is a professional image editor that has some unique features to Photoshop, but I'm sure you will appreciate there is nevertheless a trade-off when compared to Adobe Photoshop, but difference in price alone means Affinity Photo is a very powerful package e.g. ability to work with HDR images, and the selection brush tool is frickin' awesome!  It can import/export PSD & PSB files
The layout is a bit funny for me but that's because I'm so used to working in Photoshop. 

- Importing Photoshop brushes is perfectly straightforward... find the "import brushes" from top right drop-down and import the ABR file of your choice...
I tried importing Ron's Fog (and older ABR set) and Ron's Dry Ice (a recent ABR set for CC) and both imported perfectly!
I don't know if more specialized brushes with have their special effects, but looks like they could still be used as a basic stamp if nothing else.

- Photoshop Actions will not work in Affinity Photo - but ABR brushes do.   *** E D I T  ***

You can sign up here for Affinity Photo... https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/windows/

As both betas are already in full swing, if you sign up, it might be worth checking your emails straight away ;)

Comments

  • lx_2807502lx_2807502 Posts: 2,996

    I thought there was already a thread about this somewhere but maybe it was just mentioned in passing.

    I've been testing both since each beta started and I love them to bits. Cancelled my Illustrator subscription immediately though I do still use photoshop for drawing over Affinity Photo.

  • JabbaJabba Posts: 1,461

    I did a search before posting, but nothing came up... maybe I did it wrong, not sure - but yeah, considering the price this looks like it will be, I understand why it gets referred to as the Photoshop killer (although obviously it's not a complete PS replacement).

  • lx_2807502lx_2807502 Posts: 2,996

    I don't really think it's a PS killer - there are already lots of image manipulation programs on windows and none of them are as nice to use or contain nearly as many features (or not both.) Photo is ...really good with photos. One thing I will say already is that Photo basically has Designer's vector tools built in which instantly puts it well beyond Photoshop's outdated vector features which were way behind Illustrators.

    The big thing windows has always lacked is a really viable Illustrator-killer, and Affinity Designer offers up that possibility in spades, especially with the pricetags.

    I know Photo only just went into beta but my experience with Designer so far has been that for their small costs the software that company puts out are absolutely worth it.

  • JabbaJabba Posts: 1,461

    I gave it a try painting from a photo reference, the result is here... http://fav.me/daonter

  • lx_2807502lx_2807502 Posts: 2,996
    edited November 2016

    That painting is astoundingly good.

     

    I agree with your summary of the various programs, one thing though: Photoshop+Lightroom is only $10/mnth, not 15. And at that price, the ease of use of photoshop (especially these days as features get more and more intuitive and it just does what you want without having to ask) it's still totally worthwhile to me. That said, I'll probably buy Affinity Photo too, and I'd definitely recommend it over GIMP, which has a lot of features but is annoying to use (to me anyway.)

    Affinity Designer is a whole different story though and is easily capable of replacing Illustrator completely. Especially as unlike PS, there is no easy Illustrator package available, meaning it costs at least $20/mnth.

    Post edited by lx_2807502 on
  • JabbaJabba Posts: 1,461

    Oh sweet, Affinity Designer has gone live with an awesome launch offer...

     

    Affinity_Designer.png
    579 x 654 - 112K
  • lx_2807502lx_2807502 Posts: 2,996

    Was just about to post saying it was released and I got the same offer. Instantly purchased.

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