WEB SCHOOL Affinity Photo is (much) better than Photoshop. No, seriously.

[ChrisV]

This is software I’ve been using for a few years now, and I’ve never looked back. No one can deny that PS is top notch photo editing software, but many graphic designers are making the switch.

View: https://youtu.be/SGojM3A5t-g

View: https://youtu.be/SGojM3A5t-g


Affinity also completely 100% on iPad (the same exact version as the desktop.)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Temujin]

Appreciate the post, Never considered or looked for other Photo-editing software. Will look into this more

 

[George Appiah]

Reminds me of Pixelmator (MacOS & iOS only) when they launched more than a decade ago!

Will surely take a look... hope my old and clunky PC can run it.

 

[Aleph]

Thanks for the post, @ChrisV!

I don't mind paying for a good product, but the subscription put me off as well. Hate it so much I checked their site during the vid.

Can't say I'm the next Michelangelo, but I enjoy some good editing from time to time and at this price point I can stand by rewarding developers for my occasional messing about.

 

[ChrisV]

Reminds me of Pixelmator (MacOS & iOS only) when they launched more than a decade ago!

Will surely take a look... hope my old and clunky PC can run it.

Pixelmator has helped me a number of times because they had a web app that you could just open from any browser and do photo editing. That being said, Affinity is much more advanced than Pixelmator. Pixelmator aims to be budget a photoshop. Affinity aims to actually solve the issues and be better than PS. I understand it’s a tall order to be “more advanced than photoshop” but it is. Plus it runs on iPad/tablets. You have full blown photo editing on an iPad. it’s sick. And the desktop version, I literally haven’t installed Photoshop on any of my systems In 4 years due to Affinity.

Thanks for the post, @ChrisV!

I don't mind paying for a good product, but the subscription put me off as well. Hate it so much I checked their site during the vid.

Can't say I'm the next Michelangelo, but I enjoy some good editing from time to time and at this price point I can stand by rewarding developers for my occasional messing about.

Yea dude, Adobe alienates people with their pricing. Non designers don’t wanna pay as much as they pay for Netflix to use Design software they’ll use once a month.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[SEOguy]

I use Pixlr free edition which is almost as powerful as Photoshop and cloud based which is huge for me.

 

[jesseissorude]

This is a very similar reason why I switched from some software I used to love.

I design electronics, and have always used a software called Eagle.

It's ugly, it's hard to use, and it's got a steep learning curve. But damnit, it gets the job done and it's the industry standard. There's a good competitor called Altium, and it's captured about an equal marketshare at this point.

However, both tools have moved to: subscription license (~$500/yr) and cloud storage for files (they say it's to facilitate collaboration among teams, but if you want to do your work on an airplane with no wifi then you are SoL).

I'm switching to a FREE open-source software called KiCad. It's maintained by donations, has killer 3D support for modeling finished products, and they keep integrating new features (like SPICE modeling built into the schematic designer).

I know I just said a bunch of gobbeldygook jargon, but the point is:
-company w/ software thinks it has pricing power and kept finding ways to milk users for more
-lack of updates and features
-hungry upstart takes its place because decades-long customers were eager to jump ship

 

[Aleph]

Quite alright with the gobbeldygook jargon, mate.

I know I just said a bunch of gobbeldygook jargon, but the point is:
-company w/ software thinks it has pricing power and kept finding ways to milk users for more
-lack of updates and features
-hungry upstart takes its place because decades-long customers were eager to jump ship

Basically, we're seeing a friendly take over here, which makes CENTS.

I have no idea about KiCad, but if it's similar to AutoCad it is amazing that it's free.

The common thread is a company rising to power through a need well met by their software. As they gain market share and a shift takes place in favour of cloud based services rather than products, their business models changes from a flat rate product based to a pay as you go service.
They have their own standard which the market came to rely on in time and expect their customers (because of familiarity, , "everybody else is using it" and what not) to follow them.
Alienating a lot of their "small time" customers and recreational users (like myself) exactly because of this shift, the need in the market isn't being met any longer. So young sprouts can shoot up and fill the vacuum.

Because they misunderstood the Need of their customers and only have Control over their own product, new competitors are standing up, threatening their Scale and thus profitability.

This is exactly the opposite of what BMW did when they started seeing fierce competition from China (was it with Chery?). Instead of ignoring changes, they exchanged! Sent engineers with the craft of the trade over for stock in the company.
People who wouldn't even be their customer now generate profit for them, while customers who switched brands aren't entirely lost to them.

 

[Paladin]

I switched to Affinity Photo early last year and I've never looked back. Last week I recorded two training videos in my member's area. One was how to edit a book template in Photoshop and the other was in Affinity Photo. The Photoshop video was 2.5 times longer. It's just clunky for my basic needs and every step takes way too long. Like many older programs, Photoshop is weighted down by all its old code and feature baggage. It's like jumping into the 10th season of a SitCom - there is so much history that the story gets bogged down constantly. Affinity Photo is a single purchase price, works faster and you don't have to worry about making monthly payments for the rest of your life. It's a big win in my book.

 

[Rabby]

I love Affinity. I started using Designer instead of Illustrator for most things (other than existing illustrator files I guess). They even have a replacement for InDesign. And you can buy the software instead of renting it. Did I mention I love Affinity? In case I didn't mention it, I love Affinity.

 

[ChrisV]

I love Affinity. [...] Did I mention I love Affinity? In case I didn't mention it, I love Affinity.

So it's safe to say you have an affinity for Affinity?

I actually went on a recent rant about my distain for Adobe too:

WEB SCHOOL - Kanye Rant: Adobe doesn't care about Mac People

I'm sorry, but am I the only one who finds Adobe's Mac products agitating? There's a certain philosophy and culture that Mac Apps adhere to use that's different from Windows, and Adobe just seems to treat Macs like they're Windows machines. I feel like Adobe is basically like "f*ck your culture...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[Xeon]

Affinity Photo & Affinity Designer are good in that the software is extremely fast (Photoshop CC 2019 is slow as f*ck even on my 24 GB computer with a pretty decent graphics card and processor), and don't get me started on Illustrator. What an abominable piece of trash.

However, Affinity Photo still have a bit of catch-up to do with regards to features. Maybe they've improved, but the last time I tried them in 2017, I constantly had to go back to Photoshop.

 

[Rabby]

So it's safe to say you have an affinity for Affinity?

That is accurate.

Maybe they've improved, but the last time I tried them in 2017, I constantly had to go back to Photoshop.

It's probably worth a look. They move pretty fast. If you scroll below the bug fixes and performance fixes here, you can see the kind of features they put out in a release.

 

[ChrisV]

Also a Illustrator/Publisher alternatives.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvWfuNnuJkg

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdwwURF-3fc

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