technology Serif's Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher

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Anyone here use Adobe CC on the Mac?

 

*raises hand*

 

One of my biggest peeves with Adobe is how you're forced to pay a monthly subscription. If you don't, you're out of luck. This is especially the case with Adobe's Big Three: Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Other options exist, but they're not that sophisticated, and they don't do anything to make a dent in Adobe's monopoly in the graphic design industry.

 

Serif, a predominantly PC software company from the U.K., decided to change that. After spending several years getting the software coding done correctly, they began releasing software for the Mac little by little. They start by publishing free betas and then publish them to the App Store after several updates through their forum. Their features come from developing them through code from the ground up. The code itself is designed to take advantage of Apple's technology and processing.

 

The first one to be released to the Store is Affinity Designer, Illustrator's competitor. Earlier this year, they released Photo, and Publisher will be scheduled for a beta release in the future.

 

For those who are curious, here's their main website and their Facebook.

 

Now, I don't use Affinity Photo, but I use Designer periodically. One of its biggest strengths is its quick processing. The speed is really smooth, and you can create objects really quickly thanks to their 64-bit processor. Recently, Designer upgraded with the ability to create multiple artboards using the Artboard Tool, along with others including multiple language support (Italian, Brazilian Portugese, and Japanese), trim/bleed/crop marks for print and PDF exporting, Pantone and Global color support, and the Snapshot (taking a snapshot of your work should you want to go back).

 

Now, for Photo, just by looking at videos, it's a great program. From what I've seen, it runs really smoothly, and several features are continually being added. On December 9, Photo and Designer underwent significant upgrades. For Photo, they include:

- Panorama photo stitching
- Full support for expanded gamut DCI-P3 displays in new retina iMacs
- El Capitan support including Affinity extensions for Apple Photos
- Live Stacks - Auto-aligned layers for creating composites
- Choice of Raw processing engines in the Develop persona
- Canvas rotation
- Haze Removal filter
- New alpha selection features (select Opaque/Transparent/Partially Transparent)
- New ‘Split Toning’ adjustment and adjustment layer
- New ‘Contrast Negate’ blend mode
- Clipping preview added in Levels adjustment
- Perspective (single plane) added as a live Filter Layer
- User-adjustable controller ramps for brush variances
- PDF/X pro printing including Spot Colors and overprint control
- Trim, bleed and crop marks for print and PDF export
- Pantone and Global color support
- Customizable keyboard shortcuts
- Character and Paragraph panels; advanced on-screen text controls
- Live OpenType feature previews in the Typography panel
- Added a Recent Fonts list
- PSD export now better supports third party apps including Motion and Final Cut Pro X
- Improved Photoshop plug-in support and improved plug-in management
- Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian) and Japanese languages added
- Numerous other fixes and improvements

 

On the same day, Apple awarded Photo the 2015 Mac App of the Year.

 

One other strength for me: no continuous subscription. You buy it ($49.99 regular price, twenty percent discount every few months in response to celebrations), and you're good until at least two years in Affinity's upgrading cycle. Designer debuted in late-2014, Photo in July. In other words, you won't have to pay again until 2016 and '17, respectively. If you don't have 'em and want to try 'em, free trials are available.

 

Also, no need to worry about upgrading your Mac to Mavericks. Minimum compatibility's a 64-bit processor under Mac OS X 10.7.

 

For those who have any of the two Affinity products, what do you think of it? If you don't, do you plan on trying it out?

Edited December 26, 2015 by Michael Coal