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New Affinity
- Thread starter OldMacs4Me
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Actually, it is not totally free. The basics are but to use the new Ai masking and some other features there is a charge to your Canva account that you create in the process. The free portion is equally as feature rich as v2 and then some, so the choice is yours. The irony is that I already have a Canva Pro account for other features I used in marketing so Affinity was simply added making it more valuable. I haven't downloaded it yet as had other priorities. Affinity is part of my 2 softwares to dump Adobe as affinity can substitute for Photoshop with similar pixel management/replacement and true layers. For Lightroom and its DAM and pixel manipulation (not replacement) debating between On 1 and Capture One.
In October, I did renew Adobe's Photoshop/Lightroom "Photographer's Package" for the year. However, while I knew of the pricing shift away from monthly, I was in shock when I saw the details. They essentially flattened the Photographer's Package delinking Lightroom and Photoshop where now the similar price is Lightroom only with some other useless features like cloud storage, team sharing, etc. If you want Photoshop, that's an add-on. Thankfully grandfathered for the original Plan that no longer exists and just pay annually, BUT 1) no assurance how it will be next year at renewal if even offered, and 2) held hostage? if leave not able to return to the plan that no longer exist and have to adopt the significantly ($250 vs $120) more expensive plan with add-on. Now getting serious investigating and developing alternatives into the workflow.
In October, I did renew Adobe's Photoshop/Lightroom "Photographer's Package" for the year. However, while I knew of the pricing shift away from monthly, I was in shock when I saw the details. They essentially flattened the Photographer's Package delinking Lightroom and Photoshop where now the similar price is Lightroom only with some other useless features like cloud storage, team sharing, etc. If you want Photoshop, that's an add-on. Thankfully grandfathered for the original Plan that no longer exists and just pay annually, BUT 1) no assurance how it will be next year at renewal if even offered, and 2) held hostage? if leave not able to return to the plan that no longer exist and have to adopt the significantly ($250 vs $120) more expensive plan with add-on. Now getting serious investigating and developing alternatives into the workflow.
You can keep v2 forever. I actually still have v1 installed next to v2 and don't plan to remove either.
So I did download it. Off the top I dislike having to sign in with Canva to get it up and running. This appears to be a one time thing and is as simple as they could have made it. However it does give Canva (or whoever buys out Canva) the ability to yank the rug from under the license at their discretion.
To date I've had less than an hour but as far as the photo end of it goes, it seems almost identical to Affinity-1 or 2. On the plus side of course are the integrated Vector and Design suites. Of course when using the combined suites you are using the propriety file format if you want the work to be easily editable.
There are premium features which involve AI and shove you onto the Canva $20(CDN)/month subscription platform. I'm not likely to use them, especially as at least one of them is cloud based.
EDIT: As is typical with the new improved versions of Mac OS, you have to do an initial Canva sign in with every user account on the computer.
To date I've had less than an hour but as far as the photo end of it goes, it seems almost identical to Affinity-1 or 2. On the plus side of course are the integrated Vector and Design suites. Of course when using the combined suites you are using the propriety file format if you want the work to be easily editable.
There are premium features which involve AI and shove you onto the Canva $20(CDN)/month subscription platform. I'm not likely to use them, especially as at least one of them is cloud based.
EDIT: As is typical with the new improved versions of Mac OS, you have to do an initial Canva sign in with every user account on the computer.
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I have tried it and I do like it. Yes you have to create a Canva account, but once you are past that it seems OK. I do know nothing is truly free but I dislike AI features so I won't be using them. Sure they have my info for marketing and what not, but so does Apple, Google, Tmoble etc. I do still use Photoshop only because I started with version 1.5, but perhaps buy next year I may be on Affinity only.
Yeah, but that's not really new, just different: in the previous version, you had sign in with your Affinity account to get the apps running.
What Affinity never made big deal out of: the "different" file formats for Photo, Designer, and Publisher always were the same format, just with different file extensions.
Overall, Affinity V3 works well for me so far. None of the functions the previous apps had (I have the full suite) are missing, they added a couple of things I was sorely missing (vector tracing, mesh gradients, adjustment brush, amongst others). There are a few interface changes that I don't like, for instance the new "new document" dialogue, or the export options, but that's literally superficial.
I just hope Canva doesn't ******tify Affinity over time, by locking more new features behind a paywall or something.
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I've yet to give it a whirl as I'm still happy running V2. I'm only a light user anyway. When I have a bit more time I'll look into it, but as I've paid for V1 & V2 I kinda' feel compelled to leave it as is for the time being.
As @Janichsan mentions, I just hope that if I do make the transition to V3, that over time, elements don't get locked behind a paywall. I'm ok with paying for a suite outright/or upgrading to the next version-but do just that. I'm ok with a complete package, rather than getting halfway through a project and then having to pay for something to finish it off because the feature i needed is locked. That is a stretch though, but not unrealistic these days.
As @Janichsan mentions, I just hope that if I do make the transition to V3, that over time, elements don't get locked behind a paywall. I'm ok with paying for a suite outright/or upgrading to the next version-but do just that. I'm ok with a complete package, rather than getting halfway through a project and then having to pay for something to finish it off because the feature i needed is locked. That is a stretch though, but not unrealistic these days.
OK definitely not a one time thing. Tried to open it yesterday. Got a splash screen telling me about an update and that I would have to sign in with Canva the next time I opened the app. Not sure if it was the new year or the update, but it means signing in on 3 profiles, one of them being my wife's.
It's gone from being a minor irritant to; I'll use AffinityPhoto1 unless there is something in 3 that's not available in 1.
Definitely the update. I installed it a few weeks ago and also had to sign in again. Not a fan of this, even if I only have one account.
I'd rather be reliably screwed by Adobe once a year than have no idea where I stand in a year.
Annoyingly Nikon did the same with their free software as well. NX Studio now requires sign in before it'll work.
They are only doing this to get people off Adobe so they can capitalise on it later. Standard tactic. They don't even have to make any money for a couple of years. There will be a large product rebranding and new version (like goodnotes) and you'll get grandfathered in and nagged until you quit or pay up. Guaranteed.
I'm slowly learning Darktable myself as an exit plan in the 2 year window. It's excellent but complicated.
Annoyingly Nikon did the same with their free software as well. NX Studio now requires sign in before it'll work.
They are only doing this to get people off Adobe so they can capitalise on it later. Standard tactic. They don't even have to make any money for a couple of years. There will be a large product rebranding and new version (like goodnotes) and you'll get grandfathered in and nagged until you quit or pay up. Guaranteed.
I'm slowly learning Darktable myself as an exit plan in the 2 year window. It's excellent but complicated.
It is actually free. What is not free is AI use, that is the only stuff behind a paywall. Paying for AI makes sense as it is being done on Canva's servers so you gotta pay to use their own. If it was offline AI hosted by your own computer that would be a different story. Everything you could do with V2 of the 3 Affinity apps you can do with Affinity Canva and more. This is more than "just the basics". You are getting basically V3 for free and if you want AI you pay for that. Nothing else is locked behind that paywall.