Affinity's suite has been an essential part of my toolbox for awhile. I'm so hyped they have the support of Canva to really compete with Adobe now SOURCES affinity.serif... www.canva.com/... affinity.serif... Ty ph4se0n3 for edit 🙏
I used to do this for years... And it made me stuck and used to it, so now I pay for it since I make most of my money off it. If you can, don't get stuck ;)
I wanted to edit a photo so I tried a 2 week trial of Photoshop and forgot to cancel. They tried to charge me like a hundred bucks so I charged back and removed payment method. Don't just let them get away with it, just cancel the payment. They won't even ban you, they'd be happy to take your money again if you ever go back.
I tried some AWS service briefly when cloud9 was purchased by Amazon. I’ve been getting billed ever since, couple of years now, but I just refuse to pay and am too lazy to take the time to cancel. The whole onboarding was so confusing that I didn’t even realise I would get billed, so I feel like it’s a them problem.
I forgot to cancel my 2 week trial of Adobe Reader. A one year subscription started without my consent, making me pay 15€ every time. When I go to my account settings to cancel the subscription, 90€ will be charged immediately. What the hell.
@@einfachfejzo yeah it’s messed up. I saw the same thing so instead of canceling on adobe I logged into my payment provider to cancel payment. I used PayPal, but should be able to block payment for CC too. Adobe removed the cancel fee charge from my account and I never had to pay that.
I've been an Adobe user since 1988 as an illustrator & designer. I've bought their full license software so many times over the years. As soon as they went subscription based, they haven't had a penny from me.
You forgot one important bit about Affinity, which I think is great: You purchase your one license and you're still able and fully allowed to install/use it on multiple computers, even at the same time, as long as they're all owned by you. Have you ever checked how many background services Adobe installs, even if you've got an older perpetual license, just to make sure you don't do "bad" things?
I think the best way Affinity can keep their promise whilst being profitable and keeping everyone happy is if they added an optional patreon-style "supporter" subscription on top of their perpetual license. One idea would be offering an optional monthly subscription to support the development, and in return get early access to upcoming features and other goodies. And if you decide to cancel, you can still use your perpetual licenses like you used to.
I don't see this happening, it doesn't really fit with the 'professional' they are targeting. From the way he framed this video, they might be able to do something like "hey we're hiking the price 50%, we wanted to go faster so we hired 10 more devs and need some money" Maybe I'm an optimist, but personally I think this kind of brutal honesty could be effective for a company like this
@@bodi.mp3 blender is actually entirely supported through things like this. It's completely open source so the only way they get paid is through donations and other avenues
@@d3stinYwOw I wish. No non-destructive editing alone makes it non-contender. I agree that people overvalue PS and undervalue gimp, but there are few features that real editor actually needs (and I'm glad gimp will be getting them :-))
I used to work in graphic design. I cannot overstate how much better Affinity Designer is than Illustrator and anything else that Adobe has. Affinity Designer is literally the perfect piece of software...
@@Anastasiabruno as someone working professionaly with Adobe and Affinity privately, Affinity photo has missing many new great features (smart and AI features), it isn't that good for retouching and masking, PS is just faster to use. I don't use Illustrator and Indesign nowadays that much, but from what I use I feel like Designer and Publisher are just as good or better. Take this with a grain of salt as I am not sure what features Adobe added to those 2 in the last year or so
Lets just hope they don't shift the goalposts year by year. Canva and Affinity are both things I use all the time in our line of work, but its still scary when you look back at Adobe's acquisitions over the decades and their shift to a subscription model after basically permeating through the industry and education systems.
Honestly, they will. Every single time I've seen this happen, they end up betraying everyone eventually. Seriously, I have a lot of examples, I'd love to hear examples where this was not the case.
For now, Canva is a private company so there is reason to believe that they won't do anything predatory for a long amount of time. But if they ever go public, excpet Affinity to get the same treatment as Adobe.
@@marcuskissinger3842 Depends on who runs the company, some people are in for the long run, public company investors always want the quick buck at the cost of the product's clients
@@marcuskissinger3842They aren't beholden to shareholders demanding growth every year. *If* Canva has smart and competent leadership, they should be able to think long-term and focus on improving their software instead of being blinded by greed.
I've used Affinity for a long time. I'm not even really a designer. I just occasionally need a way to adjust and export images. I fucking love it. Great software and great deal.
Adobe on macOS also feels like malware. Try monitoring its network activity, it sends a lot of data to their servers every few minutes even if all their software including the launcher are shut down.
Adobe on any platform IS malware! They’ve got you by the nuts and there’s nothing you can do about it. You want their products, you have to install their licensing software and it spends the rest of eternity spying on you whilst you pay handsomely for the privilege…
The part about Creative Cloud that drives me batty is that it wants to be running all the time. Which I might not even mind if it were just a faceless background app, keeping my software up-to-date and staying out of my way, but it’s more like a popup ad, jumping up in my face, trying to get me to give them more money, and constantly taking a spot on my menu bar. Unfortunately, the one part of Affinity’s suite that is worse than Adobe’s is that they’re even worse about not following macOS interface conventions and not using standard macOS APIs. I never realized how often I use the filename in the window titlebar - to rename, to move the file, to open the containing folder, just to check where the heck I saved this because it’s not where I thought it was or I’m worried I’m accidentally working on a duplicate/backup - until I started using Affinity Designer and Publisher. And with v2 they’ve taken away the ability to have a proper window-per-document interface, instead forcing us into a very MSWindows-like application frame with weirdly-contained document windows. While Adobe has been favoring that style of UI since…was it CS3?, even they still give you the option of working with a separate window for each document. And there are other little things like that that are constant annoyances with Affinity on macOS.
@@DonoVideoProductions Great suggestion, used it for years. Another suggestion which I what I switched to after Little Snitch: LuLu by Objective-See, it's free and it works great.
i hate when there's only 1 dominating everything. Autodesk same story manufacturing software cnc etc, mac side lacks almost completely. there are massive holes in the industry in many huge areas
When I started down my train of studying fine art, after being a developer for years, I wanted to know what artists needed. Turns out our base needs have never been fully met, and it takes a long time to figure out how to do basic things; yet, we are just charged out the ass for old interfaces to old tech repackaged for the web. I've spent years being a student, and an actual artist (painter|Illustrator), I've spent tons of time with designers and animators collecting what they want and where the shortcomings are. From both the programmer/artist's perspective, there is a lot of room to innovate.
I have no need for this software (currently), but man Theo, if I did, this would have really sold me on this. You can really see genuine appreciation for their work throughout this video.
Been a fan of Affinity for a long time now, and I'm certainly glad to see such news! Can't wait to see what kind of new features will be added thanks to this!
My professor is trying to punish me for using Canva rather than photoshop. Not gonna happen. She’s outdated in her thinking and I’m not going to allow her to grade people who work smarter against that
Why not use affinity then? Your teacher has a point, If you're trying to be a professional designer, you won't be taken seriously using canva exclusively. It's missing lots of advanced features. Then again, if you're only doing a comms or marketing course, you shouldn't be punished for using canva.
Theo mentions in the beginning that Adobe's big advantage is in integrating all their software together. Good alternatives to Photoshop, Primiere, etc. already exist, this acquisition doesn't change that. To really compete, it stands to reason that Canva has a lot more to buy.
Affinity designer is my go-to vector design software, and I absolutely love it. The number of new features they're always adding just makes a good deal greater.
All canva is doing is playing the long game. Get the software everywhere and get students hooked then one day the greed will show it’s teeth and they will jack up the prices when designers have nowhere else to go.
The most important thing to point out, besides price is that Affinity really fit beginners who can purchase one soft at a time, and evolve their library along with their interest or just drop everything while keeping very good softwares.
I am working with the Adobe suite because it is what the company uses. Since I am one of the company photographers, I use Lightroom and Photoshop primarily. And so far, there is no (and I mean absolutely no) competition for it. The catalog feature are THE most useful thing ever for managing photos. And the editing functions are really good. So far, none of the other options I looked at has ticked all the right boxes for me. And that is sad. Because I think Affinity Photo is a really hot contender as far as replacing PS goes. If there was a solution that is on par with what Lightroom has, especially with its catalog functions, I would switch over in a heartbeat.
Agreed. Especially with generative fill. Not because “I wAnNa mAkE Ai aRt!” But because it has IMMENSE practical uses that have made things that used to take ages take literally seconds.
Canva is so intuitive it just keeps improving I can create fast and iterate with lightning speed they can easily upcharge but they haven't and I'm so grateful
We used affinity for school projects and it completely carried my GCSE Imedia test so much. I so nearly bought it and when I get a bit more money I totally am gonna get it now
This video has made me feel better about the acquisition. I will still probably remain cynical until I see that they actually deliver on their promises, just as a defense mechanism, because I've been burned before, but I'm hoping for the best!
You are just plain wrong. This is a terrible acquisition. I know you want to maintain some sense of positivity about it, but canva is a company that puts subscription based paywalls all over their product. The reason I love affinity is because of its licensing style. Subscription pay modeling is a drug and canva is an addict. Affinity will be subscription based soon enough.
Bitch but they dont get money to get the competition going, your favourite software is of no use if it fucking dies. Unless your dad has unlimited money funding the company they def need constant cash flow.
Buying Capture One outright means you own the current version, but don't get future updates or bug fixes. Could be an issue if you get new camera equipment often.
Listen, I hate Adobe as much as anyone else. But GIMP sucks, I absolutely hate using it. I just kind of have to hope and pray for Affinity Photo to come to Linux, or Photopea to make a local offline app and to be shipped as a Flatpak
GIMP sucks for the creative part. But, like Fiji (ImageJ), it has a place in the toolbox. Ie, something that you need to script hard and/or needs a great plugin that exists. PS has that over Photo, scripting has been around since like... 7 at least. In fact, that IS one of Adobe's major strengths in the "pro arena", because they've had scripting for a LONG time all across, and entire workflows are built on that. AE in particular can be "abused" in a pretty insane manner. Not Avisynth insane, but insane nonetheless. Wonder if their "debugger" improved since CS6, that was the part that sucked bad.
For other open source software, if it's purely for photo editing I recommend Darktable as a Lightroom replacement and if you need other design tools I've seen people prefer Krita. Krita is primarily a program for digital art but they have enough tools and you can also use it for standard photo editing.
Specifically what do you have a problem with? It's fine for my use case of editing photos, vector and pixel art. But I do use Krita for drawing and now pixel art.
@@NicCrimson Let me put it like this. Can you do fine creative work in MS Paint? Yes. Is it a good experience? No. That sums up GIMP as a creative tool. Heck, you can find an old PS7 in some trash bin and for the most part, it will still feel better than GIMP, because the basic tooling has been pretty much the same since like forever, and pretty much better since as long. Now, as part of a creative PROCESS does GIMP have lot of value? Yes... p.s. You can leverage the same points at Inkscape. Illustrator will feel better for creative work, Corel Draw will feel better for precision work. And "how good it feels" becomes VERY important if you have to spend all day with something. And the opposite, if you're forced into using something that you hate all day everyday, you know what hell feels like...
I use vector-based software to create cutting machine patterns (I started with CNC plasma tables). I need an affordable way to create vector files and export them to a DXF file and I don't want a bunch of other software to haul around on my computer -- but it is nice to have something on the iPad. Affinity has just given me everything I need. I also have a Canva subscription so I've been hoping that works out. Your video has just given me more confidence that the future looks bright. Thank you for making sense.
Read something in the forums. They'd need to be sure they'd be able to sell at least 300k licenses for them to port their software to Linux. They could not afford to port the software if they sell any less.
gonna be honest, GIMP has served me well for over 10 years now. Haven't found a feature that I need that GIMP doesn't have. Plus I'm learning new stuff all the time about it.
I'm still using Adobe software for now, but have been keeping a close eye on the alternatives. I see a pretty exciting future where no one is forced to use Adobe apps at all!
From what you have shown me and I’ve seen I believe they have a video editor in the works. I’m definitely going to be purchasing this on my next paycheck. This is incredible.
If you compare it to other web services commonly used by ordinary consumers it is not that expensive either. Taking into consideration that they often solve a unique problem, sometime giving access to exclusive stock photos is not that expensive.
I use Affinity for a while and I love it. I could not afford Adobe PS with all of the charges and I needed it on three machines at the same time. I went with Affinity and love it. Glad to see others love it too.
I'm conflicted because typically good companies that make good software and actually treats its users well getting bought up means... they reached their goal. They got their user base, sold out for a big pot, and now it's up to the new company who paid for it to churn that for as much profit as they can to make their investment worthwhile. These corporate buyouts tend to be a sign of enshittification on the horizon. Maybe in the distance, but eventually.
considering canva also implements ai into their design usage, i have no doubt they'll take affinity in the same direction adobe's products have gone. not sure why so many are celebrating this buy out lol
I've been using Affinity for 5 years and agree that it is extremely affordable. I miss some of the filters Adobe has and think there's room for improvement from Affinity there. I've never been a huge Canva fan, so I guess we'll just have to see if Photo, Designer and Publisher stick around. Oh, and the fact that the iPad apps are just as good as the desktop ones is amazing.
Using now affinity for several months. I think affinity is not just cheaper but better than adobe for me. It has the essential features I use but much simpler to understand. For me, as I don't use such software every day, this is really a value.
I like your video. It's more positive than some other videos I've watched. I've had no choice but to cancel Adobe today before being pulled into another year subscription. I missed the sale but honestly I'm also sceptical about the Canva purchase. Effectively they are not merging but have bought Affinity, so Canva has the say about everything. A pledge is not a legally binding contract and can be changed any time. Canva already has the majority of users bewteen the 2 companies so I'm sure they won't care if people leave and go back to Adobe or other alternatives. You will just have more non-professionals taking over the design space with Canva. I'm purchasing the Affinity suit this week but once a subscription is added I'll be heading back to Adobe. (Not just for Photoshop but other programs as well). Let's cross fingers you are right about everything 😊
I got burned hard by Adobe's pricing model years ago, and since I wasn't really a professional I just... kind of gave up on that space. I can draw, I can do things by hand, so I shifted what I do to lean into those skills and away from fancy software rather than give any more blood to that vampire. But damn, I wish I'd known about Affinity. I am kind of curious about the products themselves, though I'm not sure how much use I'd have for them anymore. But I am super psyched at the thought of anything that can give Abode a kick in the teeth.
Thank you for doing this video. I've been using Adobe since '93 and have bought it numerous times. I have been looking for a real alternative for a very long time. I will check it out.
Well you just convinced me to buy a Universal license! I grew up on Adobe products (Dreamworks, PS, Flash) and over the last decade plus, have soured on their products and associated costs. I have switched over to using a suite of open source offerings but they are far from perfect. I had never heard of Affinity, how I don’t know because this is the exact thing I have been hoping and looking for! I have heard of Canva and like you said, never associated it with professional design, this is a smart move. This is also the first video of yours I have watched and I was an instant subscriber! It’s refreshing to hear someone actually do some critical thinking on something like this where many would rather complain. All of the things you said about the acquisition make complete sense and I think you made a very convincing case as to why this acquisition makes sense for both parties and can still benefit the consumer. All this to say, love the video, think I’m going to love the software, and this was an A+ video! Thanks from a new happy fan and sub❤
Affinity is really really good. Hell I bought it before using my schools adobe access, but I feel like you’re being a little harsh on the Adobes AI tools, i've used affinity's inpainting for many projects in the past and it did a good job but its really not on par with adobes tools, adobes AI is called generative fill its not supposed to be some alternate mid journey or DALL E. If you’re trying to make some small tweaks its really effective, if you’re trying to modify somebody’s drawing it’s super effective, but if you’re trying to replace an entire background and put a human person in a whole new scene of course there’s gonna be some hiccups. It’s only going to get better from where it is right now and this is a huge reason why I use adobe more.
Thanks Theo, I had no idea this software existed and I have been looking for a Photoshop alternative for a while now because Adobe's pricing is just insane.
I have seven more months of my Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. Because of the price, I’ve decided to go ahead and buy Affinity so I can start learning it. I also own a Canva subscription because I’m also crafty that way. Canva’s background erase is the BEST!
If you want to get out of Adobe Creative Cloud, do what I did. I swapped out my plan to incopy because it was a much cheaper subscription, then I ended up cancelling that plan. So now I'm getting a refund for this month instead of paying the £56 odd quid I would have paid to cancel. 😂
I am still salty about Apple discontinuing Aperture. It is such a well-designed program. I still have my photo library in Aperture on an old Mac because no migration path out of it is lossless. (Moving to Photos or Lightroom keeps all the originals as well as the edited renders, but you lose the not-baked-in adjustments.)
Already back in 2013 Affinity made the switch away from Adobe a no-brainer! Even today it still feels and acts as the most modern and up-to-date suite of software for a photographer or designer. Coupled with Capture One and you have the most competent and versatile modern combination of software you can think of. For video folks DaVinci and Final Cut Pro have both proven to be at least as competent and responsive as Adobe Premier.
I needed to design a logo recently and swore I wouldn't go back to Adobe, I found Affinity and was so happy! Figured it out well enough and made the logo and it turned out great.
I've hated Adobe for YEARS, even though all I mainly ever used was PS and sometimes Premier (I used Vegas Pro for videos usually). Then I changed my OS to Linux and couldn't use Adobe at all anymore, and have been trying out stuff to make my own alternatives. Resolve is incredible and while I'm still new to it it blows Premier out of the water. PS alts on Linux are harder, but I can get by with GIMP for most stuff I do. GIMP does need some help with some tools though like the selection tool. IDK why but it just cannot even hold a candle to PS for that one tool :(
@@bersK00 Krita is geared towards digital artists of which I am not, lol. Plus I've been on GIMP for like 5 years now. The UI really isn't bad, just different, plus there's always PhotoGIMP which makes the UI and shortcuts match Photoshop
I've been using it for a few years now and love it. I do occasional design work a few times a month. Paying Adobe such a premium ongoing price for a secondary piece of software I need to occasionally use is just not palatable.
What-ya-talking-'bout? It was always Adobe vs Corel. Corel is still around but Adobe bought customers, hooking them in to products long term, so Corel is quieter than you might expect.
Be aware that Adobe was also a one off payment once. This is a company, not your friend. Affinity isn’t your girlfriend, it’s a paid tool that would go subscription model the second it saw blood in the water.
"videos not really about adobe" > shows adobe > knocks adobe > speaks good about canva, even makes bold claims, and then doesn't show it. also... you mean "another PHOTOSHOP competitor" this was more than clickbait, this competes with one product, and you didn't even show it in action, worst of all, one thing is sure, i won't be getting my hopes up on any of your content, i really really want this title to be true it hurts.
5:32 I originally was trying to stop paying for adobe once I got out of school and the subscription was going up to something like $150. I found affinity and bought them a couple years ago right b4 I graduated with my first degree. I never really switched and just stopped using everything for a bit. Now I’m going to school for graphic design. Once I’m out of school again maybe I can actually switch to affinity for real. This is great to hear I can use it on my iPad! I’m just hoping I can use it almost seamlessly with the rest of the adobe using professional world. I would love to get rid of adobe
Thank you for sharing this news. I’m sure I will be making this switch when the time of my “Adobe contract” comes to an end. 5 years of over paying for a tool. Enough is enough.
Tbf, if affinity started a monthly donation plan or something to get people who genuenly like the software a way to continuously support the company, that would be good too i think
I need Lightroom so bad. Everybody talks about Photoshop will be replaced, Premiere Pro, Illustrator will be replaced,... but Lightroom, still not. I don't see any apps that can compete with Lightroom right now.
It is my opinion that all software like this should be buy once, own forever, but only a year of free updates. It's by far my favorite business model for continuously improving software because it gives the consumer ownership of their product while encouraging the company to continue developing a better product so that they can sell again to loyal customers. I'd be thrilled to see more creative software adopt it. I love free software and I love buy once and free updates for life, but at the end of the day, a company has to keep making money, so I'd rather do it under this model than a normal subscription. Hopefully if money becomes an issue at any point, that's what they'll switch to.
automated/assisted matting mask generation is something that Adobe gave us a new tool for every major release for the entire 90s and early 2000s. And they still didn't make it much easier than what a skilled PShop user could do with the wand, lasso and quickmask paint/erase tools.
