Is Affinity Suite decent? There's a covid promo

[sigross]

Just saw a post that Affinity is.. offering a 90-day free trial of the Mac and Windows versions of the whole Affinity suite for anyone who wants to use them. Even if you used the trial last year, you can do it again. There’s also a 50% discount if you would prefer to buy and keep the apps, including our iPad versions, as well as a half price offer on all content in the Affinity Store.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/supporting-the-creative-community/

Thought this might be useful. I've not used it before because i'm on Adobe CC. Is it any good?

[NessIllustration]

@sigross I hear on mobile, the Photoshop app still isn't up to par and Affinity is better. Photoshop on mobile is pretty clunky and doesn't have many of the tools in the full version. So it's a little bit the worst of both worlds: not super simple and easy to pick up like Procreate, but not as many tools as you'd want such a complex app to have. So it's hanging out in the middle in a puddle of "meh" while Affinity and Procreate have leaned into what they're good at and found their niche in the mobile world.

[jimsz]

The Affinity suite is well worth the money if you are looking to stop renting your software from Adobe. It is similar to the Adobe CC suite but does require a learning curve.

[sigross]

@NessIllustration for drawing Adobe have Fresco on mobile so I've not used photoshop mobile, like you said it doesn't have all the desktop features. But Fresco has grown on me now they've added loads of brushes and features to it. I do have procreate but just never got round to using it. I'll take a look at Affinity but its hard to settle into new software.

[Aisleen]

I have been using Affinity for a few years and it is basically the same as Adobe CC just that it costs a lot less (I paid 50€ per programm). I`ve used it on Mac and Windows and I allways recommend it.

[NessIllustration]

@sigross I should try Fresco!

[sigross]

@NessIllustration Yes it's well decent now. Started out a bit clunky but the team keep adding stuff artists ask for. I love making texture and multi-coloured brushes with it. And there doesn't seem to be a limit on how many layers you can have.

[jdubz]

I definitely recommend against it specifically for painting. Even Autodesk's Sketchbook, which is free, was a much better painting program. And for the same price as Affinity, you can get Clip Studio Paint which is arguably one of the best painting apps you can use.

Now, from a design standpoint, I can say Affinity programs can replace photoshop, illustrator and indesign no problem. I've completely abandoned illustrator and indesign and I haven't for one second thought "man I wish I had the adobe product". I still use photoshop because I'm working a lot with teams that also need to use PSDs, and the Affinity Photo files can get janky when you convert them into PSDs and have someone open them in PS. If you're ever in a team environment professionally, I'd say you probably still need PS. But if you're doing just photo manipulation or print materials or design work for apps or websites, Affinity is fantastic.