Tomorrow marks an important day for long-time Windows developer, Serif. They’re launching Affinity Designer, their first foray into Mac software. And they’ve set their sites on one of the largest and most important Mac developers in the world: Adobe.
Affinity Designer is a vector art design tool rivaling Adobe Illustrator in the same way that Pixelmator is an alternative app to Adobe’s Photoshop. Which is to say, it’s the real deal.
I’ve been using Affinity Designer on and off for the last month or so and I must say that I’m extremely impressed. With a price tag of only $40 (special price until October 9th), and a most-impressive feature set, I’m betting that it will find a home on quite a few Macs.
Affinity Designer can import AI, PSD, PDF, and SVG files, and save/export as EPS, TIF, JPG, PNG, GIF, PSD, and PDF. It also offers both RGB and CMYK color modes, including 16-bit color support.
All the tools you would expect can be found, and are easy to use. And the app fully supports Apple’s iCloud, Spaces and Full Screen mode. Some pretty cool features include the ability to use pixel-tools to your vector art and have it remain editable. And the best part, Affinity Designer is fast. Really fast.
If you’ve used Pixelmator, you’ve no doubt come to believe that there actually IS a true replacement for Photoshop. I’m here to tell you that as of tomorrow, there will be a real replacement for Adobe’s Illustrator as well. And rumor has it, they’re working on a page-layout app to compete with InDesign.
Now I’m not a fool. I don’t expect designers everywhere to suddenly dump their investment in Adobe software. But true professional-grade alternatives are out there. Watch out Adobe… you’ve been king of the hill for a long time, but the competition is heating up.
Thank you very much for all the positive feedback on this software. I’m sitting in dire straits: Need to buy AI which can run on 10.6.8 and adobe just says sorry, not available.My fFreeHand is still sitting on 10.6 and I’, not moving on to 10.7 and dumping FH.
I have a question: I’m purchasing a Epilog Fusion 32 Laser Engraver and need (according to the manufacturer) to run AI as my vector base. Will Affinity fit the bill?
As soon as I can dump adobe I will do just that! You don’t mess around with the customers who made you the empire you are. The same customers will destroy your empire!
As we say in South Africa: I am ‘gatvol’ now with adobe!
I will “risk” my money on Affinity. I like a low risk with good return.
I can’t comment on whether or not ANY vector file creation app will work with your Laser Engraver, or if it requires AI specifically. But with regard to Adobe’s empire: that was built by customers who pay for upgrades, not those who stick with 5 year old apps.
Any application that rivals Adobe and their non-sensical subscription model deserves support and praise. Wish that this new Affinity App had a trial version though; the price is not an issue but just giving it a test on my machine and workflow would help before purchasing.
First Sketch App, now this. Impressive.
I think what we’re going to see is NEW users starting out with these alternative apps – while us “old” Adobe users hanging on. At least in the print world. But I suspect apps like this are going to start gaining quite a market fairly quickly.
I’m not hanging on. Adobe got enough of my money since 1994. I’m not giving them another dime. I would rather support developers like this that actually understand what designers need to do their work.
I bought this tonight. It is awesome. It’s a little bit Fractal Design Expression, a little bit Macromedia FreeHand, a little bit Deneba Canvas, if anyone remembers all of those apps. I’ve been using Adobe and other illustration software since 1989 and FreeHand was always my favorite. It can still do things that Illustrator can’t. Finally, I’ve found some software that will let me work how I want. I won’t delete Illustrator from my computer, as there may be times I have to do things with it, but I won’t be opening it unless absolutely necessary.
Adobe may have to soon look at its subscription model. I used the beta from day one and it is a strong contender to Illustrator. I have been looking for ways to avoid the subscription based model of Adobe and have not completely found all the alternatives, but this has brought it one step closer.
Good find. We really do need some solid alternatives in our field. Especially at these price points.
This app has promise. Used the beta, gave some feedback, got quick responses from developers.
As a 20+ year Adobe vet who refuses to rent CC, this may be my future.
Hey,
Really like your posts – great content. I too tried out the beta out a few times in the recent past; I guess coming from Illustrator, there was a bit of a learning curve, but I think that it definitely is a strong contender in the category. I’m thinking $40 a decent price to have a piece of software that one day might be as good as if not better than Illustrator.