I've been using Photoshop for over 20 years, up to four months. It is a benchmark in the world of image editing, and The Adobe suite is undoubtedly a must-have package for any professional dedicated to graphic design. But this package has come up with a competitor that is at its height: the Affinity suite by Serif. And with two strong arguments: The first, its similarity in functions and menus with Adobe programs. If you master Photoshop, in a few minutes you can get hold of Affinity Photo.
The second, and the most important, that Serif programs have a one-time purchase at a very reasonable price including updates, not like Adobe software, which requires a monthly or annual subscription, and not cheap, precisely. I bought Affinity Photo taking advantage of the Black Friday offer and I am delighted with life. And I use it daily.
Serif just announced a global update for its Affinity creative suite, which includes Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and the award-winning Affinity Publisher for Mac.
What's new in Affinity Publisher
The biggest news concerns Publisher, with its first major update since its launch in the summer of last year. Version 1.8 of the Mac version offers IDML support, finally allowing you to import InDesign files.
This new IDML import capability will be very useful to companies and professionals who want to access older document catalogs, being another strong argument for its migration to the Affinity suite.
Publisher now also supports instant full preflight checking, which can alert the user to potential errors in documents, such as poor image resolutions, bleeding, text overflow, spelling errors, etc.
In addition, this new update allows you to save documents as templates, as well as combine several documents in a single file, with a smart combination of master pages, text styles, tables of contents and indexes.
Now Excel spreadsheets can also be imported, PDF export up to five times faster than before, and other less significant improvements.
Affinity Photo and Designer, also with news
The entire suite has received updates today. Some of the new features that have been implemented in Affinity Photo, for example, are support for smart objects when importing PSD files, customizable keyboard shortcuts, and support for the Nik plugin.
What's new in Affinity Designer is centered around a new stock image search panel, and user-programmable keyboard shortcuts.
Affinity Photo is a good alternative to Photoshop
Affinity 1.8 applications can be buy in Serif, with a single payment without subscription. Affinity Publisher, Photo and Designer for Mac cost 54.99 Euros, while Affinity Photo and Designer for iPad cost 21.99 Euros. Users with already purchased applications can download the new update for free.