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LuBre

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Everything posted by LuBre

  1. LuBre
    No option, at the moment. But I already avoided buying Affinity 2.0 because it doesn't offer much advantages compared to 1.0. And now it's even less appealing, to be honest. Affinity will still be cheaper than Adobe, of course. But sometimes it's not just about the money. I am honestly ready to pay 12€/month for Photoshop, if their tools can drastically reduce my working time.
  2. LuBre
    Indeed, you nailed it. AI can't entirely replace humans. That's like arguing that in a near future architects will lose their jobs because the AI will be able to design and render and entire house from scratch, program the required tools/robots to build it, order the materials, maybe even print the money to keep the economy going on. An AI content aware plugin/tool will be soon mandatory in any photo-editing software. I am sure we will soon that stuff in the upcoming releases of iOS and Android too (on a side note, Google will be releasing an AI-powered update on Andorid, this summer). It would be a shame to lose Affinity in this race.
  3. LuBre
    Exactly. It's not meant t be perfect and you will always need to add your touch. But you will be spending a fraction of the time. This is yet another good user experience feedback frome someone using this AI marvel:
  4. LuBre
    Not in this context, in my opinion. We're discussing about the possibility of having an AI-assisted plugin for a better content-aware content filler tool. That's all. This shouldn't be a discussion about the AI taking over humanity, at which point Affinity wouldn't exist anymore and this entire debate would be pointless. We're asking about something similar to what we've seen in the Adobe suite. That's all. That's a concern that goes beyond this discussion. You can't stop the AI development by simply "not adding AI tools to Affinity". The world is moving in that direction. For some people it's bad, for others is just another form of tech evolution. It's a train we can't stop anymore. Governments are now reacting to this change and some embryonal ideas about rules and regulations are already on the table. That's what we have to expect for our (near) future and that' what we have to learn to use if we want to stay relevant. Now... Is Affinity Suite still going to be competitive, in that near future? Will they offer similar tools? That's the only thing that matters in this specific context. At some point evey other editing tool will be offering some kind of AI-assisted plugin/feature. Does Affinity think that ignoring this new tehcnology will be a wise choice? I think it's not a good idea. I believe it's a very bad move. Remember when the first smartphones with a touch screen came out? Some companies were reluctant to jump to that train (introduced by Apple). But here we go. Now everyone produces big-screen devices because either you do that or you stick to a big-buttons phone and perish. This is exactly what happened to BlackBerry, which was the leader of smart devices at that time. They didn't adapt, they believed their device was still "far superior", compared to a piece of glass. And here we are, no more BlackBerry. Kodak failed to adapt too and they declared bankrupcy in 2012, even though Fuji delivered first blow by selling more competitive products at a lower price. Sooner or later people will realize they can do a better job by using an alternative (powered by the AI) and will migrate to that alternative en masse. You can avoid offering some more advanced editing tools that may cater to a very specific audience, maybe. But you can't ignore this new technology. Just like Affinity added a content aware tool (not on par with Adobe but still... Better than nothing), they should do the same with the AI.
  5. LuBre
    Budget constrains for a job that requires a higer investment are always, always a red flag. If you ask 10K for a job and the client is willing to pay 5K "because we're tight on the budget" then I walk away. If they can spend 9K we can talk about it. There is absolutely no reason to take an underpaid job "because the client is on a tight budget". I don't care. I make my price, you decide if you can afford it. If you can't, you will find cheaper professionals who will gladly do it. Can you give me a reason why companies still hire professionals instead of pushing one button to generate a full website/ecommerce with multiple tools, languages, billing dashboards and shipping tools? That's what you can do with Shopify, which is just one of the many available premade tools that requre zero knowledge. They are dumb-easy tools that anyone can use. They are exactly what you describe in your AI comments: an automated tool that does the job of a professional for a cheaper price, without requiring any experience of any kind. Push a button, get the product. So, why do companies still hire developers? Back to Photoshop and Affinity Photo. We already have content aware fillers. And the extremely cool Inpainting Brush (on Affinity Photo). Even ignoring the AI, which is a very recent news (still in beta anyways), why don't you feel the same about these tools? I am sure you would agree with me that both the filler and the brush require zero experience: just click an icon, drag the mouse across the image, done. You edited an entire element out of the photo. Anyone can do it, even a little child. So, why didn't those tools/plugins create any problem, similar to the AI problems you're worried about? I honestly can't find a single reason to ignore the AI and not adding it to AP. Seriously. Unless you also think that other plugins and tools are a danger for our jobs.
  6. LuBre
    Clients value multiple things. Price, quality, timing, experience, past projects and even your social skills. What you define "client on a tight budget" is a client who focuses on the price and nothing else. With that said, I don't get those clients. I get clients who value the whole package. Chep clients are an instant "nope", because they bring nothing than underpaid work, problems and very late payments (if they pay at all). That computer-assisted experitse already exists since over a decade but you refuse to understand it. I've told you multiple times that we already have TONS of "premade / automated / push-one-button / even-my-cat-could-use-it" tools that do NOT require a professonal at all. They are everywhere. Again: anyone, even my poor cat, can deploy a website or even an ecommerce without knowing anything about websites, coding or ecommerce itself. You don't need a professional to have your own blog/website online. My son is 14 years old and he built and deployed a simple website for his final assignment. Does that mean that I am suddenly out of work because my son can build his school's website? Will schools ask children to build websites for free? Did these "build your website for free in 1 minute" tools suddenly replace those poor old-school coders who still manually code everything? Did web designers and web developers lose their jobs because companies can easily build their webistes with Wix / Squarespace / YouNameIt for an insanely low price? Did professionals stop selling photo editing services because companies can use Gimp for free (or ask a friend to do that for them)? Did the (old) content aware fill tool ever replace professionals, despite allowing everyone to ultra-easily edit any photo? Because even the current content aware tool is gorgeous, isn't it? That alone saves a LOT of time already. AI tools will be no different. They will simply be better and faster than what we already have.
  7. LuBre
    Sorry but... Who cares? Who the hell wants a client on a tight budget for an expensive job? I am not interested in cheap/tight-budget clients. They will try their best to save money at all costs. Working for them would be a pain in the back. No thanks. I'll keep my more "wealthy" clients who value my skills and my time. Those tight budget clients will choose a cheap guy from a cheap country, like they already do when they want a website for $50, support included. How am I able to sell a website for $5K if the same website can be done for free with a drag'n'drop tool? Why do companies pay me, instead of simply using a premade tool that exists since 2010? Why not asking a cheap slave from that famous 3rd world country, instead of hiring me? The AI will not make any difference: you can't do "everything" with the AI. You can simplify and speed up tasks but you can't magically do "everything" for everyone under any circumstance. It's a tool. Nothing more than that. Also, governments are already moving towards some kind of "regulation/rules" for its use. Which is a very good thing. But isn't that exactly what AI in the form of machine learning provides? Listen... The day AI will take over the humanity, we will be doomed. At that point, as I already said, Affinity will be long gone already and this forum will be dead too. Until that day, here we are. Let's focus on the present instead of imagining a world where humans are mere slaves of the machines, shall we? I hope Affinity ups their game and stays up to date to offer a competitive product. Either that, or they will soon become less relevant and less appealing. Even for the average Joe.
  8. LuBre
    Nothing will change, because this "more humans can use it to create the same work" thing happened a zillion times already, over the past 20+ years. Nowadays anyone can build a website. For free. In a couple minutes. You can even get a free domin name with a free SSL certificate. So the question is: why am I still selling websites, 25 years later, if any business can push a button and magically have a new website? Need a cool intro video for your product/YT channel/whatever? There are ultra-cheap resources that let you do it in zero time with a professional look. Then again: hwo am I still able to sell video-editing solutions to my clients? Anyone can take a good photo of a product and sell it online (worldwinde) in minutes. It doesn't take any effort, it's a matter of using a drag'n'drop tool that even a toddler could use. How am I able to sell an entire custom-coded ecommerce website in 2023, which sells for at least €30-50K plus a regular monthly fee? Isn't Shopify almost free and ready to go for everyone, even for the average Joe? Did these powerful and creative tools kill the market? No. "This tool will replace humans" or "This toll can be used even by your blind cat" or "Even my 5 years old boy could use it" comments have been around forever. But at the end of the day that's not even remotely true. I wouldn't have a job if that was a reality. Also, every single business would be running their own website / ecommerce / app without hiring anyone. Why hiring a photographer when you can take stunning photos with your iPhone 21? Why hiring a musician/singer when you can play great music via Spotify? The list goes on and on. More humans can use the AI to create "a SIMLAR work", that's the thing. Not "the same" work. That makes a huge, gigantic, incredible difference. A well done job will still require a trained/experienced profoessional. A cheaper "wannabe professional" random someone will still be able to sell something entirely AI-generated but not to my audience, not to my clientes. We would still target two completely different markets. You will always need human power to solve issues, logic, create extremely customized solutions, etc. That will happen in AI-supported editing too. Advanced/complex stuff willrequire experienced/updated people. And those people will get paid very well. Everyone else will be happy with a "decent" solution for $3/hour. Just like now, when a client wants a website for $50 by hiring some poor 3rd world slave.
  9. LuBre
    When you say that the AI will do the same work "no matter who is using it", you automatically imply that having or not having a human behind it... Will not make any difference. AI, at that point, will be better than any human and will be able to complete a task without any (human) intervention. Because if that wasn't the case, you would still see a different quality based on who is operating the AI. You're picturing a scenario where the human factor is simply taken away. In which case it wouldn't matter if Affinity adds an AI tool or not. Because by that time, the AI will be replacing our jobs (completely) and nobody will need an Affinity product anymore. In short, Affinity will be long gone already, because the AI will replace it. The point is: AI will not replace humans. We will still be there, using it to complete other tasks which will require an AI assistance to make them better. As long as you keep the human factor in the equation, no harm is done. Good professionals will always sell better than cheap professionals. Competition will be there, just like today, just like it's always been. IF thr AI takes over, replacing us entirely in some jobs, then we will be all doomed. But nobody will care if Affinity implemented an AI plugin or not, at that point. We will be jobless anyways. If, on the other side, we try to stay with our feet on the ground, we will still work in the next years to come with no issues whatsoever. And we will be using the AI to aid us. Let's hope Affinity will still be there to be our partner. That's all.
  10. LuBre
    Which is something that happens all the time and it's been happening for the past 20+ years: software gets updated, people get more tools to work with, things get easier/better ro use. AI is nothing different: it's a tool. Again: did we have any problem when the basic content aware tool came out? No. Did we have any problem when design software added layers and masks? No. Seriously, the amount of QoL tools added in the past years is insane. No harm done, we're still here and we will always be here doing our job. I answered to your question already in my previous comment (see last paragraph) but you keep thinking that AI is going to magically destroy our job. I don't know how to make you understand that you're looking at the wrong problem here. AI is not the issue: not updating yourself by using it, IS the real issue. In short: if Affinity Photo doesn't follow the trend by adding some AI tools/plugins, sooner or later it will stop being competitive and interesting. Designers, developers, graphics and photographers will look elsewhere. And Affinity will start losing clients. As simple as that. How I sell myself to my clients -and the amount of money I charge- will be totally unaffected by the introduction of an AI plugin... As long as I embrace this new technology, I understand it, I use it and I resell it by using its power and benefits. If everyone uses it, and I use it too, I'll be offering a competitive product at my price. I don't care if others do the same at a lower price: they already do it, today, now. That's not an issue. Cheaper labor will always exist. It's absolutely irrelevant if everyone else will be using the AI, because we will be playing on the same field. It will be like having no AI at all, just like a year ago. But now that we DO have this AI tech, either we stay updated (and competitive) so we can compete with others (who use it) or we silently fall behind and lose the train. Which, in my opinion, is a bad move. In short: adding an AI tool to AP/AD would be a huge benefit because it would give us more power and Affinity itself would be a good Adobe competitor. Either Affinity adds an AI plugin or I will move to Adobe or whatever it is. Because if you've followed the latest news, you will clearly see with your eyes that it is an extremely powerful thing. It's like having layers and masks or not having them at all: it's not a choice anymore, you need them. The same thing will happen with the AI: it will become an essential tool.
  11. LuBre
    Tha has nothign to do with AI tools, it's a market problem you have to deal with in any case. I think you're under the wrong assumption thad adding a new working tool (AI content fller) to Affinity Photo will suddenly destroy the market, because everyone will be using it (even for free, in house or at home) to do what professionals do for money. If that was the case, we would have already seen the same problem with the myriad of working tools that came out in the past years. Which, as a matter of fact, didn't make any difference in terms of raw competition. The only thing that changes is wether you will be using those tools or not. If you will NOT be using them, you will fall behind the curve and be less competitive, less updated, less productive. In short, you will make less money because you feiled to follow the market and its trends/needs. This is something than happens everyday, with any tool/instrument, in any field. Not upgrading your computer makes you slow or outdated. Not upgrading your internet connection brings its issues. Not upgrading your screen if you're a designer (or photographer) may be a problem. A hospital that never upgrades their machines will not last for a long time. A doctor who doesnt study the latest techniques will face serious problems sooner or later. The list goes on and on. Having some knowledge/tools in the AI field will be mandatory for many of us. Coders and designers will clearly need to update themselves. You stay updated, you stay competitive, you keep selling well at your chosen hourly rate. Dealing with cheap labor and lowballers is a completely different topic and adding an AI filler tool to Affinity Photo will not make any difference in that sense. The only tangible benefit, for Affinity, will be the user retention. Because at some point those AI tools will be everywhere, jsut like a smartphone or a tablet. We will get used to them, we will need them. If Photo will not offer it, users will move elsewhere. I honestly felt a bit "shocked" when I read from Affinity "There are no plans for this at present". That's not a good answer. They should be already digging into it and exploring this new world. At least a "We're looking into it, more exciting news soon!" would have been encouraging, to be honest. I'll keep doing what I've been doing for the past decades: I'll work hard on my clients network and I'll keep making them happy with great products, great assistance/maintennance and great communication. That's what good clients need and pay for. Anyone looking for a $2/hour worker in a random 3rd world country has never been in my radar, and honestly I've ultra-rarely met those kind of enslavers.
  12. LuBre
    I disagree. It will not happen at all. Things will change for sure and we will adapt to use the new tools instead of living in a cave with our precious "old trusted tools". Photoshop has already introduced tons of quality of life and "productivity booster" features over the past years. This AI thing isn't anything different: it's yet another productivity booster. I mean, if you think about it, even the basic "content aware fill" tool is a huge boost to productivity. Or the correction pen tool, which you can use to fix an image in a second with zero effort, instead of spending 2 hours editing pixel by pixel. Those tools already exist and they dramaticaly improve productivity and speed. But nobody had an issue with them, nor prices changed or crushed the market. Again: I've been working as a developer since 1998 and you wouldn't imagine how many times I've been told "Hey, this new technology came out, you're doomed, it will replace coding and coders". People told me "you will never sell an ecommerce website anymore, people use Shopify, Etsy, Wix, whatever". Nothing could be further from the truth, to be honest. I hope Affinity will embrace the new AI era. I believe this is a train you can't skip.
  13. LuBre
    As said above, AI is no different than any other tool that enhanches productivity. There will be no sudden undercuts out of the blue, it's not going to work like that. Lowest bids and cheap labor have been a reality since forever, who cares. Valuable clients are able to value your skills and your professionality, that's no the issue at all. Being a coder I can give you my feedback, which is not far from any designer/editor/copywriter feedback anyways. Coding in 2023 isn't cheaper than before, just because we've got tons of utilities, apps and cool things to do our job faster than ever. We get paid as good as we've always been paid. The only difference is that todayI have so many useful and powerful tools that I can code a website in half a day instead of a full week. But I still get paid for what I ask, nobody questions as long as I deliver a good product. The only difference is that $2K for a website that requires half a day is better than getting the same money for a full week of work. The client gets his website sooner, I get my money for less working hours. It's a win-win. AI let's us work better and faster, we can be more productive and we can focus on other tasks. Or even chill and relax more often, if we need it. We will still have our jobs, we will still get paid well, we will still have the same competition as we've always had. We're just evolving, that's it.
  14. LuBre
    That won't be an issue. AI is just a tool, it will not become a profession/human replacement. Just like ChatGPT will never "replace" developers and copywriters. The "in house" solution will never happen either. Companies always hire professionals to do the job. I could list an endless amount of "profession killer" tools that came out in the past 20 years in the webdev field. Stuff like "build your company website in 5 minutes for $99" or "host your ultimate app for $1/month". These solutions have always been around but nobody got harmed and companies very rarely even consider them. If anything, they just work for cheap clients that you better never meet in your life. To make some weird analogy, right now we're in a phase between film photography and digital photography. Back when digital stuff was still in its early stage, nobody would have ever imagined that film photography was already doomed. The AI era has begun and I think that any company which has something to do with it... Should do their best to board the train. Affinity had nothing to deal with... Until Adobe popped out their tool. And they are not the only ones (Photopea, which is free, is following the same road). It's still in its eartly stage, of course. But it's going fast. Very fast. I don't like to be boring, I know sometimes I am, but this is just to give you an insight. I am a web developer, I designe and code websites and apps. You cannot imagine how ChatGPT and Midjourney changed my workflow for the better. It's just a night and day upgrade, no question about it. You still need to be skilled if you want to achieve great results, of course. You don't watch Netflix while ChatGPT does everything for you. But it does a lot, really a lot. The same goes for Midjourney. These are the new tools of the modern digital era. I think that Affinity should seriously consider following the trend, because it's already a reality in many working fields and it's not going away.
  15. LuBre
    It will be even more important for professionals (money involved). Less time to do the same job means I can do more in the same time, getting even more money from more clients. The AI revolution is going to hit everyone. Affinity will be forced to make a choice, sooner or later. Or it will be the next Kodak, in my personal opinion. Becuse having the AI content filler is an absolute game changer. It will come a time when customers will expect to see this tool in any photo editing tool. It's just too good to be ignored... And it suddenly made the Adobe supscription a lot, really a lot more appealing.
  16. LuBre
    As a loyal customer I feel the need to give my feedback. This AI thing is already changing everything and it's going to be an absolute "must have", sooner than later. If you don't plan to do something about it, even some kind of "basic" AI tool, it will be extremely hard to stick to Affinity. The technology/working quality of life given by the new Adobe plugin is just too good to be ignored. It's not perfect, it's not impeccable. Not yet. But it already gives a HUGE boost to productivity. Right now Adobe's AI tools is something that I would already pay for. Please, don't drop the ball on the new AI era. It would be a huge mistake, in my opinion.
  17. LuBre
    Added 'Limit Initial It works, but only on the first image. If you open a second (small) image it will still get zoomed to fullscreen. There is also a noticeable "flash" effect as if the image was first @ full width and then rapidly resized to 100%. Can it be avoided?
  18. LuBre
    Confirmed. Also, that "flash effect" when the image gets resized is quite bad.
  19. LuBre
    Downloaded. Installed. Tested. ORGASMED. It's been a loooooong wait but it's finally here. Thanks, thanks, thanks a thousand times.
  20. LuBre
    Big/wide screens have been a reality for a long time, to be honest. If you work with graphics on a daily basis I think a big/wide screen is almost mandatory for your productivity (and sanity).
  21. LuBre
    I mean, I wouldn't consider "NASA" a 32" monitor.
  22. LuBre
    This would be a dream for me. I love the Affinity suite.
  23. LuBre
    Almost 5 years later still nothing. Serif, please, for the love of the mighty gods. Can you add this option? Please. Please. Please. Please.
  24. LuBre
    I work with web-related stuff and sometimes I need to open multiple images at the same time, again and again. Even a zoomed 1920x1080 image is extremely annoying on a 4K, if you need to press CTRL+1 every time. It's kust a nonsense.
  25. LuBre
    Still nothing. Damn.
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