wonderings

are you able to share the file to see if this is isolated on your computer of happening to others as well?

I would not say Affinity is a long way behind, but the lack of AI does set it back. I use AI daily, it is fantastic for fixing up photos and literally saves hours of time making things that were more intensive to be simple and basic now. I am against AI for art, commercial design for brochures and things like that are not art and I have no problem utilizing AI for that. Affinity has become part of my "tool kit", somewhat regularly I will get a PDF that I need to try and edit in Illustrator. The file will be missing the supporting files but show high res in Acrobat. Now obviously the missing file is there but for some reason Illustrator can't or does not want to see it. I drop that same file in Designer 2 and it maintains the high res elements to the file and basically gives me the missing file that was not embedded. There are places where Affinity is way faster as well, which I think is in part of the software being much newer it does not have the same bloat that Adobe can have. Some files that can slow down my M1 Max will run smoother in Affinity and save me time by letting me do some simple things to fix the file all quickly with next to no lag. If this is your living then you need to use the software that is best for you. I have no brand loyalty, I pay for what lets me get the job done the fastest and easiest. Don't make it emotional, just think functional.

What they have allows you to get in elements of a photoshop file. This is a nice thing if you are migrating from one work flow to another, ie Adobe to Affinity. I remember when Quark was the big layout application and then time and effort that went into migrating to Indesign. Thankfully we had the app side by side so was not as big a deal as it would be now keeping an Adobe subscription along side the purchase of Affinity. I am not opposed to this being improved, but I think there are probably a lot more things to do in Affinity then worry about how well they import a different applications files. It will always be an uphill battle as apps change and evolve. With AI fully integrated into Adobe CC this will probably get even more difficult with Affinity not having AI at all. Yes there is a solution to everything, it just might not be the solution you want. In my head when working I want the easiest and simplest solution. You want to work with PSD files, the simplest solution is to use Photoshop. Now I understand that you don't want to pay the monthly subscription fee as you are most likely just designing or playing around with it as a hobby and not as a professional. You say Affinity can do all the work, but for you it seems it can't because again you want to work with Photoshop files in an app that is not photoshop. There will always be an element of fighting and wrestling with the files make something not created by Affinity or for Affinity. Not sure how the app is not 100% functional by not being able to run non native files. Also not sure why you need compassion, there is no ill will here or attacks against you. I think your needs don't make a lot of sense for what Affinity is doing.

I do understand what you want, you want better compatibility with PSD files in Affinity. So you want Affinity to better translate the file to use in Affinity. This is always going to have issues, like people trying to work collaboratively while using different software, most cases here is Publisher and Indesign. It is a horrible idea for that. Now I know you are not wanting to work collaboratively but you are wanting Affinity to make it so it opens Photoshop files perfectly or very close. Which is why I suggest that if you really want to work with Photoshop files then it would be best to work with Photoshop itself. Or develop and design yourself direct in Affinity. It might even be a good way for you to learn the software better. Take the photoshop file you want to use and instead of bringing it in try and recreate it from scratch. Lots of people to help on this forum and I am sure in other places.

If you need to use Photoshop I would recommend using Photoshop. Or learn how Affinity Photo works and excels and do it their way. Seems a weird suggestion as well, you want Affinity to out do Adobe.... by supporting Adobe formats better?

Most people design for print or not going digital with it. You can run a preflight to convert to RGB but how that will convert the colours I am not sure, I never go that direction. Do E-Readers have high resolution screens? I have old black and white kindle, images would look horrible on it, are newer ones high resolution that you would benefit from the wide colour gamut of RGB?

not recommended at all. Your artwork is going to be converted again to CMYK by the print shop doing the print shop. There are no RGB printers, they all convert. In the majority of cases you will not see huge colour shifts but there are lots of brighter vibrant colours that will change, as well as skin tones. We had a big fancy Xerox digital press some years ago that if an RGB image went in with people and the skin tones looked ok, when the Xerox would convert they would come out with red faces. If you work with a CMYK workflow you will have a much better idea of what you are going to get when it comes to printing even without a colour calibrated monitor. Sending PNG's for print even if they were CMYK is not a great idea because it is rasterizing everything. For best results export as PDF. Your printer will prefer that 100% as workflows are pretty much all based on PDF. PNG is just going to get converted to CMYK and then to PDF.

One change which might offer some hope is Affinity was purchased by Canva which does support Hindi. Canva brings a lot more resources to Affinity so maybe in a much closer future you might see Hindi support. Strong recommended to try out demos before purchasing any software to make sure it does what you need it to do.

I find knowing Adobe makes using Affinity simpler. I am a light Affinity user as my workflow is in Adobe that I have been using for decades and yet seem to be cult free as I use my free will. Having basic understanding with graphic software makes finding what you are looking for not super complicated. Not immediate, but you have a general idea of where certain tools go and what you are looking for to achieve different things. I would say the same thing about Corel, something I use even less than Affinity but with the basic understanding on how graphic software works I can muddle my way through to do what I need to do. Not sure if the OP has any background using Adobe CC or not, I am guessing not due to the frustration. Give it time, ask for help, watch the videos. Anything worth doing takes effort and time.

If you are using these images for print I personally would not use PNG as PNG is RGB only and will have to be converted to CMYK after. CMYK does not have as wide a gamut as RGB so depending on your artwork you are going to have colour shifts when it is converted.

Lot software Linux users, or at least some that I read seem to think getting software developers to do things SO Linux will grow as in what I quoted. Yes Linux needs to grow before serious software developers will start looking at it, but it is not the job of the software developers to grow the various flavors of Linux that are out there.

Can you work 100% scale in CAD? If your book is going to be 6" x 9" finished size, then work in CAD at 6" x 9". Not sure if it works that way with CAD, never designed with it or would use it. Anyone who brings in architectural drawings done in a CAD program I simply just drop them in as a PDF and resize the file for the page I want.

I also think it is interesting how Linux users think it will make Linux more popular first, like that is the real priority to make the OS bigger. After that you can grow the software developers. "Affinity on Linux could very well be a game setter for both Linux becoming wildly more popular and Affinity gaining a huge new user base on it's tidal wave."

Isn't that the point of the arm that is painting? It is an external influence of the things on the canvas?

It is pretty funny how salty people get when they don't get what they perceive to be what they are owed. Serif makes good apps, if you don't like them you don't have to use them. They do what they do now, you can see this in a demo. So buy it based on what it does now and be happy. It might be a good idea for all those who get upset when no one talks to them from the company for Serif to put in an AI chat bot and just let people chat with it to their hearts content.

I don't think Affinity has been gaining ground as Adobe subscribers are increasing. Also the lack of AI really holds Affinity back as a real production tool as AI is incredibly valuable for day to day use. Your choice of words also speaks of some personal issues you might have with Adobe. "Abusive treatment"? I have been using Adobe CC since before the subscription and while I was not a fan initially I see the benefits now and our company happily uses multiple licenses. As do countless others who just want to work and get things done. Affinity has some great software and at an even better price. There is a market for people who are not professionally making their living with the software, and even a market for pros, though I see them in smaller shops a little more isolated. I don't see Affinity going anywhere, and think there is room for some growth but do think without AI being implemented it will be impossible to really grow beyond the smaller market of people who want to do some good work while not making a living at it.

maybe applying for a job at Canva will get you the info you so crave.

Because Serif is not VectorStyler. This is the entitlement you and other users feel. If you don't like the level of engagement you have other options out there to get that level of communication you need from your software providers. You are feigning insult in your comments "ordinary mortals" like Serif is being snobby and think you are beneath them. If you don't like their business model move on to one that likes to chat you up.

Feels like people feel entitled to info and if they don't get it they jump to the wildest conclusions. I think it is a safe bet that Canva did not buy Serif to merely gleam some staff from them and shelf or junk everything else. That does not make a lot of sense and would be a huge waste of their money as there are plenty of talented people out there that could be hired without spending what they did on acquiring Serif. It is more likely they have different approaches to handling and communicating with their user base. Their SOP is bound to be different and these things get implemented over time I am sure.

Completely agree. People are only creating their own headaches trying to collab with people using Adobe. It is also a big mistake waiting to happen when things go to press.

You are going to be blown away by the M series Macs, especially if you have never used one. No heavy lifting work you are going to be fine, in fact I think most production word for design and print would be fine with 16 gigs. There is always the fear that I think is a bit irrational that you just won't be able to operate without more RAM or a faster CPU. I was using a 5K iMac i7 for close to 10 years as my main machine and it was fantastic, yet there were faster and newer Macs out there. You will have no issue with graphic design work, and you would have no issue even if you got into video work. For the M1 Mac's there was a small YouTuber who is a video editor and did a comparison of his beast of a PC to a base model MacBook Pro M1. While the PC, which was loaded with everything top of the line in that day, i9 CPU, 3090 GPU, crazy amount of ram VS base MacBook Pro M1 Pro with base RAM which I think was 16 gigs, might have been 8. The MacBook handled everything better and smoother save for final rendering and export, which is something most would leave to do over night anyways. You will not be disappointed with any M Mac you might get.

it is a Beta of the new OS they just announced. It is first beta. It runs much faster for starting up then natively in the latest official release. I have no trouble being corrected. I would rather be corrected than continue making mistakes.

Strangely Affinity apps open way faster in my VM of MacOS 26 than natively in MacOS 15.5. As we all know the first load of an Affinity app takes a long time, at least the first boot, after that it loads really quickly. I timed loading latest version of Publisher in my native MacOS 15. First load took 24.07 seconds. I then booted up MacOS 26 as a VM and the first load of the latest version of Publisher opened in 5.4 seconds. Not sure if the issue that causes the first slow load in MacOS has been resolved by Apple in 26, but they load super snappy. Compare that to Adobe CC, and all apps crash and do not boot. This is a beta though and I have no doubt Adobe will run like normal by the time of release.

Have not tested a lot but the apps install and run no problem. Again no serious work or testing done, just downloading all 3 apps, opened and ran them. Downloaded a template that opened and seemed to be working fine.

I am downloading the beta now and will be (attempting) installing it as a VM once it is done. I will check and see if any issues with Affinity, but like previous ones I am expecting it to work pretty much as is.