Juan Garcia

Screenshot for the new Pixelmator Pro. I really think there's no way Affinity can get there without a subscription. Or just incorporate some tools in Canva and shutdown Affinity

One thought about AI. I find the notion that you can do "professional" work by just typing on a text box is unrealistic. Generative AI is quite noticeable if you ask it to generate the image from scratch. What I found it useful is to help your work. I will give examples. Let's say you have a photoshoot and in one of the pictures the model's hair was covering something important. The model is gone and you need to either reshoot or give up with that take. With generative AI, with some trial and error, not magic one here either, you can get a perfect effect where the hair seems to be put behind the model's back. Or if you want to open frame. Generative AI will be good for students for their powerpoint and I am sure Google will implement something like that in the near future. But since a lot of the model have copyright they will have to pay something to the owners of which the image is based on.

hopefully a lot of them will be updating their CVs as they call résumés in the UK. The story is simple. Contrary to what I thought, they did not have many resources. There were a lot of enthusiasts like us that liked the idea of revelling to Adobe tyranny where we cannot even "read" a document we created the moment we stopped paying except for third party programs that more often than not didn't do a good job except if it was relatively simple. --Nobody really implemented smart objects in PSDs correctly 100%, specially if those objects were PSBs embedded-. Without AI or features found in other programs, lime morphing or "select subject" that I know it is via AI bit, but have been in Adobe and other software more than 20 years now, not too many investors were willing to give a financial boost for what, I think they think, it is a 90s business model. Investors do not realise that subscriptions are kind of burnt out. But also they do not care. They think the ones with stronger AI will prevail. Adobe is pushing on this. Canva uses a subscription model, more suitable to appeal new investors. I think their AI will be simply to implement third party APIs and create a full subscription model for the whole Affinity suite. Maybe even, like Canva themselves, Figma, or others create a multi platform electron app that implement what Affinity already do plus with the new AI APIs. No magic wand here. That's what they are preparing to ship. Forget App Stores, and native apps. Canva probably would defend themselves with the "no magic wand" adding the comment "exactly" and that the third party APIs will charge them per execution, so there is no other option at the moment for them. And also they would remind us that except for Apple, not many X64 processors are implementing specific AI processors. Only the very new are coming out now and still local AI will take a while, and investors wants returns now. So Subscriptions for now until privacy concerns comes and then when the market is ready they will start to ship local AI processing. Still via subscription.

how about to repackage them with Adobe Animator?

I tend to disagree. Again, if you adapt, like you said, you can use AI as an apprentice and then remove the clues that it has been created by an AI. Since AI doesn't generate anything on its own, as it has to have models that exists I think even stock image photographers will soon sue and AI vendors will have to create a compensation system like streaming services do.

I think you hit the nail in the head. Canva bought Affinity, not the other way around. I can see Affinity getting AI if the code allows it, but make no mistake there will be a subscription model. This is more of an exit for Affinity stakeholders than anything else. I do not think for a moment that Affinity developers are dumb or stupid and the fact that there has not been AI is because the code did not allow it and would be a major rewrite. If you look at this video you will see the body language of the CEO where our V2 will keep being perpetual but he did not look at the camera while saying this. He knows that things will change for the worse for us. More in line with Canva than Affinity. That means Perpetual licenses will be gone and so will be the CEO after two years as is normally the case. Affinity only makes sense because its perpetual license. For a subscription model Adobe is king. It doesn't matter that it might be cheaper if it has far less options and less standard than Adobe. R.I.P. Affinity. Enjoy your exit package.

You lost me buddy. You don't have much idea what are you talking about... but that's ok. Regarding Adobe. The main issue even professionals find is that they cannot even open their files if they cancel the subscription. You can be a professional and still don't agree with Adobe policies. I'll let you live in the 70s. I need to work.

It seems that you are a hobbyist rather than a professional. Also that you have owned ZERO Apple products. iPads have "real GPUS" now with M1 and soon M3 chips. Regarding "value for the money" it depends on how much "money" you can make of your tools. Even as a hobbyist sometimes you can make some money aside. I know Windows *very* well. It is not quality and easy of use what is made for. It is made for specific corporations and to start selling Microsoft products and cloud via ads and popup messages. Windows 11 will be end of new features at the second half of this year. There are rumours that Microsoft will start selling Windows 365. A subscription Windows. If you are serious about photography try to get the best tools. Affinity unfortunately is just not it. AI have taken over and Apple processors do a far better job than Wintel. That's a fact. Gaming and 3D with multiple nVidia GPUs goes to Windows, mostly because Nvidia, not a Windows or Intel merits by themselves. But design and photography is not. It is a cheaper solution. With all that implies. That's it.

It works on iPadOS too. Affinity is a Mac first company anyways. If you are into Photography Mac with Apple Silicon provides a better alternative than Windows with Intel.

Apologies. There ARE frequent updates. We are missing my point. The lack of AI in Affinity Photo, and the lack of tools like morphs and merges in designer has provoked for me not to use them anymore. Insomuch that it has fallen into irrelevance. I was not even aware of the new updates. Serif can hide under a rock and make excuses. Their products are falling into the 90s feature wise. Pixelmator Pro and other tools have replaced them as a viable option to Photoshop. It seems Serif is too small to have the developers to add all the features that their customers are demanding. You cannot even select the subject in Affinity, you cannot morph or do 3D in Designer ... I have the feeling that they do not offer a subscription model because no body would subscribe compared to Photoshop. Seriously. Try Pixelmator Pro, and you will see the difference.

I bought PixelMator Pro, and I am finding myself not using Affinity Photo at all. I won't be buying the next version and to be honest I doubt there will be a next version anytime soon. There's not even regular updates anymore...

For me the real usefulness is if you want to take her hair and move it behind her shoulder once the model is no longer there. And smaller things that most editors like Pixelmator Pro and Luminar Neo can do, like to remove her tattoos.

Well. I am not buying the next version of Designer or Photo until somebody in YouTube show these features. I spend way more in Pixelmator Pro than affinity Photo and I am starting to look for alternatives to Designer that is not Illustrator. They will not get more support that is for sure. And the less they produce updates the less credible they will become. So yes. They are at risk. Not because of me, but when your forums are fill up of "please add this" and the replies are no can do ... does not look good.

This is making look the whole Affinity software quite basic for today's standards. No a single piece of AI, including the one you get out of the box in Apple with Core ML in Affinity Photo, not morphing, no extrusion in Designer. Every time I want a feature I end up in an Affinity forum with users "please asking for this". Affinity needs funding and get their act together or they're done.

It's a shame that Corel Draw! and Adobe had this 30 years ago and Affinity is basically giving us the finger in this and AI. I am going to stick to other software suite. Not paying , nor recommending Affinity to anyone else. Their last nail in the coffin would be to try to lock us in any kind of subscription.

I don't know about you guys. But I bought Pixelmator Pro and Photomator and I seldom use affinity at the moment. It is such a thing that if they release another paid version that does not solve this I will probably not buy it. Affinity designer and publisher are ok. But Affinity Photo feels more like Photoshop 5. It's ok but definitely does not worth invest more money in a few tools that I use from Affinity Photo because with Pixelmator I get better results and a lot quicker.

That's the problem. There is nothing AI there... Maybe the Selection Brush tool has some tiny bit of it... but they need to extend everything. There is nothing to offer to put on an SDK so people can start creating plugins. And taking in count the amount of time it took them to go from version 1.x to version 2.x it might be too late if they do not start now...

That's the point of my comment. Does the effort necessary to create this in Affinity, justify the amount of customers that would not prefer to pay for a Photoshop subscription? That is why this needs to come from Affinity. It needs to provide some AI. On macOS it is easy, on Windows not that much.

SDKs are limited by the capacity and the quality of the software underneath. AI via an SDK would be a lot of workfy to make it happen and thus, the plugin costly that maybe wouldn't justify the effort to create it if the potential customer realise they are better off paying an Adobe's subscription.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Before generators, things like, remove background or select subject. macOS already has this out of the box. I know Affinity wants to be a macOS and Windows platform, but here is the truth. I do some designer work and some publisher. But when it comes to affinity Photo. I use Pixelmator Pro and Affinity Photo for a very very tiny subset of features that I always get issues remembering the exact place where they are. Affinity needs IA to basic handling.

I also want more AI capabilities. Remove background and "select subject" seems so dah nowadays. I know how much we take complicated things for granted, but this is the main reason I use Pixelmator Pro more than Affinity. In less time I can edit my pictures very very very well. There are things Pixelmator cannot do and then I save it as a PSD and open it in Affinity, but for Affinity to be a good first option needs more AI functions. Apple has a lot of this in Ventura and in CoreImage. I know Affinity is a cross platform. But I dare to say macOS user base greater than Windows one and at lease it would be a start until the feature is rolled out to all platforms.

Are you serious? ports 80 or 8080s or 443s don't get blocked by consumer's firewalls present in macOS or Windows. Cannot talk about the Windows Store because I would not touch it with a 10 feet pole, but Apple's AppStore APIs for restoring purchases work with the macOS firewall on. @Mark Ingram the issue is simple. YOU messed it up. This is causing us that paid for the product to show support to find out that the product does not get delivered. Please DEBUG end to end a purchase via all the stores and find out what part on your end is rejecting / not recognising the purchase. Is this attitude of "it works on my computer, you're at fault" that made me hit the panic button and request a refund. Now I really do not trust you. No offence, but it looks like all affinity v2 was created by cheap labour. Please prove me wrong because I enjoy v1 and I want to see a v3 in the future with all our feedback. I am still waiting for my email to support, knowing you have a high volume of issues, and willing to buy v2 again once all this glitch gets resolved. Also, an admission of guilt and an explanation of what is going on and the progress on it would make us to feel better.

Come on guys!!! We WANT TO SUPPORT YOU. We want you to make the product better. Take our "complaints" as feedback. Most of us are returning customers and you cannot deliver the licenses that we bought? This needs to be resolved ASAP or you will not be trusted to make a v3 of the product.

Same here. I purchased this via the AppStore. It doesn't work. and that thing of buying it again and cancelling the confirmation didn't work. The Restore purchase doesn't work. I think Affinity simply messed it up with the In-App Purchases via the App Store. I requested a refund and I will try to buy it again from their site if the bundle is still available. If not. Pirate bay already has it. I quite disappointed. I cannot "remove the background" or any other AI tasks that the macOS Ventura allows us to do for free. Now I found the team cannot even deal with In-App Purchases. As I said once I get refunded I will give it a try trying to buy directly from the store if the bundle still has the 40% discount.