katroach

The dark UI definitely makes for a stunning sales presentation in the showroom, but many of us spending 3-6 hours every day in our design apps end up with considerable eye strain by the end of the day, regardless of age. IMO, Adobe Bridge CS6.0 got it right. (I will forever use CS6.0 in militant resistance to the unreliable, money-sucking CC). I can use those sliders on the fly to make the UI as light or dark as I need it at any given moment. Unfortunately the gamma slider in AD decreases the contrast, making the icons and text even harder to read than they already are. The long-term damage from computer screen eye strain is still unknown, but I sure as heck don't want to be almost blind by the time I retire. I want to at least be able to see that I have soup dribbling down my chin in the communal dining room at my nursing home!

I, too, am disappointed by the absence of a Trace feature. Yes there are many third-party trace products on the market and online. I've tried almost all of them. But I keep returning to what began as an app called Streamline, which was integrated into Illustrator. Since I only START designing from a trace, an integrated trace feature in the vector app I'm using has the highest value for the convenience and ease of being able to make adjustments directly in the program I'm designing in. It's a feature I'm willing to wait for and would win my loyalty for years to come. But, without it, I would eventually have to return to the evil company I hate that no longer deserves my loyalty, whose products have features I absolutely have to have. Too bad you can't partner up with Vector Magic, probably the best (albeit most expensive) trace engine on the planet or license its trace engine for integration so you wouldn't have the expense of building one. A successful design niche for me has been performance water sports and single-design regattas where the sails, paddles, position in the water. etc must be accurate, or the design is compromised. Has the potential to put my clients' entire promotional products event campaigns at risk if nobody buys the products because the design doesn't represent the main subject of the event in an identifiable way. I'd be dead in the water (pun intended) without starting every design from a photograph trace!

Greetings, All! I'm Kat Roach, a freelance web/interactive designer from Rain City, aka Seattle, Washington, USA. I was treated like a second-class user on the PC side for so many years by that OTHER creative software company, that even though I've switched to Mac, that company no longer deserves my loyalty. I vowed that as soon as there was a miracle, professional-grade replacement on the raster and vector side, I'd be "gone, Baby, gone!" That miracle is finally here. Thanks, Affinity Design! I look forward to a long and fun-filled adventure using your rockin' software.