myclay

We're also planning a 2.6.4 patch starting soon, to address a number of things reported by customers in earlier releases.

Hey folks, 
Let me start by introducing myself...

Hello, I am Ian Sayers and have recently just started with Affinity as Head of Enablement. - check this link i have literally just posted.

I can assure you 100% that Affinity is not only still here but growing and thriving. I am only in a few weeks so give me a little more time to get my feet under the table and into the processes and working methods, then we can all have some proper fun!

In the meantime, I am happy to connect and chat (as much as possible with the million things to learn and do while joining an amazing company). reach out and connect on my social media accounts or here on the forum. Most things are found under iwsayers or just my name.

I greatly appreciate this forum and everyone that contributes in a helpful manner. 

Very best
Ian
 
 

Please release for Linux not just Apple and Windows.
I am considering migrating from Apple to Linux; as I’m sick of Apples attitude to none upgradable or easily repairable hardware. It doesn’t help users or the planet, only Apple.
As I have been researching into the subject it has occurred to me that I’m far from alone. Adobe doesn’t support for Linux (not that I would ever go back there), so Affinity suite could become the go to software for professional creatives. It’s looking likely that alongside disgruntled Apple users there will be a lot of people looking to migrate from Windows as 11 is released.
Please support those of us looking for a more sustainable system than Apple and Windows, it can only help with resources and the planet

Every label you see on a supermarket shelf started out on a graphic designer's computer. Every pattern you see on a dinner plate or the design on the table cloth it sits on came from a graphic designer's mind and into a computer. The phone you might be reading this on had its physical attributes and aesthetic features designed by a creative mind working with computer design software. As long as the human eye keeps desiring attractive things to look at, graphic design will always be a process helping shape and idea into reality. 

Layout (Publisher) of heavy math/tech articles with embedded floating graphics (Designer) instead of separate display blocks.  I don't use Photo much.  On occasion, I have to go back to CorelDRAW or one of my 3D apps for something Designer can't do.

I use it for illustration, lettering, book/cover design and layout (print and digital), icon/logo design, mock-ups (product, website, etc), prints/posters, elements for presentations/videos, marketing materials, etc. My focus is largely picture books and graphic novels for kids, as well as table-top role-playing games.

Many, many things are still printed; to name a few:
People still buy books, including printed ones. Labels for packaging. Menus for restaurants  Handouts/fliers for various events Maps for use in the wilderness / camping / hiking, etc., where power might not be available or reliable  
Additionally, digital media still needs to be designed before someone can experience it.

Cringe.

Cringe.

Sounds to me like a fishing expedition sponsored by Canva to feel out the market for subscriptions.
Reasoning: Forum account opened yesterday, then expresses desire for a subscription model in first post. Uh-huh.

Hello you guys,
I’ve been off the radar for a while, but I just saw that the new V2 versions are out — and of course, I grabbed them instantly, like a hobo catching a train in 1920s Southern Oklahoma.
That said, I noticed it's once again a one-time payment model. Honestly, that's incredibly generous, especially for software of this caliber — Affinity is a masterpiece.
I know the goal has always been to offer a powerful alternative to Adobe without the bloat or pricing traps. But I genuinely love this software and would hate to see it fade away like GIMP or other once-promising alternatives.
I know I'll probably get a ton of hate for this suggestion, but maybe consider a low-cost subscription model for V3? Even something symbolic like $2.99/month. I’d gladly pay that just to help you guys to keep this project alive and thriving. Let’s be real — $70 every five years can’t possibly reflect the value or effort you’re putting in.
A small, sustainable monthly stream might be the way forward.
That's just a suggestion from my heart, as I really love your software, so... don’t shoot the messenger.

I expect that we will start hearing about this new upstart if it gets any traction. A procedural, node-based approach to vector (now), raster (working on) and animation (future).  I'm going to keep an eye on this:
 

I believe it has now been at least ten years since the ICO format—essential though it is—was first noted as unsupported in the Affinity suite. Let there be no misunderstanding: although this limitation concerns a narrowly defined use case, it presents a very real challenge in certain professional environments. This gap has been addressed, without exception, by competing software.
Overview of standard icon sizes and formats by platform :

Affinity Designer, Photo and Publisher are widely recognized for their robustness, accessibility and professional quality in handling both raster and vector graphics. Their growing adoption across creative industries attests to their functional maturity. However, certain essential but narrowly defined needs—particularly those involving digital environments such as web browsers, operating systems and application shortcuts—are still not fully supported.
A format still in active use
Despite its age, the ICO format remains essential for:
—traditional favicons (notably for Internet Explorer, Firefox, legacy CMSs and web themes);
—Windows application icons;
—shortcuts and desktop integrations on various platforms.
It is the only standardized format recognized by both web browsers and operating systems that allows multiple raster icon resolutions (such as 16 × 16, 32 × 32, 48 × 48, 64 × 64, 256 × 256) to be embedded within a single file. This ensures broad compatibility and automatic adaptation depending on the display context (e.g. tab icon, desktop shortcut, high-resolution screen, etc.).
Market Reality
A wide range of software applications—both free and commercial—now support ICO export natively or through official extensions. This includes GIMP, IrfanView, XnConvert, IcoFX, Greenfish Icon Editor and many others. Notably, even Adobe Photoshop—Affinity’s primary competitor—has long offered ICO exports via its official plugin. Their continued support for the format clearly demonstrates that demand remains steady and that ICO is far from obsolete.
While technically correct, this entirely misses the real issue
Some might argue that there are plenty of tools available to convert PNG files to ICO. While this is technically true, it misses the point entirely.
Affinity is positioned as a professional, self-contained creative suite — not a toolkit requiring external utilities for basic industry-standard outputs.
Relying on third-party converters introduces workflow fragmentation, quality risks (such as transparency loss or incorrect sizing), and in some cases, legal uncertainties when using online tools.
The need for ICO export is not a fringe request, but clearly a core expectation for any graphic tool used in interface, application or web design.
Summary
The lack of ICO format support in the Affinity suite:
—limits adoption among certain web and software professionals;
—requires unnecessary manual steps or dependence on external tools;
—contradicts the aim of providing a complete, self-contained creative environment.
Conclusion
It would be highly valuable for Serif to consider implementing ICO as a native export format, particularly within Affinity Designer. While it may be a specialised format, ICO addresses a persistent need in digital and web design. Its inclusion would strengthen Affinity’s promise of delivering a robust, coherent and professional solution—without workflow interruptions.
I remain at your disposal should you wish for additional feedback or examples, and thank you sincerely for your attention and for the quality of the tools you continue to develop.
 

Posting about the competition on the Affinity forum might not be clever, but I seriously doubt Affinity would avoid a platform because of potential competition. If they were afraid of competing they wouldn't have picked the most crowded markets first.

It's free as in freedom, not price

"The term "free software" does not refer to the monetary cost of the software at all, but rather whether the license maintains the software user's civil liberties ("free” as in “free speech,” not as in “free beer”)." -- https://www.fsf.org/

Been tinkering with ElementalWarrior's Wine build for Affinity for the last week using the Lutris method. It is surprisingly stable and usable despite some of the bugs and limitations.
Here's what works:
- Online Accounts and content downloads.
- StudioLink and Personas.
- Importing and exporting files.
- Performance is very close to what you get on Windows minus some odd crashes and occasional random freezes.
- Hardware Acceleration works if you know how to activate it with the VKD3D setting on Lutris.
- Pen tablet features like pressure. Low Precision and High Precision specifically. Windows Ink does not work, but that is to be expected.
- All the tools work like they do on Windows, including the Beta builds like AI object selection.
- All assets are remembered when imported or saved, including Studio workspaces.
- Custom shortcuts.
- Documents open and load super fast like on Windows and I have had zero issues with corrupted files from saving. I stress tested Linux with some really heavy files and they loaded just as well as on Windows.
- I can work on and edit multiple files at once and have had no issues with memory leaks or eating up all of my VRAM, RAM, or CPU power.
Basically all the essential aspects of the software works.
Here's what doesn't work:
- UI panel docking. People found a workaround by using the virtual desktop for Wine. You need to save your Studio setup as a setting to load manually when you launch the software.
- User settings are not remembered when rebooting. I however found a workaround by editing the .xml-files manually for the user settings in the AppData section of my Wine install (also possible to copy+paste from a regular Windows install). I even somehow figured out to make user settings global for all software by linking them together, since they all share a lot of settings together due to how Affinity is designed. One of the maintainers said that a fix might be on the way.
- The blue outlines for the vector lines do not align with the actual shape. Still possible to edit, but you will need to look at the shape and not the lines to edit correctly. The nodes and handles are however placed correctly.
- Vectors can be a bit more unstable than raster work, but Hardware Acceleration helped a lot in making it stable and performant enough I noticed. 
- Brush previewing on the canvas produces artefacts on Linux Mint 22.1. This issue is however completely gone on distros like OpenMandriva after trying it out.
- Snapping can be a bit on the slower side with freezes happening more often when moving stuff around, but it works more often than not.
- Sending files between the different software currently crashes the program you're sending it to if it's already open. If it isn't it doesn't receive the file.
- MSIX installation is not a thing on Wine. The traditional .exe-installers are however more than good enough.
- Opening files automatically upon launching the software that were opened from the previous work session does not work.
- Drag & drop images from a web browser does not work. It does work however if it is already saved on your PC whether it is images or documents.
Conclusion:
As long as us Linux users work on maintaining and improving this Wine version of Affinity I think it can be the key to having a fully featured Affinity Suite on Linux. Even in its current state I think it is more than good enough to work with as long as you are willing to accept a couple of janky workarounds. The installation was honestly very simple and I believe it can become even simpler if the patches of this Wine build get merged into mainline Wine.
I am honestly very impressed by the people who worked on this Wine port. I went from not being able to run Affinity at all to being able to work with it on a daily basis again on multiple Linux distros. Great work, honestly.

Here is a more visual representation of the colour chord options which are available within the Swatches menu after right clicking on a colour and choosing Add Chord to Swatch.
The text as well as used colours are from the documentation.

As written in the above posting, Flatpack is a great solution to quickly get programs - commercial programs are are also distributed with it.
Flatpack can be used with a total of 41 distros.
Affinity programs could be distributed and used with it since in-app activation of licensing using your Affinity Store’s Affinity ID could be done with it.
People flock to the Distro on which the programs they want to use will work.
Developers who don´t know which Linux distro is used in a professional setting like for example Studios which work on VFX shots,they could give a look at the reports from the VFXplatform (made by the VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE.) https://www.vesglobal.org/about/

https://vfxplatform.com/linux/
2024 VFX/Animation Studio Workstation Linux Report
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QWJS1PTvDGr6AliP4ejMzFTZ2WVEl0e-/view
 

 
EDIT ; I don´t know about other industries Linux Distro usage percentage but I know that the Reference Platform hosted by the vfxplatform plays an important part in keeping programs useful for bigger pipelines.
Other devs  try their best to adhere to the agreed upon standards. (Serif does so too like for example with updating OCIO)

I'm so sick of this take. It's uninformed at best, and dishonest at worst. Flatpaks solve this, that it. End of discussion. Flatpaks solve the distro problem. You don't have to care what distro they're using if its a flatpak.

This seems to be a Linux megathread of sorts, I already have the universal license on Windows but I would happily pay for another if it meant I could ditch my Windows dual-boot entirely for my Linux partition.

Hello @Stef71
your card is formally DirectX 12 capable (the number important for marketing speech) but misses one of the "smaller" but needed DirectX level line upgrades which the Affinity suite makes usage of.


As an Example: the RTX 3090 is also DirectX 12 capable but hardware wise forever stuck at 12_1
When a program makes exclusive usage of 12_2 features (and above), I will face the same issues like you are doing.

Hi Stef71 MyClay is referring to the Requires Direct3D level 12.0 line shown towards the bottom of your screenshot.

These updates were not compromised but incorrectly programmed and not tested carefully enough.
And your AI-powered antivirus software seems to be just as badly programmed and sends false positive notifications. 
If in doubt, upload the affected files to Virustotal.com and have them checked.
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/upload
 

We will not know what is "expected" in 2.6 until Serif announces the start of the 2.6 beta, and provides the function list.