SrPx

Er...creo que se puede hacer de todo eso. Está muy completito el programa. Pero no sé si estáis los dos con Designer o Photo. Yo fui hace siglos usuario de Freehand, en empresas, luego ya todo fué Illustrator. Yo esta tarde voy a estar liado haciendo cosas relacionadas con el Designer, probaré a hacer las 3 cosas que preguntáis los dos. (BTW, soy usuario como vosotros, no soy de la empresa, de Serif. ) Ellos hablan mayoritariamente en inglés, creo, si no, tiran de traductor online. No se oponen nunca a que se hable en otros idiomas (que sí pasa con otras empresas y foros), pero pueden tardar algo más en responder, o claro q la comunicación sea igual de fluída. Lo que más puede liarles son los términos técnicos en español. Pero esto que preguntáis es facilito, a ver si os lo averiguo en mi versión comprada, o en la última customer version (una vez comprada, puedes probar las betas). Una cosa, los términos técnicos varían según que ámbito y a veces, programa. Por estar en la misma página, ¿Con trazar texto, os referís a vectorizar texto que viene en raster (o sea, eso sería vectorizar cualquier bitmap, raster, en realidad) , o a una herramienta de reconocimiento magnético de bordes que va construyendo la curva en el borde del raster según pasas el cursor, o bien os referís meramente a lo que se pide siempre en imprenta: convertir todos los fonts, las fuentes de letra, a curvas, a vectores, para que no dé problemas en impresión ? Me da mí que es la última. Calco de imagen seguro que sé lo que es, pero creo que es la primera vez que lo oigo mencionar así.¿A qué te refieres en concreto? Trama de semitonos puede ser un puñado de cosas...¿Las tramas usadas en cómic para hacer sombreados, que si tiene distintas tramas? Hay por ahí un extraordinario proveedor de contenido extra en plan brushes y patterns , Frankentoon ( https://www.frankentoon.com ), y creo que hay un pack sobre eso, o que incluye eso, pero seguramente Designer ya trae semitonos... Me miro eso esta tarde, por si coincide con lo que preguntáis.... Tb se usa el término para un modo de impresión, pero eso sería en raster....en programas tipo Adobe Photoshop. Yo tengo el Designer comprado y a menudo me instalo las ultimas customer betas que como digo tendríais derecho a probarlas. Además, cuando compras la aplicación, tienes actualizaciones gratis hasta la 2.0 (supongo que es así siempre entre números enteros, pero ahí ya no estoy tan informado ), lo cual está genial, porque sacan muchísimas mejoras. También venden un manual gordote para el Designer que tiene buena pinta, yo aún no lo he comprado (es que no suelo tirar de manuales, pero además pq estas interfaces son muy intuitivas). Pero eso, que me veo esos temas hoy, ya que yo ya lo compré hace mucho, y os comentaré sobre ello u otras preguntas que os puedan surgir (bueno, dependiendo, según esté de tiempo en cada momento, jeje ) , yo llevo ya algún ratico echao por aquí... . Saludos y bienvenidos.

Geez. All that with 4 OLD gigabytes (probably not even 1600 MHz). My gawd.... Now, this text needs to be added to any promo.... "" Designer can do this with 4 miserable gigabytes " (no offense, is a compliment, indeed) . Mine is from 2009, too, but "from the other side" (Windows) , and I've seen it struggling with vector compositions (in other apps, not AD) of not even half this complexity, with 8gb... tho needs to be mentioned : I believe Macs have handled memory (disk and ram) way much better than Windows, back then and today, IMO (the platform still more convenient for me, but I can't ignore the other's strong points ).

I did run out of likes, as if not, this post would deserve 10 or 100 likes........ (not for the request, but for the depth you went through for the making of this...) Having had to illustrate from zero (invented, not from serious data like you did) often nebulae stuff, galaxies, planets... I deeply appreciate this stuff... Even while I am an absolute ignorant about astronomy... (but love all the images ...). "It's full of stars !"

Fully agree, as I said it already at the Don Quijote's thread. A lot of potential purchasers look at a list of features (and a lot care about performance, at least, desire an average performance), and when the features come with a side image, they tend to sell better, specially if the image is good and shows well the capability. Well, if in your list there would be a "capable of making complex illustrations", this one , or the other, are your must-haves . Not sure about the rights issues with the original art, though....

er...that's definitely an absolute candidate for promotion for AD, in my opinion... Specially for people experienced in vectors, we all know that is important that a package allows doing this (and with the average Joe machine, tricks are needed to do this, no matter if you are using Illustrator, Inkscape, or whatever...) Also, was fun to read sth like Hokusai is not well known or hidden, as I hadn't noticed the nick name, only the symbol (thought it was the yin yang), as all my attention was going to the illustration...) ...and I thought, what?? The most famous illustrated wave and this ppl don't know Hokusai ?! ;D I have that Don Quijote illustrated book by Gustavo Doré, I think in very high print quality, and I believe another one about some medieval stuff, in my parents' house... Is amazing.

Huge Kudos ! Am speechless (and that's WAAAY rare on me....) Specially amazed with the complexity of the illustration, those are quite some vectors... What machine do you use, if can be asked ? This image could prove to a lot of people that the app can take quite some heavy lifting.... Which is definitely a good point.

I know... But a judge can estimate measures, damage done to the author no matter what, and in most cases, it'd harm completely the profit the copycat person or entity (a company can even sink for that silly act, bad press is mostly what the y fear, not laws... ) is making... Plus, probably revert some of that promotion to you, if the case gets some exposure. Of course, all this said, I recon that most companies/whoever up to the "easy path" tend to kind of avoid grabbing the image when see the (c) sign or a limiting C. Commons license (not a CC0 or public domain ( the latter, btw, has a ton of interpretations, as well)). I mean, there's always the extreme "valiant" thief, or desperate one, who wont be stopped, but IMO that stops a bunch of people, and even more, a letter of Cease and Desist (that's once the person/company is hunted), tends to really put people in panic. Seen it happening specially with fanmade art, often just kids drawing their whatever loved manga character and uploading to a website (this tends to happen only if its damaging the image/brand, as usually they can't get money from kids...)... But often done as well to mid size companies. RanXerox comic character needed to change the name by the printers making company pressure, mostly due to the violent/moral content of the comic and how it could damage the brand name, sth totally unrelated to the profits, as an example... And they HAD to change it...(from Rank Xerox) IMO, you don't play for getting a 100% perfect solution, you just stop most of the waves, and if some there still goes for it, you have ways to hunt the person, and make pressure (legal methods, of course, lol ), when not even benefiting from it (by fame/exposure or money...).

As an extra consideration, just let people copy your work...then hunt them, track them, and pray they make success and good profit of your work. Then you can sue them, and grab the money in court. You can so avoid as well a huge investment in publicity and promotion campaigns ! All the paragraph above is a big joke, with the only purpose of introducing the aspect that the thing has way too many sides, in the sense here that what is needed is a bunch of other matters, before considering that some uninspired people copying your work is a real show stopper for anyone creating. There are other worries and issues of larger magnitude when one wants to get to be known and so, better paid for the work (or even if not after the money, to get better recognition ) Wont say specific data to avoid... well to avoid things. But worked once at a small game developer start up, we got very badly played by a large distro (multinational) , in the sense that thanks to "great lawyers" , tons of money, and contracts signed by ppl who knew a lot about game code and graphics, and little about legal English and some types of half orcs in the business, the distro did not paid millions which it owed to the start-up, only a small part (ie, with the money, lawyers, time and capability to travel and long abroad staying, heck, even with just some cash for surviving, would have been won..! ). Sadly I was shown the contracts once signed, indeed, approx. a year later than it happened (I got there in the middle of the project, till the end). I found pretty funny that a year or more later, the owners, these good guys had some laugh and even felt deeply proud when they saw the game was strongly pirated and peer to peer distributed by someone cracking the only (single country) version where it went distributed. So, people valued our game way more than the distro did, lol. Often these large corporations sink a product as competes with other interests (happened to me again, around 5 years later, in another game dev company, same size...) .... ) Our game got a strong expansion thank to that, even while all rights and capabilities to get money for that was lost, for ever. One piece of thought... The source, original files, with layers, etc, you gotta always keep those...and if possible, don't give 'em away... with its creation dates in the files, etc, is sth the copycat would never have, that, besides a close to invisible, disguised own signature, are very strong in court. The issue, related with the above real case, is that often one does not have the money (for lawyers), time, or capability to move to another country's jurisdiction to gain a case.... . So, when there are contracts in the middle, is best to read them well fully and slowly, and ask for changes, if it's worth it for you. (sometimes it wont, and might prefer not to loose the gig. )

True. Bad habit of mine, putting "our" -also happens to me in Spanish- where I wanted to say "my". Actually, in this case kind of wanted to expand on stuff that had been mentioned... Also, in quite some countries' rights related laws, the (c) is unneeded in the sense that if is your piece, you created it, and you can prove it (setting a meta data is not the proof) you have an automatic copyright of it, by default. And/or, perhaps setting a CC (Creative Commons) license could give you better arguments of proof and defense. Yet though, I'm a strong defender of pure copyright. (while I don't see creative commons as a bad thing, quite the opposite, I've licensed some stuff so)

I can tell you, the money is what goes before the chicken, the egg, and the whole freakin' farm ;). As salaries, gas, internet, amazing taxes, electricity bill, etc, don't pay for themselves... Besides... I'd repeat myself too much in this thread (already did) if i get into detail, but in drivers for professional hardware, software, color managing, and even in ease of use for even seasoned graphic professionals who wont EVER care to deal with OSes (not my case, am an advanced Linux user, as well! ) in all that, the situation is really bad. Is clear to me, that the ppl developing it, has been made by mostly...er, well, developers, coders, and server related people. And is excellent for those tasks, this OS. Of course, there's always been "some" interest for graphic tools. But just not enough for serious use in competitive professional environments. And I've been following with every release, for years, in the past, till recently, every bit of evolution of : Sk1 (vector package that DOES support CMYK), Synfig (2D animation package), Blender, Inkscape, Gimp, Scribus .... and many others. IMO, it's mostly Blender the one "getting there", indeed, already there, together with Wings 3D, Scribus coming close, but far in several departments, Gimp having the UI issues for most of the planet, and some areas pretty uncovered (hello, cmyk, pantones, etc). The usage reality, and the slow pace in getting to an usable point in professional activity, did drain my patience after a large bunch of years. I still use -for every gig 3D related- two cross platform, open source tools, as are useful to a large extent, 100% good ; Blender and Wings 3d. (and non graphics related, Thunderbird, Firefox and Libre Office do serve me very well (but of course, in Windows ! Unsure on what would say about it, due to compatibility with MS Office and etc, ppl working with these as their main tools in their work. Thunderbird probably the best among those)) I'm not super dumb... I'd too would prefer a free OS (reason why I started using Linux when it was distributed in floppy disks!) which I could use instead of a purchased OS. But while Linux for graphics is evolving (for servers and coding is at the top already) there's a very long way, NOT only limited (there's a ton more needed to jump ship) to having an advanced, pro raster and vector packages... there's much more to it for allowing a pro environment, be it freelancing or at companies... I like to think -really!- that this moment could arrive. I wonder tho, where will be by then Mac and Windows... As a must, it needs color calibration support, cmyk profiles support in the OS, in an easy way. And drivers for a bunch of hardware devices used in pro environments. Even so, if it gets to a point where one can -like now is possible, I've done it, and do with certain tools (Blender)- afford to loose ease of use, certain features, and so, even full gigs, but being still competitive by the demands of the moments (what clients require) , but the balance would make it possible to take at least a 80% of the gigs, I'd be fine then. But is not the case, unless all of your work is only of a very specific and limited kind. And have large -in time- delivering milestones....Freelancing is very hard on its own self, (and having been at companies for very long, that's just as hard) you can't afford to add extra obstacles, IMO....

Our point is.... Any developer company has a roadmap, and schedules... I'm absolutely convinced they hear every suggestion (and to an extent that I have not seen before in any company, both as a registered user and customer, like here, but definitely neither working at several of them ) , so, while it is a good suggestion -perhaps even already in a roadmap!- , we say that, meanwhile, you get the job done by combining -which you find essential and almost unavoidable to do in any advanced project, sooner or later- an external tool. Also because very rarely batch processing is going to be as flexible and/or fast in performance inside a general editing package like PS (way behind than the best specialized tools for that) or Affinity's, as a specialized batch processing tool is, and which does not need even an UI (my fav batch processing tools tend to be command line...) and not having the constraints imposed in a general editing application. I got back here now to mention one which I forgot to link before, and not sure if has appeared in the thread already. But is so extremely useful for... literally anything graphic, so deep, flexible and powerful, an even more, free and cross platform (win, mac and linux) , that I don't know why I hadn't mentioned before. Imagemagick. It has a command with tons of settings for virtually any need, and beyond. The tool has a really long history, been used intensively over decades specially in server related stuff for handling image operations in batch, but is useful in so many other ways and uses. saved my work in several companies, specially when time was tight (almost always is....). And is free, completely, also for commercial. Is a highly useful companion for ANY 2D and 3D package. Very recommended. I am not completely sure about your exact needs, in detail, but, while I have not needed to use it for that specific use, in a fast glance, it has (for a lot of formats, as the application imports/exports a ton of formats) the -comment parameter, to include copyright or any meta data, the -set comment to modify existing meta data, and -strip to remove all meta data, in case you need that. Surely it has a ton more options for all that : http://www.imagemagick.org/script/command-line-options.php?ImageMagick=m1p7m1l4edbn28tg0qnrejp5a4#comment I believe it only modifies the header part, but confirm it, as is one danger is re-saving lossy formats like JPG / gif / etc ! . PDF with no compression (other than internal zip), PNG (if not forced/specified a lossy mode! ), TIFF (again, if only with zip compression or with none), TGA, PSD (other than loosing the native features from PS which aren't supported !) formats are lossless, so here wouldn't be a danger. My advice would be use it in command line rather than with a graphical UI, and also, you can always create a bat file (in Windows console (~ the old DOS, which I keep loving)) , or an script of whatever the kind, call it from python, vb code, whatever. Or just use it normally, from Windows / DOS / Linux / whatever console. If you are curious (I am, by nature) you'll see it has also parameters to insert graphically a copyright notice so it is visible at whatever the pixel placement you choose in the image, and do it in batch mode for an entire folder, with a ton of options for doing that in whatever the way you might need it. (in case you want to make it visible, not having enough with the meta data option above. Indeed, any meta data is very weak protection, these days, but if is for internal organization with colleagues in a company, etc, that's very doable. ) One other interesting tool, but more specific/limited, and probably faster in performance than Exiftool, is Jhead. Its use is mostly to modify existing exif parameters, not to create new ones. It's also free. Jhead : http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/ Another which I haven't either tested, might be useful, also free (is more for editing raw files' meta data from the cameras, for y'all photographers ) : http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/ I'm speaking always about a procedure of doing your edits with Affinity (of course ! So, there's no "leaving Affinity", that wouldn't be clever in any way), saving in a lossless format (not jpeg), and a final one-go type and hit batch process of an entire folder, to assign whatever copyright notice to whatever the bunch of files in the formats exported (being final files, yep, could be jpegs or other lossy format). This does not mean you are forced to go away from Affinity (quite the opposite), is that, one way or the other, you end up needing external tools, even with Photoshop ! I am not a newbie, but definitely not a photographer (worked in complex photo retouching since... always, but I'm not a photographer), have worked decades editing images in practically every way....and definitely, whenever is the case that you need to handle an image catalogue (or a bunch of animation or video frames, or...), you end up needing external batch tools. Indeed, I tend to combine the macro/actions system of whatever my general editing app is at the moment (I often vary , from project to project), with these batch tools. One note....when uploading your final JPEGs or whatever to internet, a ton of servers do remove the exif infos, and other meta data. Sometimes just automatically by front end/backend frameworks (often they do that to compress files, to remove some bytes, other times to remove color profile info (as browsers often don't treat that well, and web designs can get messed) ! And yet other times, to replace it with own server meta data, seen that done! ), and even sometimes by hand by non too wary about the matter web designers / coders (often even just happens by uploading to any Wordpress blog..)... So, only way you get to be sure is a small signature/watermark, visible, in the pixels, but imo, this tends to ruin an image (mostly a watermark, a signature to me looks more elegant...)

Yep. Irfan is great. Extremely useful for batch operations, and one of the many batch actions available is including meta info. I also used PNGtweak for this matters, and a pair of others for JPGs and GIFs. But this was not something for photography (rather more for video game graphics (editing animations frames is a joy with irfan's batch), illustration and design stuff ). Also, it has a very powerful batch renamer, which can act alone or combined with the flexible batch system. To my knowledge, doesn't deal with CMYK color profiles, but I rarely have a need in that regard for this kind of matters. It is also the fastest viewer to pop up of all what i have tested (as just a fast checker). Working at a company, I was even in the need of editing our exe files (that is, our main application exes! ) in many occasions , to include/modify the copyright, icon linked, and deeper stuff, due to time constraints for a new compilation round (often with betas) , and it's amazing how -at least in Windows- there's practically a free utility for literally everything. I found 4, each with a different set of advantages. Indeed, while I think is a good feature to add, and "perhaps" they might add it in the future (specially when asked politely, maybe , which is the case ) , but I'd advice what i am doing with these and other applications that I use regularly or often : I use them for the best uses, each one. Even working at a successful well funded start-up, with PS purchased and a bunch other apps, I still needed free batch utilities (like irfan). Simply, specialized tools (like ExifTool, really famous, btw) are just too good for some tasks. Lately, these tend to also provide the output in a so flexible , powerful way, in so many formats, that you just do yourself a favor if just use a external tool like this for some specific tasks. Plus, things that were not likely to be added, have been added to Affinity's, so, imo is a game of patience. (but my advice, not pushing it too much, to not generate a negative vibe around the feature... programmers are human beings, too... ;D )

I'm more fan of Artisul (overall round product, quality aiming) , XP-Pen (price/quality) or Yiynova (quality and screen quality). These and Huion are good products, generally speaking, specially for what you want to do. For just sketching logo concepts, you don't need that large size, if are adesigner, can clutter your workspace a bit. Might want to consider a 16 inches size as ideal if you strictly are only going to do that. For general illustration, I'd never go lower than 22 incches, personally. One important matter. If color accuracy is a concern for you -is essential to me- , none of this are terribly good at that. they are not an Eizo, or a high end NEC kind of thing. Wacom's Cintiq 27 QHD yep, has a very good quality. (but the 22 / 24 model are not that great in that aspect ). And about this, of what i have been able to read, it seems is a general consensus that the Yiynova screen-tablets are pretty accurate / rich in color. About how each work. I'm of the geekiest group here in tablets : I kind of feel I'd make work any brand (even those that might need heavy lifting with the drivers) with Affinity's, but that a very personal take. I mean, I believe each has a solution. The Huions, at least latest GT models, seem to have a bit of ghosting, due to a too big response time in the screen. This can be not great specially when scrolling text or image galleries or moving elements on screen, etc. A LOT of these alternatives have a MAJOR drawback compared to purchasing a Wacom (usually) : Battery based pens, and other flavors different to the wacom's battery free ones, tend to have a bit more of a jitter/wobble in the line. I have only seen tons of tests in videos of literally every model but I have not owned one, only a cintiq model, which I sold second hand after 8 months as discovered: a) I am not really comfortable drawing in screen after 10 hours b) Not even comfortable 20 seconds in a 12 inches screen, which was the case, and I fear 13 would be practically the same. That's how I know a lot of us illustrators would really need a 22 or +. That said, remember that jitter CAN be 100% avoided in some cases with line stabilizing/smoothing, which Affinity apps just got in the 1.6 version, and in other cases (I mean, with other tablets and whatever the software), wont be 100% and then you are kind of in a bad place. The pity is that I am not a tester (would love to) of these machines, so I can't know if is the case, neither is a thing the youtube hardwarre reviewers do ever try. They just feel fine doing the jitter test, but we've come to a point in software where this can be compensated in a way that works in a production activity (I know by intense experience) . I still don't know why they don't do it. Probably as line smoothing is a bit new to most people. Otherwise, I could give a solid recommendation of one (or several) brand instead of another, without any doubt. The most modern models is sth you need to aim, as technology is improving in these alternatives at speed of light. I forgot: Ugee is doing great alternatives, too. Edit: Please beware of sth a lot of ppl don't realize. A worse brand has products way superior to other brands which are indeed better brands. Specially if you go to the low end prices (400 -550 $ ) , you could end up purchasing ie, an arcane Yiynova and get a deception. These chinese, usa's or wherever alternatives are often maintaining as purchasable very initial models. And so they can provide an uber cheap possibility. BUT... And I know I had left important info, there's a ton more, but can't make a book here.... : - is not the same a TN panel than a IPS. for angles of view, color fidelity, dithering, contrast ratio, etc, you need to go IPS. - MVA or PVA Are an ok they provide often deeper blacks and big range of colors (less prone to show gradients dithering!! --> very important. ) BUT... they tend to come with very slow screen response, producing ghosting. is a tough decision, but I'd play safe and go IPS, unless you find the xVA models say sth like 15ms of refresh rate, or lower. if you are doing a lot of video editing or motion, fx of anykind, is IPS, nor the other. In any case, never a TN, and there are still quite a bunch of TNs being sold. Resolution... Some are screens of 1280 x 800 (ie, if purchase a second hand cintiq 12 WX, which I don't recommend to. Even a 1440 x 900 seems to small work space for me, but at that, you could somehow do... ) If you are going to lay it flat, beware... XP has two models , or used to, the older one wouldn't allow to fully laying the tablet flat. And doing so might crunch / damage the cables. The newer models hasn't that issue, and added the function side buttons. Essential to some, irrelevant for me (I need the key commands anyway, I tend to recommend even a small keyboard instead.) So... For example, with the Yiynova, imo that's best if you are going for their highest end model, is the sane purchase there. You are getting QUALITY for around 800 - 900 bucks. it's worth it. if you are, for sure, only making logo sketches, strongly recommend you to go to a high quality models but 16 inches size. You 'll get great tracking and quality but save money due to the inches. That is, you can go to expensive models, in that size. (the cintiq Pro 16 is way too expensive, tho) The XP -PEN, 22 inches, most modern model, yes, that is a good purchase, IF you count on a high quality monitor in your pc in which you can check / fix color deviations. To ensure color checking, I mean. Indeed, would recommend a dual setup, so that you would have the hi quality monitor in a side , all time reproducing the same screen/illustration. if going for small sizes : Xp Pen I believe has now a 16 inches size that worth checking, seems is getting very good press. At that size, probably Artisul is among the best purchases, too. Again, I simply can't recommend 13 / 12 inches. EDIT: Last note , I promise . Even if you feel the only stuff you're ever gonna do is logos sketches... I'd still recommend as best buy a 22 inches or larger model. You could regret buying anything smaller, very strongly.... (btw: If you mean logos like graffiti, high detailed ones, tattoos, etc... is big screen all the way....And I keep recommending the Yiynova best and highest end model above everything else. That or the most modern XP-Pen 22 inches model if gonna do the two monitors setup to check accurate color. (if you care for that as much as i do, a lot of ppl don't need it. ))

Agree. Indeed, both a digital (in the pixels) very visible watermark -yet elegant-, to stop the masses, and a non perceptible one, which you could demonstrate in court (and the infringing party would not see that coming) could be ideal, for those really caring about this. There are though other considerations / measures / market reasons / contracts, etc, etc. that long ago made me treat this problem very differently. As R C-R, not a lawyer, but yep an artist having had to deal with these things often, professionally...

I worked for several years (a bunch) as a front end developer, and also as the one and only person for all graphics, corporate image, web and print stuff on the company (and a huge part of the SEO / newsletter / social....yeah, doing overtime like heck, too) . Company was all about Linux, pro linux, everything with Linux. Well, I had my Windows machine and communicated well with all the team, we had our samba servers and other simpler and varied methods for sharing files and more complex interaction. It happened fluidly, some others -specially those in the marketing / business area, had as well Win machines (we were in minority, as many web apps oriented companies). Never any serious issue or real prob, each one working with the most efficient OS for each person's set of daily tasks. I sometimes handled a Mac, a Linux PC, though mostly a Windows machine. Windows is dominating massively the market. Since... always. This is a fact. And it's going more and more in this direction. Inside a company (and front end development is a small portion of global population) , it depends on the workflows, and often one has certain flexibility. I for one saw as my best fit to access remotely (not only VMs) to a lot of Lniux/mac machines, use them remotely, even some Windows ones using included Remote Desktop or my much preferred and super loved Teamviewer (I have fixed entire machines, cleaned virus, rebooted, and continued installing, taught friends and workers new techniques, acted as tech support, made scrum-ish reunions to decide designs using interactive boards, etc, etc, etc. Heck I have even taught math classes ! ) . So much that really, to me now is more about the quality of the application itself. They have made it great. these apps. I said it before, but something of this level, it'd worth for me going back to a multi-boot (long list of exceptional free utilities for this, in Windows, DOS and Linux (haven't tried any OSX based)) system (not even a VM, to enjoy full performance) and install Linux if the A. apps were Linux-only , instead. But Linux users seem to have resistance for this. Indeed, the IDEAL, workflow-wise, is to have two machines at least in your work place, and even at home (indeed, specially at home) each with one of the OSes you use more. You can have one suspended during the day till you need it, is some seconds the wake up. I have a network based HD acting as a "server" , so, no biggy.... IMO, the important aspect, having already an Win and Mac version of each app, is keep evolving the applications in this highly competitive image editing field, keep improving its quality and consolidating them.

Huge kudos for releasing 1.6 !

It looks nice... I am intrigued about its "automatic line correction" (I am suspecting it mostly makes it behave more similar to a Wacom, not also allowing extra smoothing (varying the range) like the Affinity's feature provide). This both could be good or bad...I mean, sometimes, you need to be able to work without any stabilization of the line. Indeed, the more you get adapted to your specific tablet, the more often you disable it, or like me, just reduce it a lot. Still, stabilization is really important. For long straight lines or perfect large curves is really valuable, even essential. (I am speaking of software stabilization. First time I read about this as a hardware feature, other than of course, the fact that tablets tend to improve this matter internally.) . XP-Pen emerged as a Wacom alternative, mostly for Cintiq (or it got its fame mostly for that) . One critic all alternatives across all brands have is that they produce more wobble/jitter in the line than Wacom's. Well... There is people complaining about it with some of the newest wacoms. And showing it in videos. Although that could be faulty models, or magnetic noise, hard to know , so, today, is a bit of a gamble in any case. It did shock me to se s ome units producing that, as I've only have great experiences with Wacom models (since Intuos 1, Graphire, Volitio, etc) I only can say the Intuos Pro tablets I have currently in the 4 (oldie, I know) range (XL, and a Small) they definitely don't jitter. (have not upgraded due to not real need, and as I only enjoy working in large sizes (expensive)) That said... if this stabilization by hardware what does is compensate the jitter so usual in most alternative brands (I have not tested XP-Pen, probably it does not have any jitter at all. And if it had any, you can ALWAYS compensate it with Affinity's software feature for line smoothing. So, yeah, don't worry. ) , it could be very welcome. I sadly cannot give you a better hint, as I don't own one, despite how cheap it is ! In a 10 minutes test I'd be able to tell you better.... So I can only tell you what I suspect (as a sort of advanced user of the matter)... It seems they have made a considerable effort in improving their pen technology. Indeed, they could be innovating more than the other alternatives competitors. So, that's definitely a plus. Only a test (and better, doing it with some real life scenarios) could be more concluding. I typically wouldn't risk it with this small size range, but hey, price in this brand tend to be more than amazing, specially considering that is even cheaper -usually on Amazon- than the Wacom's Small, while it is, if I checked well, larger than the Medium...! So, yep, it is, perhaps, a very good purchase. In any case. I'm 100% sure it will allow you to draw ! . The only debate is if a Wacom here would have been better in raw quality (not taking price in consideration) . But, unless is for pixel art or exclusively photo retouch (no illustration, comic or other form of art planned), to me a Small size is so much worse than a Medium (also if it is a Wacom), that if the only chance is a Wacom's Small, definitely then I'd opt for this tablet. And who knows..! Maybe it is even amazing. I'm very curious about their hardware line smoothing. If you feel in the mood to tell us about how it goes as long as you go using it a bit, I'd be interested to know. I'd be millionaire if I charged 1 $ per every time someone has asked me about an ultra cheap tablet for drawing (cheaper than Wacom). Enjoy it !

A bit more to add... PS just added -seen in an article of today, from a link in other thread- smoothing in brush lines.... At least from what one can see on the video, there's only a simple slider of the effect intensity. And is using pull string only (Clip Paint Studio, Lazy Nezumi and Krita use several methods more) . Unless the tiny gear icon just planted besides it means more options (but maybe just brush options, not smoothing related), that'd be pretty basic. And performances seems pretty similar to the much more previously added in 1.6 betas from Affinity.

Well, my point is, besides depending on an extra factor, and forcing you to a rent system (and 144 euros per year, is way more than other one time purchase-only solutions (again, even if one updates every two years, or even yearly and in the cases those updates require extra payment)) besides is that, as well says in that article, you need to handle all work files by uploading them. It is clear to me that the use of these apps is very varied, as users and we professionals are. You seem to be in the photography area, I'm a designer and illustrator. I guess raw images you process are huge, and in my case, my enormous print files of many layers are too many gigabytes (and I save way many versions in the HD, need external drives, etc). We are not yet, IMO, and even less considering many countries' situation, in a world were bandwidth is not an issue, specially speaking of these sizes in professional areas. great for web designers if they don't do any heavy lifting in memory. I mean, yeah, performance is great (it seems is more of an issue for your activity, despite the fact that I use hundred of layers, and many gigabytes files sizes in my several apps, but applying blur and other filters (more in your area) is not so common in my activity, and that's very cpu intensive.... ) I'm fine even with a first gen i7 from 2009 ! My time eating holes are more related to pen/brush features and all illustration and design time savers. Even more, in the case of some people -not my case, but know a bunch of great freelancers that do so- that have capped bandwidth, this cloud-only concept is a huge issue. or even worse, not just capped but quite low in gigs (ie, connections of 25 GB per month, of global transfer !. You'd be surprised how many are out there with this, and producing great work) And yet even more to the problem... I read in that article that there's a limit in the standard subscription of one terabyte per month for work files.... There are months where that would be an issue for me. "But pending pricing on multiple terabytes of data, it could be unrealistic for professional photographers to rely on Lightroom CC alone to hold their data or even to upload all of it to begin with. And because Lightroom CC uploads every image to the cloud (there's a way to ensure an image is or is not downloaded locally, but no way to stop an image from being uploaded if it's imported into CC)," Don't take me wrong, I see your points... but even if all this can be worked out someway, is sort of adding extra deals and issues where there shouldn't be.... Work is hard enough in its own, don't need extra issues to worry about...IE, the extra worry of the connection having issues, micro cuts, large hours of no connection, etc. Yep, I relate a lot hardware/software performance to whatever makes me loose time, considering performance as a global thing. If my 3D render is slow, but i can set a second machine, or simply can set less cpu threads to it, and still do work in the mean time, then I don't care that much about "raw" performance. I mean performance, after all, is to save time and make smoother your workflow. Putting the cloud in the middle, with the not so uniform bandwidth scenario (besides, imo, clearly higher cost, by several times, even with the cheapest option. Through the years, even more.) ... That imo goes against the purpose. Even more, if your country does not have that issue, I congratulate you, but in my area (first world, anyway) is not super rare a cut in the internet provider, even for hours. Not often, but I can't even have one of several hours in a whole semester One of those things made me loose a very good client. Besides adding an extra bureaucracy or dependency with having the machine connected at the right time, even if it can "allow" a 3 months delay or whatever. Is kind of an unneeded cumbersomeness. I'll never be able to understand why they did not do like Corel (not even after the wave of complaints and "unsubscribes") or Allegorithmic, You want to be constantly up-to-date with latest feature ? great, go subscription plan. You are fine to update every 2 or 5 years (five....honestly, their prices were really high when was purchase only) , because (most pros I know at least in my several fields) you are totally fine with the essential stuff covered ? We have for you a purchase-option, of course, static in features. At least that. Then , in the other side I have Affinity, Clip Paint Studio, Krita, Corel, etc. Most of them with free updates (for some time since a purchase, or till major releases) and very reasonable price. In all my tests, I can do all work and pretty fast with these... No-brainer, at least in my case. There's a extreme difference though in the work of a Photographer (I'm coming to realize) and somebody that does does a bit of all (but gigs or high complexity, tho) , and mostly illustration of high res and graphic design. IE, I do rarely need to process 10 images at once, and when I do, is so rare that if it takes a bit more time is zero issue. Indeed, my major time consuming task is 3D rendering, and that'd be solved in a second by just purchasing a second machine, sth I'll do anyway. So, performance, imo, is often combined with all those factors (same reason why a kid just learning 3D will have extremely poor performance in his/her 3D work despite having the best cpu in the market and 64 gb RAM, if hasn't yet learn how to optimize a 3D mesh). I mean speaking of performance as a whole (software techniques, not just raw power, included in the equation, too), as a worker. CPU and software performance is one of the factors, I consider it a bit more globally (even more considering often money/time spent in other matters also important). Again, I realize performance can be more critical to you. I can see my Windows PC having some slight issue with a +100 layers press file, but I have a ton of tricks I know and I can handle it perfectly....

ah, ok.Sorry, then. (I tend to consider the global situation we have as artists, designers, etc, about the software to choose and use...)

And still I prefer Affinity (reasons: too many , wont make another long post...) . By far. (plus I hate the cloud. With a passion. (again, too many reasons to make it short.) ) So...you like this : Still, Lightroom CC is likely to serve as a pro-sumer or hobbyist tool for at least the foreseeable future, as the lack of desktop file organization in the form of any central "Library" will leave professionals used to the Classic CC wanting to go back. Instead, CC puts absolutely everything into the cloud and ties it all to your Adobe ID There's not a single detail of it which I could like....(for several reasons, again) Since everything is uploaded in full-resolution (and original file format) to the cloud, every computer, web browser, Even from my terrible connection when on the beach.....nice. Upload hundreds of gigabytes (my work with clients, etc) very often, instead of only needing bandwidth for sending final result (flattened cmyk pdf file or just a pdf as rgb.) and statuses screenshots (ie, small res pngs)....very nice. And of course, you need to love CC and its (cheap?? lol) renting system. BTW, if one does, if it is soo clear to an individual, why stay around here ...? I am trying to understand that....I can't see the point. In all that linked article, only thing of value for me as an artist would be, is that seems PS CC, finally, after decades and when other tools have got it way faster (and in one case, most surely, better) than it did -maybe pressured by that- is adding brush smoothing. Heck, about time.... Too late, I love how is implemented in other, extremely cheaper, and purchasable -not forced renting- 2d editing and painting tools... For that single reason, i'd give it to you is one of the best updates to date, of PS. The other improvements, except "painting performance improvements" (I worked decades using PS at companies, would have to check in real scenarios how improved is that, tho), Symmetry painting (present in Krita, Clip paint Studio (which I use a lot, the software, not the feature)) , and specially (if they did well) improvements in virtual memory system. The other tools are in a good number a bit toys for new comers, more expert people can do ALL the work with a CS 6 (heck, even a CS 2) perfectly well, and a bunch of the features added in PS are (often in its updates since the cloud) not essential stuff for professionals. I recon tho those improvements in the painting area (not an issue I experienced, but portable solutions (MS Surface, other tablets) tend to lag while painting in PS, as those are often under powered in hardware (ram, card and/or cpu), while there CSP does not lag, one of the reasons why so many comic authors use it instead of PS) where a huge lack that made tons of comic creators and a number of illustrators to go and look somewhere else, specially CSP(manga studio) and Krita. Right now is a bit too late (without forced subscription, even the other option is much less expensive, but would be a chance, at least). Plus, the price is hard to beat in apps like Affinity's , CSP, Krita(free!), and even more, IMO, a combo of those is more powerful than PS, as each count of very strong advantages (I use A.Designer for some projects, CSP for others, Krita for others.). And is all in my machine, local, no need to connect, no monthly added bill, etc. I could even have this machine disconnected, no network (I've been long times working on the beach and countryside, reducing the size of a final deliver, even sending it by phone... But there's a ton of other advantages, is not just special cases. ). Plus, we're talking of sub 100 bucks one time purchases, extremely lower general cost. To do ....the same, or better. Free updates for long time, in case needed. You eventually need to buy a new version, but way, way longer in time. Or you just do it, in times when you are with better income, or, just as you are happy with the company. They are not forcing you this...new tax. There, now is a lot of a personal take. If you do not hate it, indeed, you love to be charged a monthly tax, to each his own. Then you fly to CC's domain and live happy for ever floating in the cloud. If you don't, you find your alternatives. I don't understand doing both things ... (well, I do if for some people if fine duplicating a cost....) Well, it ended as a longer post than it really needed to be.

I do inking all day, lately, since several months, due to certain work projects. I need to say something here : This whole problem is not just software related. I was even years thinking it was. I've been professionally drawing with Wacom's and other brands devices, so long that I can't almost not remember the old times. It is not that simple... .I have made several thorough tests, recently, with same tasks/projects inking by hand.... it had been a while since last days I inked traditionally (I'm old enough to have started and study half my career before getting serious with a digital table (I used the first in the market, back in 1991, when I started my university studies)). I started inking comics traditionally, for example. By then, clearly the Kurta, or Genius, or Summagraphics or etc that were available were terrible, and really easy to realize by then that traditional drawing was superior. Just that as Wacom (and now iPad Pencil's/tablet system) has evolved a lot, and new artists have even only known this way of painting, when started to actually draw well, (I smile largely when I read : " I can't use a cintiq, my hand gets in the way " ....they are that much used to digital painting! Anyway, I believe none of these are Fine Arts students as there is almost like in my times: you need to master traditional methods) As is now, a Intuos Large, even more a pen-display like Cintiq (as is much more contol and no hand-screen coordination needed) or even a Yiynova, huion , etc, they seem to be perfect, while it's very far from reality. My tests were very revealing to me. (I knew there was a gap, but not THAT HUGE. ) A lot of very talented digital inkers tend to give the advice of "hey, you just are a poor inker, yet. You need to have a steady, fast line, trained just....drawing fast" . Not really true. False. I've known AMAZING inkers drawing slow. I firmly dislike "purist" or elitists that discard other ways of doing art, when is not even talking about the main essentials (composition, perspective, anatomy, color, lighting, etc). Even fast inkers count on a special and key accuracy when inking by hand over paper, which you do not have in digital. Not yet (imo it never will reach there, but will approach well enough). I could ink slow on paper, in my youth and in my recent tests, or fast, or more interesting: somewhere in between which is what you can't either do in digital. Digital painting (instead of inking,line art), all oil / acrylics, yep, no issue there, even a small wacom could do. Or any alternative for 67 bucks in amazon. But inking, line art requires extreme accuracy to your gesture, and accuracy in position, curve, etc ! That's the issue when it is a limited grid (with way less "resolution" than your brain, hand and paper provide), magnetic technology, with parallax in the middle, with lag in all of it, etc, etc, etc. So....no, is not "us". And....no, "generally" is neither the painting software. If the hardware was perfect already, or much more evolved, I mean, stabilizers wouldn't be that needed (could still be convenient for some projects). As things are, by now, they are essential for most people, even very talented artists. Latest -very recent- cintiqs and the iPad Pro (imo, too small for long work, that's just me) are a ton better, and still, far from the natural wonder of pure human hand and traditional skill. So there comes the need of stabilizers. Of course, if there's jitter / wobble introduced by the application, that's even worse, that'd be a top priority, but focusing here on the initial hardware problem that's still there, and is far from being minimal (ie, detetced largely in Surface Pro from Ms, even in the expensive (and great in almost any other matter, maybe lacks a bit of power for 4k) Studio. Much more than in Wacom products! ). From that video, that is one of the ways to attack the problem, the pull string method. Specially good for projects of vector nature. Many 2D packages, Like Affinity's have detected the need. Surprisingly one of the most important (or the most in image editing) ones hasn't don anything about it, but that one did never care very much about inkers/painters, to be honest. Very different situation in Affinity, were it's appearing very very soon for what short life has it yet compared to other packages. I can only give praise and compliments for this. For now, and mostly as these projects I'm at now were very long ago started, and others need very specific features, I cannot change in the middle, but I am totally planning to move most of my activity , perhaps inking included, to Affinity's applications. I have now a trained ability to ink with brush as you mention, to control the weight of the line on the fly almost exactly how I would do in traditional (not as a post edit, that, as you say, is extremely slow, tho gives more control than anything else), as that app (whose name am not gonna mention) it has a smoothing, very slight, which eliminates the hardware provoked tremble, and I trained my hand to "think" it is not inking in paper, I mean, I developed a new way of inking that allows me to ink several illustrations in a day, digitally, which is great. Or use the pull string for things more in the logo / graffiti style where line must be according to my style in those things very very solid. Of course, pull string is also valid for realistic illustration inking, just lowering a tad the value. Smoothing / stabilizers, etc, are specially useful if you do first a very accurate, but dirty pencil drawing, very detailed (remember that detail in the sketch is done by many fast erroneous strokes, like in painting, but that's not a prob here) in a layer and put it in a % of low transparency, of course, to ink in a new layer over it. One thing these "digital inking" gurus use to say is true, though. As you do more and more work with it (ie, usually I do a mix of things, but late months been like 24/7 inking, almost...) the hand gets used to it, am even inking stuff "alla prima " often without even sketch....Practice is as usual part of the equation, of course. I recon is a bit painful to "relearn" this, when one can ink perfectly on paper. But this is the hardware status, for now ! I believe the 1.6 feature (indeed, both in ADe and A.Photo) is what you need. I really hope though that one can make several values, not necessarily smoothing so much -not good for certain type of inked illustration, specially small details- and even greater if can allow different methods: Pull string or just smoothing (no pull string, the line is averaged, smoothed in real time. mostly to eliminate hardware jitter (or even eliminate "amplified" hand jitter! ) Large values of it make it look like a slight lag, but is up to you set it stronger, light, or off, just like, i suppose, "pull string" method. This (none pull string, just a slight smoothing) I am using for now in other software applications). Indeed, for the type of work you linked, pull string could be very proper solution, even the best for that ! . (much more than for the sort of stuff that I do) So, my main point : Software stabilizer feature for the lines, is not as much as a feature lacking in a 2D painting tool, is just a way to try to, at least till certain extent, counter a lack of accuracy and other issues in the present hardware. Even tho, being so the situation, they are really needed for a lot of illustrators/ comic creators.(and those having almost same ability now in digital (I'm almost there...) due to long Wacom practice, well, they do benefit of any of these features, as well (work faster, etc)....and of any improve, hardware or software based. ) PD: I correct myself. Hadn't read well the reply. Yep, it seems it (pull string (rope mode?)) counts on several values, and I deduce there are different modes.... Which would be fabulous. (even only one, kind of ...could do. )

A very huge thanks for all the work (in both AP and AD) in perfecting/improving anything related to PDF / CMYK / print and color managing workflows in general ,so key in my own professional activity, and I guess, for many designers and illustrators like me (specially if like me, do both jobs (imo, photographers will benefit from this, too)) needing professional solutions for printing. And for all the other fixes, of course! . Bugs are hunted/detected kind of easily, but fixed when it is humanly possible, or a light comes over an outstanding problem. There's no magic wand for it. And I know is really a painful task (only being a very bad and noob coder, but spent most hours in my professional life working besides programmers, seeing them sweating blood and tears...). So, really, the effort is very much appreciated.

oops, sorry, was not reading the first posts wel, sth weird I made with my browser, haden't read Meb's answer. I'm 99,99999 % you can do what you need with PNG. Build whatever needed workflows with extremely minimal effort (I'd explain) TIFF, as Meb said -as I had not read it- certainly stores alpha channel, "selections" , in pretty most softwares (ie, PS) . I tend to prefer TIFF for exclusively stuff to be printed -when requested, as if not, I much prefer PDF for getting a better workflow with the print people- , and PNG for almost everything else, even when doing frames renders in Blender.... As I mentioned (but I either had seen the image, I really was doing sth that screwed up my browser window), please tell us what is the target, planned use -don't have to get specific if you don't wish to, as is not needed, either- but I'm supposing this is for a t-shirt, or using it for some sticker, or for using as a part of a texture or bigger design, collage or etc. In all these, it should work great with PNG's transparency. But you need to be careful how you handle it before export, I'm almost certain you are flattening it without noticing, maybe tell us step by step what you do to export it, including what you answer if a dialog window pops up asking sth, etc.

In theory, as transparent value (not exactly the same, but for what you mention, should serve), PNG should do the trick, exports transparency pretty well. (unless you are flattening the image somehow in AP without you knowing it, in one of your steps. If so, no format will export with transparency, obviously). Not sure if A. Photo's TGA export supports the alpha channel, but probably it does (funnily, PS had an outstanding issue in PS 7, very long ago, with the tga channel in export.... They fixed it later, but took a while.... Was key by then, as in its day, for making games we used a lot TGA and its alpha channel. ). PD: TGA exports a greyscale image as its "alpha channel", which then 3D apps, video editors, etc, can use for many functions. Is not complex, at all -I can explain at another moment- To a) create a greyscale image out of your layer transparency info , save the grey scale as an additional file to use as mask or whatever in your target app OR b) Just export as PNG, if all you need in the target app is the image , the figure without the background, for example. OR c) if your target is another 2D app, you can in most cases build there a greyscale image out of the PNG pixels and transparent areas / % of transparency in other pixels (that's, from the image itself), and use this alpha channel image as you might need. If you tell us what is the target use -even just a raw idea- I might suggest a specific solution. (btw, I'm in no way related to the company or Support)