SrPx

Hey everyone. I hope you all are well!! Been working on some illustrations and wanted to share one with you all.
I've been message around with arts styles and started to play around with mixing raster and vector together and came up with this. Where I take vector shapes and apply raster effects such as brush effects and textures to it.
Made with Affinity Designer + Affinity Photo on the iPad Pro. (With brushes from https://frankentoonstudio.com)
What do you all think?
 

 
Thank you for your time.
Andrew Salfinger - Made by Campfire

A couple of considerations come to mind here. What value do you place on your available working time, as an entrepreneur.  At one point in my working career, I charged  $75.00 usd for mine. A 150 hour investment of time was equal to  $11,250.00 usd in billables. Those were some fun times on the net. Depending on your time value and normal work load, you might not be able to justify making learning AP and AD a priority. A free lancer just might be the best economical approach, at least until you have leisure time to attack things Affinity. Watching the videos is a super aid to learning, but nothing replaces seat time, in front of the screen, for mastering the tools and having the  time to absorb the lessons from many multiple sessions. It tends to be measured in many hundreds of hours before all the new guy patina wears off. Having a Ps background will certainly accelerate things, but I'm doubtful 150 hours is close to a realistic estimate.  Bottom line... never let making a dime stand in the way of making a dollar.

Steve

I would say hire, design is not learned in 150 hours  Also, design is NOT learned by watching tutorials, I've never watched a design tutorial in my life. Design is learned by practice. You don't become a great boxer if you watch lots of fights  

Just found these, and they are exactly what I needed.
Many thanks for your generosity
 

There aren't actually that much better described tracing algorithms and most of these have been developed (their basics) years ago. - For Inkscape the community around that has added color quantisation and center-line tracing capabilities etc. to the underlayed and used potrace base. Some also added additional autotrace interoperations for it, since that one (autotrace) supports centerline tracing as default, beside color tracing. - So I doubt one will actually find that much better tracing algorithms for reuse, where licensing for (re)usage in a commercial product is also another theme here then.
 

Yes! Part 4 just went live, and it has some pretty interesting stuff and things you might not expect... but really happened! 😎
Enjoy it everybody, hope you have as much fun reading as I had researching, writing, illustrating and programming it! 
After this part there will be two more parts (up to six in total). Collect them all 😉
English: The History of Interactive Computer Graphics - Part 4
Dutch: De Geschiedenis van Interactieve Computergraphics - Deel 4

 
@Alfred @Madame @Roger C @GarryP @Wosven @A_B_C @WatcherMagic @John Rostron @Renzatic @dutchshader @CLC @SrPx @haakoo @telemax

WindowsLatest.com: Windows 10 market share drops as Ubuntu record growth
Could that be due to many people working at home because of the Corona crisis? Perhaps computers at the office have Windows on them, while some private home computers run Linux.

Thanks for the offer. What we need is more hours in the day and/or more developers

Great if you can get by without Adobe programs, I would do the same thing if I did not need Adobe CC.
Are you saying Adobe CS5 is harder to run with every MacOS update? CS5 is 10 year old software, there can be no expectation that it is going to be supported for 10 years.
You may want to get away from Apple and Windows, but as they have said they are not interested in a Linux version, they are not interested in crowd funding for development. So if you need the software you will have to stick with Apple or Windows. Windows can be much more affordable as you can get pretty amazing hardware for less then what you get with Apple. I prefer MacOS over Windows 10, but Windows 10 has come a long way and is a good OS as well in my opinion. 

I would be paying $300/month actually. can I afford it yes (rather save it for mortgage/rent etc). Can I make make business profitable without it? Yes Thanks to Affinity. And a tiny bit of Adobe CS5. 
"Adobe falling apart" meaning: The Adobe programs starts to work less and less well with every upgrade of MacOS. Uninstalling completely and reinstalling doesnt help. Photoshop crashes automatically after opening new file. And quitting normally generates a crash error. Nothing wrong with Adobe software per se. The MacOS upgrades is what screw things up. And it happens so frequently that things become obsolete faster. Sometimes new OS upgrades are necessary for security or additional features but they make more things incompatible.
I know Adobe programs work well. With that much money poured into it compared to affinity, I'm sure it helped.
But I'm actually doing well without Adobe. If I can do the same thing without paying more, why not?
Now I want to get away from Apple too (fine software / hardware though it is)

The most recent page of posts are mostly in anger because Adobe finally hit the "feature declined" button for the feature request (only a couple of weeks ago).  Hopes had been raised when, in late 2018, Adobe was forced to reply and say that they would seriously consider it.  They had to respond because they received 1000s of votes for the request in one day - this surge of interest happened after Jason Evangelhoa from Forbes posted this article.  If you go back a little, you'll start seeing much more reasonable posts and an endless repetition of that phrase "the only thing holding me back is Adobe.
Numbers lie all the time.  I think there is a lot more demand for an alternative to Windows OS and Mac hardware than the Linux market share currently can show.  None the less, I don't fault Serrif or Adobe for their rationale - but I do think there is an argument to be made here.

It is money though, money into training, money into IT and getting Linux setup, money on new support. All this for what kind of return? I seriously doubt all the Linux users would be happy to pay more then their Windows and Mac counterparts. It all sounds so easy, but it is not that simple. They are a business, they are in it to make money. They are also trying to advance their product. Look at the feature requests and things that people are wanting added to be a legit replacement for Adobe CC. Now on top of that people want efforts put into another OS that has a significantly smaller user base and of that small user base an even smaller number of people are going to be wanting/needing Affinity software. 

It's more complicated that just "testing on WINE" during development. Do we train up all devs to learn how to use Linux? Do we purchase new machines to use? Do we train up the QA and tech support teams? What about marketing, or offering support when there are inevitable problems when customers run it on WINE? 
Also, I don't believe it's our responsibility to ensure that WINE works, that's the responsibility of the WINE developers (if the Affinity applications work on Windows, then they should work on WINE). 

They originally started the Linux project because they feared Windows 8 would require apps (and games) to be installed via the Microsoft store. i.e. that the Steam store would be prevented. As their whole business model depends on that method of distribution, they were right to dedicate vast resources to bringing a Linux product to market. Compare that to now, where they know that Steam works perfectly fine on Windows 10, and that it's no risk to them - what are they doing for Linux now?
Absolutely. There's not many users (of desktop) because the products aren't there, and the products aren't there because there aren't many users. 
The interesting question is - if the products were supplied, and market share grew, where would the market share grow from? From brand new customers who had never used a computer before? That's good for us, as we can get the money back. But if the larger share came from people transitioning from Windows or macOS, well, they could have bought it on those platforms already, and it wouldn't have cost us millions of dollars and years of work to get to that point. The facts is, Linux isn't a user friendly desktop. You can't expect new users fresh out of school or university to get a brand new computer running Linux and be happy with it. It's not a "low maintenance" experience, I know from experience.

This is a long thread, and I've commented on it before. For us to develop a Linux version, we need to cover our costs - at the absolute minimum - and that includes any lost opportunity from spending development time on Linux, rather than new features or products for existing platforms. Unfortunately that figure keeps growing, in line with the expanding customer base on existing platforms. The fact is, there aren't enough potential customers on the Linux platform to justify the development work.
Taking Steam as an example, which is what Linus Tech was using in the video, here are the latest stats for their users (the top OS for each platform):
Windows 10 64 bit - 86.08%
macOS 10.14.6 64 bit - 0.90%
Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS 64 bit - 0.18%
Those numbers make Linux statistically irrelevant.
According to Desktop browser statistics from September 2019 (NetMarketShare):
Windows - 87.76%
macOS - 9.61%
Linux - 2.06%
A bit better for web browsing purposes, but we're not a web browser, we're a paid professional product vs a free pre-installed user product. 
And I say all that as a long time Linux user. I first started with SUSE Linux over 20 years ago, and am currently running Ubuntu on one my laptops.

Why would there be? Serif is privately owned.

Same problem with illustrations, when you need to check colours easily for books to look the same. Not being able to check plates/channel or having half backed channel don't help.

I'm in the same situation. Been doing colour separations for T-shirts for over 25 years.  So have downloaded APhoto and ADesigner to test and see if they compete with PS and AI combo. 
With few clicks things are not looking good. I see there is no support for Multichannel PSD files. APhoto can't open them.  I use these for full colour Simulated Process separations. They contain many halftone spot channels, sometimes up to 12-15 cols. If I covert the multichannel doc to greyscale or CMYK, it will open in A Photo, and the extra separation channels are visible in the channels palette. However I cant click or view them, all I can seem to do it delete them? Not much use. In photoshop I can access these channels and work on them with curves and all the other tools in the tool box. Then output.  
The above processes are not just for DIY T-shirt print shops. This is how the whole garment print industry works around the world. From the small to the huge factories . -Unless they are using DTG printing-. 
Apparel Screen printing is a massive global industry. 
The above issue would also affect the whole off the offset CMYK print industry as their seems to be no support for Bump plates to add to a CMYK separation. ? or is there ? 
Noted on the comments to use layers instead of channels. But this would be a nightmare for output. You would need to output each layer on it own for all colours. ? 
Ive tried to attached a screen shot of an example but the upload fails every time sorry. 
Thanks 
jc 

@SrPx, I am on Linux mainly - exactly as you, when my customers need Windows, I have no choice but follow them, I want to enjoy my hobby on Linux, so here is the paradox: I can't, because major software developers refuse to build for such little adopted platform - a platform that is little adopted due to lack of software built by those major developers.
But, what I try to say above - something that you pointed too, is that, the general number of users of Linux does not matter, they are few now, and despite there are media creators on Linux, still not enough in numbers, they are a fraction of that tiny fraction, so the major developers can't invest for such little potential... Of course, some may say that we should compare the numbers of those two fractions... Still, I am sure they would be happy to get a Linux version in order to drop a good part of their stack of OSes, probably this migration would be valuable to them, but no, the business can't be profitable yet for companies like Affinity.
Right now, I am very close to have what I need on Linux, though. If some day Affinity makes the step, I am still interested and I would support them and hail them!
Now, out of curiosity, does Affinity Photo have some boundary warp capability? Who can tell me? Is there some demo video too?

Where are  you getting your stats from? Do they also include servers that use linux and android phones?
https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share This website states that in the last month the total user base on linux is 0.78% That is incredibly small. I'm not against you, but focusing on the user base count is a poor choice when discussing this in my opinion, since the ratio of creative user per capita is most probably higher on linux than on windows anyway, unsure about mac since macs are still the industry standard in design studios.

You will find the english version of my presentation further down in the article:

Hallo zusammen,
mein Name ist Markus, ich bin derzeit 52 Jahre alt und ich komme aus Deutschland.
Eigentlich bin ich kein Grafiker oder Künstler, ich bin selbstständig, programmiere Software und biete IT-Dienstleistungen an.
Ich war lange Zeit so etwas was man einen Computerfreak oder Nerd bezeichnet. Das fing in den 80ger Jahren an, wo ich die Welt der Computer für mich entdeckte (Commodore VIC 20, C-64, Amiga).
Ich war damals auch schon sehr neugierig auf die multimedialen Dinge, die man mit einem Computer tun konnte (Grafik, Musik, Soundbearbeitung). Ich habe mich aber nie zu einem echten Grafiker oder Musiker entwickelt - was mich auch nicht gestört hat. Für mich stand immer das Programmieren und Hardware-Basteleien im Vordergrund. Trotzdem war ich immer mit den adäquaten Programmen zur Erstellung von Musik und Grafik ausgerüstet. Zum einem machte es mir Spaß und zum anderen konnte man in dem ein oder anderen Programm auch mal eine Grafik oder die Oberfläche für eines meiner Programme gestalten. Ich habe diese Programme schon oft genutzt, mich aber nicht zum perfekten Künstler entwickelt.
Mittlerweile hat mich das echte Leben (die reallife.exe ;-) ) eingeholt und auch meine Interessen haben sich verschoben. Trotzdem bin ich noch immer neugierig was das Thema Multimedia angeht.
Die Affinity Produktreihe habe ich Ende letzten Jahres entdeckt und mir hat es ehrlich gesagt den Atem verschlagen, als ich gesehen habe was für leistungsstarke Funktionen dort integriert sind. Am meisten beeindruckt bin ich aber von der Einstellung und dem hohen Qualitätsstandard, den die Entwickler an sich selbst legen. Das gefällt mir, denn auch ich bin so ein kleiner Perfektionist, wenn es um die Entwicklung von Software geht. Von daher war mir das Produkt vom ersten Augenblick an sehr sympatisch.
Ja, ich weiß, dass ich vermutlich nur einen Bruchteil der Funktionen nutzen werde :-), aber aus diesem Grund habe ich auch auf die nächste Rabattaktion von Serif gewartet. Jetzt war es soweit und ich habe mir vor wenigen Tagen Affinity Designer und Affinity Photo zum halben Preis zugelegt. Vielen Dank, Serif, für diesen großzügigen Rabatt.
Alle anderen Grafikprogramme (Krita, Gimp, Inkscape) werden nun von meinem Rechner gelöscht. :-)
Die nächsten Tage und Wochen werde ich mich mit diversen Tutorials und dem Affinity Designer Workbook beschäftigen, welches ich mir vorher schon zum Geburtstag habe schenken lassen. :-)
Es gibt wenig gekaufte Software auf meinem Rechner, das meiste ist OpenSource. Aber die Software, die ich gekauft habe, für die habe ich mich bei allen Titeln aus dem gleichen Grund entschieden. Die Entwickler oder die Firma geben aus persönlicher Überzeugung alles, um eine perfekte, fehlerfreie Software anbieten zu können.

Ich grüße alle hier im Forum und wünsche euch, dass ihr in der heutigen Zeit (CoVid-19) gesund bleibt!
Markus

English version:

Hello, everyone,
my name is Markus, I am currently 52 years old and I come from Germany.
Actually I am not a graphic designer, I am self-employed, I program software and offer IT services.
For a long time I was something what you call a computer freak or nerd. This started in the 80s, when I discovered the world of computers for myself (Commodore VIC 20, C-64, Amiga).
At that time I was also very curious about the multimedia things you could do with a computer (graphics, music, sound editing). But I never developed into a real graphic artist or musician - which didn't bother me either. For me, programming and hardware tinkering were always in the foreground. Nevertheless I was always equipped with the adequate programs for creating music and graphics. On the one hand it was fun and on the other hand you could use these programs to create a graphic or the interface for one of my programs. I have used these programs often, but I did not develop to a perfect artist.
Meanwhile the real life (the reallife.exe ;-) ) has caught up with me and my interests have changed, too. Nevertheless I am still curious about multimedia.
I discovered the Affinity product line at the end of last year and honestly it took my breath away when I saw what powerful features are integrated there. But most of all I am impressed by the attitude and the high quality standard the developers set for themselves. I like that, because I'm also a little perfectionist when it comes to software development. That's why I liked the product from the first moment on.
Yes, I know that I will probably only use a fraction of the features :-), but that's why I was waiting for the next discount offer from Serif. Now it was time and a few days ago I bought Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo for half price. Thank you very much, Serif, for this generous discount.
All other graphic programs (Krita, Gimp, Inkscape) are now deleted from my computer. :-)
During the next days and weeks I will work on several tutorials and the Affinity Designer Workbook, which I already got for my birthday. :-)
There is little bought software on my computer, most of it is open source. But the software I bought, I decided for all titles for the same reason. The developers or the company give everything out of personal conviction to be able to offer a perfect, bug-free, breathtaking software.
I greet everyone here in the forum and wish you all the best for your health in the present time (CoVid-19)!
Markus

Well, the mo2 SVG based doc won't tell you much about how their SVG import parser expects or tends to import SVG code at all here (the overall expected SVG code structure, ID naming recognition and the like...). It just tells ...
... which will lead to the common try & error find out yourself method. - In such cases it might be helpful to inspect example SVG code (Github mo2 SVG samples) it accepts as input inside a text editor, in order to try to force AD to generate similar structured SVG code, or at least something which looks similar and can be easily modified and edited accordingly.

Well - I try to be patient - but sometimes - some cursing and swearing loudly at the screen can be a very good stress-reliever!! LOL 

NoelTodd / Olivier - 
That was driving me nuts as well - why can't Inkscape export a svg correctly into m02??! - I have tried so many settings/exports of even a simple Circle outline from Inkscape - and yet it would always import into m02 as a solid shape.  Very frustrating.  Wish someone would do a detailed tutorial on how to get this to work via Inkscape!!
But - good news! - I watched this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPGvrxjT7aY. Its from MotionVFX - how to use GIMP to export a path / svg - and it works like a charm!!  I've exported text with holes such as the letter O and the letter P - so it knows how to deal with paths such as this.
I will still like to find out why Inkscape won't do this very simple export - but if you have GIMP (I am using ver 2.10 on my Mac) - follow the tutorial - and when you import the svg into m02 - it works just fine!
Hope this helps!

Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, @amazing2061.
The 90-day free trial and 50% discount were originally available until 20 April, but the offer period has been extended to 20 May. The price you pay is not affected by your use of the trial version, so if you were to wait until after 20 May to make a purchase you might find that the discount is no longer available.