As a FreeHand jockey whose 32-bit MacBook Pro finally went to its reward, AD is exactly what I've been looking for. So far, the beta performs beautifully. Very few problems. Amazingly stable for a beta… Huge kudos to AD developers for this wonderful program! When it's released, I'll be the first in line.
The FreeHand tools (or facsimiles) I'm hoping for include:
Add points & simplify points
Envelope warping (or some kind of object-distortion tool)
3D rotation (perspective tool)
Fisheye lens
Roughen effect
Expand Stroke, Stroke to path & Inset path
Text flow around objects, along paths & flow between text boxes
Multiple pages, with a scratch area for layout design work
A lot to expect, I know. But when Affinity Designer can do these things, then it really is adios, Illustrator...
I've heard that AD developers may be working on opening Freehand files. If so, then I DO believe in Santa Claus! Also, IMHO, pro-level CYMK prepress isn't a big priority since the vast majority of users (even Illustrator users) don't do 4-color publishing.
Thanks again for filling a big hole in the Mac vector sphere...