I end up with two files of the same thing

[Guest]

I used Affinity Designer and Photo three years ago and am considering coming back to Affinity.

One of the issues I had, was that I wanted to keep my files app independent, so wanted my vector files as EPS or SVG and my bitmap files as TIFF. But I had to save my files as Affinity files and then export as EPS or TIFF. So I ended up with two files of the same things, which isn't sustainable.

Has this changed now? Can I simply save files as EPS and TIFF (and not have to 'export' them)?

Failing that can Adobe InDesign open and use Affinity files vectors and photos?

[PaulEC]

You can only "save" files in the native format, but you can "export" them as any (supported) file type you wish. There is no need to "save" and "export" the same file. (It really doesn't matter if you use the "save" or "export" options, it just depends on the file type you want to use!)

AFAIK no other software can open and edit the native Affinity files.

[R C-R]

5 hours ago, Markeeee said:

So I ended up with two files of the same things, which isn't sustainable.

In what sense are (for example) EPS and TIFF files or any vector vs. raster file formats the "same things"? 

[Old Bruce]

10 minutes ago, R C-R said:

In what sense are (for example) EPS and TIFF files or any vector vs. raster file formats the "same things"? 

I think what @Markeeee means is there are files called File One.aphoto and File One.eps then there are files called File two.aphoto and File two.TIFF. If you are making a document in Affinity Photo there is no actual need to save it as a .aphoto file. You can just export the .SVG or .TIFF. So unless you want to further continue working on the Affinity Photo document at a later date you don't need to save it. This is a perilous route, you run the risk of losing hours of work. 

I routinely delete my .aphoto files that I no longer need and just keep the TIFF file for the project which I originally made the Affinity Photo file.

[R C-R]

7 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

If you are making a document in Affinity Photo there is no actual need to save it as a .aphoto file.

There is if for example you want to use multiple pixel or adjustment layers & still be able to edit them individually/non-destructively. For various reasons you also might want to say the history with the document, use the Export Persona to export to multiple formats, & so on.

Besides, like you said, not periodically saving a project you are working on in the Affinity format is a perilous route. Only after you are completely sure you will never want to edit it in the native file format & only will ever use the already exported version(s) should you delete it.

[Guest]

On 9/1/2022 at 5:19 PM, Old Bruce said:

I think what @Markeeee means is there are files called File One.aphoto and File One.eps then there are files called File two.aphoto and File two.TIFF. If you are making a document in Affinity Photo there is no actual need to save it as a .aphoto file. You can just export the .SVG or .TIFF. So unless you want to further continue working on the Affinity Photo document at a later date you don't need to save it. This is a perilous route, you run the risk of losing hours of work.

Yes that was the way I was working. I prefer Photoshop: having the ability to open and save .tiff files (without the need to save work in progress in a different file format) and same goes for Illustrator and vector .eps or .svg files.

[PaulEC]

I don't really understand why you need to keep two copes of everything. If you are working on a project, save it as an Affinity file. When finished, or if you need another file type at any time, just export it as needed. You don't need to keep two files at the same time! (Although personally I always prefer to keep the original file and work on a copy myself!)

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Markeeee said:

having the ability to open and save .tiff files (without the need to save work in progress in a different file format)

As mentioned, you aren't required to keep .afphoto files. Just export as TIFF if you only want TIFF.

You are also able to Open a TIFF file, make updates, Flatten any layers you've created, and then Save back to that same TIFF file. You have more options available to control the results if you Export, but Save will work for that case.