Designer1234 Posted November 12, 2022 Posted November 12, 2022 As an amateur I really loved AP v1. I'm using it to retouch some photos, remove or mask some parts of beautiful yet not perfect wallpapers, edit some game screenshoots - I'm doing many things that does not involve drawing since I can't draw (but still I've purchased an Huion tablet for easier editing - inspired by AP quality) Now I've installed AP v2 and... I don't see any new functions, almost no improvements... The only three things I like so far are the adjustment layers icons on layers list, recent swatches on the color tab and redesigned settings window... There are no new tools, UI is worse - there are more empty spaces, tool icons looks worse, with hardware acceleration enabled switching tabs and scrolling brushers/adjustment options etc. is slower and lags, new UWP installer format makes integration with FastStone and ImageGlass problematic... I really don't know what to do, should I buy an upgrade? Do you think there will be some further improvements and new functions? I've noticed only some new brushes and perhaps impainting brush - indeed really useful in my usage scenarios - works better, but... During the coronavirus sale I've paid for v1 less than an upgrade costs now. Of course, It was an obscenely low price and I think that AP, as a really good product - in fact the only good product of Sarif (AD is a JOKE) - is fairly priced without the discount... But why to pay for an upgrade, if I don't get anything better? They only motivation is saving money and potential improvements, but looking on the AD I don't think they will ad something new to Affinity Photo too.... (BTW - I'm extremely disappointed with AD. It's a joke. Still no free shadows, no mesh gradients, no extrude, no eraser, no proper measurement tool... but that's not the topic of this thread)... Quote
Artsketch Posted November 12, 2022 Posted November 12, 2022 The are useful shape builder, vector warp and new knife & scissor tools in Designer but in Photo not much innovation yet. Alt least there is some non destructive raw development now. Quote
fde101 Posted November 12, 2022 Posted November 12, 2022 20 minutes ago, Designer1234 said: I don't see any new functions, almost no improvements... 17 minutes ago, Artsketch said: in Photo not much innovation yet The RAW Layers were added. Once you realize what they are, the live masks are something that several of us have asked for a number of times, and I am particularly glad to see those added. Also compound masks, which should be quite helpful in conjunction with the live masks. 4 minutes ago, LondonSquirrel said: I would guess that there will be no new updates to the V1 apps Correct, Serif already confirmed this in the FAQ - no more updates will be coming for version 1. 25 minutes ago, Designer1234 said: Still no free shadows Out of curiosity, what do you mean by a "free shadow"? I'm assuming that is something different from the shadows you can add as layer FX? Quote
PaulEC Posted November 12, 2022 Posted November 12, 2022 There's a 30 day trial. If you like it, buy it, if you don't don't. Simples! JohnDK 1 Quote Acer XC-895 : Core i5-10400 Hexa-core 2.90 GHz : 32GB RAM : Intel UHD Graphics 630 – Windows 11 Home - Affinity Publisher, Photo & Designer, v2 (As I am a Windows user, any answers/comments I contribute may not apply to Mac or iPad.)
Designer1234 Posted November 12, 2022 Author Posted November 12, 2022 Yeah, I know that v1 won't get any updates. I wonder what updates can get v2 - not bug fixes but some new tolls and features... Because as I can see my impressions about AP weren't wrong - not much new things... Quote
Emagineer Posted November 12, 2022 Posted November 12, 2022 14 minutes ago, Designer1234 said: ...I can see my impressions about AP weren't wrong - not much new things... Serif did provide a rundown of the main new features in all of the apps, in the below thread in the News section. https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/170152-affinity-version-2-sets-new-standards-in-creative-software/ There have been issues with this launch, but I'm not sure that I would say that there are not many new features--especially given the power of the new features. Quote
walt.farrell Posted November 12, 2022 Posted November 12, 2022 You can also check the Help at https://affinity.help which lets you see both the V1 and V2 help, and the desktop and iPad versions. At the beginning, in the Introduction, there's a "what's new in v2" section with a pretty complete list. Emagineer 1 Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. Laptop 2: Windows 11 Pro 24H2, 16GB memory, Snapdragon(R) X Elite - X1E80100 - Qualcomm(R) Oryon(TM) 12 Core CPU 4.01 GHz, Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) X1-85 GPU iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 18.5, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sequoia 15.5
Designer1234 Posted November 12, 2022 Author Posted November 12, 2022 OK, thanks for your replies. 👍 These live and compound masks seems interesting indeed, but personally I don't know whether I will use them so often. If these are the only new things in AP for now, along with some new brushes and dialogs, but also with problematic shortcut creation and path indicating, some UI problems (a bit less compact buttons, a bit more empty spaces) and broken hardware acceleration (when I switch it on scrolling brushes, switching tabs etc. gets laggy), I'll rather not buy the upgrade version now and I'll risk paying twice as much in a year or two... Spending even just 60% of regular price - which is still 50€ including VAT - for nothing but some new masks and some new problems doesn't seem reasonable. I didn't get any new AI tools so helpful for amateurs, I didn't get any artistic filters - and because of the windows app format there are even more problems than benefits... Correct me if I'm wrong but it's more risky to pay now and wait for some new things which may not appear until the new version 3, than to risk spending more in two-five-seven years... Quote
Stepaan Posted November 12, 2022 Posted November 12, 2022 https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/learn/photo/desktop/ https://affinityspotlight.com/ https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/whats-new/ You really didn't see those? Quote
Designer1234 Posted November 12, 2022 Author Posted November 12, 2022 I see and I mentioned them - new live and compound masks and non-destructive RAW development (but I don't do that ) And some questionable UI improvements - some of which I like and I wrote about that in other topics too - but also some important issues. ...OK, I admit, perhaps these things are nice as well: 👍 Quick layer colour tagging via right-click on Visibility button Copy layer effects (FX) from one layer to another Merge selected layers via right-click Layer states to experiment with design options and versions Non-destructive mesh warp filter Still, as an 50€ upgrade... Don't get me wrong - many things are nice and AP is really great comparing it to the poor and 20 years old standard toll missing AD and for the new customers special offer is very favorable, but for the current ones... stil I'm not convinced. Quote
Artsketch Posted November 12, 2022 Posted November 12, 2022 8 minutes ago, Designer1234 said: the poor and 20 years old standard toll missing AD Can you use pixel brushes in Illustrator instead? No Quote
Designer1234 Posted November 12, 2022 Author Posted November 12, 2022 And perhaps that's the problem - they should call it Vector Paintner, not Designer. Vector brushes are really amazing - for those who want to paint, not to design But please put AD aside. Quote
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