Is Affinity every bit as capable as InDesign for submitting work to publishers?

[Basics]

 

I am going back to an old line of work, but in 10-20 years so much has changed.   I just want to confirm 2 things here since I don't know enough of what terms mean to ask online (self-publishing, stuff like that).   What I am looking to do is assemble photos and digital art (and high quality matte painting type photos) in frames similar to a comic book layout, with text beneath them or in between them, to submit to a publisher. 

I used to use InDesign, but after buying 9+ Adobe Master Suite licenses across all our offices a year before they started disabling them slowly with computer updates and pushing everyone to subscriptions and cloud complications I won't even consider using such a company again.  I saw Affinity mentioned in many 9to5 Mac's YouTube videos, and respect the reasonable one time payment model, as well as you really working with Apple devices, so this is where I'm starting. 

1) If my work and artwork is already designed, touched up, and finished (as far as digital artwork or photos) as I put it into the Affinity software, is there really any downside to using Affinity vs any other software that is commonly used?   Most of my projects are color,  photographs, or colorful digital art.  Or would you say this is 100% as good as anything else if I'm mainly arranging things on a page getting ready to send to a publisher....?

2) The publisher prefers InDesign, but can "accept anything if it's in a Pdf".  Are the types of PDF export options enough to cover whatever type most publishers require?  Is this a common use for Affinity, and are there any restrictions if I use it for a business?

Thanks in advance for your time, and offering something that is not a subscription model. 

[Komatös]

Hi @Basics and welcome to the forums.

You can try the 180 days trial version. So you can test and see if the Affinity programmes are fitting your needs.

https://affinity.serif.com/

[Basics]

1 minute ago, Komatös said:

Hi @Basics and welcome to the forums.

You can try the 180 days trial version. So you can test and see if the Affinity programmes are fitting your needs.

https://affinity.serif.com/

 I'm here based on your non-subscription model and your use of Apple devices, whatever I end up using I'm going to have to learn to use myself. (instead of hand it off to employees).  So those two questions are what I'm looking to know for sure, and then I'll start using it and learning it based on that.  Thank you for the fast approval of my post though, I do appreciate the super quick follow up.

So if anyone knows the answers to the two questions above, the capabilities and common uses, etc. I would greatly appreciate it.  I'm not shopping, I'm looking to know if it will work for what I will use it for and then I will start learning it based on that.   Thanks!

[mopperle]

The answer to both of your questions is 42.

TBH, it simply depends on how your work and workflow looks like. AFPub is not a 100% clone of Adobe Indesign. It has its advantages and disadvantages. E.g. there is no scripting, there are no plugins like people are used from Indesign. Of course you can produce PDFs for professional print services.

If you want a software that does things in the same way as Indesign stick to Indesign.

I personally think it is not fair to compare software from a company with 90 people (Serif) with a company with nearly 30.000 employees, and where the permanent license costs 75€ versus 300€ per year(!).

As @Komatös said, take a piece of your work and the trial version of AFPub and find out whether it fits your needs.

 

[Basics]

2 minutes ago, mopperle said:

The answer to both of your questions is 42.

TBH, it simply depends on how your work and workflow looks like. AFPub is not a 100% clone of Adobe Indesign. It has its advantages and disadvantages. E.g. there is no scripting, there are no plugins like people are used from Indesign. Of course you can produce PDFs for professional print services.

If you want a software that does things in the same way as Indesign stick to Indesign.

I personally think it is not fair to compare software from a company with 90 people (Serif) with a company with nearly 30.000 employees, and where the permanent license costs 75€ versus 300€ per year(!).

As @Komatös said, take a piece of your work and the trial version of AFPub and find out whether it fits your needs.

 

Those were not my questions at all.  I'm not looking for a clone, and never even used Adobe myself.  I've purchased a lot of software over the years, but never used most of it. I only ran offices that managed people who used it.  

I'm not comparing the software, the company, the size of the organization or the people working there.  I am only trying to confirm that I am able to do what I need to do in my current situation.

I'm going to manually do this current project myself, for myself.   I'm looking to arrange completed artwork, photos, and text and export it to a publisher.   In doing this, am I missing out on any valuable options if I choose Affinity over other software, and does Affinity use pdf versions that work with most publishers?  And finally, is there any issue with using it for business instead of just personal use?

If someone knows this for sure, I'll buy it and start learning it.  

[Bryan Rieger]

53 minutes ago, Basics said:

1) If my work and artwork is already designed, touched up, and finished (as far as digital artwork or photos) as I put it into the Affinity software, is there really any downside to using Affinity vs any other software that is commonly used?   Most of my projects are color,  photographs, or colorful digital art.  Or would you say this is 100% as good as anything else if I'm mainly arranging things on a page getting ready to send to a publisher....?

2) The publisher prefers InDesign, but can "accept anything if it's in a Pdf".  Are the types of PDF export options enough to cover whatever type most publishers require?  Is this a common use for Affinity, and are there any restrictions if I use it for a business?

1) It depends on what features of InDesign you're using. For "arranging things on a page" I'd say that Affinity Publisher far surpasses InDesign in the way you work with objects and text on page (once you get used to it). Where you might run into issues is with colour spaces and ICC profiles (RGB, CMYK, SWOP, etc) as Publisher works a little differently than InDesign in this manner. You can get great results with Publisher, but it doesn't 'automagically' manage colour spaces and profiles in the same way that InDesign does. In this regards one issue you might run into is 100K black text exporting as rich black which often catches folks coming from other software.

2) I would ask the publisher which PDF version and settings they prefer and then try outputting a sample from Affinity Publisher to see if it's acceptable. Unless they have very specific requirements (ie: an older or less common version of PDF/X) you should be able to easily output a PDF to meet their needs from the Affinity apps.

[mopperle]

9 minutes ago, Basics said:

and never even used Adobe myself

1 hour ago, Basics said:

I used to use InDesign

???

[Basics]

Thanks, Bryan!   I really appreciate it.  

Just knowing that, I feel confident starting to watch videos and learning the software.   Just that it's mostly going to do what I need, I'll go with the one-time purchase model and learn what I don't know from there.

Getting started with a software, especially to the point where you can really use it at it's full potential is where the real investment comes from- the time you spend on it.  I didn't want to go learn CS6 just because I own it if there's something current out there that isn't a subscription model. 

This is what I was looking for, downloading the apps now and will start learning it tonight.   

Thanks again for the reply!

[Basics]

Re: Mopperle's quotes:  I owned licenses and used it for projects, but it was the employees that did the work.  You might have misunderstood, but that still was not related to what I was asking- I was asking if this software was capable for my current needs (arranging finished artwork and photos and exporting to a publisher, nothing else).  Someone else answered my questions, thanks though.

Edited September 5 by Basics

[user_0815]

Regarding the requirements your publisher has, you’ll have to figure out what they are. Otherwise this question can’t be answered. 
 

 Regarding professionals you can  take a look at Spotlight. This article is about a comic book artist. 

https://affinityspotlight.com/article/graphic-artist-j-toons-the-affinity-suite-has-become-my-go-to-tool-for-comic-book-creation/

[Ldina]

If you plan on sending jobs to a printing press, it will be very helpful to have a PDF program (like Acrobat Pro, PDF Toolbox, etc) to review your exported PDF files and do any necessary fixes, should you need them. I found that indispensable with both InDesign and Publisher. 

[Basics]

2 minutes ago, user_0815 said:

Regarding the requirements your publisher has, you’ll have to figure out what they are. Otherwise this question can’t be answered. 
 

 Regarding professionals you can  take a look at Spotlight. This article is about a comic book artist. 

https://affinityspotlight.com/article/graphic-artist-j-toons-the-affinity-suite-has-become-my-go-to-tool-for-comic-book-creation/

 

Thanks!  I didn't even know about that Spotlight section of Affinity yet.  Going right back to that article now again.  Thank you!

[Catshill]

I’ve used five or six different commercial printers and send them an exported pdf with crop marks. Apart from one (who I no longer use) I have had no issues. Well apart from Publisher defaulting to spreads!