Affinity Photo as a PaintShop Pro replacement

[AndyMac]

As it appears that Corel (Alludo) might have stopped any further development of PaintShop Pro (2023 being latest version, released 2022), Affinity has an opportunity to step in with the lower price point/lifetime licence offer for a comprehensive photo editing tool.

To make this clear as an objective, and to help those who want to be able to migrate completely, some level of PSPIMAGE file import would be a really great addition - even if it were a separate, stand-alone utility (even better, with batch capabilities).

To make this an even easier decision for PSP owners, it would also be sensible to add the sorts of AI capabilities that PSP had since 2020 for e.g. upsampling, denoise, artifact removal, background removal as well as some of the AI assistance that Photoshop Elements now offers like AI assisted object removal, etc.

I know that the whole AI question seems contentious on this forum (and with Affinity), but many people editing photos simply want a tool that helps them do their work effectively and quickly - although I understand that some people want to continue to work completely manually.

[Snapseed]

5 hours ago, AndyMac said:

As it appears that Corel (Alludo) might have stopped any further development of PaintShop Pro (2023 being latest version, released 2022), Affinity has an opportunity to step in with the lower price point/lifetime licence offer for a comprehensive photo editing tool.

To make this clear as an objective, and to help those who want to be able to migrate completely, some level of PSPIMAGE file import would be a really great addition - even if it were a separate, stand-alone utility (even better, with batch capabilities).

To make this an even easier decision for PSP owners, it would also be sensible to add the sorts of AI capabilities that PSP had since 2020 for e.g. upsampling, denoise, artifact removal, background removal as well as some of the AI assistance that Photoshop Elements now offers like AI assisted object removal, etc.

I know that the whole AI question seems contentious on this forum (and with Affinity), but many people editing photos simply want a tool that helps them do their work effectively and quickly - although I understand that some people want to continue to work completely manually.

I think that is a fair question to ask and would using .PNG format as an intermediary option in the meantime?

[Bound by Beans]

Alludo has removed the official user forums, which has caused concern about the future of the program — and I would argue it means the software is in some form of end-of-support phase until it’s eventually discontinued. They’ve done the same with other products that were clearly being phased out.

[AndyMac]

Corel support effectively admitted as much for VideoStudio, stating "We do not currently have plans to release major new features and tools in 2025 for our VideoStudio products due to a shift in corporate strategy, however, this does not mean that we have plans to discontinue sales or support and does not reflect a decision to cease ongoing development." .... so, at the very least, a hiatus for this year and maybe just fixes and services packs for that product going forwards.

It is worrying that, from what I am seeing, it feels like all these what you could call "mid-range" products aimed at the hobby/non-pro users who want a decent set of good but easy-to-use capabilities at a decent price point are really struggling at the moment.

[Bound by Beans]

"Welcome to the Corel family"

"Welcome to the Canva family"

'Family' meaning:

[Petar Petrenko]

On 4/15/2025 at 2:32 PM, Snapseed said:

I think that is a fair question to ask and would using .PNG format as an intermediary option in the meantime?

Why not .PSD or .TIF instead of .PNG? AFAIK .PNG is flatten format same as .JPG, without layers support.

[Alfred]

7 minutes ago, Petar Petrenko said:

Why not .PSD or .TIF instead of .PNG?

Both Adobe Photoshop and Affinity Photo support layered TIFFs, but neither app retains the layers when opening files created by their competitors.

[Petar Petrenko]

18 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Both Adobe Photoshop and Affinity Photo support layered TIFFs, but neither app retains the layers when opening files created by their competitors.

That's OK, but I still think they are better choice than .PNG.