Resons to ditch Illustrator completely... and why I can't

[nigelch]

Please forgive if I'm jumping any guns here, but I'd like to share my thoughts with you.
I'm sick of the Adobe subscription model; I've jumped ship back to Quark, and wish to use Designer instead of Illustrator. However...
1) I suspect I'm not alone in using Autotrace nearly daily. This omission in Designer is a serious brake on my adopting it wholeheartedly. I've tried separate programmes, and they range from awful to ludicrously expensive.
2) When you are churning out production graphics daily, having simple commands for Select>Same Fill, and Select>Same Stroke etc. are massive timesavers. Not having these means I spend extra time clicking and grouping to get the same result.
It's obvious from your latest book (superb, by the way) that you are looking at some pretty clever stuff, and Designer does it well.
However, we daily Joes need the basics to be there, fast, and reliable.
I'd appreciate your comments. (Not trying to be contentious, honestly!)
Keep up the good work.
N

(Ooops, just spotted typo...!)

[Richard S.]

Hi nigelch,

I too am trying to use Affinity Designer as my main vector app, but the workflow slows me down.

 

I appreciate that AD does things in a different manner, and it will naturally take time to get used to the differences. I have created a list of improvements which I would like to see at least considered in future versions.

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/30028-ad-list-of-minor-improvements-features/

[Alfred]

(Ooops, just spotted typo...!)

 

If you spot a typo in the thread title, edit your original post and press the 'Use Full Editor' button at the bottom of the message composition area. You will then be able to edit the thread title (and the tags, if applicable).

[MikeW]

Please forgive if I'm jumping any guns here, but I'd like to share my thoughts with you.

I'm sick of the Adobe subscription model; I've jumped ship back to Quark, and wish to use Designer instead of Illustrator. However...

1) I suspect I'm not alone in using Autotrace nearly daily. This omission in Designer is a serious brake on my adopting it wholeheartedly. I've tried separate programmes, and they range from awful to ludicrously expensive.

2) When you are churning out production graphics daily, having simple commands for Select>Same Fill, and Select>Same Stroke etc. are massive timesavers. Not having these means I spend extra time clicking and grouping to get the same result.

It's obvious from your latest book (superb, by the way) that you are looking at some pretty clever stuff, and Designer does it well.

However, we daily Joes need the basics to be there, fast, and reliable.

I'd appreciate your comments. (Not trying to be contentious, honestly!)

Keep up the good work.

N

 

(Ooops, just spotted typo...!)

 

#1. I believe InkScape has a Mac installer (dmg). What I don't know is whether the Mac version uses Potrace for a tracer. While not quite as intuitive, it can give quite good results. Other than that, Vector Magic is about the best one can get. They have a perpetual, desktop version for both OS platforms. while not inexpensive, it works very well. One can also still get CS6, but with the changes in the Mac OS from time to time, that may not be a viable option.

 

#2. Oh, how I miss the select in AI in other vector applications. One of the simplest means (compared to CorelDraw's method) to accomplish what should be a simple task. This won't prevent me from using other vector design applications, but it sure would speed things up.

 

As to DesignMeister's comment re workflow--this issue along with certain missing elements (like seeing bleed; sure-thing, no-brainer PDFs; slicing objects; text frame linking & text wrap; etc.) are enough to keep me from using AD as a primary design tool.

 

It's difficult to keep reminding myself that the Affinity products are young yet seeing how I have used Windows serif applications for a number of years. I trust the "missing" things will be added in the future. I am not so certain about the work-flow area improving.

[VIPStephan]

1) I suspect I'm not alone in using Autotrace nearly daily. This omission in Designer is a serious brake on my adopting it wholeheartedly. I've tried separate programmes, and they range from awful to ludicrously expensive.

Not every feature can be implemented at the same time. You can be certain that this is not an omission “by design” but just due to time constraints and a limited amount of staff to implement features; i. e. auto trace will come eventually, don’t give up on AD yet.