Hello guys, a few questions ahead

[Grozev]

Hello, community!

 

For a few weeks now I've been active looking into Affinity Designer/Photo apps. I'm a graphic designer, which is trying to level up his game to web/UI/UX design. The only experience with design apps that I have is with Photoshop, Illustrator aaand really little bits of InDesign. Since my workflow doesn't need InDesign, I won't ask about Affinity Publisher, but I have some questions about Photo/Designer.

 

Now, I have done my research and already know what features these two can give me. There are quite a few things that I'd miss leaving Ps/Ai, but I saw that most of them are to be added to future releases. I really like what I am seeing (for now only on videos) from the team behind Affinity and since Illustrator's UI is a mess I'm looking for something that can take me away from Adobe and their money-grabbing policy. So, now the questions:

 

I read that at this time there is no import of smart objects in PSDs. I couldn't care less for smart objects if I'm the only one who works on a project, but since that's not always the case - How do Smart Objects appear in AD in imported PSD that have them? I mean I know they aren't smart objects, but what they are - raster layers, vector layers or they aren't appearing at all? It may be a really dumb questions, but since I missed the beta I can't seem to find a way other than asking to know about this.

 

Second - Symbols. Oh man, that looks so cool! And the question is really similar to the first one. If I work in AD with a document that has these symbols, I export it to PSD and send it to someone who uses Photoshop, how will they appear and act in Ps? Will they be editable or they'll just be raster layers?

 

Third, more Illustrator related. I see that AD can't open native .ai files and works only with .eps of that matter? Is everything with the import/export of the .eps files alright?

 

And last, but not least, I would like to ask the devs and the community about their honest opinion. As I said, I'm a graphic designer and I'm trying to figure out will this thing work out for me. I do mainly branding/logo design/banners for social media and T-shirt designs. The other thing is that I'm starting to learn web design and stuff, which is really attracting my interest since I can't draw to save my life. I wouldn't be asking that question if I wasn't on a REALLY tight budget right now (that doesn't change the fact that AD is like free compared to Adobe), but are you recommending AD and AP to me? And by work out I mean not only the features its got, but how it is accepted in an Adobe ruled market and will it hurt my work with some clients along the way?

 

I'm sorry for the long post, or if these questions have been asked before, but I have to sort a few things out before buying. Also, if any of you can link me with some resources/tutorials on how to get the maximum out of AD for graphic/web design I'll be really grateful, because it looks quite like Illustrator, but I feel there will be some small differences that if one doesn't know will get really annoyed.

 

Thank you for your time reading this post, and for the devs - keep the good work, guys, your product looks really great and if you're motivated to make it better and better I can see it stealing a big part of Adobe's market share.

[Petar Petrenko]

Hi Grozev,

if your work is based mostly on vectors, then Designer is your choise, otherwise -- Photo. But, the best solution is -- both.

[Grozev]

Yeah, it's mostly vector and a bit of raster, mainly for mockups, exporting for web or finishing touches on some designs. Thanks for the answer, but can you tell me something about my first and second questions, it'll be a great help :) Cheers  :D

[Petar Petrenko]

I can't help you about smart objects because I never used them in PS.

About smart objects, I suppose they will be rasterized when exporting to PS. BTW, haven't you tryed this?