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Affinity Publisher - Sneak Preview


TonyB

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I don't expect it to change, but it could be easier for us to say "I work with X, I deliver the files in .x" if for example the market was split and not 99% adobe owned (even if it is pirated software).

Just answering on about what I think is a standard.

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14 minutes ago, nitro912gr said:

actually I am forced to work with indesign if everybody else is working with indesign (or photoshop, or illustrator, or you name it).

 

Hmm, I've been working with inDesign for many years. I'm not forced to do it but I like it. In fact there nothing out there in the market that comes close to that. Some prefer QuarkXpress and that's fine too.

I completely agree that it's incredibly important for Affinity Publisher to import inDesign files if it wants to compete at the top level. I also realise that it may take time to get there but I hope we are not waiting for a toy but for a competitor at the highest level. IDML files are not proprietary. INDD files are. 

There is a number of people on this forum for whom linking text boxes will be more than enough to make them happy but for us who have been in the industry for more than 15 years (much longer in my case since I started with MacPlus and a LaserWriter) we expect, in time, a real competitor to inDesign. And not only that, we are hoping for a new leader in this field. I hope I'm  not wishing for a pie in the sky. :-)

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3 minutes ago, MikeW said:

 

It's a fair question, Rick. But what do they have? Two printed workbooks and at some point one for Publisher? It's not too big a deal to walk them into APub manually. Seeing how they are their won "client" they can spec whatever application to use for the workbooks. That's quite a different situation than what's been described above. 

 

Mike

Well I guess I was trying to make a point. I would think the books would be large enough to be a pain in the ass to move to AP. The have 2 but how about the person that has 200 projects going?

Again I have no skin in the game as you do. I do remember moving from PhotoPlus where some sort of import utility would have been most welcome

Affinity Designer 2.2.2075 & beta 2.3.1.2212 Affinity Photo 2.2.2075  beta 2.3.1.2212Affinity Publisher  2.2.2075 & beta 2.3.1.2212

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6 minutes ago, nitro912gr said:

I don't expect it to change, but it could be easier for us to say "I work with X, I deliver the files in .x" if for example the market was split and not 99% adobe owned (even if it is pirated software).

Just answering on about what I think is a standard.

What does pirated software have to do with the subject? I am not being a jerk, I just don't get the point in the context of importing or reading file formats. How does that affect you or your business if I am running pirated Adobe software vs paid for subscriptions? I am missing something

Affinity Designer 2.2.2075 & beta 2.3.1.2212 Affinity Photo 2.2.2075  beta 2.3.1.2212Affinity Publisher  2.2.2075 & beta 2.3.1.2212

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1 hour ago, Rick G said:

I would ask them to consider how they are going to get the Photo and Designer books into AP in preparation for the next printing?

 

I don't imagine for a minute that they will try to transfer the Affinity workbooks from PagePlus to Publisher any time soon. What would be the benefit of doing so? :/

 

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
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4 minutes ago, Seneca said:

 

Hmm, I've been working with inDesign for many years. I'm not forced to do it but I like it. In fact there nothing out there in the market that comes close to that. Some prefer QuarkXpress and that's fine too.

I completely agree that it's incredibly important for Affinity Publisher to import inDesign files if it wants to compete at the top level. I also realise that it may take time to get there but I hope we are not waiting for a toy but for a competitor at the highest level. IDML files are not proprietary. INDD files are. 

There is a number of people on this forum for whom linking text boxes will be more than enough to make them happy but for us who have been in the industry for more than 15 years (much longer in my case since I started with MacPlus and a LaserWriter) we expect, in time, a real competitor to inDesign. And not only that, we are hoping for a new leader in this field. I hope I'm  not wishing for a pie in the sky. :-)

it is not a matter of preference, I like it too but first it is unbelievable that I have to wait all this time to render a final pdf. Time that could be a lot shorter if adobe finally realize that we have computers with more cores (it only use 1 of the 6 cores) and time is an issue if you are working. So if I can get the same speed I get with design and photo compared to illustrator and photoshop, that's great!

Also the other reason I don't like indesign is the monthly tariff, what if for a couple of months I can't pay that? Life is hard, I had to spent 500 in car repairs last week, I couldn't afford paying subscription for the tool I need to make money.

The thing is I'm not sure how we ended up here in the conversation, I just pointed out that we need to cut off the adobe trend by using good tools like the affinity programs.

1 minute ago, Rick G said:

 

What does pirated software have to do with the subject? I am not being a jerk, I just don't get the point in the context of importing or reading file formats. How does that affect you or your business if I am running pirated Adobe software vs paid for subscriptions? I am missing something

It have a lot to do but forgive me I can't go that off topic, would you like to tell you in a PM?

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3 minutes ago, Alfred said:

 

I don't imagine for a minute that they will try to transfer the Affinity workbooks from PagePlus to Publisher any time soon. What would be the benefit of doing so? :/

 

For the next edition and to be working in their current product rather than a sunset program. Alfred I do not expect nor care if they actually do that. I was pointing out the difficulty in terms we can all understand. It would be a bear to do so and would put off many shops.that may have ongoing projects

Affinity Designer 2.2.2075 & beta 2.3.1.2212 Affinity Photo 2.2.2075  beta 2.3.1.2212Affinity Publisher  2.2.2075 & beta 2.3.1.2212

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3 minutes ago, nitro912gr said:

It have a lot to do but forgive me I can't go that off topic, would you like to tell you in a PM?

Great. I am not making the connection and that could be entirely due to my current state of brain-dead  xD

Affinity Designer 2.2.2075 & beta 2.3.1.2212 Affinity Photo 2.2.2075  beta 2.3.1.2212Affinity Publisher  2.2.2075 & beta 2.3.1.2212

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OS build    22621.1928
Processor    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10700 CPU @ 2.90GHz   2.90 GHz
Installed RAM    16.0 GB (15.7 GB usable)
System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

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Don't worry you are fine :P it is just I had tons of free time during the winter and some conversations with other pros that lead me to the conclusion. I will explain in PM.

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15 minutes ago, Rick G said:

What does pirated software have to do with the subject? I am not being a jerk, I just don't get the point in the context of importing or reading file formats. How does that affect you or your business if I am running pirated Adobe software vs paid for subscriptions? I am missing something

His point was that this causes everyone to “own” and use PS, and therefore popularize it even more, making it harder to get away from it.

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5 minutes ago, VIPStephan said:

His point was that this causes everyone to “own” and use PS, and therefore popularize it even more, making it harder to get away from it.

yeah that's the TLDR; version :P thanks

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13 minutes ago, Alfred said:

 

I don't imagine for a minute that they will try to transfer the Affinity workbooks from PagePlus to Publisher any time soon. What would be the benefit of doing so? :/

 

 

If I was in control of the process, I would do so if/when there is an update to the two existing workbooks scheduled and I definitely would for an APub workbook. There are a few reasons why I would do so. But if for no other reason, it is a showcase of the product.

 

It's akin to using Photoshop to retouch images for the APhoto workbook or using AI for the AD workbook. That breaks down in that at least PP is a Serif product. But it is a dead product and I would want to point to the workbook and say, Hey, we produced this fabulous product in APub!

 

Mike

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It seems to me that being able to read or convert InDesign files is functional to an AP claim.

 

Adobe had initially created a software tool to convert files created with Quark Xpress ... this allowed him to convince users to use his DTP software.

Obviously, on very complex jobs, not everything worked but helped to rebuild them.

 

In fact, starting from the pdf, with AD, you can recover a lot of work.

Probably, compared to the past, it will be enough to start from the pdf, but I do not find it wrong to hypothesise a tool for converting pagers coming from other software.

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4 minutes ago, MikeW said:

 

If I was in control of the process, I would do so if/when there is an update to the two existing workbooks scheduled and I definitely would for an APub workbook. There are a few reasons why I would do so. But if for no other reason, it is a showcase of the product.

 

It's akin to using Photoshop to retouch images for the APhoto workbook or using AI for the AD workbook. That breaks down in that at least PP is a Serif product. But it is a dead product and I would want to point to the workbook and say, Hey, we produced this fabulous product in APub!

 

Mike

 

I understand all that, Mike, but it was mentioned elsewhere that the collaborative nature of the workbooks meant that it made sense for them to use not just PagePlus but BookPlus. I'll be pleasantly surprised if similar functionality in Affinity Publisher is less than several years away.

 

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I don't hardly ever use the book feature in anything that has it. I never did with PP for my own work either.

 

I think many of us are use to collaborative work without using a book feature. (Though no book feature holds a candle to how Ventura Publisher handled text coming from disparate sources.)

 

Here's the thing to me. If Serif really is going to enter the layout application fray (and they are), then it behooves them to use it. If for no other reason some advancements will promptly be done in the v.1 cycle ;^)

 

 

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2 minutes ago, MikeW said:

I don't hardly ever use the book feature in anything that has it. I never did with PP for my own work either.

 

 

Me too neither. I just don't think such an option will be available in the first couple of versions of APub.

 

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2 hours ago, Seneca said:

but I hope we are not waiting for a toy but for a competitor at the highest level.

 

Affinity already and multiple times said that the first few releases of APub won't be on the level of Indesign or Xpress.

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I consider Affinity Publisher (and indeed the rest of the Affinity range) the equivalent of Adobe InDesign 1.0. InDesign was already being labelled 'Quark Killer'' even at a beta stage. However, with version 1.0, InDesign was pretty rough around the edges. It lacked type on a path and built in support for tables which QuarkXPress possessed.  Version 1.5 fixed this as free update. This did not stop InDesign gaining traction and I guess it really took off with version 3.0 as part of Adobe's Creative Suite.

So yes, Affinity Publisher will not be as full featured as InDesign and QXP. However, provided it covers the main bases and does them well, they can be added to and expanded.

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2 hours ago, iMatt said:

I consider Affinity Publisher (and indeed the rest of the Affinity range) the equivalent of Adobe InDesign 1.0. InDesign was already being labelled 'Quark Killer'' even at a beta stage. However, with version 1.0, InDesign was pretty rough around the edges. It lacked type on a path and built in support for tables which QuarkXPress possessed.  Version 1.5 fixed this as free update. This did not stop InDesign gaining traction and I guess it really took off with version 3.0 as part of Adobe's Creative Suite.

So yes, Affinity Publisher will not be as full featured as InDesign and QXP. However, provided it covers the main bases and does them well, they can be added to and expanded.

 

A key difference is/was that Adobe had already bought what was a very mature (at the time) PageMaker from Aldus (as well as FreeHand). During the transition, many of us kept on using PageMaker until InDesign caught up. But we always had a translator to go back and open PageMaker docs in InDesign for quite some time. Our work was not hugely interrupted nor did we face an issue where what we were doing and creating in PageMaker would be "lost" later when moving to the newer InDesign. Many of us weren't thrilled at the time about having to eventually move to ID, but at least Adobe did a somewhat reasonable job of helping the transition of PM files to ID.

 

Thus we have to hope that Affinity can/will be able to offer a similar path. We will have to eventually be able to bring our legacy files into their Publisher app, and sooner would obviously be better for a more rapid adoption of the new app. Just like many apps can open, read and save-as Word documents in word processing, ID files are critical to many pro designers and shops.

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I personally do not see how creatives can completely cut the Adobe cord. Luckily I can continue using CS6 versions and rent when needed (it's only happened for me a few times since CC). But not ever using at least some version of ID? Nah. I'm pretty certain I'll pass away before that day comes.

 

Well, seems I lost a long wall of text I had written. My bad, but best for everyone else :D . Summary would be that... Well, I have been able to do so (but I'll keep using Adobe, Autodesk products, and whatever they ask me to use, at companies. It's always comfortable to use the most powerful solutions. But as a pro freelancer, being my own software (that's not really possible anymore, with that brand, anyways).... nope...)  . I have been able to do so with Krita and CSP (aka Manga Studio) for painting, Blender(specially since appearance of Cycles renderer, one can get very close or equal to VRAY renders! ) and Wings3d for all 3D, eventually Gimp. (using a combo of my two painters and gimp for a while, before -at home, only- was Gimp and older versions with magazine DVSs/CDs of great software (thanks Serif and all other brands for that ! )) Little CMS, Scribus for CMYK, etc. It i spossible when you choose your own gigs to take. Isn't that pro work? It is. you probably cannot take a gig that involves "fixing a complex PSD file with layer effects and complex text layers", but anyway, I find those gigs a bit boring, and would take 'em when no other thing available, but am a freelancer mostly for fun (for plain easy income/time ratio I'd be yet at some company....by far.) Yet tho, from time to time it is an issue, but I tend to get friendly with th eproject authors I work for, and is easy to ask 'em to flatten those effects, and me dig for a way to import the text layers. Things like tell them to export in PS compatibility mode, simplify certain effects of the layers (i can re-build with my own tools), export as tiff, etc. Anyway, illustration requires less of image editing, and these apps combo can solve a collection of situations. For deep, serious image editing, is way, way better IMO just use Affinity Photo (but my project native files are yet based in the other tools, so that'll have to wait a bit). A. Designer is a dream come true compared to what I had before for that at home... :)

 

I'd add just that it depends. Some creatives, as you included there several profiles (I do graphic design and all sort of editing, is not just painting projects) can deal all with out that subscription, some, usually depending on a large client, big company with its workflows in place fully tied to the top dog... yeah, those can't even start thinking of leaving the subscription. And probably don't have a need, at all. I subscribe (no pun intended ;) ) what said by someone above: Usually u can pay that, but at some point you need ALL your bucks for sth, I do help other ppl, so I don't accumulate too much money on the bank. A "surprise" like a car total repair, or a HUGE doctor's fee, your main PC breaks, or all together, and then, while u can pay all, -or not- last thing you need is yet another monthly bill.  Even if is no issue to at some chosen time to pay all together the whole cost of a year subscription, but for a permanent, "owned" software license. I can see tho how a very large number of professionals will always depend on the Adobe subscription, but my point is the reason is due to the closed native formats. Feature-wise, I can't agree: I paint WAY better, faster, more comfortable, in a much more flexible way with clip paint studio than I ever did with PS. And it allows me to use it in any crappy machine, like this one, my parent's, sister ones, it runs everywhere, allowing in all these to load my typical 5k to 10k px (side) square canvas without brush lag, and allowing many layers. Same thing with AP and AD, it loads very light in these old machines . Soon buying a ryzen, but is super nice that I'll be able to run anything of my workflow in the old machine, too.

 

IMO, it depends a lot on your type of clients and projects. At a company, heck, the boss pays for it, so, whatever...

 

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
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6 hours ago, nwhit said:

 

A key difference is/was that Adobe had already bought what was a very mature (at the time) PageMaker from Aldus (as well as FreeHand). During the transition, many of us kept on using PageMaker until InDesign caught up. But we always had a translator to go back and open PageMaker docs in InDesign for quite some time. Our work was not hugely interrupted nor did we face an issue where what we were doing and creating in PageMaker would be "lost" later when moving to the newer InDesign. Many of us weren't thrilled at the time about having to eventually move to ID, but at least Adobe did a somewhat reasonable job of helping the transition of PM files to ID.

 

Thus we have to hope that Affinity can/will be able to offer a similar path. We will have to eventually be able to bring our legacy files into their Publisher app, and sooner would obviously be better for a more rapid adoption of the new app. Just like many apps can open, read and save-as Word documents in word processing, ID files are critical to many pro designers and shops.

nwhit,

 

My memory seems to recall things a little differently. I'm not sure but your post seems to imply that Indesign was released not long after Adobe bought Pagemaker, but it was 5 years later (and a long five years if you had to use Ragemaker everyday).  Adobe bought Pagemaker from Aldus in 1994 and they didn't release Indesign until 1999. As well Adobe didn't buy Freehand from Aldus, they bought it from Macromedia who had purchased it from Aldus. Maybe I read your post wrong? 

 

I don't think you can compare the transition from Pagemaker to Indesign in regards to transitioning file from Indesign to Affinity Publisher. Pagemaker and Indesign are owned by the same company, which Affinity Publisher and Indesign aren't. As well Adobe had a legion of developers and while Serif has some very talented developers, no doubt they are fewer in number compared to those at Adobe. 

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10 minutes ago, Hokusai said:

As well Adobe had a legion of developers and while Serif has some very talented developers, no doubt they are fewer in number compared to those at Adobe.

 

Serif has a dozen developers; Adobe has hundreds.

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