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Working on Surface Pro with Affinity...no


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I have bought the latest Affinity Photo (1.7....) version that I tried out on my Surface Pro 6. Disappointed. I will not use it on that device any more, just on my desktop. Affinity is not designed for a Windows tablet, it i totally depending on the use of a keyboard, and the tablet's idea is "no keyboard". iPad has no keyboard and Affinity is designed for that. Not for Surface Pro.

I removed Affinity from my Surface Pro 6 and I stop using it for my illustration work.

ClipStudio UI is made for Surface Pro and Desktop, it is so easy to switch between my two machines without any problems. That is where I find the workspace and workflow I like and need, keeping everything easy for a digital painting artist like me.

Sorry Affinity. 

 

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It has been well known to anyone who looks in the forums, or anyone who used the trial version of an Affinity products, that the Windows versions are not setup to be easily used on a tablet. They are simply the normal Windows versions, not something special like Serif created for the iPad.

If you've purchased one of the Affinity applications specifically because you wanted to use it on your Surface Pro, and are unhappy, and you purchased it directly from Serif (not Microsoft), then you can return it to Serif for a refund if you're within their 14-day refund period.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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I use Affinity Photo every day in every way on my desktop and will continue doing so. 

I find it a bit disappointing that there is no effort put into the development of the Affinity Photo to make it work better on a Windows tablet like many other illustration and painting programs. Photoshop, ClipStudio, Sketchbook Pro, Krita, Corel Painter... all works much better.

I will keep on using the Affinity suite. For painting, sketching and illustrating I will use other software both on my Surface tablet and on my desktop computer.

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The trouble is, the Surface Pro devices aren't really tablets. They're small desktop devices with support for pen, touch, and removable keyboard. On Apple platforms, it's easier because they have two segregated models. If you have an iPad, you buy the iPad version from the App Store, if you have a MacBook / iMac / etc you buy the desktop version from the Mac App Store. On Windows the lines are blurred, there is only desktop. 

Having said that, we're aware of the issues surrounding using the Affinity apps on Surface Pro devices, and we're looking at ways to improve it.

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On 7/31/2019 at 11:39 AM, Mark Ingram said:

The trouble is, the Surface Pro devices aren't really tablets. They're small desktop devices with support for pen, touch, and removable keyboard. On Apple platforms, it's easier because they have two segregated models. If you have an iPad, you buy the iPad version from the App Store, if you have a MacBook / iMac / etc you buy the desktop version from the Mac App Store. On Windows the lines are blurred, there is only desktop. 

Having said that, we're aware of the issues surrounding using the Affinity apps on Surface Pro devices, and we're looking at ways to improve it.

Thank you for your response. I really like that promise since I love using my Surface tablet / computer on the go or anywhere away from my desktop. As the ClipStudio has a special workspace setting as well as Corel Painter got one for the Surface (or any other device like it) it must be possible making the same in Affinity. :)

Until this is in place I will continue using it on my desktop. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 7/30/2019 at 9:14 AM, Henry Stahle said:

I have bought the latest Affinity Photo (1.7....) version that I tried out on my Surface Pro 6. Disappointed. I will not use it on that device any more, just on my desktop. Affinity is not designed for a Windows tablet, it i totally depending on the use of a keyboard, and the tablet's idea is "no keyboard". iPad has no keyboard and Affinity is designed for that. Not for Surface Pro.

I removed Affinity from my Surface Pro 6 and I stop using it for my illustration work.

ClipStudio UI is made for Surface Pro and Desktop, it is so easy to switch between my two machines without any problems. That is where I find the workspace and workflow I like and need, keeping everything easy for a digital painting artist like me.

Sorry Affinity. 

 

I totally agree. Without a keyboard, Affinity Photo doesn't work on Windows. This is a real pity since the Surface Pro is designed for graphic and photo editing without a keyboard. I can't imagine that the effort of transferring Affinity's iPad interface to Windows would be significant.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Sorry for digging this up, but I work only on Surface Pro 7 and like Affinity Photo a lot. The way I do it is I have a bluetooth keyboard lying to the left of the tablet (you can put it to the right if you're left handed, but the point is it's not connected to the bottom of the tablet like the cover keyboard). Then I draw with the pen in my right hand and my left hand lies on the keyboard, ready to press TAB, Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Shift+N etc. This way of working is relatively smooth.

My only complaint is that the tablet gets a little hot after some time, but maybe I overlooked some performance options.

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