Affinity read the room, and unlike most companies, have figured out that not being a-holes is a great business model!

I wouldn’t say Affinity isnt hitting Adobe while they are down. Affinity is capitalizing on Adobe’s unforced error. Adobe dug their own hole and Affinity saw that there’s an opportunity to just open their arms and welcome people in. And as a result it’s going to pay dividends to Affinity.

Affinity + Davinci is a blessing. It's been 4 years.

We really need Affinity Animate

If only Affinity made an After Effects competitor.

I've used Affinity right from the beginning, when it was called Serif. I spoke to the boss a few times on the phone, he was such a lovely guy and really down to earth. Good to see he stuck too his guns with his business model. He told me he had something special coming and he wasn't joking. Top company 👍

To Affinity, and beyond!

The Canva acquisition had me worried, but I'd say this has restored my faith. Then there was that ad they ran that used the same music as Adobe... That's some Sega vs. Nintendo level of shots fired, and I'm here for it.

DaVinci Resolve is probably more analogous to premiere and it's free!

I use Affinity Designer about 4 years... Best decision EVER ... Works better than illustrator... I didn't use Photoshop anymore... I prefer ArtStudio Pro, love it😎👍🏻✨🇨🇱✨ Hello from Chile😎👍🏻✨🇨🇱✨

6 months you say? Was saving up to buy it but damn this is great

It's disconcerting how people seem so insecure about not being on a subscription? Then insecure because it might become subscription? But that doesn't change the version you already own! I needed Designer, but I bought the whole suite because it's crazy cheap. Own the program outright for ~2 months of Adobe subscription? Kind of a no brainer.

Affinity's suite is great and they are making all the right moves right now, but the Canva acquisition and subsequent hasty reassurances about "not *currently* having plans of going the subscription route" don't inspire me with confidence about the future.

I'm less sceptical of Affinity/Canva in doing this than some, given that they did similiar back in 2020 during the lockdowns. Trials were extended then too and Affinity also ran a 50% off sale during that time, for something like a year. This is pretty on-brand for Affinity and if anything, is reassurance that being bought by Canva means they're not changing their business model anytime soon.

Note that Modo (3D software) uses the tactic of resetting the trial version of each major update. I wish we could see this behavior in more software.

I just hope that we eventually get an Affinity animation app, whether it be like Adobe Animate or After Effects, and an Affinity video editing app, like Premier Pro or Final Cut Pro.

I really want to switch but I work with a team of people and doing a group switch is much harder to do. We are stuck in Adobe for quite awhile until we can have a plan to transition a whole team of editors and designers over. I wanna so bad.

I love that writhing publisher you can essentially use the design and phot applications without leaving your document. That by itself is amazing. It has saved me lots of time.

I bought Affinity photo and designer just because they were a good deal, I don't use them often, but I'm happy to pay a reasonable amount to have it for the times I need it. Subscription models work only for professionals, there's a lot of people who need to edit an image a few times a year and paying $10 each time you need to use it doesn't make sense

Consumer-friendly behavior? In [CURRENT YEAR]?! Gadzooks! Jokes aside, this is great! May give it a shot :D

You have always been ahead of the curve! I cannot count how many options you have reviewed for us. Thank you!

I like that I don't have to give my credit card just to try it and having a toddler running around, my free time is random, so it's great they give you so much time to test out the product! I think I'll give it a shot, nothing to lose. 😊 Thanks for making this video! 🙂

I had been using Adobe stuff since PS2.5. I picked up Affinity Designer a few years ago and the learning curve was not that bad. With in a few days I was up to speed, and I haven't looked back since. I know own and use all of their products.

Just wow. Downloading it.

I literally bought Affinity 4 days ago, missed out on the free trial but I already made the decision to switch away from Adobe to pick up Affinity and Davinci

I wish Affinity would offer a certified course for their application. It's a great way to for new user's to learn the software and have something to show for it.

Really hope they bring the apps to android or at least Samsung

That learning curving is my big barrier, and I refunded my Affinity before the 30 days. After losing my job, I had to refund it. 6 month is great time to use Affinity and Adobe side by side to get over that learning curve... that and my Adobe subscription ends in 6 months.

i appreciate your videos a lot, i think you take a very fair and nuanced approach towards the things you talk about

I started affinity photo earlier today and so far my 15yrs of photoshop muscle memory hasn't gotten in the way. There's a couple things, like advanced transform options, that are either missing or I just haven't found yet, but over all I'm very happy with affinity so far.

Affinity is really all I need to do most stuff. I was a professional graphic artist and used Photoshop and Illustrator daily for a few decades, but now that my job only occasionally need graphic work, I'm happy for programs like Affinity. For drawing I actually have switched mostly to Clip Studio and I love it. Great video!

I think the Canva acquisition is a good fit. They've been serving "non-designers" for a long time, and this is a perfect pro suite to round out their offerings. Their mission is service oriented, they have the resources to keep improving Affinity, and they have the Affinity team on board to keep the product consistent.

I love Affinity. I do wish they would make more than three apps

I had Affinity Photo 1 and decided to upgrade with their 50% now. I could even upgrade to their universal package with even more discount than the 50%! So for a steal I now have all 2.x programs, and if I buy an iPad I can use the apps as well. Insane deal. Photo has some things that I would like to be different, but everything is there. I wish there was more info/tutorials on getting into vector graphics, that still feels like abacadabra to me.

I just made the change over to the affinity suite a month or so ago and have been loving it. After having been someone who has been using Photoshop for almost 20 years I agree with the learning curve, but Affinity's tools have been great so far. I love what is available both on the iPad and Desktop. Excited to see what Affinity continues to put out.

I think that only reason there is no stampede of people leaving Adobe in my case photographers, is that Affinity don't have Lightroom alternative, and because of seemles workflow that Photoshop and Lightroom have, its only reason why we still have to still stay close to Adobe...

If Adobe was a person it would be married to Microsoft, Adobe + Microsoft = Microbe

I tried affinity a couple of months ago and I loved them but couldn't afford them to keep testing out, this is a big opportunity

I coined a term for that "Rot Stage" as you called it: Post-Progress. We are, at large, in a Post-Progress society. Things that were already mastered, due to the need for continuous constant corporate growth within capitalism, means that companies keep "Improving" in ways that actually make the end result worse. Any time you see something that was good and is now bad, despite the company making it being more profitable than ever... that is Post Progress. Beyond progress. Regression.

A six month free trial is crazy. This is the first Ive heard of the app but I will definitely give it a shot.

I just signed up for trial. Thanks

Found reviews of AD 2 from your channel. Didn't use the trial, I just bought it. So far, it's great. Bought both for my iPad and Mac. Thank you Brad!

Refreshingly straightforward from Serif. Good job.

I was using PS professionally for ages and it really took a while to take the jump and go Open Source! But I'm so glad I did it! Feels so good to be off the hook. Smaller packages, no bloatware, faster loading times, no more accounts, no random extra crap installed ...

Been an Affinity user since they came to iPad. I have it for my surface pro too, but wish they let you switch between desktop and tablet UI. Can’t double tap undo or even have a back button on screen. Can’t pinch rotate only zoom. It sucks because for most things the iPad version is better, but then when a client sends you fonts… it’s a coin toss if it will work or not. It’s a shame as having my license work on my iPad, Surface pro and Mac Studio is a very niche perk to take advantage of.

A few months back finally quit Adobe (after ~ 24 years) and I'll never go back . Using Affinity really does bring back the explorative, creative feeling I had when I was younger. The teething problems from using new apps are definitely annoying (partly because they're soooooo similar to Adobe, but not quite the same) but once you start to get your head around how they want you to use each program in relation to the others, it pretty cool. The "develop" features in Affinity Photo could be much stronger though, and I wish my Wacom Mobile Studio Pro supported the apps better, but I've mostly worked around it and it didn't take long. If you're still on the fense and Lightroom isn't your focus, then its a definite recommend right now, with space to grow.

Just signed up for Affinity Designer's free trial! I might take a look at publisher too if it can help with book print formatting

I bought Affinity Designer and Photo around 2018 when trying to get off that Adobe subscription. But the learning curve of just "slightly different" was too hard for me to overcome because of two decades worth of muscle memory in Adobe. However, this trial will have me checking out Affinity again. Thanks Brad!

It's possible to have a new free trial on desktop, but for some reason the iOS apps are stuck in "trial expired" from my previous trial even after accepting the new 180 day trial. Might be an iOS limitation.

I think this is what the kids would call a 'boss' move. Whether the decision for this is fully because of Adobe messing up or not, the timing is certainly because of it. Affinity are ready to pull in as many of the disgruntled Adobde users as they can and 6 months is more than enough time to familiarise to their software.

I switched from Adobe to affinity years ago and I'm still finding things in this kitchen sink software that are hidden. I'm now iPad only and I'm sad that the app is just nowhere near as good as it was on my windows 11 version. Hopefully they'll do a little tweaking coming up because the iPod is much more powerful than they've ever been period the software just needs to catch up now

Gotta love how I get a affinity advert about the 6/MO trial before the video starts

My last purchase of Adobe products was Creative Suite 2. When Apple transitioned from Intel to their own Apple Silicon, I upgraded to the M1 iPad Pro. Soon after, Affinity Publisher became available on iPadOS, and I haven't looked back. I've since designed professional booklets using the Affinity suite entirely on the iPad Pro.

I just got Affinity bundle for the IPad. Now I have to learn the suite. @Brad will you do any courses on Publishers and Photo for Affinity ?

How is it for digital painting? If someone has V1 is it worth upgrading to V2 in terms of digital painting?

I picked up Affinity during the half off a few years ago and then did the upgrade to Affinity 2. While it doesn't do everything, it does almost everything I need. Been very happy with not having to pay for a subscription based software package. Hope many more people start using it so there will be more tutorial videos and the software will get even better.

Never heard of them but might as well give them a go, thanks!

Yay! A fellow Blenderhead! I'm moving to Affinity

I’m interested in the pricing when the free trial concludes. And for how long is it half price.

I bought one of the software on my computer and do I have to buy the license again to use it on my iPad ?

When I found out about Adobe’s terms of service, that’s when dumped everything Creative Cloud. I have the advantage of not doing a lot of photography currently, so I have the time to learn a new app. Affinity looks very nice. I’ll let you know how it works out.😂

I'm still a bit confused on which one should I get as an Illustrator (drawing, painting)?

Any best alternative for Aftereffects and animated cc ? Main thing I loved about both was symbol and precomp which used to save me a hell lot of time. Any ways? Will be helpful

I switched to Affinity when Celsys changed their structure - I got the entire suite for desktop and iPad and gave myself about a 6 month period to get used to the new software gradually. It was the same as moving from Adobe to CSP some years ago, frustrating at first to learn a new system but now I’m back up to speed and no monthly fees. It works for me. Affinity isn’t perfect, I wish toggling work on files between iPad and desktop was smoother, but I love being able to move between the apps fluidly!

Thanks for this vid, I've been an Adobe Cloud subscriber for over a decade. I just downloaded Affinity and gave it spin. Canceled my AC account, using Reslove for video editing and Fusion for AE. My total cost? 39 bucks for Affinity. I've sent out several emails to my fellow creatives to do the same.

I’m very happy that they went the “if you had a trial you can get this trial” route. I have it on my list just can’t grab it right now. 6 months will give me time to grab it.

Made the switch a few months ago and haven't looked back. Still learning, actually used your affinity designer course to learn that and a photo course on Udemy as well for Affinity Photo. If you only use Photoshop and illustrator the switch will be easier to do (if you want to) if you use the entire suite, its going to take way more time and research to try and replace everything adobe has.

Perfecto 😌🤌🏻

I got rid of everything Adobe about two years ago, they were forcing icons onto my desktop. I don't want that. In hindsight I did the right thing, given what is happening today. People need to wake up.

do you guys know if the price is locked up to the at the trial? I started the trial but i'm confident i'll buy the product and don't know if i'll miss the sale if i wait till the end

are there any Adobe After Effects alternatives? (not counting average video editing stuff like snipping things here and there)

Hi Brad. Do you have a discount coupon for the Intro to digital art course?

I bought the universal one for my MacBook, but I also have another PC. Would I be able to download this free trial there if I use my email? Or do I use another email? Anyone know?

i had this program on my shopping cart the other day. only reason i didn't hit the confirm purchase button was because it's not very linux compatible, and if i'm going to learn something new, it needs not to be tied to windows, as i want to leave that OS for good soon. (already using linux 95%+ of the time) i hope they release a linux version soon. then i'll buy it.

You are absolutely right about the learning curve but often it is worth climbing that hill. I was quite familiar with Excel and it took me a while to get the hang of Apple Numbers but now that I know it well I absolutely love it. I fully understand that top of the list when it came to Numbers user interface design was pretty much everything had to be nothing like Excel ;) Love Affinity Photo and I am blown away how much it does a lot better than photoshop.

Affinity is beautiful! I love their products. I forgot about Adobe long time ago.

Affinity needs to release a keyboard shortcut file that matches Photoshop's keyboard shortcuts. It won't be identical, as some of the processes are different. But making available a largely similar keyboard shortcut file would go a long way towards moving people off Photoshop and onto Affinity Photo. Affinity's keyboard shortcuts are customizable, and can be imported and exported. But there is no Photoshop-alike shortcut file on offer.

i was already considering buying this for illustration works but im still debating between clip studio and this, hopefully this free trial help

Great watch 🙏🏿

I've had Affinity since the middle of v1. Once v2 was announced, I instantly jumped on the launch sale for $100 flat. Great deal, but now I wish I could get that extra $18 back, ya know? Still an amazing deal either way.

Awesome Sauce!

Steep learning curve is certainly a major barrier, but so to is network effect: A lot of companies/clients use Adobe, so they seek people who can use those tools and deliver native files. There's not much Serif can do about that in the near term. For whatever reason, the illustration and photography sectors have proven more rigid/conservative than the UX sector, where new waves of tools come along and are embraced very few years.

Love it!

For the fact affinity has done the 6 months free trial thing no one else has done, I give it up for them. Maybe they are only going to make other complainer switch into that model of subscription based on version. That one I like.

Ive been using every part of the affinity suite for 4 years now and let me tell you. Its just works better. Now that publisher has book support im never ever looking back.

One thing worth mentioning is that the Affinity suite supports the new Qualcomm chips day one so another plus over Adobe.

I've bought the full v2 suite. I'm not a professional but I realized I couldn't sit on those hacked old CS versions forever.

I purchased the full Affinity suite a couple of years ago, and even until this day I occasionally fire up Corel Draw when I need to knock something up quickly, having used it for 15+ years. I prefer Affinity, but it takes time before all the features become second nature.

Affinity designer should be the standard now ❤

I encourage people to explore outside the adobe eco-system if they're individuals, artists etc but if you need to work in a team and share files, typically designers are stuck in the Adobe ecosystem to co-operate... and everyone working off the most recent cloud version has been a blessing rather than a curse. Absolutely would love to escape Adobe, and looking forward to the day where I am free.

I brought them on sale and LOVE affinity and I’ve only ever used adobe. The fact they have Pantone is enough for me, it was so easy to switch

Affinity software have their ARM versions out as well!

The moment they put the 50% off i just bought them. I still just use photoshop, but i have it as a back up. The issue i have is the "lack" of features. I mean, is mainly the lack of the "spot healing bush tool" thats way better for what i do than the normal "healing brush tool" and the issue with adjust images/text to places. For example i have 2 "pages" i have to put together, in adobe i have like a mechanism that allows me to stick one of the images to one side and the other one to the other side and just center them easier based on spot points adobe detects when moving "layers/images/text". So if for example i have a double page of something and i have to put them together, it takes forever to put them perfectly together with affinity, but with photoshop it takes me 2 seconds. :s Also if i have 2 text boxes side by side, i can put them in the same lane, so they are aligned, or if i put one above and below the same thing. Just this makes not use it. Sometimes im 10 hours straight in photoshop and i use this features hundreds of times, so time adds up, if i do this thing in 3 seconds, and with the other takes me 30 or 40 seconds, i just cant.

Can you do a Review and Overview of the new version of Clip Studio Paint? I need your thoughts about that software cause I kept on hearing bad things going on when the Version 3 was released and I need your honest opinion of this....

Great take on this subject. I use Affinity software and I must say it works really well for me. I was a long time Photoshop user (version 3.0). Affinity Designer is their greatest because in a way is unique.

Does Affinity have a counterpart to Lightroom? I mainly do sports and volume events shooting where 2000 images is a "small" culling and editing batch. Lightroom lets me quickly adjust photos in a collection AS a collection rather than opening them one at a time... does Affinity have that mode of operation? It's my understanding that they don't and DXO Photolab is more of a Lightroom competitor.

Great info Brad...I have tried Affinity and found it good. I am a long time Corel Draw and PhotoPaint user but also pay through the nose for Adobe all apps just to get Premiere Pro and InDesign. It is so hard to switch when you have literally years of vector artwork in another format (in my case .cdr). Makes it harder to switch to another tool, although Corel is massively better value than Adobe. The Affinity/Canva purchase worries me though. Affinity had that disruptor/on the side of the designer vibe...Canva definately doesn't.

Most people will pay for it anyway because it is cheap. They know people well 😊

How can I contact you about the course question? Tried to buy the procreate courses but the price on the website is different from udemy. It’s 13.99 on your website but udemy is 49.99. Thx

final cut is like one of the best investments you can do price and time wise. It exports way faster than premiere, don't crash as often, is always saving your changes. It is very very good for what it is