Hello Everybody and welcome to another video. Full disclaimer, this isn’t a sponsored video, I’ve personally purchased both Affinity Photo and Designer
for my work and I’m currently testing it to see if at some point it may be functional
for professional use.
Although I’ll be pointing out quite a few features which I’d like to see implemented,
my overall view of this software is positive but it’s currently missing some core features
which would help make more attractive for industry professionals.
I am personally speaking as someone whose worked in a print shop where I’ve done minor
graphic design work and worked professionally within the animation field as a background
painter.
Please keep in mind that some of the recommendations may only apply to PC user’s since some features
are still lacking on this platform.
So all my views and opinions will be based on my personal experience within these fields
or within window’s ecosystem.
To begin, most of the basic features that you would expect to find in a professional
drawing software are present in this one.
The layer’s panel is set up on the right hand side with the typical default tabs of
Color, Swatches, stroke brushes, Effects, styles, text styles, transform, history and
navigator.
On the left hand side the most common tools are present along with some additional one’s.
Some of these new features include the color replacement brush and the pixel tool.
Another feature which has been added to the interface is the separation of key modes which
are referred to as Persona’s.
Although I’m not fond of the naming convention, it’s functionality is appealing.
Each of these persona’s have a specific set of tools and panels associated with their
use and greatly diversifies the interface further.
You have the Photo persona which is best suited for painting and drawing tasks.
The liquify persona allows the distortion and manipulation of the existing layers although
these will have to be selected prior to entering this mode.
The develop persona is more geared towards photo editing of raw files.
The last persona is the export persona and this one is used to prepare files for export.
While the number of existing filter’s are fewer, the most commonly used one’s are
present
To begin, there’s some compatibility issues you as a consumer need to know prior to investing
in this software.
The current version that I tested was both the 1.5.2 version alongside the Beta 1.6.0.81
and this was just prior to an upcoming release of a software update.
The current versions tested do not support clipping masks that have been applied to groups
which is a features that was added to CS6 and CC versions of photoshop.
In most modern television productions, this is a features which has become essential for
both conceptual artists as well as freelancers who have to reproduce the same coloring as
their reference material.
Not having this makes it virtually impossible to properly view the image and reproduce the
results.
In future alliterations I would like to see better compatibility with newer versions of
Photoshop since this would allow studios to more easily transition their work-flow to
a this application.
The number one recommended feature is a modification of the magic wand also known as the flood
selection tool.
Although this tool functions properly when sampling a single layer it is severely lacking
an important attribute.
This tool in the current versions is unable to make a selection via multiple layers or
even groups.
This is an essential option to have in one of the most basic tools sets.
Although the brush selection tool does have this feature, it will never be a replacement
to the flood selection tool because they both address two different work-flow styles.
The flood selection tool is better suited for filling line work where as the brush selection
tool is better suited for editing photos where definitive edges are often ambiguous.
Affinity doesn’t yet implement a keyboard shortcut for resetting the default swatches
to black and white.
There is a work around for this but this isn’t automatically implemented.
The current work around for this was originnally posted by “ RSI Studio” on the Affinity
Forums.
In order to enable this feature you will need to do the following.
Go to Preferences + Keyboard Shortcuts + Photo + Miscellaneous + set fill to black and White
+ and make sure to allocate a keyboard shortcut for this feature.
If the shortcut you’ve chosen cause a conflict with an existing shortcut simply click on
the triangle with the exclamation mark to change that one as well.
The next recommendation addresses some of the customization options for keyboard shortcuts.
Although the flexibility of the shortcut menu is in some cases better than Photoshop it
can be difficult to navigate because of a lack of hierarchy grouping.
Another suggested bonus would be list keyboard shortcuts such as the alt, ctrl and shift
keys in relationship to how they are used.
For instance when I’m using the brush tool, I can hold down the alt key to switch to the
Eyedropper/ Color picker tool.
Having some of these basic shortcuts listed within the tool even if it isn’t possible
to modify them would make it more user friendly.
They have done a pretty good job at listing some of the options bellow the work window
which does help to a certain degree.
This recommendation will apply to work flows where comparing different images is a necessity.
It is also important to point out this is a feature which is only currently available
in the mac version of this software.
Being able to split screen or dock windows besides each other is very important for most
production settings.
This allows for immediate comparisons of images while being able to load additional images
in the same windows.
A great example of this is if I have a reference image of a scene and I have to color something
in a very similar color pallet.
It is far easier to have the image on one side while working on the uncolored versions
on the other.
The allocation of a scratch disk seems to be something which some argue isn’t a necessity
because of the optimization of this software.
This does however depend on the use case.
It isn’t uncommon to have multiple reference images for one scene and therefore have several
large files opened simultaneously.
Not having to constantly close and open files greatly speeds up productivity and means more
income for freelance workers.
On a normal show, it isn’t uncommon to have 50 files opened simultaneously in which each
one is between 1.5 GB to 2 GB in size.
Even with great optimization it is unlikely that a computer even with 32 GB of ram would
be able to functionally handle such a large load.
Once again this is a feature wish would greatly benefit professional use case scenarios and
should be taken into heavy consideration in future updates.
A feature which isn’t often known to those who don’t work in the professional industry
is a little secret that Photoshop has regarding layers.
If a layer is clicked and held while the Alt key is pressed, this will duplicate the layer
and allow you to move it wherever you want within the layer’s panel.
This is something which has the added flexibility of working with individual layers and multiple
ones regardless of their location within the layer’s panel.
This is a feature which once again greatly improves the speed at which any digital artist
can work.
The stroke feature works differently than would be expected and in some degrees can
be limiting.
Having a stroke option where a vector based path can have a Pixel based brush style applied
would definitely be handy for individuals who are working on conceptional based pieces.
In this work-flow, the artist would be able to create a path in which their brush would
be able to follow and in turn they could easily erase potions or paint over the regions.
This would also help separate the functions of both Affinity Photo tools and Affinity
Designer.
This next recommendation may seem like an unusual one however it is something which
is becoming more and more necessary as time goes by because of the current style in which
animated series are moving towards.
Being to sample both the original color used in a layer as well as the current layer color
is something which will be a necessity in the future.
When working with reference backgrounds it isn’t uncommon for a layer that has a transparency
or opacity to be flattened before it’s sent off to the freelancers.
What this means for the freelancers is that the original color information still needs
to be accessible.
This is currently something that Photoshop does automatically however it isn’t unable
to sample the current color as well.
What a freelancer requires is both options to be available depending on the use case.
An underused be very good feature which would make things a lot easier for most freelancers
and artists alike would be a note taking feature.
This feature should be kept basic however some additional features would make it a lot
more useful to the average and professional artist.
Color Coding options would make things more readable and easier to organize as well as
being able to allocate it to a specific layer and having the ability to turn the visibility
on or off.
Continuing with the color coding them, it would be very helpful indeed if a color coding
option was added to the layer’s panel.
This makes it easier to communicate important layer information without having to included
in depth notes.
Rotating the canvas may seem unnecessary but once again this is another features which
will depend on the use case.
This is a feature which is greatly appreciated by layout artists who often find themselves
drawing in awkward angles.
For some of these artists, the line work is done in a pixel based software to achieve
a more stylized look in the line work and therefore the use the pen tool isn’t something
which would be as functional.
This is also another reason why having a stroke option is highly recommended.
Although some have requested the addition of an Art-boards I do not necessarily find
this to be a necessity because this is a feature which is more suitable to Affinity Designer.
Now Affinity does a lot of things correctly and I will give these a mention because they
are important factors to consider for any artist.
Stability, Affinity has a strong focus of stability and fixing of glitches which is
something that I find a lot of companies tend to overlook.
This is essential in building a stronger user-base and it is clearly something they’ve focused
on.
The company tends to release new versions once it’s been fully tested and they allow
existing users to download betas of upcoming revisions which don’t override their existing
installments of stable versions.
This treatment of the beta implementation is key to ensuring more stable versions in
the future and other companies could learn a lot from this approach.
Continual Clipping of layers.
Even if this doesn’t currently work for groups this is something which has been well
implemented.
You can keep clipping elements to each other for pretty much as long as you desire which
is a welcome approach.
If they are able to find a method to do the same with groups then they may be able to
resolve some of the compatibility issues with current versions of Photoshop.
The tools pallet and the toolbar can be fully customized to the user’s preference.
The existing UI is very well organized and easy to learn so transitioning was relatively
easy.
By keeping things as simply as possible they avoid overloading the user with information
which is a bonus for anyone moving over from another interface.
The cloning stamp tool is a well needed improvement.
They’ve added a cross-hair which is visible while painting in an area so you know which
location the sampling of the color is taking place.
This makes things a lot easier because you can see where you’ll need to change the
sampling area rather than waiting to discover this as you work.
The final Verdic for this software will depend on the user type.
If your work at home and aren’t working for a company then this software might just
be for you since I has most of the core features that you’ll need to do your work.
With a price tag of only 70$ before taxes this is much more cost effective alternative
even if the price has gone up since it’s first release.
If you’re a freelancer however it’s still comes a little bit short because the industry
standard is Photoshop and some features which would be required are still missing.
If affinity could find a way to fix the compatibility issues with newer versions of Photoshop then
I don’t see any reason why this couldn’t replace Photoshop entirely in the future.
In it’s current state, the software is clearly geared towards photographer’s and photo
manipulation techniques because most of the new features seemed to have been moving towards
those fields.
So for Home user’s I give it a mark of 8.5/10 overall because they are the least likely
to have to submit work into a pre-set pipeline in which the suggested features would be necessary.
For professional users, I gave it a mark of 7/10 because of it’s incompatibility issues
with newer Photoshop features as well as the lack of some core elements to it’s interface.
How affinity implements features that makes it fast to use as well compatible through
other softwares packages will definitely be what determines how it’s adopted by industry
professionals.