Downloaded the software - after their annoucment that it was now free - which it is.
Seems like can use it all.
Things like AI Canva - and maybe some other tools prompt you to Canva Pro.
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Affinity has finally released its new software after a month of confusion and speculation. It’s too soon for me to have well-thought-out opinions, but for now, here’s what I’ve found.
Here’s their promo video.
As expected, it appears to be a high-end, front-end for Canva, although they’re saying it can be used independently as a stand-alone graphic design app.
Here’s what’s unexpected.
It’s free. There is no charge at all, which raises my suspicions and seems to support my suspicion that Canva is viewing it as software to support its own growth.
They’ve combined all their suite apps (Designer, Publisher, and Photo) into one single mega-application.
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Got in just after me - merge please
It’s mostly free - but some tools like AI requires Canva Pro and that’s subscription model.
Not sure what else is.
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Done. We must have both received Affinity’s announcement email at about the same time.
As I mentioned, it’s too soon for me to have solid opinions, but I’m skeptical. Canva isn’t giving something away for free out of altruism. They’re using it as a loss leader to drive more business to Canva, which isn’t a good sign.
Then again, the industry is changing rapidly.
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Cool thanks.
Yeh I didn’t get the email, so it on the anti-social media - went for it.
Seems to be free - but it’s quite slugish on my old laptop that Adobe works fine on.
I’ll try on my Mac tomorrow maybe.
Good that it’s free - for now - who knows what direction it’s heading in.
The AI stuff everyone is charging for - probably fair enough.
I’m not mad about AFfinity, I don’t really have any use for it. But good to tinker about and learn it if it’s needed sometime.
All in all - another tool for the toolbag.
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I had to change browsers to login when 1st opening the new Affinity app, Edge would not open a new tab. Re-installed Chrome and easy-peazy…
Affinity is loosely on my radar. I thought they had three separate apps that paralleled ID, AI, and PS. Looking at the website, it appears that it’s one app. Is that correct? Has it always been one app?
Nope all 3 were separate until now…
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I tried it for a few minutes, and it can be confusing at first since we are used to having three apps for what it does. For now, I will stick with the traditional personas (tool sets) before combining my own.
I have already worked extensively with the quick-shifting feature of the three apps (Studio Link), editing the same file, but now it will become even easier.
As for the business model, I am very skeptical since the development is fully subsidized by service subscriptions
…
and I hate the splash screen 
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Yeah, that’s pretty bad.
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Not much need for subscribing to Canva’s plans yet
and there is a new non backwards compatible file format …
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feature wise yes
what has used 3 times 2.88 GB (Mac) uses now 3.5 GB of disk space
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There’s already people on the Adobe forums asking for scripts to convert everything to IDML via a script as they are moving to Affinity.
Can’t see that working out well.
When we moved from Quark it was literally case by case basis. Some stuff was left in Quark for as long as possible, or a long term project to move to InDesign.
Some short stuff or new stuff was ok to transition over.
But mass conversion of every file to open in a different software and work on it.
I remember we ran Quark and InDesign alongside each other for about 2 years - and even that Quark remained active for the odd jobs that came in.
What will these people do when they are handed InDesign files? Ask for the IDML? Surely that’s not gonna fly with a company that only has an InDesign file and expect that back.
Maybe best to move from yearly to monthly subscription and only reactivate for the months you need to convert a file or something.
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I wonder why they’re asking this now. Affinity Publisher has been around for quite some time.
As there are no additional costs, one can continue using Adobe until the majority of projects are on Affinity.
For a long time, I kept recurring projects on InDesign and created new projects in Publisher. I only converted or built an existing project from scratch when there were major changes.
The main reason for importing IDML files was third-party projects.