The Affinity trinity has become something of a dark horse in the world of digital multimedia software. The creative suite has risen to prominence slowly over time after the release of Affinity Designer in 2013.
The newest update promises to speed up your artistic workflow.
Affinity Apps Run Smoother Now
According to an article posted to Affinity Spotlight, version 1.9 of Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, and Affinity Publisher is now available.
Not only are there a handful of new features, but you should find that all three Affinity programs have received significant performance improvements. Even if you oftentimes work with the huge file sizes, like that of complex vector documents.
Affinity Spotlight editor Melanie Khareghat writes that both Photo and Designer now have a Linked Images and Resource Manager, which "reduces document file sizes and simplifies collaborative working."
Additionally, Designer and Publisher have rolled out a new Package feature, which lets you bundle all your resources (such as images and fonts) from a project into a folder. You can can transfer it easily to another system, which is great for creative teams.
Other feature updates include a new contour tool in Designer, more supported camera types in Photo, and faster IDML importing in Publisher.
If you use Affinity apps on a Windows computer, then there's even more good news: all the Windows versions of the apps now have hardware (GPU) acceleration. You can expect major performance boosts if you meet the hardware requirements, especially if you're fond of filters and other adjustments.
Affinity's Growing Popularity
Ashley Hewson, the Managing Director of Affinity publisher Serif, claimed that 2020 was "another year which saw record numbers of people switching to Affinity."
She obviously doesn't drop competitor names. But if you're a digital artist, photographer, or editor, you know that when Hewson mentions people "switching," she's likely referring to those that have ditched Adobe's Creative Cloud in favor of the Affinity trinity.
Adobe stopped selling perpetual licenses for their products in favor of a monthly subscription service in 2013, and many artists have been looking for cheaper alternatives ever since.
However, changing your primary software may prove to be a problem, since Adobe Creative Cloud is the industry standard.
That said, it would appear that Affinity version 1.9 is already reeling in some new users:
tbh if you want to ditch adobe, get this https://t.co/xu6cLyvb6I
— ยตยต»» (@limelimewire) February 4, 2021
Should You Swap to Affinity?
With the new version 1.9 update, the Affinity suite further solidifies itself as a sleek, professional software option for your creative work.
As always, you can download the new Affinity update for free on whatever platform(s) you have purchased a license for. At the time of writing, all the Affinity apps are 50% off in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
