A high-end rival to Photoshop for Mac users, Affinity Photo launches today in free beta. Will this become your new favourite graphic design tool?
We're big fans of Affinity Designer, a low-price but high-end Mac alternative to Adobe Illustrator launched last June. And we're not alone: Apple, for example, awarded it the number 2 Mac app of 2014, and designers have generally given it the thumbs up.
So we're excited to see that the company behind it, Serif, is today launching a rival to Photoshop, Affinity Photo, in free beta.
What's more, Serif isn't aiming to just replicate Photoshop,
or create a cut-down version. It's actively aiming to steal Adobe's
market by creating a product that they claim is better than Photoshop in
a number of ways.
Faster codebase
For a start, it's fast; very fast. That's for a good reason,
says Serif's managing director Ashley Hewson. "Photoshop is an amazing
piece of software," he says. "But the problem is, it's built on
25-year-old architecture. When that architecture was being created,
Adobe couldn't have anticipated the incredible developments we've seen
in computers since. Which means that they're now struggling to adapt
Photoshop to take advantage of modern computing power."
In contrast, Serif has built Affinity Photo, like Affinity
Designer, on an entirely new codebase, which allows the software to take
advantage of the latest hardware; and the speed boost is palable. It
means, most notably, that all the edits you make happen in real-time,
with no lag or scrolling wheels of death.
Also striking is the way the software remembers every single
change you make, and lets you retrace your steps if necessary. So
you'll never get prompted 'Are you sure you want to make this edit?'
because you can always undo it.
Feature rich
Squarely aimed at professionals, the beta version of
Affinity Photo is already feature-rich, with pro photography adjustments
including Frequency Separation editing, live blend modes, Inpainting,
and advanced retouching.
Unlike other Photoshop rivals, it includes end-to-end CMYK,
16-bits per channel editing, LAB colour, RAW processing, ICC colour
management, and Photoshop PSD and 64-bit plug-in compatibility.
Compatible with OS X Lion 10.7.5 and newer on Intel 64 Macs,
it's available in English, German, Spanish and French. And users of
Affinity Designer will be pleased to know that moving assets between the
two tools is smooth and intuitive.
How to get it
Affinity Photo is available to download now in free beta from https://affinity.serif.com/photo.
Once the full version launches, it will be available
exclusively through the Mac App Store for just £39.99/ €49.99/$49.99
(subject to App Store matrix adjustments) with no ongoing subscription
charges and all updates free for the next two years.
If you don't use a Mac, though, you'll have to wait a while
to try Affinity Photo. While the development team do want to build a
Windows version, there's no firm date for that, and it will probably be a
long time coming.
That's because Serif is currently focusing on building a
third tool, an InDesign alternative called Affinity Publisher, to be
released later this year. Following that, their next priority will be
building iOS versions of all three Affinity tools. And to complicate
matters, Serif is continuing to produce its older budget tools for the
PC market.
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