Here is the unlisted demo video from their newsletter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP_TBaKODlw
Key bits:
After acquiring Serif last year, Canva is now relaunching its Adobe-rivalling Affinity creative suite as a new all-in-one app for photo editing, vector illustration, and page layouts. Unlike Affinity’s previous Designer, Photo, and Publisher software, which were a one-time $70 purchase, Canva’s announcement stresses that the new Affinity app is “free forever” and won’t require a subscription.
Affinity’s one-time-purchase model was one of the most appealing things about its older software offerings, standing in stark contrast to Adobe’s controversial subscription-based creative suite. While Canva’s own design platform can be used for free, it also locks most of its capabilities behind subscription paywalls, which raised concerns that Affinity would adopt Canva’s subscription-based approach following the acquisition. The company is trying to put those fears to rest for good by repeatedly mentioning how “free” the new Affinity app is, but the AI integrations will likely be met with some resistance by creatives who oppose the technology.
I’m glad they didn’t add any subscription pricing, and while I don’t know if they’ll actually be able to fund it through the optional AI subscriptions alone, at least it can be used offline for those who want any AI things. Now my only complaint is the lack of a solid Linux client.
Tried using GIMP and Gimpshop (I don’t know if it’s still a thing) and never really got warm with it. Not for a lack of trying. I just use Affinity designer 2 and Photo 2 along with Inkscape (from which GIMP could learn a thing or two in terms of usability IMO).
The GIMP shop interface has been the default and iterated on for the better part of a decade, If not longer. This is what I always wonder about people who claim that GIMP is somehow less usable. Have they used it much since 3.0? It’s 4.X now BTW.
I know my experience personally isn’t going to be universal. I first used Photoshop version 2. First version I bought was 3.5. I remember downloading and compiling pre-1.0 unstable binaries of GIMP on Debian back in the 90s. It was wildly awkward back then and for the next couple of versions as someone coming from Photoshop. That hasn’t been the case for a long, long time. Honestly, it reminds me so much of the Photoshop I grew up using at this point.
3.0.6 stable, 3.1.x beta. No 4.x.
And the bigger change was passing from 2.10 to 3.0 last March.
Amazing to hear. Thanks for sharing your experience! I don’t edit images much at all but that’s warming to hear.