Software developer Serif has launched V2 of its Affinity creative suite, adding new features and enhancements to its trio of graphic design and content creation applications that Adobe appreciate.
Affinity Designer 2, Affinity Photo 2 and Affinity Publisher 2 have all been visually redesigned and introduce a number of new features for designers and creative professionals. Just some of the new additions to the Affinity Photo 2 photo editing software include non-destructive RAW development (allowing designers to change development settings even after editing a file), composite masking, live mesh warping, and the ability to set different visibility states. from your layers pile.
Affinity Designer 2, a vector graphics design and illustration software suite, introduces vector distortion, importing DWG/DXF files, and an X-Ray View mode that shows the composition of your work. An assortment of new tools are also available, such as a knife tool for cutting shapes, curves or text, an interactive shape builder and tools that can measure line lengths, segments, distances and areas of objects to scale.
Finally, Affinity Publisher 2, Serif’s publishing and page layout design application, has a performance boost to handle large documents and now includes features such as Books, which give users the ability to combine individual publisher documents as chapters to create one long publication ( only available on desktop). The release of Affinity V2 also closes a gap in the company’s iPad lineup with the addition of Affinity Publisher 2 iPad, which now brings the full Affinity suite to Mac, PC and iPad. A full list of new features for Affinity V2 can be found at: Affinity website.
Affinity is often considered a more affordable alternative to Adobe’s own suite of creative applications – while the vector program Affinity Designer V1 is less powerful than Adobe Illustrator, for example, the software is available as a one-time payment of $59.99 (compared to Adobe’s $19.99 monthly subscription), while still offering similar features. Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher are similar to Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign respectively.
Despite rumors, Affinity V2 remains a one-time purchase and has not moved to a subscription model
Rumors of Affinity’s move from a one-time purchase model to a subscription service can thankfully be put to rest. “The ability to purchase for a one-time payment is something that makes Affinity the only viable option for many of the brilliant and inspiring creative people around the world who would otherwise not have access to the highest quality tools,” said Ashley Hewson , director of Serif, in a press release.
Desktop versions of Affinity Designer 2, Affinity Photo 2 and Affinity Publisher 2 are priced at $69.99 (from $59.99 on V1) for those who want individual apps, with iPad versions of the software available for $19.99, same price as the V1 software. Serif also announced the Affinity V2 Universal License – a package that includes all three Affinity applications. The regular price for the Universal License is a one-time payment of $169.99, but Serif currently offers a 40 percent launch discount that brings that down to $99.99.
That’s a lot of change saved, but it comes with a caveat: This launch discount only exists because existing Affinity users aren’t getting cheaper prices to upgrade V1 software. “For our existing customers, we are also very aware that since much of our sales are generated through app stores, it is not possible to provide upgrade prices,” Hewson said. “That’s the main reason why we decided to offer such a big launch discount – allowing upgraders to do this at an unbelievable price.”
Users who do not need all three applications can purchase Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Designer 2 or Affinity Publisher 2 separately for Mac, PC or iPad and get 40 percent off the standard price. A 30-day free trial is also available for all versions of Affinity (including the V2 Universal License package).