Affinity Suite Running on Fedora Linux

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deanrihpee@reddit

what's the feature and performance implications?

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theoneandonlythomas@reddit (OP)

CMYK support would probably be the most important feature compared to GIMP.

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CMYK-Student@reddit

We're working on early binding CMYK support. :)

Any recommendations or "must-have features" based on your workflow? I know I won't get everything in the first release, but I'd like to learn more about what print users need.

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theoneandonlythomas@reddit (OP)

I would recommend offering a ui comparable to Photoshop of Affinity, I know the devs are skeptical of UI changes, but Libreoffice offers multiple layouts out of the box. I would take a Libreoffice approach to ui and offer two modes, classic and compact.

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Jakesellis@reddit

I agree - been using it for years.

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CMYK-Student@reddit

There's a UX repo now, so we're open to UX/UI improvement! https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/GIMP/Design/gimp-ux/-/issues

I think the challenge is getting specific feedback about the UI. Like, "UI comparable to Photoshop or Affinity" is well-intentioned, but it's difficult to know what exactly to change from that alone. So, we welcome people posting issues and discussing designs that can then be implemented!

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pleathermyn@reddit

Why would I need CMYK support?

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Nelo999@reddit

Professionals need it though.

Especially the ones that work in the publishing/print industry.

It is the primary reason on why Krita is used by professional, independent game development studios but GIMP isn't.

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pleathermyn@reddit

As far as I can tell CMYK is used by graphic designers who need to support a very specific kind of physical paper printing system that uses the corresponding coloured inks. It's probably just my ignorance, but I don't get why that would be important to game developers.

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KnowZeroX@reddit

Krita already has CMYK support

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MmoDream@reddit

Not so bad, but without official support or atleast company intention of support it through wine, i would be scared of get used to / depend of it.

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ea_nasir_official_@reddit

It's free now that canva owns it anyways, no harm in trying.

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SuAlfons@reddit

I tried following guides that already were current with Affinity V3. But the main app just won't run correctly, black menus, weird child windows that can't be closed etc.

I only wanted to explore Affinity and use it for things that go to print - as the GIMP and Inkscape don't have CMYK profiles or color management natively.

From a drawing and illustration perspective, I feel very much at home in Inkscape.

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CMYK-Student@reddit

GIMP does have color management (improved further in 3.0) and I believe Martin Owens has been really improving color management in Inkscape. Though, we may not yet have specific features you need - if so, feel free to share and we can look into it!

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SuAlfons@reddit

CMYK, mainly for print. You can't highlight and replace colors outside of certain color spaces. Although most printing services will Auto-Concert colors, some will just refrain from taking your order when your file doesn't at least have a CMYK profile embedded.

I don't need much, as I only use it for non-professional works. I usually get by by editing profile information via import and export through Scribus.

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CMYK-Student@reddit

Ah, okay! If you add a CMYK profile as simulation profile, then you can export it with the image - see Development version: GIMP 2.99.12 Released - GIMP for more details. What I'm working on is a full CMYK mode, where you can switch the format to CMYK and edit those channels directly. It should also make it more intuitive to do what GIMP can already do, because you can add the profile directly rather than as a simulation/soft-proofing profile.

Out-of-gamut selection is a requested feature as well! We use lcms2 for marking things as OoG, and in theory we should be able to grab that to use as a selection.

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sequential_doom@reddit

Nah man. A proprietary suite of creative software, that used to be paid, gets bought by a company that's pushing AI to the max, suddenly becomes free.

I see nothing but red flags.

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theoneandonlythomas@reddit (OP)

I can see disliking AI, but I am not one of those people who is philosophically opposed to proprietary software

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sequential_doom@reddit

Except that it's none of those things. I actually purchased a licence for the previous version that doesn't have AI earlier in the year.

In this case, do you think Canva is actually giving the software out for free? Without taking anything in return? I guarantee you every user is training data for their AI, that's the sad reality nowadays. It simply doesn't make sense for business otherwise.

If you're fine with that, by all means go for it. I'm personally not okay with it, so I will refrain from using the software.

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signedchar@reddit

The alternatives are what – GIMP, which is laughable as a hobby design program, let alone for professional work.

Personally, I'll take my bets with Canva to not have to use GIMP again.

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KnowZeroX@reddit

GIMP isn't the only option, there is Krita and Graphite.

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dogman_35@reddit

Krita is great for drawing, but not for graphic design.

Graphite will be sick as hell, but it's literally not an option yet. They're still in the process of getting it feature complete, and haven't even released a downloadable app yet. Just the web preview.

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Nelo999@reddit

Add in Photopea and Pixieditor into the mix.

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sequential_doom@reddit

That's fine. At the end of the day it comes down to individual choice.

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theoneandonlythomas@reddit (OP)

GIMP is pretty powerful, but it lacks full CMYK support, which is necessary for professional use cases, and they have been dragging their feet about that.

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usbeehu@reddit

I want to see a decent alternative for it then.

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Nelo999@reddit

Photopea.

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usbeehu@reddit

It doesn't do vector graphics or any illustration tho. I use the Affinity Designer part of the software the most.

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Synthetic451@reddit

How's the raw processing compared to Lightroom?

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Nelo999@reddit

Lighroom is terrible, just use Darktable or better yet, Capture One Pro instead.

GIMP can effectively be replaced with Affinity Photo or Photopea though.

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Synthetic451@reddit

Yeah I've used Darktable before. The workflow is honestly nonsensical and feels like you need a masters in color science to actually fully understand what all the dials do.

I've delivered good results with Darktable before, it just took me a really long time and a lot of futzing around to do so. It's not a workflow that I'd enjoy doing over and over again for all of my shoots though.

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Nelo999@reddit

Then simply use Capture One Pro.

It has a perpetual license and is the industry standard tool among professional photographers.

Lighroom is for the hobbyists, Capture One Pro is for the professionals.

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Synthetic451@reddit

I am assuming I need to run it in Wine? Or is there a native version available?

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Nelo999@reddit

Unfortunately, there isn't a native version available for Linux.

Although you can set up a VM and use it just fine.

Capture One Pro has stellar colour grading and masking features and is very food for tethered shooting.

I have tried almost every raw editor out there and Darktable as well as Capture One Pro have been my favourites!

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ScootSchloingo@reddit

I just want GPU passthrough on any competent virtualization software so I can run Photoshop in Linux. Trying to balance GIMP and Photopea in a browser is brutal.

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Nelo999@reddit

Photopea is actually very good.

Just isntall it as a PWA and you are set.

You can use a VM to run Affinity Photo too.

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Significant_Pen3315@reddit

Will photopea run offline if installed as a pwa?

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Nelo999@reddit

Nope, but the developer is very big on privacy and does not even share your data with third parties.

There is no AI on top of it.

There is also an electron based flatpak if you are so keen on offline functionality.

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sCeege@reddit

There are also electron ports of it on GitHub that will run offline.

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dogman_35@reddit

I mean, it's running, but it's not running.

I have been trying for like a year just to get this shit working lol

There's some major issues like the right click menus showing up under the canvas, the pen tool preview being completely broken, and the performance just being straight ass.

I like Affinity, but I had to drop it like a hot turd after switching. I'm mostly just waiting on Graphite to get to a usable state now...

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