An Expanded Studio Link: The Graphics Application That Unites It All

Although I certainly have no special knowledge regarding October 30, I think a single unified app is unlikely.

On the side of agreement, all of the code is already there. It is only the User Interface that segregates function into 3 separate apps. Also, there is Studio Link as a predecessor, and this has been a resounding success.

However, I think creating a single app instead of three is unlikely.

1) The user interface for such an app could be a disaster. So much function shoehorned into a single UI. Think of APhoto - it already has 4 Personas with icons, plus Personas for focus merge, HDR, astrophotography, and panoramas. Add the other two apps (each with their own complex interfaces) and the result could easily be somewhere well on the wrong side of confusing.

2) A single unified app would require Serif/Canva to double or triple the price of such an app. If they did not, revenue would plummet. The only other obvious option to maintain revenue is a subscription, and I believe that this is even less likely.

3) Although I own Designer and Publisher, I use them only rarely. For me, Photo is what I work in 98+% of the time. I purchased the other two primarily to give support to Serif and because they were relatively inexpensive. I imagine that there are a lot of people out there, like me, who really only want the function of one of the three apps. Can you convince them that buying all three, at 2 or 3 times the price and with a more complicated interface, is a good idea? Sounds like an uphill battle to me.

So, time will tell and there’s less than 2 weeks until we all find out what the Affinity folks have up their collective sleeves. I would be surprised if it were a single app. (But I've been surprised before!)

I hope it is not all online.

I just now looked at the Canva website for the first time and I see why they like Discord.

Quote from Tom

I hope it is not all online.

I just now looked at the Canva website for the first time and I see why they like Discord.

And today's outage of AWS services showed what a disaster an online-only version would be for professional use. For example, Canva (like a good chunk of other internet services) was down for several hours. Imagine, you're on a deadline and you can't finish your work because of another outage of the online services.

Have you ever tried Xara Designer Pro? That is an all in one app.

Quote from Tom

I hope it is not all online.

What's your problem? I would like to be able to quickly access ALL the features of the three programs without having to switch apps. Because sometimes the rudimentary features of Personas are simply not enough.

It needs to be standalone as well (viz. Amazon AWS outage only recently).

Quote from komatös

What's your problem? I would like to be able to quickly access ALL the features of the three programs without having to switch apps. Because sometimes the rudimentary features of Personas are simply not enough.

Naaaaaah. Designer and Photo would make sense to some degree. But some point it gets bloatware and an overwhelming UI. I wouldn't want to carry arount all the Publisher features in Photo when those don't make sense for Photo editing. If you start hiding them or moving them around in different panels and menus, you'll be back to personas or simliar. I think Stuido Link is the ideal answer to this dilemma. But of course it always depends on the type of work you do.

Quote from DataMeister

Have you ever tried Xara Designer Pro? That is an all in one app.

Comparing Xara with Affinity? Ha, ha, ha. Affinity is far more advanced than Xara.

I don't have a good internet connection, so if the future is with an internet connection required because of a online tools i will be so f.cked...

That is a problem ,It seems that software or website publishers think that everyone has a very high-speed internet connection, but this is absolutely not the case, and therefore this type of freedom is more like a real prison for people like me...

Quote from Sam La_Gargouille

I don't have a good internet connection, so if the future is with an internet connection required

I assume that the activation method will be similar to that of the V2.

Quote from Ali

It needs to be standalone as well (viz. Amazon AWS outage only recently).

For many companies, it is cheaper to use services such as AWS than to maintain a server infrastructure. As an AWS customer, I would complain to Amazon that there is no redundant failover protection.

I seriously doubt that the offering will be online only, though, so hopefully the concerns will be moot in a week's time.

Quote from Petar Petrenko

Comparing Xara with Affinity? Ha, ha, ha. Affinity is far more advanced than Xara.

Exactly.

Quote from Powerhorse

Affinity: A single app that offers true creative freedom for free

You hit the nail on the head

Anyone tried to use their graphic tablet with the new version? I'm amazed! With my HUION KAMVAS, I can finally use Affinity a lot more for drawing rather than using different apps and import the images into Affinity for further edits.

The previous version (on PC) was horrible with pressure sensitivity. It jumped from no pressure to "full-in" in a blink. No matter what hardness and sensitivity settings I used - it never felt natural.

Now, it's finally acting like my dedicated digital paint apps do. The transition from low to high pressure is smooth, incredibly smooth. No sudden jumps from 100% thickness to 50% to 0% within 2 pixels when you lift the pen's pressure just a bit (yeah, I know, it's exaggerated, but anyone who's used it for drawing will get the picture).

It's finally acting like a pressure-sensitive drawing app should do.