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ArtCraft Apps – open-source Adobe compatible suite written in Rust

102 points · 115 comments · aghuang

_stillmind · 1791163485 · focus · HN ↗
I'll just keep using Affinity.
1. lukeify · 1791163828 · focus · HN ↗
  …which was bought by Canva and has already been enshittified.
  1. Gigachad · 1791164559 · focus · HN ↗
    It really hasn't been enshittified. They made everything that already existed in Affinity free without any catches. And then added some new AI powered editing tools which require a subscription. Tools which you don't need and can ignore easily.
    lukeify · 1791169333 · focus · HN ↗
    It was enshittified the moment it became a single app.
    Serious publishers don't want a photo editing program in their UI.
    alwillis · 1791172626 · focus · HN ↗
    > Serious publishers don't want a photo editing program in their UI.
    That's not how it works; when you're in the Layout Studio, that's your UI and nothing else.
    I think the confusion is that some tools appear in the Layout Studio and the Pixel Studio because they make sense in those contexts.
    Affinity lets you customize each Studio and the overall UI to your heart's content [1].
    [1]: <a href="https://www.affinity.studio/help/workspace-about-studios/#customizing-studios" rel="nofollow">https://www.affinity.studio/help/workspace-about-studios/#cu...
    SyneRyder · 1791185979 · focus · HN ↗
    I'll lend some support to the complaints - V3 is just so much slower than V2, nevermind V1, and it's using a lot more system resources now. It seems that lumping everything into one app has bloated it out in just the same way that Adobe's stuff got bloated, and it's sad to see Affinity drift in that direction as well.
    I have all 3 versions installed, but most of the time I reach for Affinity Photo V1 just because it will launch faster. If I need Designer, I reach for Affinity Designer V2.
    dofm · 1791175302 · focus · HN ↗
    The way it works now is pretty much how studio link worked in v2 if you had all three apps (and indeed the file format was already shared by the three apps, under the hood).
    Nothing has been enshittified, and indeed if you knew anything about Affinity, the fact that they chose that name, had a three pointed logo and a single shared file architecture, and the way they have talked about the integration in the suite, you would have predicted this for v3 whether or not Canva bought them. This integration was always going to happen.
  2. alwillis · 1791170940 · focus · HN ↗
    > which was bought by Canva and has already been enshittified
    Absolutely not.
    Affinity just released an update [1] that delivered features like the Blend Tool that users have wanted for years. Cost: $0.
    In addition to MCP support, users can now automate the Affinity suite using JavaScript [2].
    [1]: <a href="https://www.affinity.studio/help/release-notes/" rel="nofollow">https://www.affinity.studio/help/release-notes/
    [2]: <a href="https://www.affinity.studio/help/scripting-in-affinity/" rel="nofollow">https://www.affinity.studio/help/scripting-in-affinity/

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