Affinity Version 2 arrives to take on Adobe Creative Suite

Software developer Serif has launched V2 of its Affinity creative suite, bringing new features and enhancements to its trio of graphic design and content creation applications that undercut Adobe on price.

Affinity Designer 2, Affinity Photo 2, and Affinity Publisher 2 have all been visually redesigned and introduce some new features for designers and creative professionals. Just some of the new additions to the Affinity Photo 2 photo editing software include nondestructive RAW development (allowing designers to change develop settings, even after adjusting a file), compound masking, live mesh warping, and the ability to save different visibility states of your layer stack.

Affinity Designer 2, a vector graphic design and illustration software package, is introducing vector warping, DWG / DXF file imports, and an X-Ray View mode that shows the makeup of your work. An assortment of new tools is 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 any objects to scale.

Finally, Affinity Publisher 2, Serif’s publishing and page layout design application, has a performance boost to help handle large documents and now includes features such as Books, which grant users the ability to combine separate publisher documents as chapters to create one long publication (only available on desktop). Affinity V2’s release also patches a gap in the company’s iPad lineup with the addition of Affinity Publisher 2 iPad, which now brings the entire Affinity suite to Mac, PC, and iPad. A full list of new features for Affinity V2 can be found on the Affinity website.

Affinity is often regarded as a more affordable alternative to Adobe’s own line of creative applications — while the Affinity Designer V1 vector program is less powerful than Adobe Illustrator, for example, the software is available as a one-off payment of $59.99 (compared to Adobe’s $19.99 monthly subscription) while still providing similar features. Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher are similarly comparable to Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign, respectively.

Rumors regarding Affinity moving from a one-time purchase model over to a subscription service can, thankfully, be put to rest. “The ability to buy for a one-off 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, managing 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 wanting individual apps, with iPad versions of the software available for $19.99, the same price as the V1 software. Serif has also announced the Affinity V2 Universal License — a package containing all three Affinity applications. The regular price for the Universal License will be a one-time payment of $169.99, but Serif is currently offering a 40 percent launch discount that brings that down to $99.99. 

That’s a good chunk of change saved, but it does come with a caveat: this launch discount only exists because existing Affinity users won’t get cheaper pricing to upgrade V1 software. “For our existing customers we have also been very conscious that, considering many of our sales are generated via app stores, it’s not possible to provide upgrade pricing,” said Hewson. “That’s the main reason we have decided to offer such a large launch discount — giving upgraders a chance to do so at an incredible price.”

Users who don’t require all three applications can still purchase Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Designer 2, or Affinity Publisher 2 individually for Mac, PC, or iPad and get 40 percent off the standard price. A 30-day free trial is also available across all versions of Affinity (including the V2 Universal License package).