Transition from Affinity Designer 2 to Canva Studio 3.2

 

After quite a long period of hesitation I upgraded from Affinity Designer version 2.0 to version 3.2. I admit that I was not exactly thrilled by the way in which the acquisition of the Affinity suit by Canva had taken place. In addition to which I dislike the AI component subscription model that the 3.2 version is included. After testing it however, I decided to implement the upgrade anyway. The transition was handled in quite a logical way, I must say; The vector, pixel and DTP modules are now combined into a single program, about which I was often puzzled why Affinity had not done that when they still owned the entire suit, particularly since most of the necessary conditions to make an assembly work, were already in existence. I have fiddled with the Canva version for a day or two and I admit their Studio version makes a lot of sense and speeds up the time to complete a file or document significantly, regardless if it is a vector or pixel file or a DTP document.

Canva Studio logo

I still think Serif (the company that originally built the Affinity suit) could have done a similar thing by themselves. But now we will never know if that would at some point have taken place. Around the time that the acquisition took place Affinity's technical head honcho wrote that there will be no subscription model, but that strategy did not emerge. It is one of the things that bothers me most, simply because it went on to the subscription path anyway. That could be expected to be honest, but it would show dignity if the buy and own the program would have been extended. But Affinity is of course much smaller than Canva and they would probably not have a feasible opportunity to continue what they seemed to have in mind. Outside of that, smaller companies get overtaken by bigger ones all the time when they have developed interesting programs. But that could have been shared with the Affinity user base in a more honest way, which explains my hesitation to upgrade. It just shows that in modern times it requires to take promises of the smaller business before the acquisition with a grain of salt.

First file created in Canva Studio.
The black & white photo of Carl Jung
was coloured with Canva's AI module.

However, the upgrades that are implemented under the Canva flag are too effective to ignore. Users must obviously accept that the overtaking of a small company's project by a larger player is what today's business world reflects. The dog eat dog mantra just whacks good intentions and leaves users with no choice then to deal with the result of an acquisition, if they want to profit from regular updates of the program they chose to use. In this article I am not going into the details of the improvements of functionality; I need more time to make a sensible effort in that direction and may do so in a not too distant future. I wrote this post mainly because I felt the urge to express what bothered me about the events surrounding Canva's acquisition against the promises made by Affinity around the take over.

Second image edited in Canva Studio,
after having created it in Affinity
Designer version 2.0 many years
ago. The dragon's colours were
made vibrant and saturated.

I am not pleased by the way the acquisition went, but I am satisfied with the functionality of Canva Studio and rather displeased with the subscription model aspect of it. But the newly introduced function upgrades allow me to work faster and better, partly because of an increased AI integration, while offering a suit that includes functions that give Adobe a pain in the rear end. Since 3.2 is significantly improved over version 2.0, I am curious what the future of Canva Studio will bring; will they go head on against Adobe and just keep adding functions that makes the more attractive for graphic designers or have they a few surprises that will surprise the future of graphic design and DTP. Bearing in mind how relatively fast Canva Studio introduced the upgrades to compared to Affinity Designer, we will most likely not have to wait a long to find out, I would guess.

Oh and by the way, I think Affinity and Canva have created a program that absolutely is going to destroy the shamelessly greed ridden Adobe empire. The software design and price are infinitely better what Adobe offers, that besides the huge subscription cost, has created a frustratingly complex path to get rid of Adobe products. Once users join Adobe, they are in a prison. Perhaps joining forces was the modestly concealed objective of the Affinity and Canva teams, that witnessed all of Adobe's competitors being bought over the years and then disappeared by the strategy of the (soon to be former) design market behemoth. The Affinity Canva Studio program's fantastic functionality - integrating vector, pixel and DTP in a single environment without ancient algorithms and UI like many Adobe programs have - already is well on its way to accomplish Adobe's much needed obliteration. In addition many Affinity processes take place in real time, so that users can actually see (unlike Adobe) what the result of their effort manipulation will actually look like while doing it. In the next blog entry I have made a simple exclusively vector modification to Benda's Napoleonbob motorcycle tank, that was entirely created in Affinity Canva Studio. Go take a peek and check it out.

Plasticity 3D program

 

Not too long ago the Plasticity 3D program was launched at a fair price, far below the very expensive traditional 3D programs, without without a subscription strategy, including a very comprehensive UI. Blender is an open source 3D program, downloadable at no cost that includes a 2D drawing module and an animation part, but its UI is horrifically difficult to learn. Plasticity's UI is logical, comprehensive and much more easy to absorb, offering a ton of functions that elevates it to the level of the established, very costly 3D programs, that currently dominate the CAD and 3D design market. To those that have discovered Plasticity will never return to their previously used, hugely overpriced programs and subscription based models. In addition Plasticity has what it calls a Blender Bridge that allows to further optimise textures and improve them with Blender's node editing tool. I would like to suggest to people that are into CAD and (product)design to pay a visit to their website, that demonstrates the program's capability and versatility in a clear way. Mind you, there are different versions, that include upgrades to the previous ones on the list. The meaningful upgrades have come at a reasonably elevated pace, adding tons of functions each time and expanding import and export possibilities. 

Plasticity 3D logo

I haven't yet had the time to dive into the possibilities of Plasticity, but I can already say with absolute certainty that I find it already far better and hugely less expensive than the top notch 3D programs that I have tried before. And one of its major bonusses is that you own the program once you have bought it, without having to pay subscription fees over and again. On Youtube there are a ton of videos that offer designers tutorials from simple to advanced designs - this link is the result of a search. Visit those channels as well if the aim is to quickly learn the program's possibilities and different design methods you should use by applying other functions to achieve better results.

For smooth and effective designs that have zero or close to none strain areas, Plasticity's Studio version's XNurbs function is an excellent and flawlessly working tool, that allow to make excellent use of advanced production tools. Its development has literally raced past the flawed functions - like intricate, diverse filleting - in other programs, that require applying a ton of time consuming work arounds, that required much time and skill to correct; Plasticity does these things right at the first try. It raises the question why programs in roughly the same league are so much more expensive than Plasticity is, while many of them trick users into poverty inciting subscription programs.

On Github there is a file packed with curated Plasticity tutorials; the page also includes links to tutorial sites of experienced Plasticity users. This page offers a list of resources on Plasticity's own website, that may be of interest to designers and CAD developers, including the much praised Discord public Plasticity forum. Anyway, enjoy this magnificent program and ditch the unaffordable 3D programs you used before. Plasticity is up to the challenge.