Cheap Adobe Alternatives

Education Interest Check
#1

I recently became aware of these two programs from a company called Serif.


They’re trying to compete with Adobe’s stranglehold on the graphics market, and from what I’ve seen so far their software is VERY promising.

It’s main advantage? One license costs less than a month of Adobe CC access.

That’s 50 bucks for life (updates included!!)

I’ve done a little bit of testing, and as someone who is totally dependent on PS and Illustrator and who has the shortcuts burned into his brain, I was able to adapt to it pretty quickly.

So the reason this topic is in “Interest Check” is because I wanted to know if anyone would be interested in taking a crash course on this software?

If there is some interest then I would be happy to start teaching classes. Each class that qualifies for honorarium is another computer we could install this “Adobe replacement” on (for life, no having to post issue requests on talk about the dang license!)

I went ahead and got myself a copy of each, so if there is demand I could get a class together fairly quickly.
I think initially I would focus on how to adapt to Affinity for Adobe users.

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#2

I’d be interested in a class. Can they open Adobe formatted files?

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#3

Yes! It seems that they know that compatibility is a big sticking point for Adobe users.

I haven’t done extensive testing in regards to file compatibility, so it may be that some of the more “advanced” effects/features may not translate properly, but so far all the Adobe files I’ve tried to open had no issues and all of my layers were intact.

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#4

One of the things I’m currently looking for is a replacement for After Affects

#5

I’m hearing good things about Resolve

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/

#6

I enthusiastically like and recommend Affinity Designer, but its compatibility with Illustrator files is not perfect. In collaborative environments where other people are using Adobe software, Illustrator makes much more sense. Designer can import graphics from AI files via an embedded PDF, but it cannot save them.

Serif has been including significant new functionality in point releases as free updates, but I believe they plan to charge at some point when they get to version 2.0.

Fusion (now part of Resolve) is a fantastic piece of software, but whether or not it’s an AE replacement depends on what you are doing in AE.

#7

Yes, would be interested…