Affinity V2 is Here With Tons of New Features! [Video]

Serif has launched Version 2 of its popular Affinity apps for photo editing, design, and publishing. Additionally, the company is making all apps available in a one time purchase that is currently 40% off. No subscription.

Tons of new features. A completely redesigned UI. Hundreds of performance enhancements and workflow improvements. Here’s everything you should know about the next generation of Affinity…




Here's some of the highlights...


Affinity Designer 2
● VECTOR WARP - This hugely powerful and highly requested addition allows you to apply a non-destructive vector warp over any vector artwork or text. Editing any warp offers a super-fast live preview, even on complex illustrations and gives a true vector end result.

● SHAPE BUILDER TOOL - Add and subtract shapes and segments in a much easier, more interactive way. Quickly create complex shapes by simply dragging between segments to combine or holding a modifier to subtract.

● Knife Tool - Slice any shape, curve or text into component parts faster than ever.


● Measure Tool & Area Tool - Measure line lengths, segments, distances and areas of any objects to scale.

● X-Ray View - A new view mode to show the makeup of your work, particularly useful for targeted selection of a specific curve/object within complex artwork.

● DXF / DWG Import - Import and edit AutoCAD and DXF files quickly and accurately, maintaining the layer structure and scale of the original file.




Affinity Photo 2
● Non-destructive RAW DEVELOP - Develop RAW files non-destructively and choose to embed into a document file or link externally.

● LIVE MASKS - Build powerful, non-destructive workflows with new live masks which update automatically based on the properties of the underlying image.

○ Hue Range - Create a mask based on a specific color and apply adjustments, effects or just paint on the automatically generated mask for your chosen hue.

○ Band-pass - Band-pass allows the creation of a mask to be focused around edges within an image. This has wide uses for re-touchers who work on different frequency layers, but also enables the creation of artistic effects.

○ Luminosity - Specify a luminosity range to mask; for example, isolate specific ranges of highlights or shadows (or anything in between) and apply controlled adjustments to those areas.

● Compound Masks - Easily combine multiple mask layers together non-destructively using add, intersect, subtract and XOR operations. This means separate masks you’ve created can be maintained non-destructively while you create new masks based on those component parts.

● Live Mesh Warp - Want an image or file to be distorted to match the surface of an underlying template? Now you can apply a non-destructive warp to make that happen, and go back to edit whenever you like.

● BRUSH ENGINE IMPROVEMENTS - Re-order nozzles by drag/drop. Use any swatch for intensity brushes, including gradient and bitmap fills. Plus: new distance controller, brush tip interpolation and overall improved performance and accuracy.




Affinity Publisher 2
● Books - Combine separate Publisher documents as chapters to create one long publication, automatically synching page numbers, table of contents, indexes and styles throughout – an especially useful feature for collaboration, as contributors can work on their own sections individually before bringing it all together. Available in desktop version only.

● FOOTNOTES, ENDNOTES AND SIDENOTES - Add academic style notes or references to sections of text.

● Place Auto-flow - Create a single layout that automatically repeats across your document until all desired images are accommodated. Plus, with the ability to choose a repeat count for images, you can set up advanced templates so that in the future you can instantly produce multiple variants in only a few clicks.

● Linked File Layer Visibility Override
Turn any layers on or off from within placed files, including PSD, PDF, DWG, DXF and other Affinity documents without losing the integrity of the link. Even if the source file is changed, your layer visibility settings will be maintained. Also available in Designer 2 and Photo 2.

● STYLE PICKER TOOL
Quickly apply the style of any object or text on your page to another. Also available in Designer 2 and Photo 2 (desktop only).

● Performance
We’ve reengineered how we handle memory for imported PDFs and other large documents, resulting in significant performance improvements.




These are just some of the improvements. There are many more. Check out the link below for the entire changelog.

The new Universal License bundle offers access to all Affinity apps, across all platforms, for a launch day price of $99.99, down from $169.99.

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