Xara/MAGIX vs AFFINITY

**Rik** · 06 October 2020, 04:33 PM

I'm not posting here to compare Xara Designer Pro against Affinity Designer, when it comes to drawing.
I think there are many who are much more qualified, than I am.
And to be honest, I've not used AD that much. Why? Well, I find Xara easy to use.
No doubt, if I spend the same number of years on AD, I may also get proficient on AD.

What I do want to say is that Xara/MAGIX seem hell bent on pissing me off, whilst Affinity continue to provide good service.

This is the message I have to get past EVERY time I start XDP17.

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And Xara/MAGIX Support has said: "The notification about your update service expired is unfortunately something that is not possible to get rid of, there is no way how to stop it from popping up."

Whilst Affinity continue to provide updates, even though I bought AD many, many years ago.

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And this was the second update from Affinity in about 5 months.
For a product that's a fraction of the price of XDP.

I just don't understand what Xara/MAGIX hope to gain by this permanent message?!
If it's more business, then it's unlikely to be from me.

**gwpriester** · 06 October 2020, 06:00 PM

Good points Rik.

**handrawn** · 06 October 2020, 06:14 PM

I paid 52,000 JP [from memory about 56 GBP at the time] for Paint Tool SAI in 2011 - since then the program has progressed from 32 to 64 bit and has had many new features and capabilities added; technically it is beta, but I do not find many bugs and I have never been asked to pay a single penny more

usually updates 2/3 times a year

now people like this get respect

[just making the point - PT-SAI is a 'manga style' app, not vector]

**behzad** · 07 October 2020, 11:55 AM

Serif is competing for the Adobe market. Xara is not focusing on that, they are alone wolf.

**bwood** · 02 November 2020, 07:45 PM

I have Affinity Designer. I like it. But Xara is the “all in one” tool. Certainly Affinity has some great newsletter capabilities, and offers some very handy presets especially for Facebook and Instagram. Affinity is a great mock up tool. Works well on Mac too.
Xara’s power lies in adjusting on the fly. For web very handy for photo enhancement again on the fly. It all depends upon your workflow and tools.
If one has another web product, Adobe, coffee cup etc, Affinity is a tool to add to the toolbox.
Affinity at the moment is not interested in producing a web program. Certainly Affinity Photo is an excellent replace for Photoshop.

**Spamiky** · 08 February 2021, 01:42 PM

Affinity 50% sale

**gwpriester** · 08 February 2021, 02:53 PM

This is an old thread, but at the end of the day, is it is not the software that makes the art but the artist using the software.

**behzad** · 08 February 2021, 03:07 PM

I 2nd that. Some people have made great graphics with microsoft paint back in the days

**pauland** · 08 February 2021, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by bwood

I have Affinity Designer. I like it. But Xara is the “all in one” tool. Certainly Affinity has some great newsletter capabilities, and offers some very handy presets especially for Facebook and Instagram. Affinity is a great mock up tool. Works well on Mac too.
Xara’s power lies in adjusting on the fly. For web very handy for photo enhancement again on the fly. It all depends upon your workflow and tools.
If one has another web product, Adobe, coffee cup etc, Affinity is a tool to add to the toolbox.
Affinity at the moment is not interested in producing a web program. Certainly Affinity Photo is an excellent replace for Photoshop.

I recently joined the Affinity Facebook group.

Wow is it busy. It very much has an enthusiastic vibe that is like talkgraphics used to be - about drawing stuff not websites. In an afternoon I've seen more artwork than in a year on Talkgraphics. Talkgraphics is something of a misnomer these days.

..and this afternoon someone was complaining that Affinity couldn't do what DrawPlus does.. ..so familiar when people move software.

**Acorn** · 08 February 2021, 05:24 PM

Originally Posted by pauland

I recently joined the Affinity Facebook group.
Wow is it busy. It very much has an enthusiastic vibe that is like talkgraphics used to be - about drawing stuff not websites. In an afternoon I've seen more artwork than in a year on Talkgraphics. Talkgraphics is something of a misnomer these days.
..and this afternoon someone was complaining that Affinity couldn't do what DrawPlus does.. ..so familiar when people move software.

People develop their art skills all the time and stop contributing as they are drawing and painting. Artists need to present their work and the web is next to free, which is where the skew comes in (I do think there are more monotheist church sites than artists' ones!). Compare the cost against canvas, brush, paint and print materials. That said the XDA is a vector program so some may not switch easily to this 'media', preferring to paint pixels instead.

I believe building a website is an art, as is creating a cursive document and both are as "graphic" as a drawing.
Xara offers photo manipulation with OLE out to a third-party editor (Affinity Photo, Photoshop, etc).
It certainly needs better ImpEx using SVG to Affinity Designer and other vector programs.
Tellingly, Affinity Publisher knock spots off the XDA in lots of areas for PDF manipulation.

The attraction of the XDA is, however, its simpler user interface (present changes notwithstanding) and seamless integration.

Where Xara lets itself down is its naff subscription model: Affinity states "You do not need to remain online or signed in to use this content." Wouldn't that be nice? Affinity keeps throwing free content at me and I get to keep it too.

Acorn