Anyone switched from Illustrator to Affinity Designer on iPad?

scotty

scotty

Ultimate Member
I've made the decision to move from Ai to Affinity after talking about doing so for so long.

I've always had a love/hate thing for Illustrator.
What you can do with it is amazing but it has a steep learning curve, it's not that intuitive to use and I was fed up with Adobe having the monopoly and forcing users into a subscription.

Then...Affinity comes along.
Seemed too good to be true at £50 but it seems like it is from what I've heard.

What's swung it for me is that I need to move on from by old MacBook Pro and Affinity Designer has just been released as an iPad app for just £13.99 (£19.99 after offer ends).
Seems like what I've been waiting for.
iPad and pencil for under £500.

I don't like working at a desk and the iPad is small and portable, I can sketch into it with the Apple pencil, take pic's and do pretty much everything I need without having to revert to another device.
I tried using a Wacom Cintiq with Ai but they're big, not portable, too many big cables, gave by MacBook asthma and not that good with Ai and I just reverted back to my trackpad..

I had a go on a friend's iPad using the Apple Pencil and it was AWESOME!
Felt so intuitive and easy and also found it pretty addictive and put the fun back into working.

Has anyone else made the move or tried it on the iPad and if so, what do you think?
 
Let us know how it goes. If I could, I probably would, I'm jealous of the illustrators and typographers who work on a tablet almost exclusively. I'm currently trying to shift my work focus to a less saturated/more specialised area that uses different software (or is software agnostic) and the ultimate aim is to ditch Adobe completely. I use it for a tiny percentage of my work but am still 'locked' to it for the sake of opening files.
 
Paul Murray said:
I use it for a tiny percentage of my work but am still 'locked' to it for the sake of opening files.
Click to expand...

I will Paul.

All my past work is in Ai so I can never see me ditching it completely unless I can import it into Affinity properly.

My only concern is making the isometric stuff I do as I tend to use actions a lot which saves a load of time isometric-izing things.

Didn't you switch to Affinity on desktop?

I've got it but not had that much time to play with it.
 
scotty said:
Didn't you switch to Affinity on desktop?
Click to expand...

Almost. I still sometimes need to open up AI to deform text but that's about all I use it for now. If I'm producing vectors for a print document, I'll normally just export them as an EPS. Publisher is the big one I'm waiting for.
 
According to Serif there are lots of features on their "road map" so I can only see it improving and you don't have to fork out for new versions like you did with Adobe.

Not that I'd really use it but I've heard good vibes about Publisher.
 
I've often considered switching to an iPad for work... but what about storage? All those files build up, do you send them somewhere rather than keep them on the iPad?
 
Jimlad said:
I've often considered switching to an iPad for work... but what about storage? All those files build up, do you send them somewhere rather than keep them on the iPad?
Click to expand...

The 2018 iPad goes up to 128GB and the iPad Pro up To 512GB.
Vector files tend to be fairly small so that's plenty and I guess some external storage or cloud would come in handy for backing up.
 
Sounds great for vector work... I wonder if there's a topic in the forum to discuss the use of iPads for raster work?
 
I tried one and I think it was running Procreate and it was totally AWESOME!

Loads better than using a Cintiq.

The iPad was just like using a sketchbook but with every art tool in the world whilst the Cintiq was like using a sketchbook, tied to the wall and my MacBook with big cables.
They're not portable and you can't even work off your lap really without losing the feeling in your legs. ;)
 
I tried the Cintiq with Illustrator and it was okay doe doing freehand/drawing type work with the pencil tool but not for working with the pen tool.
 
If I had all the moneys I'd totally love a 12.9" iPad Pro 512GB... but I don't have £1119 to spend on a tablet haha. Maybe if my Cintiq dies I'll consider a 69GB version for £769... I presume Android has some cheaper alternatives, but are they any good...
 
You can get a 2018 iPad 128GB and apple pencil for under £500.
The 2018 iPad works with the pencil.

Compared to what I'd spend replacing my Macbook, even if I bought used is pretty good.
 
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