Software Update: Affinity Suite 1.9

Serif has released version 1.9 of Affinity. The Affinity suite consists of the Photo, Designer and Publisher programs, and can be regarded as the counterparts of, for example, Adobe PhotoShop, Illustrator and InDesign. The software is available for Windows, macOS, and iOS, and is temporarily discounted by 50%. Detailed information about version 1.9 can be found on this page are found, these are the main improvements:

Performance improvements

Expect big performance gains when working with large complex vector documents in all apps as well as much faster IDML import in Publisher.

Select Same

Match attributes such as fill color, stroke color, stroke weight, transparency, blend mode or shape type by selecting all objects in your document. It’s a huge timesaver and great workflow improvement.

PDF pass-through (desktop only)

It’s now possible to flag your imported PDFs for PDF passthrough. This ensures that the file will be a perfect representation of the original PDF when exporting, regardless of whether you have the embedded fonts installed or not.

Windows GPU acceleration

We’ve made use of hardware acceleration on both the macOS and iPad versions of Affinity for some time (including being some of the first apps to optimize for the new Apple M1 chips). Now, Windows users can experience these large performance boosts too with up to 10x faster performance on pixel-based tasks like filter effects, adjustments and painting. Requires Windows 10 (April 2020 update or later) with a Direct3D feature level 12.0 capable card.

Package (desktop only)

Collate your document alongside all used image and font resources into a folder. This can then be easily transferred to another system to aid collaboration or for print production.

RAW improvements

We’ve now added the SerifLabs RAW engine to Affinity Photo for iPad to ensure consistency between how RAW files are developed on desktop and iPad. This allows for better noise reduction and manual lens corrections, and also gives you more cropping flexibility. We’ve also updated our library to support the latest cameras.

contour tool

Effortlessly add a contour to any object or increase the width of single open curves with this powerful new tool. An easy way to create abstract shapes or an offset path — great for various architectural purposes or for making a logo or print file for a sticker.

Add live liquefy layer

Liquify operations can now be done non-destructively or applied over the top of a load of layers rather than just on a single pixel layer.

data merge

Easily integrate text and image links into your document by merging from an external data source (Text/CSV, JSON and Excel files are currently supported). Perfect for creating certificates, business cards, badges, tickets, form letters, envelopes and catalogues.

Add path text

You can now create text on a path in Affinity Photo, just like you can in Designer and Publisher. The path can be created from any line, curve or shape drawn using any of the line or shape tools and allows you to explore a whole range of diverse typographical designs.

Linked images and resource manager (desktop only)

You can now link resources in Designer and Photo just like you can in Publisher, opening up collaborative workflow possibilities and reducing document file sizes.

Select Object

Organize layers more efficiently by selecting all objects of a certain type (all symbols, all pixel layers, any shapes without a stroke, etc) within your document to make editing them even easier.

Edit spare channels as layers

Previously, there wasn’t a direct way to edit the content of a spare channel, but now you can isolate, edit and duplicate spare channels with a simple click or touch.

Convert pixel layer to image node

Instead of remaining embedded within the document, any pixel layers you have in Affinity Publisher can now be converted to an image, which can also now be linked or packaged as a resource.

New divide blend mode

This new feature opens up creative and practical techniques like correcting color casts, enhancing infrared imagery and augmenting live filters.

Content sync of store purchases

You now have the ability to link your apps with your Affinity account and download all of your content from the store directly to your apps. All purchased content will show up in your linked apps once you complete the download, ready for you to use even when you’re offline.

Flattened bitmap representation used for all PSD files

In addition to our already amazing PSD handling, when placing a PSD, Affinity Publisher now uses the flattened bitmap representation in the file rather than interpreting the file content itself. This will provide much better results without needing to have the correct fonts installed. You can still choose to edit the layers of the placed PSD should you wish.