adobe photoshop vs illustrator vs lightroom

afdesign – which has extremely limited compatibility with other programs.

Affinity Designer only saves in its own format –. The global standard for vector illustration is AI, Adobe’s base format.

Illustrator is definitely the winner when it comes to compatibility. (Image credit: Beth Crane) Affinity Designer vs Illustrator: compatibility In recent updates, Illustrator has also brought in a whole host of new 3D tools, including the ability to apply 3D effects to vector artwork and the ability to map vector artwork over 3D objects.Īdobe Illustrator makes complex gradient patterns easy. Adobe’s gradient tools are also far more advanced, with Mesh Gradient allowing for complex gradients with very little effort. Crucial to some and utterly useless to others, there are several who will miss it if they switch. One key element missing from Affinity Designer is a vector tracing tool. There are grid plugins available for Illustrator, but these add an extra cost to an already pricey piece of software. While Illustrator possesses the basics (horizontal, vertical, and… that’s it) Affinity Designer has a far wider range of tools, including an isometric tool, which along with a 'fit to plane' process, makes the creation of 3D shapes and patterns far, far easier. One of the features where Affinity Designer wins over Illustrator, however, is in its grid functions. One of the key elements is Illustrator’s Envelope Distortion tool, allowing text to be twisted and skewed intelligently to fit specific spaces.Īffinity Designer allows vectors to be skewed to match faces of customisable isometric grids (Image credit: Beth Crane) Illustrator is integrated with Adobe Fonts, allowing users to preview Adobe fonts in situ before downloading them, and in the program itself, Illustrator possesses text editing abilities that Affinity Designer simply doesn’t have. Illustrator has a lot of additional features that are text based, and considering the importance of text in graphic design, for many this will be the match point. Vector lines can be modified either by clicking and dragging or by using vector point levers, depending on your goal. The key element of any vector software, the node editor, is both relatively similar and fairly simple for both nodes can be added either individually and specifically with the pen tool or in a more freehand manner with the straightforwardly-named freehand tool. Whereas Illustrator relies on its mainstay of drop-down numerical boxes, Affinity Designer’s sliders are a more intuitive way to determine sizing, whether you’re determining the appropriate stroke width or layer transparency.īoth programs have the ability to customise their toolbar, meaning you can be rid of the tools you don’t use and prioritise the ones you use the most, and both have the ability to make simultaneous changes across all instances of similar objects in Illustrator, this is called Global Editing, whereas in Affinity Designer you can designate an object, such as a logo, as a Symbol, giving you the opportunity to automatically copy across any changes made to all instances of it. One of the more intuitive elements of Affinity Designer’s user interface is the use of sliders to control sizing and zooms. Affinity Designer's Workspace (Image credit: Beth Crane)

Adobe photoshop vs illustrator vs lightroom