u/yfront

Tl;dr: Affinity is good + Adobe Fonts workaround

Been using Adobe since 1999. Bought my physical copy of CS6 for Windows in 2013. Switched to their subscription model around 2019 because of updated software + Adobe Fonts.

Pricing sucks, but it was never bad enough to have me look for alternatives. Even losing Pantone libraries wasn't a dealbreaker since you could work around it with saved swatches.

Learning new software sucks hard. There are Adobe keyboard shortcuts in my fingers that my brain doesn't even know about. But with the push for AI, bloated updates, system crashes, and cancellation fees for subscriptions, it finally felt like enough was enough.

So a couple of days ago (still somewhat reluctantly) I decided to install and try out Affinity. I was expecting some watered down meh alternative that would just feel off. But it was everything but that. As of now I see no reason to go back to Adobe.

• Similar to Adobe in icons and layout
• Very slick and responsive
• Easy to personalise and set up workspace
• All Pantone color books included
• Works with Printfab (didn't even have to set anything up - it just picked up my existing print settings and profiles from Illustrator)
• The ability to switch between vector / pixel / type inside the same document is very nice

Also: it's free

Font workaround

Since I do client work I need licensed commercial fonts, and I believe Adobe Fonts is still one of the best curated font libraries out there. So here's the workaround I ended up using:

(Maybe this is a gray area?)

Adobe InCopy is the cheapest single app Adobe subscription (in my region) that includes Creative Cloud access + Adobe Fonts. It costs about 70–80 EUR per year.

Install Creative Cloud, activate fonts there, and they show up as system fonts. That means they work directly in Affinity like any other installed font.

So now I basically run:
Affinity for vector design work + film positives with Printfab
Adobe InCopy as a font gateway

I have an 6 color / 6 station screen carousel. I'm teaching myself as I go. I'm doing one shirt at a time but I'm thinking of buying an IR flash with a foot pedal to speed up the workflow when doing a discharge print or anything that is print - flash - print - cure.

My question is, how do I optimize my process when working alone? I do waterbased and discharge only. No plastisol. When doing white ink or discharge, I just need a flash that preps it for the second print.

My thoughts:
Load all 6 palettes.
Print #1
Index + flash print #1
Print #2
etc.

When Print #1 comes back, it gets a second print, I put it on the conveyor dryer. Load it with a new tshirt, print it, and then continue?

Or is there another way?

Thinking of a Vastex F-100 if I can find one in Europe.