Too little too late. I advocated for a Linux version for years, and now with Krita, Graphite, etc. the need is no more.
Tell me about Graphite. I’m a Krita user.
It aims to be everything (from vector to raster to animation to publishing to compositing and so on), not sure how that ambition will turn out but they seem to have a very good team and are making good progress. It’s node-based, but you can edit stuff using only the familiar layer stack if that’s your thing. Check out the recent livestreams to see how the procedural workflow looks like : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iLiaSGSnPs and their interview on Developer Voices : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUbcwUC5lxA
There’s no raster editing yet, and no painting, cf roadmap https://graphite.art/features/
Wow, looks very cool, just tried the web app, looks very promising. Do you know if or when this will release native on linux?
They are tracking the work here and welcome subscribers:
I don’t know… they’re preparing a release soonish I think but I don’t know of a concrete date
I use affinity on windows to make photo books as a hobby. Scribus - the only Linux native FOSS alternative I’ve found - is stuck with the typical FOSS issues of a terrible UI, lack of modern snapping or photo importing features, and an overall lack of polish.
Do you know of any affinity alternatives for the layout tools?
No sorry I don’t. Publishing is still one of those areas where open source tools are super lacking. Graphite aims to become a capable publishing tool though, and it’s developing quite fast, so let’s see what comes of it in a year or two. Right now it’s a very capable procedural vector graphics editor. See the “nodevember” livestreams : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iLiaSGSnPs
Sorry I can’t help more.
Much appreciated for the details either way!
What is affinity
Canva, new owner of Affinity, just laid off nearly 1/4 of their employees.
That’s actually really awesome news. I’ve been using Linux since 2008, and I’ve never seen companies so pressured to have Linux support. Companies that have never given a shit are now seeing missing dollar signs. That’s big.
cool. still won’t use it though, i prefer foss applications whenever possible.
Me either because I don’t use it, but if it’s a win for Linux, I’ll take it.
More options is always good.
i’d use if i still needed photoshop for work.
certainly beats using photoshop or windows/wine.
2027 is the year of the Linux Desktop!
Every year since 1994, where XFree86 provided the first GUI, was the year of the Linux desktop!
Let’s celebrate 33 years of the Linux desktop in 2027! 🥳
Yes, that’s the best way to look at it! :)
Come to think of it, I’ve been using Linux since about 2006. So I guess I’ll celebrate 20 years of Linux on my Desktop :)
i hope the linux desktop won’t end up on a cross in about half a year:)
Yes!! I think Microsoft wants the same thing since that’s when support for windows 10 ends.
It took them so long I no longer care tbh. I got used to inkscape and scribus. Scribus would be the two of those I would stop using first if I do switch back
Good news. I think they might struggle a bit with the ArtCraft stuff in development.
I’d much rather use a paid software that was written by people than a free software that was written by clankers.
You think humans are doing the port? I’d wager it’s Claude doing it.
Yeah, fair enough.
Free software need not be gratis
I don’t think that’s relevant here.
I tried ArtCraft and found it completely unusable. There is weird jank everywhere. Brush cursor turning square, weird shenanigans when typing… It looks impressive, but it’s still AI slop.
It’s alpha software, so there are bound to be bugs and weird issues. This is made by a team of developers, so not necessarily slop like someone just prompting “make a Photoshop clone, no mistakes”.
@mr_MADAFAKA They’re just going to have Claude write the “port” for them aren’t they?
They will. But so will everyone else.
We’re going to win by losing many small battles.
I’m excited because I’ve found vector tools for Linux to be really lackluster so far, and end up reaching for Affinity via Wine, and that clunk, for vector work.
Inkscape I know is a darling thing but like, actually using it? It’s an SVG editor at core, and that’s fundamentally different from “vector editing”, because “vector” is a concept, and “SVG” is a rigidly-defined format. In other words, if it’d be a valid vector operation but not supported by SVG, you (often) can’t do it in Inkscape. It also bounds objects with a manipulator that doesn’t follow the object shape/position, but instead the SVG bounding box for that object. So if you have a long box shape and rotate it diagonally, your bounding box is defined by the most distant X/Y coordinates that would fully surround it in a horizontal/vertical box, instead of being the object itself like all other vector editors do. And that shows something I can’t simply fix with a feature request because it’s part of the fundamental design of Inkscape – that’s way bigger than a feature request.
I love Inkscape, but damn you’re not wrong.
As an SVG editor I do like it though.
Oh damn! I’m game for that!
An ai addled mind wrote that. They actually think people use emojis like that
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If this is true then this is great. I’ve been using designer as a vector tool for all the art in a game I’m making, partly because it’s free and I can export over to Spine for animation.
Would mean I don’t have to keep switching between my desktop and MacBook when I’m trying to draw assets.
This is genuinely good news for me. I’ve been using Darktable for the last couple of years. This could add a valuable work and production flow.
