Serif updated all three of its creative apps, including Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Publisher. Version 1.8 brings dozens of new features including smart object PSD import for Photo, while Publisher sees IDML compatibility for importing Adobe InDesign files. The update adds a number of welcomed improvements and changes. 

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Affinity Photo and Designer Updates 

Affinity Photo could always import and export PSD files, but now it can import smart objects and maintain all editable layers. Version 1.8 also offers manual lens correction override for manual lenses, improved plugin support which now includes the Nik collection, there's a bump in RAW processing for batch processing and added support for Canon’s CR3 RAW, among others. New brushes, metadata editing, improved JPEG encoding, and better colors for HDR authoring are all part of the update. 

Affinity Designer receives an improved vector engine, Boolean and Geometry operation, more template document presets, a new stock panel, and an updated Pantone library to name a few. It also sees updated vector and raster brushes, keyboard brush settings modifiers, improved functionality when selecting a large number of objects as well as Node/Pen Tool improvements for Reverse Curve, Curve Orientation, and more. 

With 1.8, Affinity Photo and Designer continue its single file format allowing files to seamlessly work with Affinity Publisher via StudioLink technology. 

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Affinity Publisher Updates

The big bump here is IDML import allowing Adobe InDesign files to be brought in and worked on. The software offers a full preflight check and will warn of possible errors. The updates also include the ability to save documents as templates, combine multiple Affinity Publisher documents together with smart merge, supports Excel import and faster PDF exports, among others. 

Pricing & Availability 

If you're in need of a subscription-less alternative for creativity, Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Publisher are $49.99 each and available through the Apple app store. Existing users can download the update for free. 

Source: Affinty