Howdy folks,
I've been using Affinity Designer for several years after switching from Adobe Illustrator. Today, Affinity announced that the designer suite, including vector, photo, and publishing components, is available for free. Just create an account at Canva.com (https://www.canva.com/) and download the software at https://www.affinity.studio/ (https://www.affinity.studio/) . This is heavy weight software that is easy to use and fully replaces Illustrator.
I've used Affinity Designer for Parish Livery and Drayage (https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6827.msg179256#msg179256), Quitaque US Post Office (https://modelersforum.com/index.php?msg=193595), and other scratch-built structures.
Good luck and have fun,
mike
Thanks for this information. I've use Corel draw X7 for several years. But due to a change of computer, I can't used it anymore, and today Corel don't sell license, they rent by month. And the cost for the pro version (that permit to make vector draw) cost a lot.
Eric Québec city
That is why I switched from Adobe. ~mike
Cool! Sell me a printer! ;)
How does this compare to Sketch up?
I don't need photos, trees and nonsense just the basics.
MJinTN
Howdy,
SketchUp is a great program, but it doesn't have all the designer features of Affinity. For laser work, if SketchUp works for you, keep using it. I used it when designing furniture and loved it.
Have fun,
mike
Quote from: friscomike on November 12, 2025, 08:12:01 PMHowdy,
SketchUp is a great program, but it doesn't have all the designer features of Affinity. For laser work, if SketchUp works for you, keep using it. I used it when designing furniture and loved it.
Have fun,
mike
My experience with SketchUp (a project for a Roman Architecture class) was mostly an exercise in frustration. It was a combination of my inexperience and bugs in the program. Ed Traxxler helped me out with a half-hour of over-the-phone hand-holding to get my project done.
dave
Thanks guys.
I was able to get back into the free SU.
I have used it for furniture and parts for my 1/16 models.
MJinTN
Mike thanks for the information. I have downloaded the program and will have to see what it can do. I've used Inkscape, Silhouettes design program (not bad for simpler projects by the way) and several others that have come and gone.
Jim