The free software (some are only free for personal use, but others are completely free):
- Motion Design by Maxon - Autograph: https://www.maxon.net/en/autograph
- Animation by Canva - Cavalry: https://cavalry.studio/en/
- Photo editing, book editing and graphics by Canva - Affinity: https://www.affinity.studio/
- Photo manipulation by Gimp: https://www.gimp.org/
- Movie Editing by Black Magic -Davinci Resolve: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve
- 3D animation, movie editing, modeling, sculpting by Blender: https://www.blender.org/download/
- Digital painting by Krita: https://krita.org/en/
Some of those are just in the beginner stage of enshittification, no doubt. But there is little reason to keep using Adobe when the free alternatives are this good to be honest. I used to pay for Affinity but I’m so glad it’s free now. The relaunch prompted people to make a proper Linux installer just in time when I ditched Windows. The program is in the best state it has ever been so even though this might be the start of something terrible, I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
And fantastic vector graphics inkscape: https://inkscape.org/
I love inkscape. Its what illustration was before adobe started tinkering too much.
Neat list!
Blender and resolve are terrific. Gimp is a bit of a running joke for veterans in the industry - the UX is a comical mess.
Personally steer well clear of Maxon and Canva. Maxon on account of the rubbish pricing, piss poor UX/UI, and invasive telemetry. Canva for AI stance, telemetry, and their having the option to monetize should they ever feel like it after having locked in a large enough user base. Which absolutely will happen over a long enough period given predatory, for profit SaaS trends.
Penpot is an alright Canva substitute for the time being, least for my needs which are reasonably complex. Haven’t had much luck finding a good foss alternative to after effects though.
Also in the photo editing arena, RawTherapee, Darktable, and RapidRAW, all FOSS.
Dude, never heard of these. They’re awesome.
- RawTherapee: https://rawtherapee.com/
- Darktable: https://www.darktable.org/
- Rapid Raw: https://www.getrapidraw.com/
autograph is finally back🥹 just hoping maxon didn’t enshittify it
It looks like they killed the Linux version.
😭
Did you ever try the free version of Maxon on Adobe? It was Blender but you couldn’t move anything unless you paid a shit ton.
no, I’ve only used autograph for a bit, way back before maxon bought left-angle (creators of autograph) and killed the software for about a year it was a very solid after effects alternative
“Free” apps from a commercial business are only “free” until they get a foothold, then they start limiting access, and putting new features behind the paywall.
No “war” on Adobe will succeed until businesses start using something other than Adobe software. If you want to earn money in visual arts, you must learn Adobe software. If you take classes, they all teach Adobe software. Beyond that, though, clients provide assets in proprietary Adobe formats, expecting the studio to use Adobe software.
I was a graphic designer for over twenty years. My preferred app for vector work and document layout was Corel Draw, it’s better than Illustrator in many ways, and replaced both Illustrator and InDesign for 99% of the work I did. But, I still needed to know Illustrator and InDesign, because clients provided assets, and incoming employees only knew Adobe and wouldn’t try anything else. Also, though, GIMP is still not a good substitute for Photoshop. I use it now, since I’m retired, but it’s still not as good.
With that lived experience I’d love your thoughts on other apps, I use Inkscape and Scribus and Darktable now but looking around
I have been trying out alternatives for a few years now. I prefer EU software because USA is too nosy and pushy. I also prefer something I demo and the can buy once at reasonable value. I would also consider updates with a reasonable costs attached. I also prefer download to a cloud service.
I have been advocating alternatives in my workplace for maybe 4-5 years now, but TBH most places pick adobe for convenience. My last project was happy to follow my lead and saved the $$ so I was happy with that.
Inkscape has worked on windows and Linux for me pretty fine for years. I have used Gimp and Blender years ago with students. Didn’t mind them, I will likely have a look at PhotoGimp. but I rarely do photo editing or webcontent anymore.
I do miss a layout alternative. InDesign is my last problem to solve. I prefer it to word/libreOffice and often use it even when just planning out recipes etc (I have recently made an effort to go back to analogue and i am in the process documenting them) . I tried Scribus and found it very messy, and a hard learning curve. I have also tried VivaDesigner which is OK but I have Linux which causes issues. It is also a subscription (European) and a bit on the pricey side. It more intuitive than Scribus but still has limitations in terms of text setting. I also find the export options in particular optimization is clunky. It does a good job at importing native InDesign files, 98% of content is intact.
Agree, a lot of people advocate for Canva, it will only go the same way as adobe.
Good.
Let me guess, they won’t give even a fraction of that money to the opensource projects they now use and instead spam them with “why don’t you have the same features as adobe when I didn’t give you a fucking cent!?!?!?” ?
The industry here isn’t using open source. Canva keeps buying companies that have equivalent-enough software to adobe and then making them free to use
Future lock-in, incoming
🎉🍿
