This is the first time I have been without the Adobe Suite in a while, and I am researching alternative tools to do instructional work. Also, I love learning new things. I am looking for replacements for Illustrator - I do most of my graphic design work in Illustrator because I love the clean look of smooth curves. Its replacement needs to work with, at minimum, both SVG and EPS file formats. After Effects - I use After Effects to do most of my video editing these days, along with all of the motion graphics I create. Photoshop - I am not a photographer, but I do a lot of photo editing and correction work. Well-designed selection tools are necessary for anything more complicated than basic cropping and color correction tools. Indesign - I use a page layout tool for anything that will end up as a PDF or printed on paper. Premiere - I do much of my video editing straight in After Effects. Still, sometimes you need the fine control of a straight-up video editor.
I have found some good replacements.
What led me to this initially is that I have it on my iPad. I first got it because of the killer feature of seamless transitions between working with vectors and raster. The desktop version is the “best of the rest” when dealing with vector art. The tools are easy to understand, and since I had the iPad license, I got a price break on the suite.
A tool that can do many, many things if you know how to do them. My issue is the learning curve at this point. I want something I can use now.
I am honestly blown away that this is open-source software. It is mainly for motion graphics, so I will have to also find a proper video editor.
Think of Photoshop without all the new fancy Ai tools. All the raster graphic tools I need are here and easy to find and understand. Nice.
This tool has pulled me out of many binds when I found myself without the financial resources to get any graphics program. Gimp is always a go-to, but I can’t say much about using it. It has come a long way from all the endless menus and right clicks of the past, but it still has a long way to go until I call it easy to use.
I learned this faster than I learned inDesign. I may use this as the replacement because it has much the same functionality but not the same bulkiness as inDesign. I may like this better.
Ugh, You know what I mean. You can do some rudimentary page layout in Google docs, but it is nowhere near what I need.
They have free and paid tiers, but I have never had to use the paid version. Just wanted to mention that this program was developed by the famous camera builders BlackMagic Studios. So you might want to check it out regardless.
This is what I used before I found SnagIt. It is entirely open source free software.
I ended up with the Affinity Suite of tools, along with Synfig Studio for motion graphics and Davinci for Video Editing.