For those who don’t know the tool: Affinity is a multi-discipline design app for image, vector, and layout work. It now plugs into Canva brand features, can roundtrip .af assets into DaVinci Resolve, and accepts .af exports from Capture One.

The headline feature is not a filter

DaVinci Resolve can now import Affinity .af files for use as title cards, video overlays, and annotations, with updates flowing through in real time when you save changes in the design app. That lands alongside Resolve 21.0, which is currently in beta.

This attacks the boring part of motion workflows: the constant export, relink, and version soup when a client wants one word nudged three pixels left. It also sets a clear expectation for what .af should mean in a post pipeline: not just a “design source”, but a living asset that your edit can keep referencing while you keep iterating.

You should still treat any new file interchange like a fragile truce. Test it on your actual porcess, with your actual templates, actual codecs, uncomfortably shared storage, and idiosyncratic naming rules, before you trust it on a deadline.

Pixels get a few sharper teeth

Affinity 3.2 adds a Texture Filter aimed at enhancing fine detail in the midtones of an image. The Multi Band Sharpen filter also gets a new Fine Detail sharpening option. There are also updates to astrophotography tools and to RAW image processing.

On the masking side, the update introduces new mask types called Object Selection, Luminosity, Hue Range, and Compound. If your day includes pulling masks for retouching, matte prep, or quick comp touch-ups, those additions are worth a focused test session: not because new mask types magically fix hard edges, but because they can change how fast you get to a usable first pass.

Capture One to .af, with the guts intact

Capture One can now export .af files for use in Affinity, preserving masks, watermarks, and metadata when those files are imported. The official messaging also describes a one click move that carries through layers, masks, metadata, annotations, overlays, and guides.

If you sit between photo selection and finishing, this is the practical kind of interoperability. It reduces the “rebuild it by hand” tax that often turns a quick retouch into an unplanned afternoon. As always, validate what “preserving” means for the specific features you rely on, especially once you start mixing adjustments, complex masks, and layered comps.

Brand systems, paid tiers, and the automation angle

Canva says its Brand System now sits inside Affinity, providing access to approved colors, fonts, imagery, and brand voice while you work. Paid subscriptions also add access to Brand Kits inside the app.

There is also an automation path via an AI connection to Claude. With Claude Desktop, it is possible to automate repetitive tasks in Affinity by giving natural-language instructions. The connector is free while in beta, and the workflow is presented as Claude building reusable scripts you can run again.

This is the part to approach with healthy production paranoia. Even when a tool promises time savings, automation can fail in ways that are harder to spot than a broken Mini-USB cable in THAT box we all keep. Run it on duplicates, keep versions, and validate outputs like you would validate any new plug-in or script in a shared pipeline.

Price and platforms

The core application is free on Windows and macOS, and downloading it requires registering for a free online account. Using the online AI tools inside Affinity requires a paid subscription. Pro subscriptions now cost $144 per year and Business subscriptions now cost $250 per year, with both prices described as having increased since March. Pricing beyond those figures is not specified in the Sources.

If you are tempted to roll this straight into production because it fixes a real pain point, do the responsible thing: build a small test project that matches your real deliverables, then try to break it on purpose. The goal is to find the weird corner cases before your client does.
https://www.canva.com/launches/

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The post Canva ships Affinity 3.2 first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Affinity is a free single app that combines vector, photo, and layout work under one roof, with account ties to Canva for AI tools.

A lighter UI, on purpose

The March 2026 update introduces Light UI inside Affinity. Light UI is presented as a long-requested feature and it is described as fully customizable, including the ability to fine-tune interface brightness. Light UI also matters for a very practical reason that rarely makes it into feature lists: the UI you stare at for hours is part of your working conditions. A darker UI can reduce glare in some environments. A brighter UI can feel cleaner in others. This update makes that preference something you can dial in rather than endure.

Raster selections that turn into editable curves

A new Convert to Curves command appears in the Vector menu in Affinity. It turns a pixel selection into a fully editable vector curve. The feature is framed (See what I did there?) as a faster path from raster to vector. The update is removing the need for manual tracing for designers and illustrators who want to convert parts of a photo into clean vector artwork. That is a capability claim, so treat it as a marketing claim until you validate it on your own files.

Convert to Curves is also useful for turning selected subjects into curves that can be refined without redrawing every contour. The same update text lists silhouettes, logo-style graphics, and cut-outs as example outcomes. The Convert to Curves workflow is described as pairing well with the Object Selection tool, with the goal of keeping the transition from pixels to vectors smooth and uninterrupted. Again, that is a promise about feel and flow, not a benchmark.

If you live in the world of revisions, this is the part worth testing immediately. Vectorizing from a selection is only valuable if the resulting curve quality and editability hold up under actual production demands, including later reshaping and downstream exports.

Live Tone Blend Groups for non-destructive compositing

The update introduces Live Tone Blend Groups in Affinity. A Live Tone Blend Group is a dynamic group where layers placed inside begin blending with the underlying composition in real time, non-destructively.

The feature is a new approach to compositing. The changelog describes it as simplifying tonal matching by reducing the need for manual matching with clipped adjustments and channel manipulations, and blending has ALLLEGEDLY become a one-click process. The update also describes Live Tone Blend Groups as fully editable, with blending settings that can be refined at any stage and individual layers that can still be adjusted as needed. It also claims the groups render smoothly even in complex documents. Rendering smoothness is highly file-dependent, so that statement stays in marketing-claim territory until independently verified.

If your day includes backplates, patches, and the slow dance of getting elements to sit in the same world, the key promise here is non-destructive tone integration that stays editable. The key question you should test is control. Specifically, how predictable the blend behaves across different kinds of underlying content, and how it interacts with your existing adjustment habits inside the app.

Small workflow refinements that add up

Alongside the headline features, the update includes a right-click brush menu in Affinity, giving illustrators and digital painters instant access to their full brush library. The update also adds a right-click menu on document tabs, enabling quick checks for Color Format and Size, and it includes actions such as closing other files and floating a window.

None of these are flashy in isolation, but they target the friction points you hit dozens of times a day. The update positions them as answers to everyday workflow pain. Whether they actually reduce your click count depends on your habits and your muscle memory, so build a quick sanity test: open your usual number of documents, keep your usual brush sets around, and see if the new menus cut steps or just add another place to look.

What to test before you trust it

Light UI is easy to validate. You can confirm whether the brightness controls land where you want them and whether the look stays consistent across your workspace setups.

Convert to Curves needs tougher love. Test it on messy selections, hard edges, hair, glass, motion blur, compression artefacts, and anything else that makes selection tools sweat. Validate how editable the resulting curves feel, how clean they export, and how stable they remain after further edits.

Live Tone Blend Groups deserve a proper comp trial. Toss in layers with mismatched exposure, hue shifts, and different texture frequencies. Then test editability. Make changes upstream and see if the blend stays predictable. If it does what the feature claims, it can save time. If it surprises you, it can also cost time. Either way, you want that surprise to happen before a deadline.

Serif will not ship your shots, your layouts, or your client approvals. You still have to do that part yourself, so treat this update like any other new tool: exciting, useful, and guilty until proven stable on your pipeline.

https://www.affinity.studio/blog/affinity-update-march-2026

The post Cava / Serif updates Affinity first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Canva announced that Affinity, the formerly separate applications Designer, Photo and Publisher, have been relaunched as a unified suite under Canva’s banner. The new version is positioned for professional design workflows while complementing Canva’s existing platform.

The updated Affinity is described as “free forever”, with no base subscription required. It launches for Windows and macOS, with an iPad version planned. It introduces a universal file type across design, photo and layout workflows, as well as built-in export and integration with Canva’s broader ecosystem. For production artists, this means one tool potentially covering illustration, retouching and layout tasks rather than maintaining three independent programs.

Pricing and licence model

Affinity’s previous one-time-purchase model has been replaced with a free-tier structure. The base app is free to download and use indefinitely, but certain advanced tools, primarily those involving AI, such as image generation, cleanup and smart-fill, require a Canva Premium subscription. The “free forever” offer therefore coexists with a paid layer, effectively turning Affinity into a freemium product.

Existing perpetual licences remain functional “for now”, but Canva has not published long-term support or compatibility timelines for those legacy versions. Older V2 editions have been withdrawn from sale.

Strategic rationale

Canva acquired Serif and the Affinity suite in early 2024, bringing roughly three million professional users into its ecosystem. The move gave Canva an entry point into the professional creative software market, where subscription-based incumbents like Adobe dominate.

With this relaunch, Canva appears to be positioning Affinity as both a professional-grade offering and a bridge between traditional desktop software and Canva’s web-based design platform. The strategy signals an attempt to make professional workflows part of Canva’s larger “creative operating system,” unifying its consumer and professional user bases.

Considerations for production use

While the “free forever” headline is attractive, Canva’s AI features remain deeply embedded in the new workflow. Many of these tools, including automatic cleanup, are gated behind Canva Premium accounts. This will require hands-on testing over time to determine whether they justify the eventual cost of subscription access.

The real test will be how easily Affinity can be configured for use inside pipelines. Questions remain about how long it will take to adapt the new unified app to established workflows, whether automation and scripting capabilities have changed, and how stable the new file system proves when used in multi-artist setups. Pipelines that rely on established asset management and render paths may require reconfiguration to integrate the new Affinity properly. The effort might be worthwhile if Canva maintains long-term product continuity, but that remains to be seen.

Integration with Canva’s cloud storage is another factor. The degree of flexibility when connecting to existing storage solutions, such as NAS or enterprise cloud systems (Dropbox, Google Drive, or on-prem servers), has not been fully detailed. Production teams will need to verify whether the new cloud hooks can coexist with external asset storage or whether data remains locked inside Canva’s ecosystem.

Despite these uncertainties, the relaunch is broadly good news for artists and small studios. A unified toolset with no upfront cost lowers the barrier to entry and provides an accessible alternative to subscription-only competitors. The performance and stability of the new app will ultimately determine whether it can find a lasting place in production environments.

Bottom line

The most striking structural change is that Affinity’s three separate apps for vector graphics, raster work and layout (Designer, Photo and Publisher)have been collapsed into a single executable. For artists used to bouncing between Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign (or, in our case at Digital Production, between Photoshop and InDesign several times per day and it feels like a thousand times a day), the prospect of handling illustration, image correction and page layout within one coherent workspace is admittedly tempting. If the combined app maintains the responsiveness that made the original Affinity trio popular, this could simplify day-to-day asset handling considerably.

Studios should test the software thoroughly before deployment, evaluate integration with their existing storage and pipeline systems, and monitor how Canva handles support for legacy perpetual versions. The promise of a free, professional toolset is welcome, provided it stays usable, open and supported long enough to justify the switch.

The post Affinity: free all-in-one design suite first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.