Content creators, which Graphic Tools do you prefer? Do you use any budget friendly ones?

Reviews
1

Adobe CS is too expensive for me. I refuse to pay their monthly subscription fees.

I have been looking at Canva. Do you have any other recommendations?

Thanks.

2

I’d definitely recommend Canva. It covers almost all my needs for teaching slides.

However, it lacks in certain areas like protractors, n-sided figures, or custom chemistry setups. For those, phet and Chemix are useful.

3

@Tracy
Doesn’t Canva offer a free premium version for teachers?

Edit: typo correction

4

Racey said:
@Tracy
Doesn’t Canva offer a free premium version for teachers?

Edit: typo correction

It’s only for K-12 teachers and not without exceptions. You can find more details on their website.

5

@Tracy
I need to manipulate high-resolution architectural drawings with different line weights and such. Do you think it can handle that? Thanks :pray:

6

CathyGenesis said:
@Tracy
I need to manipulate high-resolution architectural drawings with different line weights and such. Do you think it can handle that? Thanks :pray:

For such specific needs, you’d probably need a more specialized tool. Something more technical.

7

@Tracy
Would have been helpful to mention that in your initial post. Lol.

8

CathyGenesis said:
@Tracy
I need to manipulate high-resolution architectural drawings with different line weights and such. Do you think it can handle that? Thanks :pray:

This is a chat for forum questions

9

Canva is my go-to for general purposes

10

I use the Affinity suite. I find it affordable and very useful for what it offers.

Edit: corrected a previous mistake about platform exclusivity.

11

aloisbeard said:
I use the Affinity suite. I find it affordable and very useful for what it offers.

Edit: corrected a previous mistake about platform exclusivity.

Wait, I use Affinity on my Windows PC. It’s a great affordable alternative to Adobe.

12

@Dexter
My bad, I completely forgot it’s available on Windows too. It originally wasn’t, but that changed years ago.

13

aloisbeard said:
I use the Affinity suite. I find it affordable and very useful for what it offers.

Edit: corrected a previous mistake about platform exclusivity.

One-time purchase, no subscription? I was considering that too.

14

@CathyGenesis
Exactly. You pay for major updates, but it’s a solid investment.

15

aloisbeard said:
@CathyGenesis
Exactly. You pay for major updates, but it’s a solid investment.

Cheers - thanks :+1:

16

I prefer Adobe since the Creative Suite offers a broad array of powerful tools, and there are good discounts for educators.

17

SophiaMartinez said:
I prefer Adobe since the Creative Suite offers a broad array of powerful tools, and there are good discounts for educators.

What’s the discount like?

18

CathyGenesis said:

SophiaMartinez said:
I prefer Adobe since the Creative Suite offers a broad array of powerful tools, and there are good discounts for educators.

What’s the discount like?

Right now, they’re offering a 60% discount for the first year if you have an educational email address. Individual prices are 40% off too.

There’s a learning curve, but you can master the basics through online tutorials, mostly available on YouTube.

19

What kind of content do you create often? I could give more tailored advice knowing that.

20

Bernard4 said:
What kind of content do you create often? I could give more tailored advice knowing that.

Mostly I deal with formatting, cropping, and assembling PNG images of architectural drawings for reference materials in courses. PowerPoint and Word usually suffice for simple tasks, but they limit image resolution on saves, prints, and exports, which blurs lines and pixelates detailed work.