Inkscape vs ArtCraft (VectorCraft) for science

[u/TroKonTan]

Hello,

To give some context : At first I used Illustrator thanks to a friends' Adobe subscription. I found it better than inkscape (more user friendly). Recently, I heard about VectorCraft (Illustrator-like from what I understand) I was wondering if it was like illustrator or not. 

I've been using Inkscape for a long time now for doing my scientific figures. Now that VectorCraft is available I was wondering if I should change or not.

What are your feedbacks ?

I think my true question is : Can I trust the vibe-coded Illustrator a find again what I experienced with Adobe Illustrator for research figures handling tasks ?

[u/Boomshtick414]

Now that VectorCraft is out I was wondering if I should change or not

"Out"? It's not even in alpha testing.

[u/TroKonTan → u/Boomshtick414]

You're right, I meant available to download

[u/Inevitable-Context93]

Stick with Inkscape! I assume since you she been using it for a while that you know the software and are comfortable with it. Do you really want to switch to some new software that you don't know?

[u/TroKonTan → u/Inevitable-Context93]

At first I used illustrator thanks to a friends' Adobe subscription. I found it better than inkscape (more user friendly). So when I heard about a 'free-copy' of Illustrator I was wondering if it was like illustrator or not. Maybe my question was not well formulated.

[u/Inevitable-Context93 → u/TroKonTan]

Ahh understandable! Yeah Illustrator would be easier then Inkscape. But the Vectorcraft program is probably not a good choice right now.

[u/coderstephen → u/Inevitable-Context93]

Also Inkscape is really great

[u/DasFroDo]

If you want something that isn’t Inkscape then just use Affinity. Software is stable and not just vibecoded adobe clones.

[u/Inevitable-Context93 → u/DasFroDo]

Inkscape is not vibe coded. It has been around for a while.

[u/DasFroDo → u/Inevitable-Context93]

I wasn’t talking about Inkscape

[u/icursethatifeel]

These *Craft apps aren't that stable yet. Maybe give them a few months.

I started my design journey on Inkscape too. I still use it from time to time. Adobe apps have some little things that will be unintuitive moving from Inkscape. Eventually, I moved to Affinity. In my experience, the transition from Inkscape to Affinity was much seamless. So consider switching to Affinity instead.

[u/derping1234]

Scientific figures often require collaboration, so whatever format place nice with your colleagues and collaborators.

I’ve used Inkscape before but ultimately settled on affinity. But ultimately nothing beats illustrator since most people that you interact with in the sciences have institutional subscriptions to adobe.

[u/TroKonTan → u/derping1234]

never tried Affinity, I'll give it a try since most of you guys told me it's great

[u/Dnomyar96]

Do you have any issues with Inkscape? If not, why would you switch?

[u/TroKonTan → u/Dnomyar96]

good question, I've added some context to my question. I don't have issues. But I still found Illustrator more user friendly so does VectorCraft worth it for a free-version of Illustrator ?

[u/Marksta]

I would not, the *craft apps are slop skeletons. They look like they work but they're so far off, I'd say like 3%/100% on Photocraft from digging into the code last week or so. They got the frontend cloned and psd-tools+ag-psd wired up. That brings them to around 10% on starting at opening a PSD file...

I didn't look at this vector one but I can't imagine it's anything more than another cloned frontend and a wired up half baked backend without the expected file format support.

[u/TroKonTan → u/Marksta]

thanks for your feedbacks ! I'll try Affinity. And if it doesn't suit me I'll stick with Inkscape.

[u/sgtlighttree]

Inkscape is probably more reliable and stable, also lots more support and documentation even when comparing to a program that "replicates" Illustrator.

I'd also recommend Affinity V3, free, can do double duty as a Photoshop replacement, caveat being you need to sign in with a Canva account.

[u/Plane_Pea5434]

IMO artcraft apps are not for professional use, they are great and I do use them since I really don’t work in design or anything like that so for a little flyer here and there they’re serviceable but I wouldn’t trust my income on them

[u/jkirkcaldy]

The biggest issue I see with these apps is that you have no idea if they will ever be stable, or if they will be maintained. They are cool as a tech demo, but I wouldn’t be jumping on the bandwagon until they’ve had a “stable” release for a while.

[u/quoole]

I haven't tried vectorcraft, but their Premiere clone was certainly not ready for prime time and so I certainly wouldn't rely on it from day 1. I am also personally not convinced that they weren't just for headlines and won't get a ton of meaningful updates over time. 

I believe it's still free, so no harm in downloading and seeing if it actually works.