Why people dont switch to Open source alternatives for creative works

[StormEngineer]

Here are the most common reasons I hear from people as to why are they sticking with Photoshop or other paid software over free software such as Krita (in no particular order):

• I rely on my collection of Photoshop brushes that took me years and some money to gather, I don’t want to give them up and none of the free programs can properly import them.
• I want to get hired in a studio and there you must use Photoshop.
• I have pirated/cracked paid software because I just don’t care.
• Krita is too buggy, it’s acting up for me all the time. (Generally coming from Windows users, describing issues I have never experienced myself).
• The paid software I use has [x] feature I rely on that free software alternatives don’t have.
• I use Photoshop because that’s the mainstream and I can’t be bothered to try other things.
• I tried [free software] for 5 minutes, I had an issue so instead of looking it up I just dropped the program entirely.
• The Windows version of Krita is buggy and unstable and I cannot switch to Linux because A) there are Windows programs/games I need that don’t work well with Wine; B) it’s mandatory to use Windows at my workplace.
• It’s different and I’m lazy.

[StormEngineer]

@SouthernYago May I ask which part of the world you mostly worked in?

I’m asking because the attitude changes from place to place. For example, in some European countries all the industry is stuck in the past, in others they are keeping up with new technologies, also European companies seem to be more open to suggestions and alternatives. While in Asia companies tend to be very strict and demand absolute obedience from employees.

So I’m curious which culture/area your experience is telling us about?

[betazoid]

This is an interesting discussion. I think the main reason is fear. People are full of fear.

[xi_Guo]

Maybe what I am going to say is a little subjective. In some places, such as Hong Kong, people will be more willing to buy PS or SAI. Because there are more tutorials online and it’s easier to find jobs.

I have recommended Krita more than once. At first, My friend Tian Jie was willing to use it, but after a week, she said she returns to SAI because she can’t get a systematic and Step-by-step course.

In mainland China, most people learn software from a website named BiliBili( a video sharing website like YouTube ) but only a man called Masicblack(from blender open-source website) post basic course.

There will be more users after you post more video tutorials.

[StormEngineer]

There are actually several Krita tutorials on YouTube already. Of course not as much as for software that is already popular for a long time like Sai or PS, but we will get there eventually.

[TheFlow]

I think Krita went a long way already, and of course it can handle solid work. What can be a potential problem is that people tend to think that only Photoshop, or some other “standard” can deliver good results. That is of course not the reality, but still there is a little bit of truth in there also.

I keep asking myself:
is there a collection of really high skill professional artwork made with Krita that could be a good starting point to make the software appeal more to other pros and more artists in general? Or could we get some pros to help spread the word?
It has a few quirks here and there, especially the performance under Windows (which is fine most of the time, but like day and night compared to how fluid everything felt when I tried it out under Linux last time).

We had the same thing with Blender not too long ago, for years professionals ignored it but now, after what happened with 2.8 and the CodeQuest? Blender is going damn strong I’d say. We almost completely ditched Cinema 4D for Blender now. Sure, small studio but I could manage to show everyone that this clearly was the better way. For Krita, I hope something like this comes with loads of support. Kickstarter, donations, massive support of a lot of artists.

[Sashiku]

When I got my first tablet, I was using Pixia, that was wayyy back when though. it was a free program as i had no way to afford a fancy one yet. When I went to college, I got the master collection AND the creative suite I have no idea why both that were provided for me. I still have Photoshop but I never really liked using it. I took Photoshop and Advanced Photoshop and I knew almost every little detail about it, but it was just… overwhelming. (This was before the subscription kicked in.) Still, I stuck to it because everyone kept saying (It’s the standard! It’s the best! Etc.)

So, my reasons for not using an open source software were:

*What if the new program isn’t as good? Everyone makes such a huge deal about the awesomeness of Photoshop, if I switch will my art suffer for it?

*What if I can’t find something better?

*What if people discredit me for using something different?

I eventually got really tired of how heavy Photoshop is and the fact that it isn’t a dedicated drawing software. So, I started looking around for something different. During that time, I saw that Adobe started up subscriptions. I didn’t have to worry since I own CS6, but it still made me more determined to find something better.
I ended up hopping around for a while using any software I could find. I ended up getting Sai and used that until 3 months ago. The software is outdated now and I wanted something a little more sophisticated and up to date. I also wanted something community driven and a program that the creators actually care about. I did a bunch of digging around (tried FireAlpaca and Sketchbook) and finally found Krita. I really like it and the fact that there is such an awesome community behind it just makes it more worth it.

[MangaTengu]

I agree that nothing could put Krita in the center of attention as much as famous and talented artists using it and saying how natural they feel working with it…

[Takiro]

Whenever I see artists talking about some Photoshop quirks, I jokingly say something like: “People still use Photoshop for painting?” The snobbish way Photoshopers often did it in the past, but with a sarcastic tone. x3

[Skyfish]

I started using krita as soon as I heard about it, probably back in 2015. At the time I didn’t switch because the program would crash too often. Still it had the wrapping and multibrush features that I needed, that photoshop didn’t have. It was a must for gamejams and tiling textures.

I made the full open source switch in 2018 or so, when I decided Photoshop and co was just too expensive vs me not earning money on my work yet, so even though I was going to miss some features from adobe, I knew I could make do with the opensource alternatives, plus it would make me feel good.
When I cancelled my adobe subscription, I had to pay a hefty cancellation fee. While I was neutral to adobe before then, that final goodbye left a very bitter resentment in my mind. So now I always gush about krita and talk trash about photoshop where due. (cost, treatment of customers, lack of security)
I went from:
photoshop - krita
indesign - scribus
illustrator - inkscape
after effects and premiere - blender

It’s a bit annoying having to relearn a lot of UI, and I hate that all the shortcuts are all over the place, especially between blender and krita, that I use the most. I never get used to it but sitting down and deciding on a scheme is too daunting since they have such different use cases, and it makes it hard to follow tutorials. But illustrator and photoshop did not have great cohesivness either so I always had that problem.

updated to 4.2.8 today so hopefully i get better performance as well, that’s the only thing I miss from photoshop is the improved performance. I look forward to inkscape and scribus getting some love from the open source fans, they are lagging behind blender and krita in terms of being pleasant to use. I still dread having to open them… But I’m sure it will come with time.

[Takiro]

@Skyfish

When I cancelled my adobe subscription, I had to pay a hefty cancellation fee.

Wow, this sounds like a questionable business practice.

[Rakurri]

Yeah, I also had to do this. I was a Photoshop subscriber before I Switched to Krita.
Adobe did a lot of other horrible things, the list is sooo long, but one of them was that they tried to silently double the Photoshop/Lightroom subscription and hoped that nobody noticed. Imagine getting renewed for another year’s subscription, only to find that it has doubled. I had already lost a lot of respect for them, but that just made me want to abandon their platform as soon as possible.

They also tried to outright scam people with their Adobe Stock service

[Skyfish]

Bad practice, I suppose it is intended to prevent abuse of the yearly subscription and I kinda get that, but it seems like a backwards approach. If you agree to a year you get it cheaper, but the pay is drawn every month i think. So if you cancel, you basically have to pay the remainder. If I had payed a whole year upfront and then had rights to it out the year, after a cancel, it would have felt more fair even though it is mostly the same. But it just feels blackmail-y.
compared to audible (amazon) who are very keen and skilled at keeping you as a customer, when you cancel they try to seduce you with a free month or free audiobooks, or a half price version, it made me feel more valued as a customer than adobe’s YOU OWE US MONEY approach and it has stopped me from cancelling that service compared to adobes who made me never want to come back. Carrot is better than the whip!

[Kapyia]

Very interesting to read about people experiences talking about Krita with their fellow artists!

I naturally recommend people Krita to anyone looking to start doing digital art since it’s an objectively great tool for drawing and painting, and it’s completely free as well. I’m usually not far away from friends butting in with a “NO, MY ART SOFTWARE IS BETTER!” though. Trying to declare our choice of art software as the superior one is a regular activity in my circles.

For me personally, the reason my artist friends hesitate to try Krita or won’t try to make any serious switch usually boils down to “it’s not what I’m used to”. In the famous words of Daniel Thrasher: “IT. AIN’T. FAMILIAR!!”

The friends who come from SAI typically feel a bit overwhelmed by the UI. SAI is a streamlined and minimalist software, and users are used to having 80% of the software in front of them at all times. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to ask SAI users trying Krita if they’ve looked for a setting in the settings. I will admit that some of their frustrations have validity though. A lot of SAI users’ workflow rely on having brush smoothing enabled (called “Stabilizer” in SAI). Krita has smoothing and it works well, but there are a number of problems with it from a UX standpoint. For example, it’s a bit awkward having to explain to people that Krita has a second brush tool that has an additional method of smoothing (the Dynamic Brush Tool). Transferring SAI users love to latch on to this as a sign that Krita’s isn’t very well designed, though they also like to exaggerate just to tease me They acknowledge that Krita is a more powerful software, but also feel that SAI has all their needs covered as it is.

(Expect a write-up on the stabilising/smoothing thing btw )

Photoshop users, in my experience, usually excuse their disinterest in switching to - or even trying - Krita with the usual “Photoshop is the industry standard”. Now, this phrase at face value doesn’t really hold up. Just because something is popular doesn’t mean it’s the best. Their thinking is more that Photoshop is true and tested; people use it for work daily to produce high quality art. Once they have accessed and learned “industry standard” tool they need a good reason to make a switch to something else. It’s not enough for Krita to rival Photoshop; it needs to be an immediate upgrade. The time and effort invested in learning a new tool needs to result in some yield. Photoshop is a beaten path, and users hesitate to venture off of it without a large enough incentive.

And then there’s Clip Studio Paint users. In my circles, these people seem to think their art software is the definitive alternative to Photoshop for artists. It’s professional-grade-paid-for-software but it’s affordable compared to PS and is more artist-centered. These have, in my experience, been the hardest to talk into trying Krita out. I have a theory it’s because they’re still trying to convince themselves that it it was worth spending their precious money on affordable software (just kidding ). It’s also interesting that I’ve seen both Krita and CSP users talking about how it was easy to switch to their respective software from Photoshop, but I’ve also seen CSP users talking about how Krita’s UI is very confusing and vice versa. I’m curious how both Krita and CSP can be seen as very similar to Photoshop, but at the same time be impossibly different from each other The ones who do try Krita out and doesn’t hate the UI usually doesn’t have any motivation to stick with CSP other than “I’m more used to it. Plus, I’ve already paid for it.”

In the end, it seems to be a lot of smaller factors as to why people won’t switch to Krita, rather than a few larger ones. It also varies from person to person, what they want out of their software and what they value in it. Not everyone sees value in the philosophy of the open-source software movement, or they don’t see the point in going against the stream (i.e. the “industry standard”).

[Reptorian]

A lot of that basically comes down to people like whatever they like. I personally do not have qualms with Photoshop because it meets my needs better than Krita, but subscription is not what I’m into. I’m one of the artists that don’t bother much with much more than round brushes and variants, and while I could use masked brush and several brushes features, from my standpoint, it is something that’s overkill for my needs. The only thing that I would like to see in Krita from art standpoint is better warping tool and perhaps puppet warp.

[marsmotion]

i only switched from ps a couple years ago. their greedy subscription model made me switch i have to be honest. i investigated alts found krita. the interface was impressive to me it looked very modern. the drawing guides were really impressive to me as i like to draw alot of things that need that. ps doesn’t have that feature to draw along a guide with snap. thats really amazing to me. i also found kra’s brush engine more robust which also was very cool. so kra has alot going for it. switching to gpu dx helped me alot on perf. with modern cards that solves alot of perf issues.

my main suggestion here though is this: look at zbrush and its re learning videos on all its features. out of all the software companies that makes those kind of tutorial videos i think they do the best job of quick short easy to get into repeatable tutorial content. i only use zb occasionally but knowing those are there is a huge relief to me if i have to get back into it after a long absence. i also think those are a very good way for people to get into it the first time. takes alot of the fear away.

secondarily i would say that as far as advertising goes i and alot of other artists in var industries are on art station. they made making a portfolio really super easy. their learning service with pro sub has alot of people using var softs to do things. maybe some great kra artists can make some content for that. alot of industry pros would see it and go hmm krita thats cool…ill look into that. then when they post work using it you see what the art was made with below the tittle and comments sect and people would start to register that and it would build awareness for other artists.

[EyeOdin]

I agree with all of this but I think the eco system might be the biggest issue locking people in. In the case of Maya if you do something the content belongs to Autodesk too so if you don’t pay you are not entitled to use your stuff.

Also getting getting your money’s worth locks people mentally.

However I feel people are extremely lazy to learn new software. Like retarded levels of lazy. There is no patience from my part sometimes towards artists.

I learnt about 10 big big programs roughly that are all industry standard in various sections of a pipeline, and I have been keeping up with development for the last 5 years or so. My prediction is Photoshop already lost, the problem is the people have not taken notice of it yet because they are busy it is about a 6month period for a change to happen around but in 2d stuff does not change much if at all. People are just stuck on the idea but the subscription fees sure have open their eyes to the side.

Since 2019/2020 I think things are just right to go open source if you set things right from the start.

However I must say I see people talking of some open source software that in no way shape of form can replace the payed ones. blender and krita are the top ones and inkscape sorta does it too. However you can’t replacee stuff like nuke and honestly after effects is hard to replace too but it is still the poor man’s car still with natron borderline unusable. There are still some others that you simply can’t too.

I am totally pro open source 100% but I am also software agnostic. but there are more dependencies than just doing your art in Krita and to get to that end goal you need to pass by the payed stuff. More open source programs need to raise to prominence to free this section of the circuit. Krita is in the base level of the dependency tree so it is pretty independant by it self.

My main concern is file formats for imports and exports into other softwares. Also krita has alot of potential that will make krita the big shark in the pool even more than it already is. The signs are here for a while and I am here. However the world is not just painting, only thing I want to remind.

But also the pandemic will make open source raise if you also think about it.

[raghukamath]

@EyeOdin

In the case of Maya if you do something the content belongs to Autodesk too so if you don’t pay you are not entitled to use your stuff.

What This is news to me. How can any company do this?

@EyeOdin

However you can’t replacee stuff like nuke

There was some effort with Natron, but I think it now lacks developers.

[EyeOdin]

You think Adobe is bad? Autodesk is much much worse, it is literally selling your soul to the devil and I was doing that at one point. But I had a massive change of plans halfway that is kinda of a dumb story. But if you read the Maya TOS you will see them saying you can only did what you did because of Maya and your stuck with that, so people convert as much as you can can before leaving it but not everything goes in the export. Maya automates alot of stuff so it becomes intelligently stupid too. At least Adobe just treats me like a idiot only. Blender is much better than Maya but really lacks in simulation and rendering engines but it is getting so much better it is crazy but still far away. I think Blender kicked Zbrush really hard this year but the big boss is Houdini now.

Autodesk controls AutoCad and other software that are used by architects and engineers in various degrees. Their 3d section with Maya and 3ds Max only represent 30% of their annual revenue according to Ton Roosendaal but the other 70% have no replacement and probably never will due to their nature. Even if Adobe falls being replaced by open source Autodesk will remain regardless. Open source will never make software that might get people killed or destroy massive amounts of resources. Our image editing Industry standard is much easier to dethrone trust me I am 100% positive.

Natron made a xerox copy of Nuke’s UI and workflow but the difference of Nuke’s code inside each block is light years away compared to Natron. And the difference grows each year. The Foundry, is top Tier… there is nothing else you can say. If I had to describe Nuke would be “Magic”. After Effects is enhanced with their plugins.

More programs that have no replacement: Shotgun and Flix
They are like a cloud service that connects various artists from various departments for a pipeline production and over the various iterations a project has. Krita is super lucky to have a connection with Shotgun with a plugin they made. I feel people really don’t see how amazing it is because that type of stuff you can’t crack lol, but it is there. It is stuff like this that makes the “Industry Standard” have its value, it is not just the program alone. Sadly I never had the opportunity to work with these I am not very experienced in the field yet.

That is why I am pro connecting Krita with Blender it has more benefits than you might expect. It helps to create the ecosystem you know. I say Blender but others too are important those are just the ones in my head now to set as an example.

[Takiro]

Another thing is that people expect giant all purpose applications which open source projects are usually not. They have limited resources and therefore limited scope and then people get disappointed. You see it here in the forums every week. Someone asks for features (either to implement them or where they are) that Krita doesn’t have and doesn’t want to. They expect to do everything in Krita that they used to do on Photoshop or whatever they used before but Krita is only for painting, not for photo editing, not for graphics design and not for post processing. Then they get disappointed or even angry. Another bad experience with open source in their book.

Honestly it’s also a problem with advertising and I don’t mean Krita’s but more sites like alternativeto.net. when you search for Photoshop it lists Krita as an alternative but that’s only true for painting which is maybe only 20% of PS’s capabilities. And that’s not only a problem with PS and Krita. I also often see people recommend Krita for anything with graphics even when it’s not really what is needed. People come to open source programs with wrong expectations, it’s basically set up for disappointment.