Step-by-Step Transfer InDesign files to Affinity Designer (via Viva Designer 10)

For the short term, I'm focusing on using Viva Designer 10 to convert my old .indd files to .idml so that I will be able to access them in Affinity Publisher.

Here's the step-by-step instructions on how to do it:

1. Go to this page and download Viva Designer 10 (click on the button at the top of the page to switch from Viva 11 to Viva 10): https://viva.systems/service/downloads/
2. Download the FULL version (not free).
3. Install software.
4. Open software: You will be told how many days you have left in your trial
5. To open the InDesign file (that ends in either .indd or .indt), you must either:
1. Drag-and-drop the file into the open software to open it; or
2. Select File > Open and then modify the doc type to "All Readable Documents."
6. The InDesign file will open.
7. Check it out to confirm that it looks right (in my tests, I had to relink images and install some fonts). 
8. Then you go to File > Export > Documents...
1. This will give you the option to export the file as an IDML file. This stands for INDesign Markup Language. This is a format that other programs, including Affinity Publisher, can open.
2. Export the file.
9. Open the file in Affinity Publisher.

You're good to go!

NOTE: I am suggesting you use the older version of Viva Designer because it actually worked for me. When I tried Viva Designer 11, it did not work.

And if anyone is wondering, here is my current computer configuration:

Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IRX9H Laptop | Windows 11 Professional | 32GB RAM |  14th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-14900HX | Nvidia RTX 4090 Laptop GPU 16GB 9728 CUDA Cores

Transfer InDesign files to Affinity Designer (via Viva Designer and IMDL)

 As I stated recently, I'm dumping the subscription-based Adobe Creative Cloud suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator) for either free or pay-once software. 

The Affinity 2 software (which I picked up on sale for $30, deeply discounted from its regular price of $165) is my top candidate. They are solid, mature tools that can be used by a professional without difficulty. Additionally, they can use most Photoshop and Illustrator brushes. I also like how integrated they are: You can swap back and forth between the various tools without having to open/close/export the document. It's very easy to get quick results with Affinity by Serif Software.

BTW, I suspect they will be releasing vers 3 of their software any day now. My $30 purchase will not include version 3, but they offer pretty good discounts to upgrade between versions (usually 30% - 50%).

However...

There is one problem with ditching InDesign, and that is I have a LOT of projects created with InDesign and I cannot afford to lose access to them. And Affinity Publisher does NOT read native InDesign files, at least not directly.

A bit of techno babble:

• InDesign's native file format has the extension .indd (INDesign Document). 
• INDD files are always set to the current version of the software, which means that if I create a doc using Creative Cloud 3 and send it to you, but you have Creative Cloud 2, then you cannot open the document.
• In order to create backwards compatibility, InDesign can export its documents into this format (which is a form of XML): .idml (InDesign Markup Language). This writes a complex version of the document that can be interpreted by other programs, including Affinity Publisher.

The problem is, of course, how do I get the IDML file? I have the source file (INDD), but without Adobe InDesign I cannot export the file from one format to the other.

Possible Solutions

I did some research on how to do this and came across some possible ways to get away from paying for Adobe Creative Suite for a month, doing a lot of file conversions and then canceling my subscription. If all else fails, I could always do that.

One approach I discovered was that I could possibly use Viva Publisher to open the INDD file and then export it as IDML. I learned of this in this discussion at the Adobe forums: Link to discussion.

I Decided to Test this Approach 

Using Viva Designer 11, I was able to OPEN the INDD file. Viva did a pretty darn good job of interpreting the file, too. The doc looked exactly like it did in InDesign. Now, this was a moderately complex document. It had some defined stiyles, but no tables or TOCs.

Viva Designer 11 was not able to export it to IDML, however. The option was available via File > Export > Documents... The IDML option was readily available, but it no matter what I tried, the program crashed during the export (typically, it crashed about 1/3 though the process). I triple checked the document for missing fonts or images, but the source seemed rock solid, so I'm not sure what's going on.

I had better luck with Viva Designer 10. I was able to export the file, however there were LOTS of errors. The text seemed to be there, but the layout was messed up (items moved a bit and things like that). Also, the text frame linking was a complete disaster. 

UPDATE (11-03-2024): The errors in Viva 10 are not as bad as I thought. There are still some text overflow issues, but those are easy enough to fix. I think this is a workable solution. Go here for step-by-step instructions.

I'm going to continue experimenting to see if I can either stabilize Viva Designer 10 export, or get Viva Designer 11 to work.

If not, then I may have to go back to paying for InDesign for a single month and rushing through all the files.

There is also another option via IDMarkz tools.

Searching for a replacement to the Adobe Creative Suite

 I'm abandoning the Adobe Creative Suite because it's too expensive.

For me, this is a DRAMATIC change, as I've been using Photoshop professionally since version 3 was released in the early 1990s. This is also a RISKY change because I have a lot of completed projects that have been completed in Adobe InDesign, including books and other professional documents.

My main goal with this switch is to get away from subscription-based software. I want to buy it and use it for as long as I want. Right now, I'm still evaluating which software I will use as a replacement. The top contenders are:

• The Affinity Creative Suite:
• Affinity Photo (Photoshop replacement)
• Affinity Designer (Illustrator replacement)
• Affinity Publisher (InDesign replacement)
• Viva Publisher 11 (InDesign replacement)
• GIMP online (Photoshop replacement)

Functionality:

I have dabbled with the Affinity Suite off and on for more than a year or two. It's pretty good stuff. Each program has most of the basic features of the Adobe software with which it competes. And the software itself seems pretty stable; although I have not yet used it to create any large documents, what I have done with it seems to function quickly without crashes or serious issues.

I can say the same for GIMP. It's an oldie-but-a-goodie and I have had to use it professionally for about a year to make minor graphic edits for various work projects at a worksite that didn't have Photoshop available. In that instance, I was able to use an FREE online version of GIMP to resize, crop and make minor fixes to images.

Viva Publisher 11 is the software with which I have the lease experience. I just started testing it this week and, honestly, it seems to be a contender because it can actually open InDesign files, and seems to do a pretty darn good job of it, too.

Cost:

The Affinity programs are sold separately and each is currently on version 2. They cost about $70 per app, with a "Universal License" that lets you buy all three for $165. However, these programs are often DEEPLY DISCOUNTED, especially before a new release comes out. I just paid $30 for a lifetime universal license to version 2 of the Affinity Suite. Based on this discount, I strongly suspect they will be rolling out version 3 during the week of Black Friday. I suspect that they'll offer a discount to upgrade when they roll out the newer version (they have done this in the past).

Viva Designer has a free version, but if I were going to use it I would need to Commercial Edition and, unfortunately, that runs about $400!

Conclusion:

I do not want to pay $400 for a single app, but since it is the only one that natively opens an InDesign file, it may be my best option. Before I pony up the cash, though, I am going to look for ways to translate the InDesign files to Affinity via an intermediary step: Writing the INDD file extension to IDML.

More on this to come.

Renderosity – How to update your Forum Signature

 Now that I have a new laptop, I needed to update the specs in the online forums where I post my 3D art. This isn't a mandatory thing, mind you, it's just that every single time I post a tech question some bozo asks for the computer's specs. Sometimes this is important info, but most of the time it's about the software and the hardware specs make no difference at all. Rather than fuss about it, I just include the info in my signatures at Daz3D.com and Renderosity.com. 

However, since I do this so infrequently, I usually have to ask where/how to make these updates. So, to jog my own memory, here's a quick tutorial I whipped up for the Renderosity site.

After you log into your account, follow these steps:

Upgrading my System to Lenovo Legion 7 Pro

 So, on top of everything else that's happened (my house was damaged in Hurricane Beryl and – as of today – I have not lived at home for 3 months), my laptop died on Sat., Aug. 24, 2024). I had an Alienware R17 that I had purchased in 2016 and had upgraded both the RAM, the storage and the video card (the last was possible because the Alienware Graphics Adapter was a separate enclosure with a dedicated power supply that allowed the laptop to use an external graphics card). Well, the poor thing had been acting a little buggy for about a year and I was planning to buy a new on at the end of this year... but alas, 'twas not to be.

So, I bought a new laptop on Amazon:

Dell Alienware M16 R2 Gaming AI PC Laptop 16" QHD 240Hz (100% sRGB, 3ms) Intel 16-Core Ultra 7 155H 64GB RAM 4TB SSD GeForce RTX 4070 8GB Graphic: $2,100 (Link)

It arrived DOA with an error message that there was something wrong with the memory; I sent it back for a refund because there were no replacements available.

I replaced it with this, which is a slightly newer version of the previous laptop:

M16 R2 (2024) AI Gaming Laptop (16" 240Hz QHD+ 2K Display, Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, 64GB RAM, 4TB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 8GB) RGB Backlit Keyboard, FHD IR Camera, WiFi 7, Win 11 Home: $2,150 (Link)

This worked great. For about a month. I had a blue screen of death about three weeks in; I thought it might be a corrupted driver and I restored to a previous install point and did some mumbo-jumbo and fixed the problem. "Eh, these things happen," I thought. It died a week later. I sent it back for a refund and decided I wasn't going to use Alienware laptops any more. 

 So, I switched to the ASUS brand and I replaced it with this:

ASUS TUF Gaming Laptop with Microsoft Office Lifetime License, 15.6" 144Hz FHD IPS Display, Intel 13th i7-13620H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, 64GB DDR5, 4TB SSD, Backlit Keyboard, Win11 Pro: $1,800 (Link)

 This was dodgy the moment I opened the box. The security tape was open, there was no gaming mouse (which was mentioned one place on the page) and the flimsy monitor stand was loose in the outer mailing box. I opened it and examined it. All looked okay... until I took a look at the hard drive. It showed there was only a 210GB drive installed! I checked the disk properties and, although there was a 4TB SSD in it, it was configured with a 3.6TB recovery partition. I think this was a used machine and they were trying to pass it off as new; I sent it back.

I was through with Amazon. In four weeks I had been through 3 laptops. I decided it was time to go to a local store and buy it there, so off to Micro Center I went. They don't have the specs to my particular model online at Micro Center, so here's what I got:

Legion Pro 7 16IRX9H, 14th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-14900HX, AI-Powered Gaming PC, NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4090, 32GB DDR5-5600, 2x SO-DIMM, 2x 1TB M.2 PCIe® NVMe® SSD. Cost more than $2,500 (Link)

I was happy with the 2 SSD slots, so I upgraded the meager 2TB to 8TB. I should have paid them to put it in, but I have done it in the past and it was an easy job. Not this time: Taking the bottom panel off was a pain (not hard, but since the entire thing had to come off (instead of a simple panel like my old Alienware R17). But I got it installed and FINALLY things seem to be working.

Now I just need to reinstall a ton of software.

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Note: I always buy a gaming laptop because they have better graphics cards and are configured to work well for 3D content creation and rendering. Also, please note that this is the Legion Pro 7. It is NOT the Pro 7i, which is a different configuration.