Hmm, they're similar, and they are different. Different enough to where you will have to spend a little bit of time larning Genetica... but what you learned with Filter Forge will definately help.

Genetica is accepting Beta testers for their new version at the moment, you may want to look into that. It may be a good way to get familiar with the software.

If it's for hobby applications and you're not making a lot of money off the hobby, it may be too expensive to acquire both applications.

Genetica does have couple free lower end apps that may be worth checking into. I can't say I remember what exactly they do. http://www.spiralgraphics.biz/

I love having both, but with Architectural VIZ which I do for work at times, getting them both was a business decision/expense, rather then a hobby investment.

As for which is better... I can't say, they both have features that I can't imagine being without. If I had to, I could also do a ton of stuff with just one.

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