Except getting assets out of Figma is a huge pain. Trying to select the layers you need (if even possible), not being able to flatten layers into an exported image, not being able to compress the exported image...

Uhhh what? Sounds like you just throw everything in figma file without using artboards or components.

What do you mean you can’t flatten layers? Isn’t it what “exporting an image” is?

You can absolutely compress the exported image, well you can decide whether you want to export it at 1x 2x etc. It’s a bit different from changing dpi but honestly using figma for print is rough

Sometimes the artboards, components, or whatever the structure in use is doesn't match up with dev needs. Sometimes you need things split up, sometimes you need them flattened. It's just not flexible.

And 1x 2x etc isn't compression. I want a quality slider for JPGs, an 8-bit option for PNGs, I want to explicitly set the output resolution, I want to know how large the original source file is, how it's being cropped, etc.

"Sometimes the artboards, components, or whatever the structure in use is doesn't match up with dev needs" - this really sounds like you should tell your designers.

"how it's being cropped" - it's not being cropped.

"I want to explicitly set the output resolution" - why tho?

I ask because I found the lack of ability to set resolution as pretty jarring, however to my surprise I never needed it for digital assets

Figma can absolutely crop images, and sometimes you want to know how much of an image is actually available. And why wouldn't you want to set the resolution? Appropriately sized images are part of proper compression and performance tuning.

And you don't always have time to go back to the design team and ask them to rework tons of comps just because you need to get an asset out of a Figma.

I am not sure what you’re saying here about cropping. You can see how much of an image is available if you double click on same image. If your designer set it up in a billion of groups you may have to double click a whole bunch. But how is that different from cropping an image in illustrator? I’m not trying to be funny I genuinely do not understand what the complaint is here.

The resolution, I give you that, working with non-vector assets in figma is a bit annoying. But then again, I can export an image out of illustator at a 300dpi but if the original file was 72dpi, that will do absolutely fuck all.

As for not having time to go back to designers, I was not saying you do that every time, I meant, there is a way to have proper process when it comes to hand over to devs. Normally it’s a conversation you’d have once. If you work with people that have no regard for other people’s jobs, I don’t think it’s fair to be blaming the tool. I’ve seen absolute horror in design files on any platform.