Wish list for the next ArtRage

[MattRage]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, feel free to keep them coming, we're making notes!

I've changed the thread title because we've had a few people get in touch confused wondering when this new ArtRage 4 is going to appear. Hopefully this will help clear things up!

[Creativetone]

sai is better than any vector art package, because its damn right simple to use. The artists doesnt have to learn tangents and all that boring stuff in order to get the desired result. You create straight lines and then you bend them by making more control points. You can also have pressure sensitivity to thouse lines by applying weight values to the same control points. Try it

Just try the trial. It's as simple as point and click. There is not one vector package that has it so intuitive and easy to control. Its the best lineart tracing tool ever invented. Also, one important point for this tool- you do not need to practice or even use a wacom tablet in order to get awesome inking. You can do it with a mouse, even if you arent a skilled artist, such as the guy who posted an example here.

I'll have you know that many experienced classic animators and illustrators love paint tool sai, because it lets them ink their pictures easily. The reason for that is because they haven't gotten used to tablets and digital inking. Thats paint tool sai's main selling point. I know some people who are in this for over 10-20 years..They love coloring digitally but find inking frustrating without that tool.

Also, its way more intuitive and simple than illustrator or any other vector package. I never got used to tangents and all that jazz

Hello!
I Totally agree that Easy PaintTool SAI ... is "BEST" for clean Inking Lines.
And Vector Tools are "AMAZING" Intuitive.

I have not seen anything better in "digital world" than PaintTool SAI... what
comes about Lineworking... "tapering" is so smooth and there is also "Many"
different "Stabilizer" modes... for everybody and every situations.

BUT PaintTool SAI also offer "great" fast Blending Engine... it is amazing.

These things got me bought this great program in my tools collection.

1. Line quality (Yes I have tried "very much" Manga Studio EX)
2. Stabilizer.. with many different levels and options.
3. Blending engine
4. Extereme Fast... super fast program... even "extereme" canvas sizes.
5. Vector lines.. so intuitive.. very easy to modify.

btw. I do not like currently ArtRages Ink tool and its Line quality..
what comes about strokes/line and their "tapering".
There is small glitches at least my machine that really shows..

I can do much better result with Sticker Spray brushes when adjusting
and tweaking correctly. They taper much smoother.

EDIT:
My workflow could be..
that I do sketching in ArtRage, SketchBook Pro
or Nokia N900 with MyPaint 0.8.2 -> which is actually my "main tool" now!
then if needed Clean (Comic) Lines I do Inking with Easy PaintTool SAI..
Then I do coloring ArtRage, Procreate Painter 7, PaintTool SAI, Adobe Photoshop 7, SketchBook Pro, MyPaint... all those offer different kind of things...
like different texturing options and methods to do things... I like to work with
many different program..

Still it would be nice that ArtRage is improved... there is always room
for improvements.

Thanks!
Tone aka Creativetone aka Luovatone

[vapsman88]

My wishlist for ArtRage would be in the Watercolor preset, though it could have application in oils too I imagine. I would like to have a flat brush where you could lay a flat wash and be able to get a thin stroke as if you use the side of the brush if rotation is possible, or even switch mode or something you could program a key or tablet button to switch. The best would be to employ the rotation ability of the Intuos4 to switch back and forth as you can in traditional.

Also the flat brush should have a square end.

~John

[kenmo]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, feel free to keep them coming, we're making notes!

I've changed the thread title because we've had a few people get in touch confused wondering when this new ArtRage 4 is going to appear. Hopefully this will help clear things up!

Yeah...when is AR version 4 gonna appear??? LOL... Just kidding...

[terrygillooly]

The Speed problem is the biggest. Painter seems kinda junky, Sai is a little too devo, Photoshop is behind the times - I'd love to run off with ArtRage and leave the rest behind, but until ArtRage conquers its speed problem and the ability to handle larger images the application juggling will continue.

Yes!! I couldn't agree more. (Except I'm not sure what Devo has to do with a graphics application. )

+ Multiple Layer Transform - you did a fantastic job with the transform tool, now how about letting it transform multiple layers of art at the same time.

It should be able to do this; group the layers together and use Transform Group Contents.

btw. I do not like currently ArtRages Ink tool and its Line quality..
what comes about strokes/line and their "tapering".
There is small glitches at least my machine that really shows..

I have the opposite experience. I love the Ink Pen. The settings make it quite versatile. In particular, adjusting Pressure and Smoothing have given me excellent results--ranging from very mechanical "tech pen" lines to brush-like strokes with beautiful tapering. I only wish I could emulate a crow quill with it! But maybe 'scratchiness' and 'random spatter' are better left to the Sticker tool.

[gb_whisper]

Just keep up with the Natural Media Painting idea. Do it to its best.
I dont feel like to see another multi-ultra-everything painting program- I think that's how Painter got worse.

[kaveman]

+ Hide Marquee - the ability to hide the selection marquee

another vote for this. Trying to work with the marching ants showing is a real pain.

Current work around: copy, paste, deselect, Lock Transparency, work then merge down.

[kaveman]

Also a warning that dragging a selection outside the canvas, will clip the selection, unless immediately dragged back in.

Just accidentally chopped 6 hours work in half. Thinking I'd dragged the canvas, but had instead dragged the whole working layer. I'm sure it's a new user error, but still devastating. Anything this destructive should carry a warning.

[kaveman]

While I'm on a roll.

Please in the Pro version, use my iMacs full potential. I've got a i7 Quad core and 8Gig of RAM. AR is labouring with lots of goo and glitter but my iMac CPU is still idling and AR is only using a small fraction of the free RAM.

[Sethren]

Vector technology for the tools with adjustable handles and the like. I know this may seem silly for a natural painting application but think about the fact that vector means the image can be sized up very large when needed and adding the extras should be easy.

Please, an easy way to play with lights to simulate different environments that the art could be represented in. This would mean a lot. All is needed is a shader sphere to represent what light types can be used and edited. Even HDRI reflective maps.

Simple procedural noises for the painting tools. Could mean things like realistic random seeded jittering using a noise for example. Globs of paint. Dirt spots. Who knows.

Realistic shadow fall-off for the stickers where hard shadows become softer with increased distance from the object. Multiple shadows. Just that needed realism.