ArtRage 7 Wishlist

[BOP]

Hi Everyone! I’m a professional artist trying to make ArtRage (the desktop version on windows 10) my main painting app, but there are some issues regarding the use of this program efficiently over long periods of time.

Here is my wishlist for the next version of ArtRage:

1. ”Show only icons”, ”Columns”, ”Expand toolbox horizontally” options for the ”Toolbox panel”

The toolbox is a great feature that helps you get rid of the ”Tool presets”, ”Tool picker”, and ”Tool settings” panels, having all the tools and presets in one place but because it is so narrow and doesn't allow for an ”icons only” option (which would get rid of the text, arrange the tools on columns and triple the number of tools in the same space) nor it extends horizontally, you always have to scroll up and down to reach for your tool messing with your workflow.

2. ”Resize”, ”Hide HLS, RGB sliders” options for the ”Color picker panel” (în docking mode)

The ability to change the size of the ”Color picker panel” by dragging its corners and to hide the HLS, RGB info when it’s detached.

3. ”Color history pannel”

4. Neutral gray or main background color for the borders of the ”Reference”, ”New view” and ”Scraps”. ”Hide” option for the green pin.
The currently white border it’s like kryptonite for painters because it influences the perception of the colors and makes the eyes ”bleed” in long painting sessions. The green pin it’s an unwanted distraction.

5. Proper ”Flip canvas” (horizontally and vertically) option (including shortcuts) that will allow you to work on the flipped canvas

6. ”Brush size panel”

A panel with different brush sizes, expressed in pixels, mm, cm, or inches that will allow the user for faster and more precise execution.

7. ”Correction layers” (level, tone curve, gradient map, etc.) that will allow for the tweaking of the image without having to merge the active layers

8. Shortcut for the ”eraser mode” of the custom brushes

9. ”Return to previous used tool” shortcut option

10. ”Close and fill” option for the selection tools (instant filling with color or pattern of the selected areas)

11. An option for the ”color sampler” to select outside ArtRage (from windows desktop or ”PureRef” for example)

Sorry for the long post but I think that such a great program doesn’t deserve to be held back by minor ”glitches” like this.Thank you!

[Elery]

I mainly use the oil brush.

1st, I'd love a way to load 2 colors at once onto a brush. I know this can happen by accident as you pass over colors when you paint, but I'd like something predictable.

2nd, I'd like the two-color brush to have an option that will make the colors marbled. I tried to post an example but the forum won't let me post urls.

3rd, I'd like world peace. If you can't do the last one I'll settle for the first two.

[Kate12345]

Its silly to have all your colours, samples and references in your toolbox for an individual but no easy access to the brushes you are using.

[Kate12345]

I've set up on my wacom tablet (no idea how) and a little panel pops up with brush + and brush-

[BOP]

I'm sure World peace will be included in ArtRage 8 :) ... Joking aside, I think that this is one of the best digital painting apps in regards to the painting engine, but some missing interface features drag it down. I've attached an image with some of the improvements I was talking about in my previous post.100475

[Somerset]

Hi Elery!


I mainly use the oil brush.

1st, I'd love a way to load 2 colors at once onto a brush. I know this can happen by accident as you pass over colors when you paint, but I'd like something predictable.

2nd, I'd like the two-color brush to have an option that will make the colors marbled. I tried to post an example but the forum won't let me post urls.

I don't know a way to do this with the oil brush, but you can create brushes for the Sticker Spray Tool that paint two and more different colors. The basic color to create brushes that paint in colors refering exactly to the color wheel is red. If you create a brush with red and, for example, cyan parts, it will always paint one color and its complementary color in one stroke, depending on what color you chose for painting. For a marble effect you can try to play with the Spray Variation Settings. Especially with Hue, Luminance and Saturation, I think. Don't know if that is what your looking for, but it could possibly be worth a try.


3rd, I'd like world peace. If you can't do the last one I'll settle for the first two.

The only almost reliable way I know to reach world peace with Artrage is to smash your computer over the head of everyone. But I'm afraid, that this is not te sort of peace you're looking for. Another solution could be to paint overwhelming peaceful paintings.

[Somerset]

Hi Kate12345!


Its silly to have all your colours, samples and references in your toolbox for an individual but no easy access to the brushes you are using.

You can put Brush Presets into the Tool Box. Just rightclick on a preset and click on "Add to Toolbox" in the Context Menu.

[Somerset]

Hi everybody!

After reading all those wishes here, I have one additional suggestion. Many of the suggestions sound pretty good, but for me also the clarity of the interface is verry important, because I don't like too much panels, hiding the image I am working on. So if there would be many new features in ArtRage, maybe Wokspaces, like in Photoshop or Krita, would be fine. With Workspaces you can create different interface layouts for different kinds of jobs, save them and load them whenever you need it.

[NickBussy]

So long as you can switch off all those extra panels :D . One of the big aspects of ArtRage for me is the totally stripped back interface and simple workflow. After a day of using complex software in Adobe CC, ArtRage feels like actually picking up a sketchbook in comparison and it's more inspiring to create than get bogged down in options and work flow. Unless you're creating something that requires fixed brush widths such as ink drawing, is it not more intuitive to shift and drag to resize the brush as you work?

I agree that the scraps panel could use a little more flexibility though - it remains low res at the moment so if you're working on a print scale piece and switch to your scrap, the brush is massive.

I think been able to resize the grids independent of the reference images would be useful as it would be more intuitive for placement and scaling on the canvas.

The one other aspect I'd like to coincide with the water cleaning, is the option to have to manually reload the brush rather than it refresh colour half way through blending on the canvas.

[Oso_Obscuro]

1. SCALABLE UI. I'm a dinosaur that paints like a dinosaur on a desktop. I need to shrink the panels, maximize my desktop space.

2. CREATE A MORE COMPLEX GRID TOOL. I love starting portraits from a photo reference with a grid. Let me change the LINE WEIGHT of the grid, rotate the grid, customize the grid for the canvas, have multiple grid presets saved. Bonus: Add in golden ratio tools.

3. OIL PAINTS ARE THE PROGRAMS GREATEST STRENGTH. Never stray from that. Let us have options under 'canvas lighting.'

4. GPU ACCELERATION. I wanna paint really big things really fast.

[jc001]

Maybe too late for feature requests but I think Layer Masks are my biggest wish. It doesn't have to function exactly like Photoshop but the ability to mask on a given layer instead of having to fumble with selections or stencils would turn this program from an A+ into a Super A++.

[BOP]

”After a day of using complex software in Adobe CC”... I don’t want to spend my day în Photoshop or Illustrator and use ArtRage for relaxation, that was my point. I want to use it as my daily driver, hence the need for more professional options. I’m not against a ”fun mode” with a colorful interface but I see that ArtRage is trying to offer, besides that, a more serious environment (”The docking mode”).

I didn’t want to mention things like ”scalable UI”, ”GPU accelerated brushes” or ”Layer Masks” because things like that seem to require a lot of work for implementation, (I became ”greedy” with the "Correction Layers" suggestion :) ) and only went for minor changes, with, I believe, great impact.

The point of improving the toolbox was exactly to get rid of all the unnecessary panels, but when you have 50+ presets it’s frustrating going up and down, trying to find the thing you need.

Regarding the brush resizing, I love the ”shift+drag” option, but I was asking for an additional, more precise way to do it (especially for linework)

And yes, I still believe that în 2020, a painting app should have a proper ”flip canvas” option :)

[jc001]

Sorry I thought this thread was called "wishlist". I don't see where your suggestions are any better than anyone else's. If they don't know what the userbase wants, they can't implement it. From my understanding it's far too late to be suggesting things for ArtRage 7 anyway, if the implied timeline is to be believed.

[BOP]

Yes, the thread name is "Wish List" and I think everyone's requests are valid and should be respected.
I hope that as many of them as possible can be implemented in the next ArtRage version.

[Somerset]

...I see that ArtRage is trying to offer, besides that, a more serious environment (”The docking mode”).

That reminds me to a wish I have since I work with Artrage 6: a stable docking mode. Unfortunatly the docking mode often crashes. For example, if I drag a sticker outoff the sticker panel onto the canvas. That's really anoying.

I think, all those wishes in this thread could be fine if they will not lead to a loss of performance and an overcrowded GUI. And all new features should make sense. Color correction capabilities, for example, will not make much sense without a color management.

And there is no doubt about the usefulness of layer masks, but ArtRage is first and foremost a painting software, not an image editing software. Just my opinion.

[nnn]

Custom level steps. There are a few zoom levels I tend to like, and having to enter them manually every time is a drag. Also, being able to shift-drag through a set of user-defined brush sizes, rather than every single whole number, would be cool.

[jc001]

And there is no doubt about the usefulness of layer masks, but ArtRage is first and foremost a painting software, not an image editing software. Just my opinion.
But you could make the same exact argument for a feature like painting in a flipped canvas mode. Yet that is something that a lot of artists want because it's part of their digital painting workflow.

[Victor]

i hope they get the color wheel that can be resized and some thing similar to corel painter, flip canvas , preview the canvas in greyscale with toggle hotkey, custom default canvas size, dry brush in oil brush category and a better way to do layer selection and transform