Has Ambient Design given up on ArtRage Vitae?

[symson]

It's hard to believe that there have been no updates to Vitae since it's release.

[Perendale]

I really don’t know, but I understand why you might think that :-)

[Woofy31]

I was thinking the same thing seeing no updates for such a long time - I really love AR, yet seeing how the rest of the digital painting tools get updated like crazy (i.e. rebelle, krita, etc.) makes me wonder if it's still a viable solution in the longer term.

I had so many plans to create quality sets of brush packs, canvases, quality samples and so on, but more and more people seem to stop using AR and switching to more up-to-date tools, which would make my efforts a waste of time if AR dies. Don't get me wrong, I tried all the other tools out there (some of which have AMAZING brush engines), but AR is still unbeatable at the traditional paint look - it'd be a real pity to see it fade away like this

If it was updated more frequently, I wouldn't even think about testing other tools, but right now I'm at the crossroads regularly testing other tools in the hope that something great like AR pops up that is more up-to-date and its developers more invested in it.

P.S. I just wish AR's developers would give a sign, like tell us where AR's future is going, if there are any more plans for it, so that I (and many others) could either stop hunting for alternatives and focus on AR, or stop using AR and find an alternative if it doesn't have a future anymore... I don't understand their silence :-(

[nekomata]

I was thinking the same thing seeing no updates for such a long time - I really love AR, yet seeing how the rest of the digital painting tools get updated like crazy (i.e. rebelle, krita, etc.) makes me wonder if it's still a viable solution in the longer term.

I had so many plans to create quality sets of brush packs, canvases, quality samples and so on, but more and more people seem to stop using AR and switching to more up-to-date tools

I don't think there should be anything stopping you from creating custom brushes and canvas variations to supplement your workflow, you can transfer those between artrage and other apps as well.

that's what I personally do with artrage and clip studio paint at the moment. I brought my custom brush set from corel painter into artrage many years ago, and, generally speaking, I prefer the way artrage works with the same brush sources.

artrage for desktop gets quiet updates every other year on average, so I haven't been expecting anything to arrive in 2022.

previous releases came out as follows:

2021, September - vitae

2019, June - AR 6

2017, February - AR 5.

most new features rebelle 6 introduced were also already present in artrage.

I personally only miss layer masking out of what they showcased, but I have an other app to do masking and compositing with artrage source files, so it's not that much of a big deal.
blur filters are bundled for free in krita, or can be added into artrage by purchasing photographer's bokeh plugins.

rebelle boasts enhanced physically superior color mixing for two versions straight now, but both old and new pigment systems they have to me look dead and synthetic compared to color blending that artrage had since the very start. they water fluid engine still creates the most beautiful digital watercolors to date, but I wouldn't say the app really made so much progress otherwise.

I don't understand their silence :-(

I just think they're too busy working on the app?

[Somerset]

artrage for desktop gets quiet updates every other year on average, so I haven't been expecting anything to arrive in 2022.

It would of course be nice if they would fix bugs from time to time, as developers of other apps do. I'm still on ArtRage 6, and there haven't been any updates since late 2019, as far as I can see, even there are at least three well known bugs. That's one of the reasons why I didn't purchase Vitae. I'm sure that there will be no more updates for ArtRage 6, but as far as I read here on this forums, at least one of the three bugs still exists, even in Vitae. I suspect the others do too. And I wouldn't be surprised if they would still exist in the next version of ArtRage. That's very disappointing. ArtRage is still my favorite painting app, but I'm afraid it will not have a future if the developers neglect their product this way and ignore the client satisfaction so much and continuously for years.

[nekomata]

It would of course be nice if they would fix bugs from time to time, as developers of other apps do. I'm still on ArtRage 6, and there haven't been any updates since late 2019, as far as I can see, even there are at least three well known bugs. That's one of the reasons why I didn't purchase Vitae. I'm sure that there will be no more updates for ArtRage 6, but as far as I read here on this forums, at least one of the three bugs still exists, even in Vitae. I suspect the others do too. And I wouldn't be surprised if they would still exist in the next version of ArtRage. That's very disappointing. ArtRage is still my favorite painting app, but I'm afraid it will not have a future if the developers neglect their product this way and ignore the client satisfaction so much and continuously for years.

can you pull up some bug reports and link them here so that they will be sorted in one place, and someone at the team will have a chance to look again on what's going on?


I'm on AR6 as well; I have occasional recurring crashes if I transform heavy layered and grouped content (and forget to save before doing that... ... ...), but I can't think of any bugs that would be a problem for my workflow, partially because I use a fairly small toolset which at this point has been serving my needs flawlessly.

I'm optimistic in regards to artrage staying both developing and competitive, which might be a bit of brand loyalty in me outweighing the future release expectations, but for a program with a small core team, they're doing well.

I had high hopes for another painting package that was shaping out into a corel painter killer for a few years before fizzling out like a storm in a cup of paint thinner (we now get one annual upgrade with no major brush core upgrades since 2021), and everyone else still can't rival what artrage has as far as paint and canvas simulations are concerned.

I go back to my traditional sketchbooks and albums more often now if I get burnt out of digital media, and it helps coping with long digital development cycles.

[cinematik]

rebelle boasts enhanced physically superior color mixing for two versions straight now, but both old and new pigment systems they have to me look dead and synthetic compared to color blending that artrage had since the very start

Rebelle 5 seems has more correct color mixing than AR. AR so named `real colors` produces unexpected results and fails in comlemetary colors mixing.

AR default brushes is hard to name valuable while extended brushes are seems complex to set up, unintuitive and slow.

I'm looking more and more at the Rebelle, although I haven't painted anything in it yet .

[nekomata]

Rebelle 5 seems has more correct color mixing than AR. AR so named `real colors` produces unexpected results and fails in comlemetary colors mixing.

AR default brushes is hard to name valuable while extended brushes are seems complex to set up, unintuitive and slow.

I'm looking more and more at the Rebelle, although I haven't painted anything in it yet .

good luck with this part!

I haven't found the perfect single tool that covers all my needs, but without artrage I would have given up on digital art ages ago and never looked back.

the other week I found out that a brush engine feature I liked in recent versions of competing apps (krita and artstudio pro) was actually implemented in a quiet sly way in artrage 4, and that it actually predates its competitors by a decade.

[kris_lap]

It's hard to believe that there have been no updates to Vitae since it's release.

I was thinking exactly the same.
Ironically the windows store / Apple Store was "sold" with easier updates in mind.