Chad Essley's Tablet Pc SketchBlog

I am not going to go through each and every single tiny addition to ArtRage 2, feature by feature. Rather, I will focus on a few of the main tools used in my demonstration, as well as a small comparison to similar tools found in Alias Sketchbook Pro 2. Really, I love both programs, and I rely on both tools for different tasks. Sketchbook Pro is my fast, speed demon drawing / sketching and editing program, and ArtRage is is my virtual painting studio, where I go to meditate, and just have a lot of crazy fun learning about color. The team members at Ambient Design are among the best UI designers in the world, (if not the best period) and the ease of use in ArtRage is evident from the moment you start the program. From the soft rounded corners of the menus, to the amazing organic waterlike transition animations when dialog boxes appear, Ambient Design again shows off its ability to create a totally unique user interface design not only in terms of ease of use, but also because of it's tremendous, often jaw-dropping visual style. If you own a Tablet Pc, or even a regular wacom tablet, and are at all interested in having fun, you owe it to yourself to give ArtRage a try!

Ok, on to my review:

New in ArtRage 2: Layers! Huzzah! In the above image, you can see a small cartoon sketch done in ArtRage 2. ( the full version )
Adding a layer is easy, and you instant access to layer tools such as opacity, re-ordering layers through drag and drop, and control over the type of paper & transparency of each additional layer. Each layer's paper type can be adjusted at any time, giving a different grain, color etc. Very handy for compositing, and giving a natural feel for your brush strokes. In this example, I began my project with the pencil tool, and a paper with zero grain, and a transparent background. ( The cell preset in the paper preferences )
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Also new in ArtRage 2, the Airbrush tool! Above, you can see that I've added a layer beneath my pencil layer, and started to add some soft colors, using the airbrush. The airbrush tool is simple to use, and delivers consistent, even color at an even flow rate. Perfect.
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The paintbrush tool: Here, I've decided to take a small paintbrush, and add some gentle texture to my character's face & hair. The paintbrush tool has changed a bit from version 1.0, and seems a bit more precise. The addition of a directional cursor, when you're painting is a great useful addition, but may distract some users. Thankfully, you have the option to turn it off and revert to "precise cursors" if this bothers you.

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Above, (click for popup image ) is a shaded cube I've drawn in ArtRage 2. I've used a medium width pencil, and added some cross-hatched shadows. Usually I zoom in a bit when I draw, to achieve a higher level of detail.
You will notice, that some of lines seem to start abruptly. That is, they don't begin with the correct opacity. They start 100% dark, and then get lighter. It seems that on my tablet pc, with the wacom penabled drivers installed, the pencil tool algorithm in ArtRage 2, has a few issues. Whenever I'm doodling away, if I move suddenly, or quickly, , ArtRage 2 has a tiny random "stutter", and creates this small visual artifact when drawing using the pencil tool. This also seems to be evident in other tools, the paintbrush for one, when painting in one continuous line, and changing direction. The edges of the brush line seem to briefly overlap improperly, causing a rough edge. Again, this is probably not something most people would notice. If you're an o.c.d. cartoonist like myself, you fall on the "it's sorta buggin' me", side of the fence. :-)

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Here, you see the same cube, drawn in Alias Sketchbook Pro 2. Here, for me, the pencil tool wins. The line is tapered correctly at the beginning and end, and has a general speedy, smooth overall feel. Whatever math magic is happening here, it's done very well. You can tell the Alias folks spent a lot of time getting the "feel" of the way Sketchbook Pro follows your hand and creates a line. There aren't any of the dark artifacts present in this drawing as in the pencil tool of ArtRage 2. On the whole, ArtRage holds its own in terms of line quality, it just dosen't quite stand up to Alias' pencil tool in this case. Artrage remains a very close second.

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Reference Images:

ArtRage 2 now has the ability to import reference images. This is a great help to artists who draw using photographic reference. The picture can be moved around the screen, and stays at original scale, even if you're zooming in a bit to work on your sketch.

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Line quality comparison:

In the above image you'll see a few samples of line quality, in ArtRage 2.
As you can see some of the line quality issues I've talked about earlier are present, however
I find that given a little patience and attention, I can keep these artifacts to a minimum, and I still get the line quality that I want. Again this may or may not be an issue for many users.

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Here you are seeing the same line quality samples but this time in Alias Sketchbook Pro.

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My suggestions for future ArtRage versions:
Refine brushstroke creation algorithms.
Eliminate artifacting tendency in pencil tool.
Employ photoshop style "quickmask" for making soft edged selections. (alpha channel)
Add lasso tool.
Add scale / rotate tool.
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Features:

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Opening up the throttle:

Above you see all the tools ArtRage 2 has to offer. From the airbrush, to chalk and crayon, marker to paint straight out of the tube. There is so much to do with the available tools, it's like having an entire studio full of art supplies at your disposal, and an unlimited amount of blank canvas.

The largest, and best feature of ArtRage 2, is of course, the paint. The secret real-time color mixing brushstroke as-you-paint kung fu that Ambient has deployed is amazing and captivating, not to mention, huge gigantic bucket-loads of fun. I think I've learned more about painting and color theory using ArtRage, than in a lifetime of experimenting with real paint.

You stand a very good chance of not getting your computer back for quite some time if you open up a copy of ArtRage around either children or adults. You've been warned!

-Chad Essley