I love the software and I have a few suggestions and bugs

[HannahRage]

I'm afraid that the answer to most of this is going to be 'probably just not possible for us to add without redesigning half the program, try Photoshop'.


However, there are a few things that overlap with some stuff we're looking at for ArtRage 5, so you may find that solves your issues even if it's not specifically the exact feature you requested (...but I can't go into detail until it's actually finished, those features might change at any point if we have problems with them, so I shall just taunt you with vague promises).

To be able to scale up or down a canvas texture, rotate and translate it as desired.

To be able to add effects like noise and blur that are non-destructive (not permanent).

To have a blurring or smudging brush tool.

You can edit the canvas texture in the canvas settings. Resize it by changing the scale bar. You can import custom textures, so you can rotate/distort etc as required before importing the image.

Non-destructive effects aren't currently possible in ArtRage, but a blur and noise filter can both be found in the Edit menu (you can also import custom Photoshop filters).

The Palette Knife has a 'blur' setting.

We're also looking at some things for ArtRage 5 that you may find help, though they aren't *exactly* what you're requesting.

Ability to export any numbers of selected layers or groups so to import them into another painting.

To be able to link multiple Layers and/or Groups (again, like Photoshop).

To have multiple selections for Layers and Groups.

Ability to merge (flatten or bake) linked layers or groups, or, more simply a multiple selection.

These would be neat, but it's really, really, really difficult to implement in ArtRage - there are too many layer-specific details, like canvas textures and media type and blend modes that make it almost impossible to do right now.

Ability to import layers from another painting.

For a single layer try copy and paste? You can just open ArtRage twice and switch between them to copy the layer across - much faster than exporting and importing, and essentially the same thing.

But unfortunately, you couldn't import multiple layers because the entire document would overwrite/conflict with the settings for the previous document (e.g. canvas size).

The Eye icons (Visibility) should always be visible on layers, whether the eye is open or closed like with the Trace panel. It is confusing the way it is currently designed for layers and difficult to quickly see at a glance (with my brain at least as I am so used to Photoshop).

To have an Eye icon (Visibility) on Groups so one can quickly make them visible or not - and I can see if a group is visible, just by glancing at it.

While we're the inverse of Photoshop, we've found our method is generally less confusing to users - there's no reason to have an icon visible if nothing on the layer has actually been changed, and the less clutter, the easier to use the program and find the stuff you need.

Ability to scale the width of panels such as Layers, Samples, etc. One would be able to see longer names and would be allowed to arrange them nicely on their desktop. Right now, the programme scales down my Group titles if they are too long and this makes the readability difficult.

Ability to dock panels one onto another and into a region that is not part of a painting. I often click beside a panel and my panel disappears (a feature that is nice while one is painting) but this surprises me every time. Also, I'd like to be able to put all tools, color picking tool and any panels all together so I can have the rest of the screen to work on a painting.

We're working on interface improvements for ArtRage 5 - again, I can't share specifics yet, but I think you'll find it a vast improvement.

Make the Layer Blend Mode command available so one can have a shortcut for it. It is currently tedious to have to click through the menu, especially of one is trying different blending modes. I would somehow keep that menu open (make it available as a panel) so one can switch between any mode swiftly.

Click the little icon that appears on the layer when a blend mode is active - it will take you directly to the blend modes menu.

Option for the Color Sampler to sample a region instead of just a pixel.

Ability to scale a Group with the Non-Uniform and Perspective options.

The Eraser is to me the tool that needs the most improvements. It currently does a poor job to smoothly or sharply erase. May I strongly suggest the Eraser to work as any other tool? For example, if I use an Airbrush with a particular setting, it would just be grand to use the exact opposite to erase. Imagine any tool being able to be used (negatively?) to erase something.

These may not be possible, and I know the tools-as-eraser has been requested quite a lot! but they'll go on the suggestions list.

As it currently is, whenever I move a layer out of the boundary of a painting, my layer gets cropped. This is problematic for me when I want to move a layer back inside the image boundary. It would be very nice to not chop any parts of layers living outside the painting boundary.

When the Transform tool is active, one cannot move around the canvas by using the Space Bar shortcut like it can be used with all other tools. Instead, it either selects or activates the Transform tool.

These are supposed to happen, I'm afraid - most programs work this way.

The space bar edits whatever is 'active', and the transform tool needs to allow people to move things around using the normal 'canvas' shortcuts.

When merging two layers, if one is invisible (visibility off) by mistake or desire, ArtRage will take a very long time to process and cannot be stopped once the process has started.

This definitely shouldn't happen, and doesn't happen here. The only reason you should see ArtRage freezing up is if you have a very large file/layers, and it's just struggling to process everything.

If there's a massive speed difference between visibility on and visibility off, it's a bug; can you send us your OS details, and an example painting that it happens with to [email protected] ?