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ArtRage 2 Full Version
ArtRage 2 Full Version
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ArtRage 2 Painting Software for Windows and Mac

From Sue Chastain,
Your Guide to Graphics Software.
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Guide Rating - rating

The Bottom Line

ArtRage is an inexpensive, fun, and easy-to-learn program for experimenting with digital art in Windows, Tablet PC or Mac OS. The user interface is absolutely gorgeous and designed for ultimate ease of use. Children and adults alike will have a ton of fun painting and drawing with art tools that act and interact just like real-world paint, pens, pencils, crayons, and even glitter! If you own a graphics tablet, you owe it to yourself to try ArtRage.
Pros
  • Inexpensive. Costs only US$25.
  • User-friendly and very easy to learn. Great way to experiment with digital art.
  • Allows you to load an image as your canvas or as "tracing paper" for painting over.
  • Layers support, Photoshop PSD import and export.
  • Performance and graphics tablet support greatly improved in this version.
Cons
  • No smudge tool.
  • Sometimes brush strokes exhibit strange artifacts.
  • I had trouble with the dragging method of zoom control.

Description

  • Paint and draw with oils, pencil, airbrush, markers, chalk, crayon, palette knife, glitter, roller, tube, and eraser.

  • Tools function like their real-world counterparts and can be adjusted for various effects (wetness, softness, angle, etc.).

  • Stylish, un-intimidating, easy-to-learn user interface. Includes thorough online help pages.

  • Load a tracing image and paint over it with or without auto color selection. "Pin" a reference photo to your workspace.

  • Import an image as your canvas, then paint or color on it--or smear colors with the palette knife.

  • Use preset canvas textures or adjust grain, color, roughness, scale, opacity, and metal effects to create your own.

  • Metallic paint option makes any color into a metallic. Work with metallic oils, glitter, and shiny background textures.

  • Tool palettes are easy to use. Palettes hide themselves automatically when you paint near them.

  • Work with layers, including 23 layer blend modes. Import & export layered PSD files for Photoshop compatibility.

  • For Windows 2000/XP/Tablet PC, and Mac OS X. Graphics tablet recommended.

Guide Review - ArtRage 2 Painting Software for Windows and Mac

ArtRage is an inexpensive, easy-to-learn art program for Windows and Mac that is tons of fun to play with. As the developers say, you can play with paint without any of the mess or the expensive supplies. And ArtRage has improved significantly since I reviewed version 1--the sluggishness is gone, pressure support has been improved, and more tools have been added.

If you're not sure whether digital art is for you, ArtRage Free Version is a nice, no-cost way to find out. Chances are, you'll be hooked, and the $20 upgrade price for the full version opens up more tools and features. ArtRage 2 has added four new tools in this version: airbrush, glitter, paint tube, and paint roller. The full version also adds full layers support including all 23 of Photoshop's standard layer blend modes. Ambient Design's Web site offers several tutorials and a user forum to help you learn the program and interact with other users.

ArtRage is perfect if you have a child who's interested in exploring computer art; even very young children should have no problem picking it up. As soon as I tried the glitter tool it brought me back to kindergarten and making art with glue and metallic glitter. With ArtRage, there's no glue mess and you won't have to worry about your kid eating the foil glitter.

ArtRage is equally fun for adults--and educational, too. If you own a graphics tablet or tablet PC, you absolutely need to have this program. Go ahead and spring for the full version--it's totally worth it for the layers features alone.

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