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| AzDrawing |
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| AzPainter |
Tested versions - AzDrawing2 v2.02 and AzPainter2 v2.12
Price - Free, open source
Notes - Both programs are a complementary package, so I am including them together too.
Systems - Windows XP/Vista/7/8.1/10, Linux
Official website - Linux (newest) http://azsky2.html.xdomain.jp/ (English translated)
Windows (discontinued November 22, 2011) http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA033749/index.html (English translated)
Raster or Vector - Raster
Two complementary programs (AzDrawing is for sketching and inking, while AzPainter is of course for coloring), I have used AzDrawing occasionally for many years. I did not think a current review of art related programs would be complete without covering them briefly.
Windows versions have been discontinued, but the final versions still work great (I use Windows 8.1) and they rival programs such as FireAlpaca still today with some features.
The lack of mainstream popularity was likely language barriers - website, help files, and AzPainter only in Japanese (besides translated versions by fans). Then of course two programs had to be used (AzDrawing and AzPainter) to make artwork so many opted to simply use another single program.
The software author Azel is still developing them for Linux (English translated), so who knows perhaps one day someone will compile them to run on Windows.
Recommend Use - AzDrawing is great for sketching, outlining, and inking artwork (depending on skills and style wanted).
AzPainter though I keep only as it is part of the AzDrawing package. Due to it's limitations I haven't used it beyond various tests, and for this review. Try it though for yourself.
AzDrawing
* I have created a basic Google English translation of the help file, HTML as the original, available here. Just download and place into your AzDrawing folder. If you want AzDrawing to load it from the help menu, rename the new file to help.html.
Ease Of Use - Deceptively simple to use, and exploring the program shows a surprising scope of options and tools available. In the last 6 years I have experienced little lag (other than on huge files) and no errors, or program crashes - and nearly instant start-ups.
Image size is limited to 9999 pixels, width and height individually. Maximum size is 16.66535" x 16.66535" at 600 dpi, and 33.33071" x 33.33071" at 300 dpi. Which is rather limiting compared to what other programs now offer in page size.
Followed by 3 brush presets, which if you noticed in the fullscreen screenshot I did is in Japanese (the default names, even in English) - but simply double-clicking them allows you to change the name. The brush names translate to For Drawing, For Painting, and Eraser (so I just rename them to Draw, Paint, and Eraser).
One of the great brush settings is Smoothing (which works for graphics tablets and mouse) and has a added extra option. The amount can be adjust from 1 to 50 - but the type of Smoothing is adjustable too. That is None, Weak, Medium, and Strong which makes a equally big change. Besides the brush settings seen underneath there are 5 tabs that can be switched to and more options altered (Custom brush heads, textures, rotate brush options, etc).
For some custom brushes, and how to import/export them too, see the tutorial by Adriano Duarte.
Switch on a ruler by clicking it, and then to alter the Angle or Center position on the artwork page hold down the ALT key, left-click where you want it (for Angles hold down the mouse button and drag the line to the angle) and then release the mouse button followed by releasing the ALT key.
To program the presets drop-down list (Angle or Center Pos), you first have to setup a ruler as described with the ALT key, click the Angle or Center Pos button then click <- set.
Halftone - The texture pack (texture_azp.zip) has to be downloaded from the AzDrawing page (English translation), below the AzDrawing download itself.
Once downloaded unzip the file to the AzDrawing folder, and rename the unzipped folder (AzPTex) to texture so the program can load them. All textures must be in a folder named texture for AzDrawing to load them.
In the image above, in the Option window select the tab Texture. On the text (likely --None--) click it, and it will open the textures that are in the texture folder. The names are gibberish as they are in Japanese and my Windows does not display them. Clicking a texture however shows a preview, and when you find one you want click Select.
With a texture you will have to use the Paint brush, Paint bucket, or Eraser tools and put the texture wherever you want. When your done, reopen the Texture tab and click None to return to solid colors in your tools.
Halftone Generator! Ha, seems cruel to show this fully customizable way too afterwards, but the previous method is useful for making custom textures and other options. In the image above you can see in the main menu Filter -> Comic -> Half Tone Generator[2] is where it lives. Also similar ones for lines and checks too. 😆
Pros -
- Free, open source
- Adjustable page size and resolution up to 720 dpi - making it ideal for varied projects.
- Little if any program lag with mouse or tablet (except on huge files), instant program start-up, and no crashes or issues in 6 years now.
- Many adjustable rulers
- Very nice crisp lines, and great basic brush options
- True Tone/Halftone (monochrome dots, lines, and checks) support with full fledged generator tools
- Discontinued on Windows
- Image size limited to 9999 pixels (width and height individually), which depends on resolution (dpi setting) for what can be created.
- Black color only - and variations of gray using the opacity settings. The complementary AzPainter is their answer to anyone working in color.
- Rulers do not have overlays showing the center or angles
- Floating windows, but does not bother me here, which I guess I can attribute to nostalgia.
- The Text tool options have the typical font list and option issues (kerning, leading, tracking, etc) of other programs. The problem must be a internal programming library.
AzPainter
* I have created a basic Google English translation of the help file, HTML as the original, available here. Just download and place into your AzPainter folder. If you want AzPainter to load it from the help menu, rename the new file to help.html.
Ease Of Use - Frustrating for me working on projects - as the selection tool is limited to only a Rectangle tool. See the Coloring section below. Otherwise, it works much like AzDrawing and the basic setup.
Image size is limited to 9999 pixels, width and height individually. Maximum size is 16.66535" x 16.66535" at 600 dpi, and 33.33071" x 33.33071" at 300 dpi. Which is rather limiting compared to what other programs now offer in page size. If you are using AzDrawing first, then you will not have images that exceed the limit as it has the same limit.
The Rulers are also found in the Control window (2nd image) near the bottom labeled as Snap. The same rulers and usage as was explained previously in AzDrawing.
The Textures window (3rd image) doesn't bother with names, just a preview. A nice change is that from it's menu Library option, textures can be added, deleted, imported, or exported.
Missing Tools/Options - I understand AzPainter is not intended to draw the artwork (primarily just coloring), but many of the tools removed now make coloring a chore (or impossible). The obvious tools for me are the selection tools are gone besides a single rectangle tool.
Others such as view/page rotate, nearly all the brush options, brush smoothing, and such are all removed too.
Options are a display of the current Foreground and Background colors, RGB or HSV sliders with numerical input, a Color mixer (above Snap, select two colors for the ends, and using a gradient it mixes the colors. Hovering the mouse over the colors will select the color directly below it), also a Color bar selection, and a Eyedropper tool (In Windows 8.1 at least, trying to use the Eyedropper minimizes the AzPainter window making it useless).
The 2nd image shows the Extended Palette which is a simplified Color bar selector. The final 3rd image is the Palette window. Left-clicking on a color will select it as the current color, and right-clicking a color will replace it with the current color. Palettes themselves can be opened in multiple tabs, imported/exported, and more in the window menu options.
Coloring - No lasso, polygon line, magic wand, or any other selection tools (and no joke) beyond a rectangle selection - so inventive methods have to be used during coloring. In the process learning a new workflow is necessary to work within the limitations (which goes against many years of hobby fun, university training, and freelance work for me).
For basic area fills of solid color, or empty areas, the Paint Bucket fill tool works fine as is.
Select the art outline layer and set it as the Paint Source (red paint bucket on the layer). Now make a New layer below the outline layer, and if you enable the Fill Paint Bucket's Paint Source option too it will paint within the outline areas.
The Paint Source option is simpler in many other programs (where it is often just a Paint Bucket option typically labeled Sample all layers or such).
You can also erase areas with the same settings done above. To erase areas in a layer, select the Erase Mode in the Paint Bucket, and now any area within (or the outside) of the outline art will be erased. Just ensure the option Texture is off in the Control window otherwise it will not erase cleanly, but leave behind a texture.
Halftone - AzPainter includes a similar Tone generator (menu Filters -> Draw -> Tone) as AzDrawing but it is of little use (without a selection it fills the entire page). So the best method is use the selection tool to draw a small rectangle, fill with tone, and manually erase areas you do not want the excess halftone.
Pros -
- Free, open source
- True Tone/Halftone (monochrome dots/lines) support with full fledged generator tools.
- A much more refined Texture window with options including import/export
- Some interesting and useful color selection options.
- Little if any program lag with mouse or tablet (except on huge files), instant program start-up, and no crashes or issues.
- Discontinued on Windows
- Image size limited to 9999 pixels (width and height individually), which depends on resolution (dpi setting) for what can be created. Image size can be altered in AzPainter, resolution (dpi) can not and is loaded from the image, or defaults to 600 dpi if a new image is created.
- Color is strictly RGB mode.
- Rulers do not have overlays showing the center or angles
- Floating windows, but does not bother me here, which I guess I can attribute to nostalgia.
- Selection tools have been removed (and most brush options too) creating a much more difficult coloring effort.
- The Text tool options have the typical font list and option issues (kerning, leading, tracking, etc) of other programs. The problem must be a internal programming library.
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