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PaintTool SAI, Mischief and other painting programs


Helios

Well-Known Member
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Hi all,

I have today been looking at this cheap and basic digital painting package as a potential replacement (along with GIMP) for my buggy old Photoshop CS2. I was wondering if any of you guys have ever used it (free trial or paid for), and what your experiences were with it. I'm curious but I want to hear of some real experiences before I get further into the idea.
I've seen quite a few reports of bugs, but I guess you'll get that with any software. My main concern is that support looks minimal (to non-existant) and the upgrade process from trial to paid looks... a bit more involved than just a click of a button. I'm also not sure if it updates itself or what.. it doesn't help either that the official website is a pretty poor translation from its native Japanese and doesn't really explain itself too well. http://systemax.jp/en/sai/

I've seen quite a few people swear by it though, and produce some amazing work. I'm just wondering if getting it up and running is going to end up being more trouble than it's worth.

Of course PS is still the best, but I am sadly not yet making any money from my art, so... any advice, be it a gold star recommendation or a strong warning, will be appreciated. :)

EDIT: I have now found an alternative solution which I am very happy with, so no longer need help with this. However, feel free to post your thoughts on any of the programs discussed, as it might help people in future, I guess?
 
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Zeealex

Retired Forum Moderator
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just on the off chance, have your tried mischief? it's like, £20 and if you're only really doing digital painting then it will suit you down to a Tee, I've used it from time to time and it's been pretty decent.
the full version has layers and PSD export capability if you're looking to overpaint.
 

Zeealex

Retired Forum Moderator
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no problem :) just bear in mind the trial isn't fully featured, so if you like the trial, there's a good chance you'll LOVE the full version. :)
 

Helios

Well-Known Member
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This infinite canvas looks very interesting - one quick question if I may, as you've used it and I can't seem to find the answer very easily on their site: How do you actually take drawings off the canvas and save them as individual images with specific dimensions and resolutions? Is this a simple, self explanatory process?

And just to double check, the site I've been looking at is https://www.madewithmischief.com/ - is this the right thing?
 

Helios

Well-Known Member
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Well, I'm trialing the full version now (tried the free version, but found it too limited - I need my layers!). My tablet seems to work well enough, and I can produce things that I'm happy with. Not only that, but I'm finding the concept of it is extremely freeing, creatively. I may have found my solution, so thanks once again Zee!

Though this has had the side effect of me having to write the words 'play with mischief' on my weekly to do list. :redface:
 

Paul

Former Member
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I like paint SAI nice program like the smooth feature, but honestly if you would like a nice program similar that is totally free check out Krita, it is open source like gimp

https://krita.org/


Our kids have this on there computers, really good for free:cheesygrin:
 

Helios

Well-Known Member
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Cheers guys, I took a look at their site. Unfortunately, their FAQs point out that AMD graphics cards are a bit incompatible with it. As that is the type of card I have, I think I'll stick with Mischief as that is working out really well for me at the moment.

In fact Mischief is working so well, I think I'll call my SAI question moot. :)

Many thanks for all the help, to all of you. I am so happy to have found a workable alternative to CS2 for painting, it's turning out to be great for motivation and creative flow - I was getting itchy fingers last night after shutting the computer off, just wanting to carry on painting. That has not happened in a loooong time! I'll post some results soon.

:giggle:

Edit: Hmmm, I was trying to change the title of the thread to something more descriptive, like "PaintTool SAI, Mischief and other painting programs" but I can't seem to do this. Would a moderator like to help out? :p

Edit edit: Thanks Zee!
 
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