Official ArtEngine 2021.7.1

Hi, ArtEngine Users!

We are pleased to announce that the latest version of ArtEngine 2021.7.1 is now available for you to download and use.

Please note that GPU driver requirements for ArtEngine have been recently updated. ArtEngine now supports NVIDIA GPU driver versions 461.72 or later. The newer drivers greatly improve execution speeds of the Up-Res and JPEG Artifact Removal nodes, as well as neural pattern matching in the Mutation (Structure) node. If you have an older version of the driver, you will be prompted to update it the first time you launch ArtEngine.

Join the discussion on our Discord channel or on the ArtEngine Forum if you have anything to share with us or the community. It’s always great to get your feedback and to see what awesome things you come up with when working with ArtEngine. We’d love to hear from you!

Read on to learn more about the new features and updates in this release.

What’s new?

• Improved Node Graph Speed

Improvements have been made to the processing speed of all nodes. These speed increases will be particularly noticeable in nodes that usually take less time to execute and should result in very noticeable improvements across large Node graphs.​

• Relative Linking of the Node Properties

Previously, nodes with height and width adjustments become equal when you link them in the properties. This makes it difficult to work with images that are not square. Hence, we have updated the sliders to adjust relatively when you link them with different values for width and height. This applies to nodes such as Crop, Free Transform, Resize, Basic Shape, Pattern Array.​

• 2D Viewer - Memory Optimization

The 2D viewer is now faster and consumes less VRAM.​

• 3D Viewer - Added Orthogonal Camera Angles

You can now validate the textures by viewing the model from a set camera angle in either orthographic or perspective view. The 6 new angles can be accessed through a new dropdown in the 3D viewer settings.​

• Color Space Conversion Node

You can now control the Bit Depth and Color Space parameters of your bitmaps. The Color Space Conversion node allows you to convert images between 8, 16, and 32 bit depths, as well as between the sRGB and linear RGB color spaces. Please note that only .EXR file types can be used to export bitmaps with linear RGB. ​

• Output Node Improvements

You can now access the advanced settings of this node in the Properties tab, without having to switch to the pop-up window interface.​

Resolved Issues

• Fixed an issue where the project would be lost upon ArtEngine failing to save it.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where imported AxF files became unusable after saving a project.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where users could not launch the application if their Windows username has special characters in it.
  
  
• Fixed issues with clashing licenses when there is more than one account on the same machine using ArtEngine.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where users could not select input from the 2D viewer dropdown in the Crop node.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where the changes made by the Normal Intensity node would not apply to the bitmap upon export.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where exporting a project and pressing the Escape key closed both the "Overwrite" window and the Export window.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where the Hard Shadow Removal node interface would display a solid red image after execution.
  
  
• Fixed various issues around Split Material Node.
  

Known Issues

• Nodes that are not recommended for Batching: Color to Mask, Color Muse, Mask Paint, Color Transfer, and in general nodes that are more specific to the individual bitmaps coming through.
  
  
• There is an issue with Batching creating extra black maps for output folders to make up the difference in numbers, if one input folder has more maps than another.
  

You can always review the latest changelogs here.

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions - we are here to help.

Enjoy!

Support: artengine-support@unity3d.com or submit a request

Happy creating,

The Unity ArtEngine team