With the merry season coming we're bringing some exciting news - Rebelle 6 has been in the works for the past year and we could not be more thrilled about this release! The new version will feature essential tools the digital artists have been missing to become 100% exclusive with Rebelle software implemented in an innovative way. Hold on to your hats, guys - the next version is bringing Liquify and Warp tools with fractal image resizing, new filters, and much more!
Liquify Tool
Yes, Rebelle 6 will feature a Liquify tool! This tool lets you push, pull, twirl, pinch, or expand any area of an image. We love to make innovations and push the boundaries of what’s possible, and because we felt that the current liquify tools on the market were not practical and came with mediocre results, we have made the best liquify tool on the planet. :)
Rebelle's ‘Liquify’ tool is a practical tool with three main advantages:
1. It uses our fractal image processing, which is a similar technology we use in NanoPixel image resizing (available in the Pro edition). This is a huge step forward in image quality compared to other liquify tools:
Magnified comparison of the Liquify tool used with bilinear (used in other software) and fractal image processing in Rebelle 6 Pro.
2. What's even more exciting is that Rebelle’s 'Liquify' tool does not work as a filter. On the contrary, it is implemented as a standard tool, you can work with it directly on the layer while seeing its content. This makes editing much more straightforward.
3. Since this is a standard tool, you can use it with various default as well as user-made brushes and get extraordinary effects.
You will be able to find the tool under “Smudge & Liquify” in the Tools panel with the following options:
- Smudge - The first tool is a classic smudge tool that is present in Rebelle 5 version already.
- Liquify Push - This tool pushes pixels based on the movement of your brush stroke.
- Liquify Expand - This tool pulls the pixels beneath the brush in an outward motion.
- Liquify Pinch - This tool pulls the pixels beneath the brush in an inward motion.
- Liquify Push Left - When using this tool, pulling the brush up will move pixels to the left. Pulling the brush down will move pixels to the right. Pulling left will move pixels down, and pulling right will move pixels up.
- Liquify Twirl - This tool twirls pixels based on the movement of your brush stroke. You can use the Alt shortcut to reverse the rotation.
- Liquify Reconstruct - This tool is essentially a paint-on eraser. You can easily return pixels to their original state by brushing the Reconstruct tool over modified areas of an image.
Example of the Rebelle 6's Liquify tool.
"I think the new liquify tool in Rebelle 6 is going to be an amazing addition. It is fast, easy, and looks great because of the fractal technique, but best of all, because it works with thick paint, it makes it look so realistic." ~ Peter Smith, Digital Artist
Warp Tool
Warp is coming to Rebelle 6 as a new transformation tool for modifying objects. It is especially useful when you need to adjust the shape or proportions of an element in your artwork without repainting it all over again. This is a simple and effective way to improve or fix your compositions. The warp tool will be easily accessed either from the Transform tool in the Tools panel or from the Edit menu.
Warp tool works as expected - when activated, a grid appears over your selection, whether the entire image or part of it. You will be able to split it into more blocks with the Split slider. Moreover, Rebelle lets you add more or remove necessary splits. Then click and drag the vertices of the grid to warp the object selected.
The Warp tool in Rebelle 6 Pro also uses also our state-of-the-art fractal image processing you may know from Rebelle's NanoPixel feature. The quality of the output is much better and without unwanted pixelation.
New Warp tool in action.
Fractal Image Resizing
Most of the time, you can experience that enlarging or resizing the image is ruining its quality. As it gets larger, it loses the sharpness in the details and may become blurry. That is why in the next version we are introducing new options for transforming layers, selections, and resizing canvas. You will be able to choose from three different algorithms:
- Nearest neighbor - simply copies resized pixels;
- Bilinear - makes approximations between pixels to get smoother results
;
- Fractal - the best option for sharp details.
The Transform and Canvas Size tool in Rebelle 6 Pro can benefit from fractal image processing - a resizing algorithm based on machine learning. This allows you to change the size of the object with the maximum quality achievable with today's technology.
Magnified comparison of bilinear and fractal image resize.
Image Filters
New filters and filter masks have been added to Rebelle’s Filter menu. These will help you achieve the best possible look for your artwork without the need of switching to another software:
- Gaussian Blur - A new filter used to blur images. Gaussian blur smoothes uneven pixel values in an image by cutting out the extreme outliers. You can use the filter on the entire canvas or a selection.
- Lens Blur - Another new filter used to blur images. It is practical to add lens effects to the image.
- Sharpen - A new filter for sharpening images. Sharpening enhances the definition of edges in an image.
Original image vs. image with Sharpen, Gaussian Blur, and Lens Blur filters.
"Rebelle has been my favorite traditional media painting simulation program for years. New improvements in version 6 such as Liquify, Warp Tool, and new filters make it an increasingly powerful tool for editing painted images. You could say it mixes the best of both worlds!" ~ Kamila Stankiewicz, Illustrator
Color Range
Color filters (Hue/Saturation/Lightness, Colorize, etc.) will feature an optional color range selection based on a hue. If the color range is used, the filter is applied based on this information.
Adjusting the color range in Hue/Saturation filter on an image.
You will be able to use the adjustment slider to modify the range of colors. The two inner vertical sliders define the color range. The two outer vertical sliders show where the adjustments on a color range 'fall off'. This is an amazing way of adjusting colors in your artwork in a controllable way.
We could not be more thrilled about this release! We hope it gives you the possibilities you wish to have in Rebelle for a better painting experience. Stay tuned for another rollout of the new features coming this Friday!
All existing owners of Rebelle 5 are eligible for a 50% upgrade discount to Rebelle 6. All users who purchased Rebelle 5 from November 1st, 2022 until the release of Rebelle 6 will be eligible for a free upgrade to the same edition of Rebelle 6. More information about the differences between the editions as well as the pricing will be revealed soon.
Upgrading is optional, you can continue using your actual version for as long as you like.
Stay creative!
Escape Motions Team
----
Cover image by Rebelle Featured Artist Kamila Stankiewicz
Blog images: Goddess of Sea by NoranemonoPen | Santa Claus by nasilzang | Orange pot by Thomas Tarkotta | Ready for night by Kuzayova | Rejoice by TNAritst
What do you think?
0 Responses
0
Upvote
0
Funny
0
Love
0
Surprised
0
Angry
0
Sad
Sign in to comment!
Yesterday, Dec 14th, you indicated Rebelle 6 will be available the next day, Dec15th.
Anxiously awaiting the drop of Rebelle 6. Please, please, please don't keep us waiting much longer....
We are in the last phase, if everything works R6 will be available within a few hours.
how much is the upgrade?
All existing owners of Rebelle 5 are eligible for a 50% upgrade discount to Rebelle 6. All users who purchased Rebelle 5 from November 1st, 2022 until the release of Rebelle 6 will be eligible for a free upgrade to the same edition of Rebelle 6. More information about the differences between the editions as well as the pricing will be revealed soon. Upgrading is optional, you can continue using your actual version for as long as you like. (citation from the blog)
I want you to keep improving this software, so i'll definitely keep upgrading.
So far I'm not seeing anything worth upgrading to a major update. Since I use Photoshop in my flow, as I'm sure many do, liquify, gausian blur, etc are all part of other tools (i.e. PS), and PS has an edge there. Where Rebel shines is in the painting tools. I'd like to see something that adds auto paint strokes to existing images. If I could get textures of strokes auto applied to an image (like Robopaint was in earlier versions), and then auto blend it into the original image, that would be interesting. Nanopixel export is amazing, but it would be even more amazing to add brush strokes, to fill in details lost to the larger export sizing. The nanopixel canvas helps a bit, but can still leave lacking detail when you 4x the image output.
You can find these tools you in other software as well. But I believe that if you try them in Rebelle, you will have no need to use it elsewhere, there is no better implementation of the image quality yet. :) More users askes us about auto-painting, but it is not in our focus, there are many fantastic tools available, for example you can try Mediachance DAP 7.
Wondering if liquify and warp will work on my computer. As is now I can't use nanopixel since I get a message that says my computer doesn't support openGL3.3 ( I think) and the news seems to be that it uses similar or the same tech.
Ignore my user name connotation. I am not in fact disgusted.
Hi Disgus-ted :) Liquify and Warp will work, Nanopixel works on OpenGL, but Fractal Image Processng runs directly on CPU.
oh. that's great. looking forward to using new features.
very happy to see liquify/fractal coming to rebelle.
while I like rebelle style masks, I do miss the speed and flexibility of photoshop style masking, and using this alpha style mask on groups of layers, etc.
interested to see the upgrade pricing for owners of 5 pro!
can we expect the painting cursor changes instead of the circle to be brush tip?
We have only some tests for the brush tip cursor, so unfortunately not yet.
otherwise the software is great ,keep improving ! that cursor affects me mentally, I guess it affects all photoshop users.
cheers :D
Don't misunderstand me: Rebelle is the best painting tool and I love it. May be the pencils and the inks could be better.
Thank you for the feedback, we will look at those tools.
I am disapointed, please focus on painting tools!
Which painting tool would you prefer?
Less time going back and forth to Photoshop for liquify, etc is good. Although there sometimes are issues with crashing. Painting is nice. Best so far IMO. Still would like to see subtleties in blending more unless Im just missing something.
Good features but wish you would focus more on getting some more basic tools right first, that allow more control over palette paint quantity, custom grids for accuracy and different liquid mediums other than water for effects on appearance like matte medium.
We will reveal more in the next blogs. What do you mean by control over palette paint quantity? Thank you for your feedback!
Although I love these features I feel I have to warn you lovely escape motion guys; You don't need to turn this wonderful painting program to Photoshop. I think you should focus on making the paintbrush much larger, or on speeding the feedback up when when moving/merging several layers. But don't mistake me; I love you all for making digital painting so much more fun.
We definitely don't want to overload Rebelle with many functions, but these were one of the top requested features from the users. We understand that not everyone is a pro painter and there is a need to modify composition, shapes, etc.
You let me down.
You're making Rebelle like Adobe Photoshop, which is focused on retouching. not painting , paint the picture like an artist
you let me down
what i need In Rebelle's work is complete, in that everything is realistic: the effects of each material, each type of paint, and the tools, brushes, pencils, pastels, and watercolors are realistic. All items for expression in painting.
Thank you very much for your feedback, we are trying to make the best tools, and understand that there is still a lot of space for improvement. Many users move, resize, or deform the painting and these transformations are usually for the cost of the quality. That is why we worked also on these tools - to prevent, or at least minimize the loss of the quality.
I like that you're adding some extra tools, that's less that I need to do in photoshop. I can't wait for the day that I can stop using Photoshop for good.
These functions I can do better with Photoshop anyway.
I want Rebelle to improve the function.
That creates the effect of oil paint thickness, like applying a thick, lumpy paint, like painting with a trowel or squeezing the paint over. Canvas to get more real
That's all that i want.
There are many artist for which these tools are helpful. These functions are definitely not better in PS, but we got your point. :)
OK I understand your goal.
But if in this version 6 only have these functions without even more realistic features of the thickness of oil paints, the juicy flow of watercolor techniques and the realistic texture of pastel colors. I will definitely not update the version from the Pro 5 version that I am currently using.
Thank you for your explanation.
That sounds fair.
I like the sound of these but I also would like to see basic additions like clipping layers and more painting/brush improvements (especially pastels, pens, pencils).
We will reveal more in the next blogs.
I have the standard version of 5, If I upgrade to Rebelle 5 pro now, Will I get a free upgrade to Rebelle 6 pro?
Yes.
That’s brilliant, these ants very welcome tools…..do you have clipping layers? This is a tool I use constantly, it slows my workflow a lot without them.
We will reveal more in the next blog :)
No improvements in painting and drawing techniques? (to approach the spirit of Bacon, De Kooning, Saville, Schiele etc.), or an Android application to compete with procreate who does not want to develop an application for Android?
Always excited to see what you all come up with next!