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ArcBrush 1.7: From Batches to Materials

Published on by Bela Beier. The Topics are: Texturing (65)
Already useful for DP’s image galleries, ArcBrush adds material sets, 3D previews, Lens Blur and free floating-point editing in version 1.7.
A dark-themed ArcBrush interface shows parameter panels on the left and right, with a central preview grid of textured 3D crates or bins rendered in rows of red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. The layout uses compact controls and a black workspace, giving the screen a technical, material-editing feel.
Table of Contents Show
  1. Already earning its keep
  2. One graph, another folder
  3. Keep the material together
  4. Trim the repetition
  5. Look at the surface, then lose focus
  6. More precision, fewer flattened surprises
  7. A small editor inside the editor
  8. Availability, licences and the next batch
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    2. Article details
    3. Tags
    4. Permalink

For those who don’t know the tool: ArcBrush is a native node-based image editor from ArcBrush LLC for Windows, macOS and Linux. It connects image inputs, adjustments and exports in reusable graphs for batch processing, asset variants and texturing. Version 1.7 expands that approach to complete materials and makes the floating-point toolset available in the free personal edition.

Already earning its keep

I have been using ArcBrush quite a bit for the image preparation behind Digital Production’s galleries: changing sizes, converting colour spaces and dealing with the housekeeping that happens before pictures reach the website. Yes, this needs to be done for basically every article. None of this has really taxed the application. It has, however, given it plenty of opportunities to crash. So far, it has been a very useful accomplice and has not done so.

A dark-themed software interface shows a large central preview of a colorful 3D scene with a cartoonish character lit by warm sunlight, surrounded by purple-accented toolbars and panels. Below the preview, rows of small thumbnail nodes and timeline-like strips suggest a visual editing workflow, while a right-side graph panel displays overlapping RGB curves and a diagonal adjustment line.

For lots of small jobs, or one job repeated lots of times, the graph approach works really well in daily production. In my use, ArcBrush also starts considerably faster than the batch-processing tools I would normally reach for. That is an observation from everyday work, without a stopwatch or a comparative benchmark. Sometimes the feature you appreciate most is getting started before you have forgotten why you opened the application, and yes, this is the equivalent of going into a room and forgetting why you went there.

ArcBrush turns image editing into a node graph

We covered the original node-based editor in May. The appeal remains straightforward: build a process once and keep using it. Version 1.7, released on 20 October, gives that process a substantially more material-minded direction. I am looking forward to giving it something more demanding than another folder of screenshots. The screenshots have had quite enough attention.

One graph, another folder

The batch workflow starts with Image Folder and ends with Export Batch, with the processing chain between them. Nodes run across the incoming images without a separate batch mode. Folder filters, subfolder scanning and natural-name sorting help organise the input; a temporary file limit lets you develop the graph on a small sample before running the full set. Export naming uses tokens, so repeating a process need not mean repeating the filename administration.

That is precisely the kind of pipeline convenience I value here. Resizing images is hardly an expedition into the unknown. Resizing the next pile, consistently, without rebuilding the same decisions is where a modest task starts making a useful case for nodes.

A dark-themed material editor interface shows a 2x2 grid of textured sphere previews, including cracked stone, pale marble-like surfaces, speckled earth, and dense black strands. On the left, connected node boxes feed into the preview panel, while sliders and settings line the right side under soft gray lighting.

Keep the material together

A node-based material graph shows two blue image nodes, “crate_color.png” and “crate_normal.png,” feeding into a gold “Texture 1” crate material node. Curved connection lines link the images to base color and normal inputs on a dark dotted canvas, with a compact, technical interface layout.

Version 1.7’s texture sets carry up to eight maps together: base colour, normal, roughness, metallic, ambient occlusion, height, opacity and emissive. Texture Folder identifies maps by filename, while Texture assembles them from individual inputs. Transforms and warps apply across the set, including reorienting normal directions. A roughness adjustment can target that map while leaving the others alone. The maps get to travel as a group, rather than trusting us to remember every member of the party.

A dark-themed material editor interface shows a connected node graph on the left and a large preview sphere in the center, rendered with a sandy, pebble-studded surface. Parameter sliders and layer controls line the right panel, while the preview sits against a softly blurred earthy background, emphasizing a procedural materials workflow.

Texture Layer combines sets using height to determine the visible surface. The added surface-detail tools include Height Layer, Normal Layer, Bevel, Ambient Occlusion, Curvature and Normal to Height. Together they cover layered relief, bevelled masks, contact shading, wear masks and height reconstruction from normals. These are the new production possibilities I want to explore, rather than capabilities established by my gallery-preparation work.

A dark node-graph interface shows a blue Texture Folder 1 feeding oak_bark into Split Texture 1, then Posterize 1, and into Texture 1. Thin green connection lines and labeled input sockets for base color, normal, roughness, metallic, AO, height, opacity, and emissive create a clean, technical layout on a black dotted grid.

Export Texture handles destination naming, channel packing and OpenGL or DirectX normal conventions for Unreal, Unity, Godot, Blender, Substance Painter and other targets. Its editable file table exposes channels, formats and bit depths. Automatic output uses 8-bit PNG for colour maps, 16-bit PNG for normal and data maps, and half-float EXR for height extending outside 0–1. Packed output defaults to 8-bit PNG. Crucially, it does not bake the viewport’s display transform into the material maps.

A dark 3D material editor shows a weathered metal crate previewed in the center viewport, with purple glowing triangular accents along the base. Node graphs fill the left panel and parameter sliders line the right, all set against a black interface with blue highlights.

Trim the repetition

The Trim Sheet node creates named strips and regions, including nested cuts and empty areas, or lays a template over an existing texture. Layouts transfer to and from Blender’s ZenUV add-on. Individual trim branches can crop a material, repeat it along a strip and blend seams before Arrange reconstructs the sheet. Edge extrusion helps protect the result through mipmapping, while Export Data supplies rectangles and UVs. A useful place to trim the workload. I shall now put the scissors down.

Look at the surface, then lose focus

A dark, horizontal workflow diagram shows four connected steps: Noise, Normal Map, Texture, and 3D Render. Each label sits in a rounded black box with thin orange outlines, small gray icons, and white text, linked by gold arrows across a sleek, minimal interface.
A dark-themed material editor shows a large preview of a rough, cracked stone sphere suspended against a blurred forest backdrop. On the left, node graphs and small thumbnail previews connect to the material, while parameter sliders and settings line the right side in a compact workspace.

3D Render displays the material on built-in shapes or imported glTF, OBJ and FBX geometry, with HDR environment lighting and point or directional lights. Imported meshes supply geometry and the first UV set; their materials and animation are ignored. Built-in shapes support tessellation and height displacement, whereas custom meshes keep their existing geometry. The node outputs straight RGBA and a separate depth pass for downstream processing.

https://arcbrush.com/images/docs-visuals/blur-before-after-modes--main--29c67223314d.webp

Lens Blur uses that depth for selective defocus, with click-to-focus, separate near and far blur multipliers, aperture shaping, anamorphic effects, cat-eye bokeh and aberration controls.

A dark-themed ArcBrush interface displays a blurred 3D scene in the central viewport, with a sofa and cushions rendered in soft focus. Narrow tool panels line the left and right sides, while a row of material or render thumbnails spans the bottom, all lit by muted purple accents and a subdued workspace glow.

Uniform mode also works without depth. Depth Map mode requires a 32-bit float document, avoiding the 256-step precision of an 8-bit depth image. Losing focus is something I can already do without software; having deliberate control over where it happens is the upgrade.

More precision, fewer flattened surprises

The free personal edition now includes the 32-bit float pipeline, OpenColorIO colour management and high-bit-depth export. Working-space and display settings remain separate, with ACES 2.0 support and ACEScg and ACEScct working spaces. Export Image and Export Batch distinguish baking the displayed view, converting to a target colour space and retaining working-space values. For gallery work and material data alike, knowing which conversion reaches the file matters rather more than the elegance of the node arrangement.

A dark UI diagram explains an image workflow from Source Decode to Working Space, Node Graph, Display/View, and Export in stacked horizontal panels. Orange connector dots and a vertical line link the sections, while pale text and dotted borders create a technical, minimalist look.

PSD and PSB import reads the flattened composite, preserving transparency, rather than rebuilding layers, masks or smart objects. A compatible flattened copy must exist in the source file; Multichannel documents and ZIP-compressed composites are refused. PSD export produces flat 8- or 16-bit files. Embedded profiles are honoured on image import, including Adobe RGB and Display P3; wide-gamut values survive in float projects, while an 8-bit project converts to sRGB and clips out-of-gamut colours.

A small editor inside the editor

The new Pixel Art node stores editable pixel layers in RGBA or indexed colour, with up to 128 layers, selections, symmetry and wrapping for seamless tiles. Its output connects to palette variants, sprite-sheet packing and batch export.

A dark-themed material editor displays a knight sprite set, with nine chibi armored warriors arranged in a neat grid on the main canvas. Each figure has a colored plume and shield, while node panels on the left connect texture inputs and a palette preview, all lit by a muted black interface with bright accent colors.

Path Warp adds artwork along curves, while Export Data writes CSV, JSON or custom text describing assets and outputs. Version 1.7 brings the library to 117 nodes, including 18 additions.

Availability, licences and the next batch

ArcBrush 1.7 runs on Windows 10/11, macOS 12 or later on Apple Silicon, and Linux via AppImage for Ubuntu 22.04 or later. Personal and non-commercial use is free. The current licence terms distinguish a $49 perpetual Pro licence for eligible individual commercial work from Studio at $99 per seat per year for company work, teams or operations exceeding $250,000 trailing annual gross revenue or $1 million outside funding over 24 months. Pro includes 1.x updates; Studio has a 12-month term without automatic renewal. A 14-day commercial trial is available.

Keep a copy before upgrading: projects saved in 1.7 do not reopen in 1.6. My positive experience so far concerns routine image preparation, not a stress test of the new material system. ArcBrush has already made the repetitive jobs pleasant enough to keep using it. Now I want to see what happens when I stop giving it the easy ones.

ProductArcBrush 1.7
DeveloperArcBrush LLC
PlatformsWindows 10/11; macOS 12+ Apple Silicon; Linux AppImage, Ubuntu 22.04+
Personal useFree for personal and non-commercial work
Pro$49 once; individual commercial use subject to eligibility
Studio$99 per seat per year; companies, teams and operations above the stated caps
Trial14 days
Project compatibility1.7 saves do not open in 1.6

P.S. And I do want some respect for NOT making the “99 batches, but ArcBrush ain’t one” Pun in the headline. That one would have been inappropriate, misquoted, stupid, and not particularly funny.

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https://digitalproduction.com/2026/10/23/arcbrush-1-7-materials-batch-processing/