Frequently Asked Questions

ArtRage 2.5 Starter and Full Editions require the following system specifications:

Windows: Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2k, or Tablet PC. 800mhz processor or faster, and 256 megabytes of RAM.

Macintosh: Macintosh OS X 10.3.9 or later. G4 processor or faster, and 256 megabytes of RAM.

ArtRage Studio & Studio Pro require the following system specifications:

WindowsXP, Vista, or Win7. MacOSX 10.4 or later with 1GHz processor (Intel/AMD or PPC G4/G5). 1024 x 768 screen size, 512MB Memory, 100MB disk free.

When you purchase ArtRage from our online reseller, the ArtRage store at Kagi, you will receive an email with a registration key and a download link which you can use to download the ArtRage installer. Download and save the file to a convenient location then run it to install ArtRage. When you run ArtRage for the first time you will be prompted to enter the key.

ArtRage Studio & Studio Pro:

ArtRage Studio and Studio Pro all provide English, French, German, Dutch, and Italian interfaces, with manuals in English and Italian. Further translations and manuals will be added over time.

ArtRage Studio & Studio Pro Wacom China Editions support English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese.

ArtRage 2.

ArtRage 2.6 Full Edition provides support for:

• English interface + manual.
• French interface + manual.
• German interface + manual.
• Italian interface + manual.
• Turkish interface + manual.
• Dutch.
• Spanish.
• Spanish (Latin America).
• Portuguese.
• Portuguese (Brazil).
• Greek.
• Russian.

ArtRage 2 Japanese Edition supports:

• Japanese interface + Japanese Manual.
• English interface + English Manual.

ArtRage 2 Wacom China Edition supports:

• Simplified Chinese interface.

When ArtRage starts for the first time it uses the language used by your operating system. The language used can be changed by opening ArtRage's help menu, then clicking on 'Select Language', choosing the language you want and restarting ArtRage when prompted.

If purchasing ArtRage from our online store at Kagi, available methods of payment can be found here. They accept credit card, Paypal, check, money order and a number of other options.

For information on any versions of ArtRage purchased from any other store, including all versions of ArtRage Deluxe, please refer to those store pages.

We do provide discounts for bulk orders of ArtRage. Please let us know the number of installations of ArtRage you would like and we'll give you a quote. You can contact us via the Support section.

ArtRage does not contain any adware, spyware or malware of any sort.

For a list of the features supported by different versions of ArtRage, visit http://www.artrage.com/artragefeatures.html

There is currently no printed manual available for ArtRage. The ArtRage manual is available in digital pdf format by opening the Help menu and selecting 'ArtRage Manual' from the menu.

Owners of ArtRage 2 may be eligible for a discount if they wish to switch to one of the new products. For more information, see here: http://www.artrage.com/artrage-purchase-info.html

Owners of ArtRage Studio may be eligible for a discount if they wish to upgrade to ArtRage Studio Pro. For more information, see here: http://www.artrage.com/artrage-purchase-info.html

Your ArtRage license is for a single user, but if you wish to install on more than one platform for your own use you can register your key in the Member Area and download the installer for any of the platforms the product is available on.

If you want to install ArtRage on one additional computer for your own use, that is ok with us.

Any work you produce with ArtRage is yours to do whatever you like with, including selling your work. We just provide the tools for you to create art and make no claim to anything you create.

If you've purchased from our online reseller, Kagi, and have not received an email with the download link and registration key, you can check the details of your purchase by going here https://secure.kagi.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/PQ and entering your purchase information.

The most likely cause of not receiving an email is that the email was blocked by anti-spam software or by your internet provider, so do check your junk mail folder and anti-spam software if you have any installed as you may find it there. You can also contact Kagi directly here. http://www.kagi.com/contact/index.php for assistance.

Ambient Design Ltd. does not have purchase information for any version of ArtRage Deluxe as sales are handled entirely by the external vendor. If you need information on a purchase of ArtRage Deluxe please contact the vendor directly or visit the publisher's support page at http://www.smithmicro.com/support

Ambient Design Ltd. does not have purchase information for any version of ArtRage Deluxe as sales are handled entirely by the external vendor. If you need information on a purchase of ArtRage Deluxe please contact the vendor or visit the publisher's support page at http://www.smithmicro.com/support

To download a new installer for your ArtRage software you need to register a user account in the ArtRage Member Area. To create an account or login, visit: http://members.artrage.com.

When you have an account you must Log In then you need to use the My Products page. Select the product you are trying to register (ArtRage 2, or ArtRage Studio / Studio Pro) then enter your 20 digit ArtRage Registration Key (ArtRage 2), or 25 digit Serial Number (ArtRage Studio / Studio Pro). Once you have registered the key you can use the My Products page to download your ArtRage software. If you cannot find your Registration Key please read the instructions in the sections below for information on how to recover your key.

Once you have registered your Registration Key you will be able to download the software whenever you need it. If the process does not work, please contact us via the Support Page and indicate clearly which stage of the process is failing.

Users of ArtRage Deluxe can download the software from the Member's Area but the additional DVD content is not available for download from Ambient Design. For further assistance downloading additional content please contact the publisher via their support page at http://www.smithmicro.com/support.

If you have previously registered your copy of ArtRage at http://members.artrage.com your Profile will contain your Registration Key. Log in to the Member Area and access the Profile Page to see it.

If you purchased ArtRage from our online reseller, Kagi, you can recover your purchase details including a lost registration key directly from them. You can find the information on Kagi's website here.

If you purchased ArtRage Deluxe you will need to contact your vendor for further information or contact the publisher via their support page at http://www.smithmicro.com/support. Ambient Design does not have any information on Registration Keys for ArtRage Deluxe.

If you received ArtRage on CD with a Wacom graphics tablet, Wacom print the registration key on the back of the ArtRage CD sleeve as a 'serial number'. If you downloaded ArtRage from Wacom using a download coupon you should have received your registration key in an email. If you don't see it there or cannot find the CD sleeve please contact Wacom support directly for assistance as Ambient Design does not have any details of keys that came with Wacom tablets.

If you received ArtRage on CD with a Wacom tablet, Wacom print the registration key for ArtRage on the back of the ArtRage CD sleeve. They call it a 'serial number' and it is 20 digits long. If you don't see it there please contact Wacom support directly for assistance as Ambient Design does not have any details of keys that came with Wacom tablets.

If you downloaded ArtRage from Wacom's website, you should have received an email from them containing your registration key. If you have not received this, please contact Wacom support for assistance.

This error message can occur if the Windows Installer ( part of Windows used to install .msi files ) has invalid information about ArtRage. To correct this, download Microsoft's Installer Cleanup Utility from here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301.

This page also includes information on how to install and use the utility. Use the utility to remove any ArtRage entries from the list, then try to install ArtRage again.

ArtRage Studio / Studio Pro:

ArtRage Studio and Studio Pro serial numbers are 25 characters long, split in to groups of 5. If your serial number is not accepted when you enter it, please make sure you have copied it correctly. You can paste it in to the Unlock panel using the button provided.

ArtRage 2.

Artrage keys are 20 digits long, so if you are entering a different number of digits, check that it is being read correctly. If you are copying and pasting the registration key, make sure that you are not copying any additional spaces or additional information, just the key itself.

Windows 98 and Windows ME lack some features which ArtRage requires, which are present in Windows 2000, XP And Vista. Unfortunately, as a result, ArtRage 2 or later will not run on these older operating systems.

If you get an error message which refers to gdiplus.dll when you try to launch ArtRage on Windows 2000, you can download the related file here from Microsoft's site:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6A63AB9C-DF12-4D41-933C-BE590FEAA05A

When you've downloaded the file, run it and it will create two folders, 'asms' and 'idw'. The folder you want is: asms/10/msft/windows/gdiplus

From that gdiplus folder, copy 'gdiplus.dll' in to your ArtRage program folder (usually in C:\Program Files\Ambient Design\ArtRage 2, or C:\Program Files\Ambient Design\ArtRage Studio Pro etc.). Just make sure that the gdiplus.dll file is in the same location as your ArtRage.exe file (or ArtRage Studio Pro.exe file if you're using Studio Pro etc.).

The application should now launch normally.

ArtRage does not support Linux natively but some users have reported being able to run it using Wine. For more information, check in the forums. Note that we cannot support your version of ArtRage if you choose to run it on Linux.

If you have an older version of ArtRage 2, you may experience a crash on startup or when updating. To correct this, download the latest version of ArtRage from http://members.artrage.com.

The latest version of ArtRage is installed to your Applications folder as 'ArtRage 2.5' by default.

Some users have reported that they will get an error message similar to this when launching ArtRage 2 after installing it from the CD bundled with some Wacom tablets.

To correct this, download the latest version of ArtRage from http://members.artrage.com.

The way that Wacom tablets are identified changed in recent operating systems, so you may see this error when starting ArtRage.

Downloading and installing the latest tablet software from Wacom's website should correct this, but as we removed the tablet check in Artrage 2.5.20 it is also worthwhile downloading the latest version of ArtRage from http://members.artrage.com.

ArtRage Studio / Studio Pro:

Select 'ArtRage News and Updates' from the Help Menu inside the product. The News Panel will inform you if there is a new version, and provide a button to link to the Member Area. To download updates you will need to register an account with us at http://members.artrage.com.

ArtRage 2

To update ArtRage, open ArtRage's Help menu and click on 'Check for updates online'. If you have any problems updating, you can also download the latest version of ArtRage directly from http://members.artrage.com

If you have an older version of ArtRage 2, you may experience a crash on startup or when updating. To correct this, download the latest version of ArtRage from http://members.artrage.com.

The latest version of ArtRage is installed to your Applications folder as 'ArtRage 2.5' by default.

He's not a bug, honest! That's Tycho, Ambient Design's resident cat, the one who's really in charge of the whole operation. You'll find he occasionally pops up in the layer palette in the background when you're dragging a layer, and can also sometimes be found biting the corner of the About ArtRage window or the update window.

He's an elusive creature so most of the time he hides away, ready to make his appearance when it's least expected!

If you're using ArtRage on Windows and see strange behaviour when using a graphics tablet, try the following:

Check that you have the latest version of ArtRage ( Help -> Check for updates online ). If not, download the latest version of ArtRage from http://members.artrage.com.

If you are using Windows Vista or 7, the problem may stem from Microsoft Ink Services settings. To disable ArtRage's use of Ink Services, create a file called 'no_ink.inf' and place it in ArtRage's Resources subfolder. e.g. C:\\Program Files(x86)\\Ambient Design\\ArtRage 2\\Resources\\. The type of file doesn't matter, only the filename is important. Then restart ArtRage and see if this corrects the problem.

If you are using Windows, go to the Edit menu, click on Preferences and then uncheck "Use precise tablet mode" before restarting ArtRage. Not all tablets support precise tablet mode, so you may find that disabling this makes things work correctly for you.

Download and install the latest version of tablet software from your tablet manufacturer's website.

It's always a good idea to keep a copy of your work in Artrage painting format ( ptg ), as this format supports layers, paint thickness, paint wetness and so on. However you can also export your work as other standard image types. To do this, open the File menu, choose 'Export as Image', then select the format you wish to use. ArtRage supports jpg, bmp, png, gif, psd and tif formats.

You can import a jpg, bmp, png, gif, psd or tif image into ArtRage by opening the File menu, choosing 'Import Image' and browsing to the image you want to open.

Check that you are not trying to import a CMYK document. ArtRage is an RGB application and does not currently support CMYK. If you are using the Free version of ArtRage you will not be able to import documents with multiple layers as ArtRage Starter Edition does not have layer support.

To log in to the Member Area, you will need to have registered. To register with the Member Area:

1. Go to the Member Area at http://members.artrage.com or by clicking 'Members' in the left hand navigation bar on the ArtRage website.
2. Click the 'Register' button and follow the instructions.
3. When you have finished, the website will send you an email. Click the link in the email to confirm your registration.

You only need to do this once. Once you have registered, you can log in to the Member Area by clicking the 'Login' button and entering your email address and the password you chose when you registered.

Please Note: Purchasing ArtRage does not automatically create a Member Area account for you. You will need to register manually if you wish to use the Member Area.

To change any of your personal details log in to http://members.artrage.com using your old details and select the Edit Profile / Change Password link from the Profile Page.

To register a copy of ArtRage to your user account, log in to the Members Area using your account details and go to the My Products page using the link at the top. That page has instructions on registering your copy of ArtRage. You will need your Registration Key to complete the process.

When you register your copy of ArtRage your Registration Key is stored with your profile so that you can access it again in the future. In addition you are then able to download the ArtRage installer from the Member Area when you need it in case you lose the original.

Registered users of ArtRage will also have access to other downloads from the Member Area that are not available to normal members.