Paint Tool Sai

[Auro-Cyanide]

I recently got a hold of a copy of Paint Tool Sai and I have now grown curious about it. The painting, is really quite gorgeous in it, not to mention easy. I still need to get used to the program, but so far I am impressed with it.

Now, I know Photoshop really well, and it is an industry standard. I have no problem using both programs in conjunction, and probably will end up doing so. I have heard it is good for lineart and for colouring, so I wanted to hear people's experiences with it.

With producing work for VNs and such, is it of a high standard? Are there any things that annoy you about it? Anything that you think is particularly good? Is it worth using both programs?

I just want to hear some opinions. And if you have any tips or tricks for making high standard works in Sai (mostly talking about stuff that can be used in game) or with working with those two programs, I would be happy to hear them ^^

[YonYonYon]

In SAI I luv doing a line sometimes.
I'm already used to Photoshop and most of the work I do in him

[Auro-Cyanide]

Yeah, I am really used to Photoshop too. It freaks me out a little to be in Sai, since it is similar but different. I guess I just have to get used to it. I have been attracted to the colouring though, the mixing is nice. I always loved that about Coral Painter too.

[Deji]

I was a diehard fan of Photoshop for years, until the Lead Artist of Flight of Twilight started using it, and I couldn't mimic the lines she did there with the ones I could do in Photoshop. Then I got it and I barely touch Photoshop now.

Cool things about SAI:

- It produces smoother lines. It's a fact. No matter how zoomed in or zoomed out you are. Also, it has a stabilizer setting that lets you control how fast you draw. i use a low number when I'm sketching and freehanding quickly, and a higher number when i have to ink long lines that i usually screw xD;
- It has a vector lineart took that lets you control thickness, that you can either use drawing directly like you would while using a regular brush/layer or build curves and lines point by point.
- Blending and brush settings. THIS. for painting, is just awesome.Colors blend smoothly without any effort

Not so good:
- It doesn't have all the cool extra stuff Photoshop has, like grids, Type tool, or a bunch of filters and layer modes, brush settings like scattering and such, color balance, levels, layer comps, and a long etc... That's why people use it along with Photoshop for this kind of things.
- It doens't support saving with transparent background =/ You need, again, something like Photoshop to do this.
- It doens't support huge canvases. I think it depends on the system's RAM, though. I work ridiculously small, so it's not much of an issue for me, though.

[YonYonYon]

SAI is too smooth for me. I prefer the rough brush strokes o3o

[Alera]

I personally use SAI for linearting, then PS for the rest. It's just how I feel comfortable with stuff and the tools.

I think it most matters from your technique.

[Pyonkotchi]

hnnnggg I love sai so hard. I can't work with PS for drawing, Sai is so smooth and the color and lines come out so nice for me >3<
I love the blending tools <3

- It doens't support saving with transparent background =/ You need, again, something like Photoshop to do this.
- It doens't support huge canvases. I think it depends on the system's RAM, though. I work ridiculously small, so it's not much of an issue for me, though.

Sai CAN save transparency. At least, The newest version can.
The recommended canvas size is based on the system memory. :>

[LVUER]

Yes, it's worth it to have and use both. Though people usually only use SAI because Photoshop is very expensive. What I have is Photoshop Elements 5.0 since I got it for free bundled with Wacom Bamboo.

SAI is EXCELLENT for linearting and it does a good job at painting too (hence the name Paint Tool). The linart from SAI is the crispiest I've ever seen in a software... second only to Flash (but that's a different story here). Photoshop is not good for linearting (it's for editing picture, for @$(#*% Why those people couldn't get it?). The line is blurry and the accuracy is low (it won't follow your exact pen movement).

Photoshop in the other hand, does awesome job at coloring, editing, and for final touches. It have so many cool and neat feature that makes hours of hardwork become fiddling with mouse for couple of minutes.

Most people that I know do this: linearting with SAI, coloring it with SAI (or Corel Painter), and then finishes it with Photoshop.

[EternalDream]

I just recently discovered how to lineart in SAI and I love it. ;w; It's so amazing! The lines come out so beautiful and smooth <3 I know most of the artists that I respect on dA use SAI to color and lineart, and probably 99% of SAI users say it's amazing. The only thing I don't like about SAI is how you can't open canvases that are too big (like Deji said). <.<;;

[Auro-Cyanide]

Oooo, this is interesting. I have Photoshop CS3 because I did graphic design, and I can ink and colour in it, but it would be nice to use something that was easier and quicker to use, just from a time stand point. It also seems like it would be perfect for colouring with styles popular in VNs.

However, I think I will still use photoshop for more serious digital painting (stuff with lots of texture and photos). Photoshop is still most strongly used by professional digital artists (look at ImagineFX) but that may be out of habit as well XD

I will defintely have to make a good go of getting used to it. God knows, it would be nice to to hate doing lineart so much >>

[Samu-kun]

- It doens't support saving with transparent background =/ You need, again, something like Photoshop to do this.

Oh! It actually does. You just click on 32bpp ARBG (Each pixel have Opacity) when you save the file as a .png.

[Auro-Cyanide]

Oh. My. God. I just tried inking with it, and, it just, omg.

I can ink hair !!!!!!!!!!

Well, I will most definitely be using it for inking sometimes, at the very least.

[charmwitch]

Sai's a more basic program for drawing, I remember reading that it's meant to only focus on the drawing aspect of an image. Image editing is not what it's for at all (final touches, textures, text, etc.) so it's great to mix it with Photoshop. I always check my images in Photoshop afterwards, although I really like Sai's ability to save PSDs so that you can switch between the programs.

I color/draw mainly on Sai because I'm sometimes overwhelmed by Photoshop's tools and would rather have a simpler interface.

[Auro-Cyanide]

It doens't support huge canvases. I think it depends on the system's RAM, though. I work ridiculously small, so it's not much of an issue for me, though.

I read you mentioning this before and now I am curious. How small is small? I am in a habit of working big because most of the stuff we produced was for print, and it is sometimes useful because a lot of the flaws are hidden when you downsize, but I am pretty sure I am tripping myself up with the sheer massiveness of what I try to work on, especially when it comes to inking and details.

[Deji]

I read you mentioning this before and now I am curious. How small is small? I am in a habit of working big because most of the stuff we produced was for print, and it is sometimes useful because a lot of the flaws are hidden when you downsize, but I am pretty sure I am tripping myself up with the sheer massiveness of what I try to work on, especially when it comes to inking and details.

When I say I work small, I mean really small >>; I never print anything, so I normally start with something that's as big as my screen (1600x900), sketch something in like 1/3 or 1/4 (sometimes even smaller because I have the bad habit of zooming in when sketching) of it somewhere and then crop it. And crop it again.
I think I picked this habit a couple of years ago when, while working in Photoshop, I stopped working from line arts or sketches scanned at 300dpi to just doodle everything directly on the computer.
VN-wise, I normally end up working on stuff at final display resolution, especially event CGs. Sprites, I make them bigger, but not too much.

I have to make a strong conscious effort to make something that has enough resolution to get printed decently at all X_x