List of changes :

New Blur Operator




New Directional Blur Operator


New Gradient Map Operator


New Gradient editor (Only available in the Gradient Map operator for now )


New Color Overlay Operator


New Color Mode Channel Operator


New Color Posterization Operator


New Color Select Operator


New Drag & Drop of Images in the Layer editor create multiple layer


New Create Layer From Image.. Command in the layer editor


New User Interface preference where you can Save / Load different UI Layout






Improvement Better performance when brushing with Black Ink
Improvement If you only save a PNG/JPG the document in Black Ink isn’t considered saved anymore. So you will not lose all your work if you try to close Black Ink by mistake.
Improvement No more glitch when brushing with texture on a zoomed canvas
Improvement The operator is now created at the same position as displayed by the preview
Improvement The eyedropper can now pick color anywhere in the Black Ink user interface & can pick into OS child windows

Improvement The Mask operator selects the alpha channel by default.
Improvement Layer operator isn’t expanded by default
Improvement Color wheel is now left aligned





Fixed Startup crash on some AMD GPU
Fixed Multithread random crash
Fixed Random crash sometimes when merging layers in the Layer editor
Fixed Random freeze sometimes when merging image layers
Fixed Big slowdown in Black Ink when auto-saving a document is triggered
Fixed Crash sometimes when selecting "Background default Image" in brush preview.
Fixed Crash when using invalid parameters in an array in BSL
Fixed Random Crash when previewing brush eraser
Fixed Crash when using a grayscale image as a brush preview background
Fixed Keyboard states sometimes are irrelevant when the focus of the main window of Black Ink changed
Fixed Sometimes the "erase with current brush" shortcut gets stuck on the eraser, the cursor will still be red and the brush will still erase even though it is not holding the shortcut for it.
Fixed Freeze when typing in the search box of the Log panel
Fixed Sometimes Eyedropper return null color ( alpha at 0 )
Fixed The "overlay" node is creating liserets with the edges in some case
Fixed Sometimes the “Center on selection” command in the Layer Editor doesn't work as expected
Fixed Shortcuts “Save”, “Open”, “Save As..” works only when a CanvasView has the focus


---
Credits
A huge thanks for all our beta testers, patrons and all artists with your drawings or pictures illustrating this update!
D. Alex. Nixon: https://www.dalexnixon.art/
Ahi: https://twitter.com/aherowo?s=20
Cristina Cόrdova: https://www.cristinacordova.com/
Taran Fiddler: https://www.artstation.com/tfiddlerart
Claudine Ricart
Perceval Schopp

Dear Black Ink user,

Some users have reported instant crashes with the introduction of Black Ink version 2020.2.
This is due to the use of AVX instructions in the Black Ink code.
These instructions are available for most CPUs released from 2011 onwards. However some older CPUs do not support these instructions.
That's why the non AVX version of Black Ink is available under Steam as follows:

Launch Steam, go to your library and choose Black Ink in your softwares.
In the left column, right click on Black Ink to open its contextual menu and select "properties".

In the properties page select the Betas tab
Then select the "nonavx" version from the dropdown menu just above.


Please note that this version may be the last one to be non AVX and that we advise you, if you can, to change your CPU to a more recent one in order to continue to enjoy the next updates.

Thank you for your understanding

Changes in motion :


New version of Black Ink with several bug fixes and enhancements

List of changes :

New Now Black Ink is operating in native 64-bit
New Brightness/Contrast Operator in the layer editor
New Windows Explorer .bkd file preview
New Blending Type Multiply Preserve Alpha
New Black Ink About
New Set the Vram in the GPU Preferences options
New Shortcut “FreezeReportDialog” (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+F4) that will make Black Ink Crash.Useful if you think Black Ink is in a Frozen state when saving or loading.





Fixed Some random crashes
Fixed Crash when using other than D3D11 rendering API (Other D3D9,D3D10 and OpenDL API has been removed and aren’t supported anymore)
Fixed Crash when loading 16bits grayscale PNG
Fixed Duplicating layer stack with external reference create artifact in the duplicated stack
Fixed Sometimes when using the transform tool, the content disappears
Fixed After clicking on the rotate tool it’s impossible to disable it.
Fixed Mouse / Stylus problem when Zooming, Drawing, changing the brush size with gizmo ( like these links: Steam or Youtube)
Fixed Freeze at startup if a brush with multiple textures was created by the user.
Fixed Rendering problem with the brush “Watercolor pen”
Fixed Crash when clicking on the output of the first layer (see)




Improvement After a Windows Explorer drag and drop Black Ink windows has directly the keyboard focus
Improvement Now the crash report upload data directly on our server without the need of an Email client
Improvement No more destruction of operators embedded in Input of operators when dragging new operator on it. The old element is now placed near the input on the layer editor.


----
Special thanks for your drawings illustrating our update
Adam Phillips (The aquatic cat)
Ahi (the desert)
Perceval Schopp (The coast)

Dear Black Ink Users,

We are launching a Patreon campaign to enable people to support the development of Black Ink while keeping the software affordable.

So if you want to support this development because you like it or use it in your professional workflow,
If you want it to continue evolving significantly,
If you’d like us to listen closer to your proposals and ideas,
And if you want to help us maintaining our fair and affordable licensing plan without subscription or paid updates,

Please consider joining us on Patreon and become a patron!



Every little contribution is important because all together you will become a huge help in our development effort and will give us the means to take Black Ink to the next level!

Thank you very much for your support!

New version of Black Ink with several bug fixes and enhancements

List of changes :

New 2 new commands in the Layer Editor
Merge Visible layers
Merge Layers / Merge Down



Fixed Crash sometimes when using the Straight line tool
Fixed Crash at startup when your tablet isn’t plugged in to your computer
Fixed Crash when searching in Preference Shortcut on a system using non latin character
Fixed Crash when double clicking on the Create Mask Icon of the Layer stack operator
Fixed The toggle Layer Editor button does nothing in the Main toolbar
Fixed Overlay, HardLight, SoftLight blending doesn’t behave like in Photoshop



Improvement Tooltip for the first 2 icons of the Layer stack has been added

Changes in motion :


Dear Black Ink users,

It’s been a long time coming but we are finally ready and happy to announce the release of Black Ink 2020!

This new version introduces a whole lot of new features, the biggest of them being the brand new layer editor.
Not only will you be able to handle more layers but also discover and leverage a completely new and innovative nodal system, in line with our procedural philosophy.
We propose a combination of layer stack and nodes to give you a powerful non-destructive solution while maintaining ease of use.

You are going to discover an entirely new way of managing your layers that will give you more flexibility, freedom and new possibilities for your creations!

We are very sorry for the long wait but we embarked on a huge endeavour with this feature and couldn’t stop until we were able to give you the best experience we can. Our independence and small team are what keep this passion alive and we really hope you can see how much care we put in this huge update.

If you already own Black Ink you will get this update for free, as we committed to.

In order to maintain this fair licensing plan and still develop our dream software, we are going to launch a Patreon campaign soon to enable those willing to support us a little bit further. So if you’re interested or know someone who might be, you can spread the word and help us making the best, ground-breaking, innovative digital painting software on the market!

Video tutorials will follow but we put some documentation about the new layer editor here.

You are welcome to give your feedback and come discuss on:
Discord
Steam
Bleank Forum

See you soon and we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
On your stylus... ready, set... Draw!

Geraldine



New Layer editor panel
We replaced the previous fixed 8 layers with a nodal editor where you can truly compose your drawing
Important > You have the walkthrough here



New Layers number is now unlimited and they can go up to 64K pixels in size

New Layer properties panel
You have all your node details and parameters on a dedicated panel



New Search in preferences



New Display Monitor color Management



New Possibility to hide layer content outside of the current canvas ( Shortcut V )

Off
For example you can keep a color palette or a model


On
You have only your final canvas


New “Handle eraser state of stylus” Option. Help Huion’s users to fix this problem

New Brush - Calligraphy gel ink



New Brush - Hair trail



New Brush - Blurry Watercolor



New Brush - Wet Watercolor



New Brush - Watercolor



New Brush - Watercolor pen



New Brush - Dotted dissolve 24px



New Brush - Stencil brush



New Brush - Hair Dissolve 24 px



New Brush - Pencil 2px



Fixed Rotation bug when using the Hold R shortcut in a Black Ink window with a scale different of 100%
Fixed randomly the Clear button in search box is visible but can’t be clicked
Fixed Halo with the Simple Round pen ( see )
Fixed Using brushes with readback on canvas view can generate weird colors on view borders
Fixed Sometimes it was difficult to Drop a Panel into a Docking pane header.
Fixed Sometimes the stroke shows invalid touches at the beginning or end of the stroke
Fixed Multiply Blending : Now when the alpha’s Backdrop is null the content of the foreground is preserved
Fixed JPG & PNG exported image doesn’t embedded an ICC color profile
Fixed Incorrect transparent color picking with eyedropper
Fixed If the user interface is resized,when using crop,transformation or selection tool there is a rendering offset in the preview area.
Fixed Incorrect mask zone of the crop in drawing viewport
Fixed Brush using Dual Primitive drawn with the “View Constant Brush Size” disabled was buggy

Fixed A lot of different crashes..

Improvement Zoom is now performed according to the location of the cursor
Improvement Better performance when using the quick transform tool
Improvement Better performance with undo and redo
Improvement Better performance when drawing and moving the canvas
Improvement Improved blending quality when using low opacity brushes
Improvement More compact UI for Child Floating Windows

Dear Black Ink users,

First of all, we would like to thank you for your patience with this upcoming update which is in the starting blocks!

To polish this update we’re calling our most daring users, at least those who have registered as beta testers, to test the first version of Black Ink which features nodal layers.

With your help and your feedback we will be able to address what needs to be corrected in the layer editor, and the panel of layer properties.

You are welcome to give your feedback and discuss on:
Discord/#Beta
Steam / Beta test
Bleank Forum

We put some nice documentation about the layer editor here, feel free to have a look at it.
And here you have the change log.

Again, if you need more information, don't hesitate to contact us.

To your styluses and keyboards!
See you soon and have fun testing the new features

Dear Black Ink users,

Since it has been some time since our last news we’d like to inform you that our next update is still under development and is progressing very well!
We are creating a new layer system with nodal tools.


As always we want to make these new features easily accessible to all of you, but also to provide a powerful tool that will allow you to have a lot more freedom (non destructive layers, visual effects creations, colors adjustments, instantiable layers... ) and of course many more layers!


This is a really huge update and for the first part we will have more layers, a layer editor and some basics nodes like layer stack, layer mask and blend operators…

You can check a preview of what to expect with the next update (by following this link).


Nodal layers screenshot



We thank you for your patience and hope that many of you will appreciate these innovations.

See you soon

Bleank TEAM

Dear Black Ink users,

If you think your Black Ink’s user interface is too small with your new high resolution screen you should enjoy this update!
Indeed, from now your user interface is resizable!

We invite you to watch our two latest videos to learn tips and more.
The first one shows the latest features added and the second one new default brushes.

If you need to know more about this update you can have a look at our change log and if you want to know what we are working on you can have a look at this link.

Meanwhile, we wish you a very good summer!

See you soon

Bleank Team

Changes in motion ( also covering previous updates ):





List of changes :

New Native High DPI Screen display support.
Black Ink now automatically scale the user interface according to the OS settings.
The user can modify this scaling by clicking the the BI Logo on the top left of each window. The customised scaling will be saved by each individual Black Ink’s window
The Ctrl+Wheel and the Ctrl+Q shortcut are introduced to set the scaling



Fixed Some crash when saving a BKD
Fixed Some crash when Changing a Shortcut after moving the focus to another panel of control.
Fixed Some crash/Freeze when loading a lot of textures when opening the Brush Manager
Fixed Sometimes Black Ink suffers a severe hang/freeze when opening the Brush Manager
Fixed The Elastic Gizmo ( visible with some smoothness is set ) was not displayed
Fixed some layout problem when the Preference Keyboard Tab when stacked
Fixed Can’t DragDrop color from the Brush Preview color selector into preference
Fixed The command “Copy Merged” wrongly took invisible layers into the operation

Some shortcuts have been moved from the Global context to the Canvas View Context ( Flip Vertical, Flip Horizontal and DrawsInCanvasView )
Better Eraser effect when using smudge brushes



You can now use the keyword “key” and “hold” in the Preference shortcut search bar.
When using the “Zoom in and out” command ( Hold Q shortcut ) the zoom is made from the cursor position instead of the centre of the View. Moreover when moving the cursor outside of the window the movement doesn’t stop.
Darker background for the BrushPreview editor to avoid confusion with the normal or secondary viewport
You can use Wheel to zoom on top of the rendering indicator.

BSL it’s now possbile to use input modifier for BSL function like in this example
BSL the function matrix3FromRaw is now really available

Dear Black Ink users,

If you think your Black Ink’s user interface is too small with your new high resolution screen you should enjoy this update!
Indeed, from now your user interface is resizable!

We invite you to watch our two latest videos to learn tips and more.
The first one shows the latest features added and the second one new default brushes.

If you need to know more about this update you can have a look at our change log and if you want to know what we are working on you can have a look at this link.

Meanwhile, we wish you a very good summer!

See you soon

Bleank Team

Changes in motion ( also covering previous updates ):





List of changes :

New Native High DPI Screen display support.
Black Ink now automatically scale the user interface according to the OS settings.
The user can modify this scaling by clicking the the BI Logo on the top left of each window. The customised scaling will be saved by each individual Black Ink’s window
The Ctrl+Wheel and the Ctrl+Q shortcut are introduced to set the scaling



Fixed Some crash when saving a BKD
Fixed Some crash when Changing a Shortcut after moving the focus to another panel of control.
Fixed Some crash/Freeze when loading a lot of textures when opening the Brush Manager
Fixed Sometimes Black Ink suffers a severe hang/freeze when opening the Brush Manager
Fixed The Elastic Gizmo ( visible with some smoothness is set ) was not displayed
Fixed some layout problem when the Preference Keyboard Tab when stacked
Fixed Can’t DragDrop color from the Brush Preview color selector into preference
Fixed The command “Copy Merged” wrongly took invisible layers into the operation

Some shortcuts have been moved from the Global context to the Canvas View Context ( Flip Vertical, Flip Horizontal and DrawsInCanvasView )
Better Eraser effect when using smudge brushes



You can now use the keyword “key” and “hold” in the Preference shortcut search bar.
When using the “Zoom in and out” command ( Hold Q shortcut ) the zoom is made from the cursor position instead of the centre of the View. Moreover when moving the cursor outside of the window the movement doesn’t stop.
Darker background for the BrushPreview editor to avoid confusion with the normal or secondary viewport
You can use Wheel to zoom on top of the rendering indicator.

BSL it’s now possbile to use input modifier for BSL function like in this example
BSL the function matrix3FromRaw is now really available