Meet Rebelle from Escape Motions: hyper-realistic painting software.
In the world of digital artistry, creators are presented with a variety of software options, each offering a unique set of tools tailored to specific artistic styles. For those seeking a substitute that effectively emulates realistic painting and drawing – much like the creators behind the recent Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse from Sony – Rebelle by Escape Motions stands out as the optimal choice. Its unique blend of tools ignites inspiration but also caters to the discerning needs of seasoned artists.
From its beginnings, Rebelle set a remarkable standard for lifelike watercolor simulation, originally created as an experimental painting project by architect Peter Blaškovič, Escape Motions’ founder. Watercolor simulation is based on real-world color mixing, blending, wet diffusion, and drying. Wet media within the software empowers users to apply water, dry paper with different textures, or blow the paint, allowing drips to interact organically with the canvas and other tools, resulting in beautiful life-like wet effects.
Despite nearly a decade having passed since Rebelle’s initial launch, the commitment to evolving versatile software with the most natural painting tools remains steadfast. The introduction of oils and an adjustable impasto effect in version 4 was a game-changing addition, providing more depth to realism. Version 5 offered revolutionary physical color mixing, producing authentic vivid colors that naturally bend away from gray and behave like traditional color pigments.
At present, Rebelle 6 offers various realistic wet and dry media – oils, acrylics, watercolors, inks, pencils, pastels, and more. The software comes with 240 brushes, a powerful brush editor, and a complimentary library, featuring brushes created by users. Moreover, a collection of over 130 ultra-realistic papers, canvases, and other art surfaces available as add-ons further blurs the line between traditional and digital artistry.
In addition to the lifelike tools synonymous with traditional painting, the software offers a variety of digital painting features such as masking layers, blending modes, deform tools, stencils, or color management. Thanks to its intuitive user interface and user-friendly navigation, everyone can explore their artistic skills, no matter their level of proficiency.
Pushing realism to its peak, Rebelle employs NanoPixel technology, a machine learning (AI) algorithm enabling users to zoom in and reveal paint and paper texture details without pixelation. This innovation simultaneously facilitates enlarging images for print up to 16 times their original size, all while preserving details without blurring the paint.
Furthermore, the recent introduction of the unique scripting tool, Rebelle Motion IO, unlocks a world of possibilities for motion artists and visual effects studios. Creators can now take advantage of Rebelle’s realistic brush strokes, transforming them into animation sequences.
Watercolor drips and splashes gain dynamic motion, reminiscent of scenes from the latest Spider-Verse movie. Sony Pictures Imageworks integrated Rebelle Motion IO into their VFX pipeline, aiming to make the movie as hand-drawn and handmade as possible. Those who have seen the movie, surely agree, that Sony did an amazing job with the watercolor characters and environments. This scripting tool is now available when used with Rebelle 6 Pro license.
If interested in exploring realistic digital painting, take Rebelle for a spin. Escape Motions offers a free 30-day Trial on their website. The full version is priced at $89.99 for the Standard edition and $149.99 for the Pro edition, with a generous 40% discount for students and teachers.
Feature image: The Burning by Elton Ongjoco.
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