Installation

ArcBrush is a native desktop application for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The complete editor is free for personal and non-commercial use and needs no account: all 124 nodes work as soon as it is installed, except the two Cloud nodes (Remove Background and Upscale). Those send images through ArcBrush’s cloud service to a third-party image-processing provider, need a free account, and have usage limits. Commercial use needs a Pro license; see Pro License & Commercial Trial.

System Requirements

	Windows	macOS	Linux
OS	Windows 10 or later	macOS 12 (Monterey) or later	Ubuntu 22.04+ or equivalent (glibc 2.35+)
Architecture	x64	Apple Silicon (arm64)	x86_64
Format	`.exe` installer	`.dmg` disk image	`.AppImage` portable binary
Download size	16.9 MB	20.5 MB	31.0 MB
GPU	Optional (accelerates supported nodes via OpenCL and Direct3D 12 or Vulkan)	Optional (accelerates supported nodes via Metal)	Optional (accelerates supported nodes via OpenCL and Vulkan)

Without a supported GPU, every node runs on the processor and produces the same result.

Memory needs are the same on every platform and scale with canvas size and document precision (new documents start in 32-bit float):

8 GB of RAM for 8-bit projects such as pixel art and web graphics, and 32-bit float projects up to 2048 px.
16 GB for 32-bit float projects and 4K texture work.
32 GB for large documents with several 4K texture sets.

When memory runs low, ArcBrush frees its caches on its own. If a node still cannot fit, it says Not enough memory and suggests closing other applications or lowering the canvas size, instead of failing without a reason.

The Linux build is tested on Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 and runs on any distribution with glibc 2.35 or newer, including Debian 12, Fedora 36+, Pop!_OS 22.04+, and Linux Mint 21+.

Download

Windows Installation

Download the installer (.exe).
Run the installer and follow the prompts. No admin rights required.

Nothing else needs installing first, not even a separate Visual C++ runtime.

The installer’s File associations page has four boxes:

Associate .arcb and .arcbt Files with ArcBrush makes projects and templates open on a double-click.
Show ArcBrush in the Open with list for image files (optional, unchecked by default).
Show ArcBrush in Open With for 3D models (optional, unchecked by default).
Add “Open in ArcBrush” to the folder right-click menu (optional, unchecked by default).

Nothing is registered for a box you leave unticked, ArcBrush never becomes the default app for an image or model type, and all four can be changed later in Settings > Defaults. See Open With.

macOS Installation

Download the .dmg file.
Open the disk image and drag ArcBrush to your Applications folder.

Linux Installation

ArcBrush ships as a single AppImage: no package manager, no root access, no installation.

Download the .AppImage file.
Make it executable. Either right-click the file in your file manager, open Properties, and check Allow executing file as program, or run in a terminal:
Terminal window
```
chmod +x ArcBrush-*.AppImage
```
Run it. Double-click the file in your file manager, or run it from the terminal:
Terminal window
```
./ArcBrush-*.AppImage
```

You can move the AppImage anywhere (for example ~/Applications/ or ~/.local/bin/) and it keeps working.

FUSE requirement

AppImages mount themselves at runtime using FUSE 2. Ubuntu 22.04 and newer ship with FUSE 3 by default, so you may need to install the compatibility package once:

sudo apt install libfuse2

On Fedora the equivalent is sudo dnf install fuse-libs. If you cannot install FUSE, you can extract and run the AppImage without it:

./ArcBrush-*.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run

Clipboard tools

Copying and pasting images to and from other applications uses your desktop’s clipboard tools: wl-clipboard on Wayland and xclip on X11.

sudo apt install wl-clipboard xclip

On Fedora the equivalent is sudo dnf install wl-clipboard xclip.

Desktop integration

On first run, the AppImage registers ArcBrush with your desktop environment:

A launcher entry under Graphics in your application menu (GNOME Activities, KDE menu, etc.).
A custom icon on .arcb project files in your file manager.
Double-clicking a .arcb file opens it in ArcBrush.
ArcBrush listed under Open With for image files and for glTF and OBJ models in your file manager. It joins the list and never becomes the default app for an image or model type. Folders are deliberately not listed. See Open With.

The integration is per-user: everything lives under ~/.local/share/, never in system directories. If you move or rename the AppImage, the next launch updates the launcher entry to the new path.

For manual control:

./ArcBrush-*.AppImage --install     # Re-register (rarely needed)
./ArcBrush-*.AppImage --uninstall   # Remove launcher entry and MIME registration
./ArcBrush-*.AppImage --status      # Show what's currently registered

First Launch

On first launch, ArcBrush asks you to accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, with the full text of each in the prompt. It asks again only if the terms change.

Updating ArcBrush

ArcBrush checks for new versions on launch (turn this off under Settings > Privacy). An update downloads, verifies, installs, and relaunches in place on every platform, without leaving the app; on Windows it needs no administrator rights, and on Linux the running AppImage is replaced.

Project files from earlier versions

Projects saved by ArcBrush 1.6 and earlier open in this version and are upgraded the next time you save.

Next Steps

Watch the Getting Started Tutorial for a guided video walkthrough.
Read Your First Graph for the step-by-step text version.
Working commercially? See Pro License & Commercial Trial.