Settings & Preferences

Open Settings with Ctrl+, (Cmd+, on macOS). Sections are listed down the left side: Interface, Defaults, Keyboard, Account, Network, Performance, Privacy, and About (version and build details).

Settings open on Interface, with the list of sections down its left side highlighted (Interface, Keyboard, Defaults, Account, Network, Performance, Privacy and About) beside the Theme settings

Most settings apply immediately. UI Scale needs Apply, and Processing Threads needs a restart.
Right-click any switch, dropdown, or slider and choose Reset to Default to restore that one setting.
Each section’s header has a help icon that opens the matching part of this page.
The window remembers the size you drag it to and never resizes itself.

Quick visibility toggles (Quick-Lock Preview, Full Path in Title Bar, Status Bar readouts, and so on) are not here but in the View menu.

Interface

Theme

Setting	Default	Options
Color Scheme	Violet	Emerald, Violet, Ocean, Rose, Amber, Graphite
Corner Style	Rounded	Rounded or Square corners on every panel, control, and node card.
Color Picker	Hue Bar	Hue Bar (vertical strip) or Hue Wheel, for every color picker in the app.
UI Scale	1.0x	0.5x to 2.0x, for the whole interface. Requires Apply. On Linux the detected system scale is shown under the slider, with an Auto button that matches it. Under X11, where the window already reports that scale and the interface follows it, Auto stores the system scale with the window’s own scale divided out (usually 1.0x), so the interface is not enlarged twice.
Density	Comfortable	Comfortable or Compact: the text size, row height, and spacing of the whole interface. Compact fits more of a busy node’s parameters on screen. It combines with UI Scale.

Density replaces the earlier Parameters Density slider and the View menu’s Compact Parameters toggle. Everyone starts on Comfortable, which is already tighter than the old rows, whatever those were set to; a key you had assigned to Compact Parameters is listed under Unavailable in Keyboard, where you can remove it to reuse the key. Parameter rows always put the label and its control on one line, and a label too long for its column gets a line of its own; see Parameter rows.

Node Graph

Setting	Default	Options
Wire Style	Curved	Curved, Straight, Rounded, Right Angle
Wire Auto-Routing	Off	Routes Rounded and Right Angle wires around nodes. Off by default because routing costs work on every frame of a drag, and routes can shift as the graph changes.
Snap Mode	Snap to Nodes	Snap to Nodes (align edges to nearby nodes, with guide lines), Snap to Grid, or None. Applies to nodes, groups, and sticky notes. Hold Ctrl while dragging to move freely.
Snap Strength	4 px	2 to 16. How close an edge must get before it snaps. A setting still at the old default of 6 moves to 4; any other value is kept. Snap to Nodes only.
Snap Search Distance	480 px	120 to 1600. How far away a neighbor can be and still count for alignment. Snap to Nodes only.
Alignment Guides	On	Dashed lines between aligned edges while dragging. Snap to Nodes only.
Equal Spacing	On	Snaps a dragged node to even spacing with a run of neighbors, with double-arrow badges on the equal gaps. Snap to Nodes only.
Grid Spacing	16 px	8 to 64. Snap to Grid only.

Display

Setting	Default	Description
Follow System Motion Setting	On	Your operating system’s reduce-motion preference decides whether the interface animates. Turn off to set Interface Animations yourself.
Interface Animations	On	The canvas glides when framing, nodes fade, evaluations and new wires pulse, and dialogs, tooltips, and toasts ease in. Off makes every change instant and stops spinners and indeterminate progress bars, except the Preview’s Processing badge, which reports real progress.
UI Font	Bundled	Bundled is Inter, shipped with ArcBrush; the other entries are fonts your system provides. Hidden on Linux when no system default font can be found.
Text Hinting	Crisp	How UI text fits the pixel grid. Crisp is the sharpest: full hinting on the bundled font at 1x, and light hinting at 2x or more and on a system font. Light snaps stems and baselines vertically at every scale, and Smooth turns grid-fitting off for the softest text.
Hide Cloud Nodes	Off	Hides the Cloud category (Remove Background, Upscale) from the node library. Cloud nodes send images through ArcBrush’s cloud service to a third-party provider and need a free account.
Use System Title Bar	Off	Windows only. Shows the standard Windows title bar, with the menus in their own row below it, instead of drawing the menus in the title bar. Applies at once, no restart. See The Title Bar and Menus.
Show Menus in the Window	Off	macOS only. Also shows the menus in a row at the top of the window, so they stay in sight in full screen, where the menu bar hides. See The Title Bar and Menus.
Show Selected Node in Viewer Slots	Off	Adds a dashed cell to the Viewer grid for the selected node when it is in no slot. Same switch as the button on the slots toolbar; see The selection cell.

Display Color Correction (matching the preview to your monitor’s ICC profile) is in the menu bar’s Color menu; see Color & Bit Depth. On Linux under Wayland it stays disabled, because the compositor handles display color.

Tooltips

Setting	Default	Options
Enable Tooltips	On	Show hover tooltips.
Tooltip Delay (s)	0.40	0 to 2.0 seconds, with Short (0.15), Normal (0.40), and Long (1.0) preset buttons. Every tooltip waits for it.

Middle-mouse drag scrolls every scrollable panel and pop-up list; the node graph and Preview keep middle-mouse for panning.

The View menu open: Minimap, Hide Thumbnails and Quick-Lock Preview, the Display, Status Bar, Manipulator Snapping and Guides submenus, and the zoom commands

The View menu holds quick visibility toggles and the zoom actions. Each toggle is saved with your preferences.

Item	Default	Description
Quick-Lock Preview	On	Double-click a node to lock the preview to it; double-click empty canvas to unlock.
Display > Full Path in Title Bar	Off	Show the full `.arcb` path instead of just the filename.
Display > Panel Scrollbars	On	Thin scrollbars in the Library and Parameters panels. When off, they appear only when content overflows.
Display > Show Exposure and Gamma	Off	The Preview’s Exposure and Gamma row. Hiding it resets the view grade and turns Zebras off; see Showing the Exposure and Gamma Row.
Status Bar > Memory Usage	Off	RAM, image cache (held in RAM), and VRAM, each as used of total. A separate Spill indicator appears when batch frames overflow to disk.
Status Bar > Network Status	Off	An Online/Offline dot for the ArcBrush server.
Manipulator Snapping > Enabled	On	Hold Ctrl (Cmd on macOS) while dragging a preview handle to snap it to the image frame’s edges, corners, and center.
Manipulator Snapping > Snap to Thirds	Off	Add the rule-of-thirds lines as snap targets.
Manipulator Snapping > Snap to Guides	On	Add the document’s guides as snap targets.

The View menu also has Guides (Show Rulers Ctrl+R, Show Guides Ctrl+;, Snap Guides, Lock Guides, New Guide…, Manage Guides…; see Rulers and Guides), Minimap, Hide Thumbnails (lazy evaluation), and Zoom In, Zoom Out, Zoom to Fit, Zoom to Selected, and Reset Zoom (Keyboard Shortcuts).

Defaults

New Project Defaults

Nothing here changes a project that is already open.

Setting	Default	Range
Default Width	1024 px	1 to 16384. The slider moves in doublings; type a value for an exact size.
Default Height	1024 px	1 to 16384. The slider moves in doublings; type a value for an exact size.
Precision	32-bit float	32-bit float or 8-bit for File > New. Choose 8-bit if you mostly make pixel art or deliver 8-bit files.

Default Width / Height is the starting size of every node that sets its own size: Canvas, Gradient, Noise, Pattern, Shape, Text, Scatter, Paint, Mask Paint, and Roto. Existing nodes keep theirs, a default preset for that node type still wins, and a node with a size reference, background, or image connected follows that instead.

Precision applies to new projects only; an opened project keeps its own, which you change from the Color menu. 32-bit is free on every license. See Color & Bit Depth.

Behavior

Setting	Default	Description
Reopen last file on startup	On	Reopen the most recent project when ArcBrush starts.

Auto-Save

Periodic backups that ArcBrush offers to restore after a crash (see Auto-Save & Crash Recovery).

Setting	Default	Range
Enable Auto-Save	On
Interval	120 s	How often to save (30 to 600 seconds)
Max Snapshots	5	1 to 10 rotating backups

File Association

Registers or removes the .arcb project and .arcbt template associations, so double-clicking either opens ArcBrush. On macOS registered files show the ArcBrush document icon in Finder.

On Windows, three more rows control Open With, each with a status line and one button:

Status line	Button
Image files list ArcBrush under Open with	Add ArcBrush to Open with for images / Remove ArcBrush from Open with
3D model files list ArcBrush under Open with	Add ArcBrush to Open with for 3D models / Remove ArcBrush from Open with for 3D models
Folders have an Open in ArcBrush menu entry	Add Open in ArcBrush to folders / Remove the folder menu entry

These are the installer’s choices. Adding one here applies to your account only. If the installer registered it for all users, the row says so and Remove is unavailable; rerun the installer and clear that box instead. Removing only takes out ArcBrush’s own entries, and ArcBrush never makes itself the default app for an image or a model.

On macOS the image and model types come with the app, so there is nothing to switch on. On Linux the one association button covers project types and the Open With image and model listing together, since both live in the desktop entry.

Preferences Folder

The Preferences Folder button opens the per-user folder where ArcBrush keeps its settings, logs, and auto-saves: for attaching logs to a bug report, moving settings to a new machine, or clearing recovery data.

Platform	Path
Windows	`%APPDATA%\ArcBrush\` (typically `C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\ArcBrush\`)
macOS	`~/Library/Application Support/ArcBrush/`
Linux	`~/.config/arcbrush/`

Item	What it is	Safe to delete?
`settings.json`	Your preferences, saved whenever you change a setting. An unreadable file is kept as `settings.json.bak`.	Resets ArcBrush to defaults
`window.json`	Last window position, size, and monitor	Yes
`logs/`	Rolling logs (`arcbrush_<timestamp>.log`), size-limited and pruned automatically. Attach the newest to bug reports.	Yes, regenerates
`autosave/`	Crash-recovery snapshots plus an `index.json`	Discards recovery for unsaved documents
`unsaved_data/`	Image cache for graphs not yet saved, so unsaved work survives a restart	Yes, regenerates
`clipboard_images/`	Temporary storage for images copied between graphs	Yes, regenerates
`arcbrush.cfg`	Optional INI-style file for advanced overrides (custom proxy URL, performance flags). Not created for you; add it only when instructed.	Yes

Keyboard

Every keyboard command is a named action you can rebind here (also reachable from Help > Keyboard Shortcuts…).

Search by command name, description, or keys; Record to Find shows what a key already does.
Assign by clicking a command’s shortcut chip and pressing the keys. ArcBrush asks only when the keys are taken. A command can have alternate shortcuts.
Filter to commands you changed, left unassigned, or that conflict.
Add Node lets you give any node type its own key.
Export / import carries your changes to another machine as an .arcbkeys file.

If your shortcut file cannot be read, the tab offers Restore Backup or Reset and refuses changes until you pick one; a change it cannot save is refused rather than lost. See Keyboard Shortcuts for the full list, what stays fixed, and how updates handle new defaults.

Account

Sign in or out, and see your license. No account is needed to use the editor, and every license runs the same editor; only the two Cloud nodes (Remove Background and Upscale) need a free account.

Signed in: your email and display name, Sign Out (it ends this computer’s sign-in on the account server too; your other computers stay signed in), and Resend Verification Email if the address is not yet verified.
License: your plan and its status. A Studio license also shows its term dates, licensed seats, and active devices, and offers Reconnect now when it needs to check in.
License file: a Pro license is a perpetual, fully offline file verified on this machine, with no account required. Install License… loads one; once installed the section shows who it is licensed to, with Install a different license… and Remove license (removing does not affect the license itself, and you can reinstall the same file any time).

Network

Most people never need this section: ArcBrush connects directly or, on a fresh install, picks up the system proxy. It exists for corporate firewalls, VPNs, and TLS-inspecting proxies. Every change applies to the next request and rechecks the connection; there is no Apply button.

Status

The indicator at the top shows the connection to the ArcBrush server, refreshed when you change a setting, when the window regains focus, and periodically:

Indicator	Meaning
Connected (direct)	Reaching the server without a proxy.
Via proxy `host:port`	Reaching the server through the resolved proxy.
Checking…	A connectivity check is running.
Offline	The most recent check failed.

HTTP Proxy

Mode	Behavior
No proxy	Always connect directly.
Auto-detect (use system proxy)	Use your operating system’s proxy, resolved for each web address: Internet Options / WinHTTP on Windows (including PAC files), the Network proxy settings on macOS, and the `HTTP_PROXY` / `HTTPS_PROXY` / `ALL_PROXY` environment variables on Linux. Resolved values are cached for 30 seconds. Default for new installs.
Manual configuration	Use the Proxy URL and Bypass list below.

Field (Manual only)	Description
Proxy URL	One URL with protocol and port, such as `http://proxy.corp:8080`, `https://proxy.corp:8443`, or `socks5://10.0.0.1:1080`. Put credentials under Authentication, not in the URL.
Bypass list	Optional comma-separated hosts that skip the proxy, wildcards allowed: `localhost,127.0.0.1,*.internal`.

Authentication

Manual configuration only. Username and Password are enabled once Auth method is not None.

Setting	Description
Auth method	None, Basic, NTLM, or Negotiate (Kerberos / SPNEGO). Use what your IT contact specifies. Negotiate is supported in the Windows build; where it is not available, Test connection reports why.
Username	For NTLM, `DOMAIN\user` or `user@DOMAIN`.
Password	Stored in your operating system’s credential vault (Windows Credential Manager, macOS Keychain, or the Linux desktop keyring), never in `settings.json`, and loaded only while this section is open.

TLS

Setting	Default	Description
Use system certificate trust	On	Trust your OS certificate store, so corporate root certificates installed by IT keep working. Leave it on unless you supply a CA bundle.
Custom CA bundle	Empty	A PEM or CRT file of extra root certificates, trusted in addition to the system store, for TLS-intercepting proxies whose CA is not in it. Browse picks the file. If the file later goes missing, ArcBrush logs a warning and uses the system store.

Connectivity

Test connection runs a four-step check against the ArcBrush server with your current settings, one line per step:

Resolved proxy: the proxy the settings produce, or direct.
TCP connect: to the proxy, or to the server in direct mode.
TLS handshake (direct) or Proxy CONNECT (proxy). A certificate failure names the untrusted CA so you know which certificate to ask IT for.
HTTP GET /health: a round trip to the server, with status and a body excerpt.

Each failure adds a one-line tip pointing at the likely fix. Copy diagnostics copies the output for a support email; it includes the server hostname and resolved proxy URL, never your username, password, or CA bundle contents.

Performance

Setting	Default	Description
Processing Threads	0 (auto)	CPU threads for node evaluation, 0 to 32; 0 picks a value for your CPU. Requires a restart.
GPU Acceleration	On	Uses the GPU where supported: OpenCL for nodes such as Blur, Denoise, and Edge Detect, and a Vulkan, Metal, or Direct3D 12 compute backend for Noise, Smart Scale, Lens Blur, and 3D Render. The rows under it name the compute backend and OpenCL device found. Applies without a restart, and every GPU node falls back to the processor with the same result.
Batch Concurrency Cap	0 (auto)	Batch frames evaluated in parallel, up to your thread count. Auto is a quarter of your CPU threads, clamped to 2 to 8.
Batch Memory Ceiling	0 (auto)	Memory for in-flight batch frames before they spill to disk. Auto is half your installed RAM (the tooltip shows the figure), and the slider range scales to your machine.
Cache Memory Ceiling	0 (auto)	RAM shared by the layer, paint, and brush caches. Auto is a quarter of your installed RAM (the tooltip shows the figure); an explicit value is at least 1 GiB. Lower frees RAM, higher keeps edits fast. When the system runs low on memory, the caches give memory back on their own.
Max Fan-Out Output Frames	8192	16 to 65536. The most images one fan-out node may produce from a batch (Palette Remap: images x palette colors; Separate: images x detected objects). A fan-out over the limit fails with a clear message instead of running out of memory. Raise it for very large batches.

Privacy

Setting	Default	Description
Send anonymous telemetry	On	Anonymous usage statistics to help improve ArcBrush. No personal data, images, or file paths are sent.
Check for updates on startup	On	Checks for a new version at launch. Updates download, install, and relaunch from inside the app on Windows, macOS, and Linux (Linux replaces the AppImage in place).
Download updates automatically	Off	Downloads an available update in the background; installing still asks. When off, ArcBrush asks before downloading.