ArtDeck is a new alternative to PureRef that supports video
Artist and software developer Alexandre Alves has released ArtDeck, a new visual reference board app for concept artists, designers, animators and motion graphics professionals.
The inexpensive iPad and macOS app makes it possible to collate, arrange and measure visual reference material for a project – and, unlike many existing tools, supports video footage.
A streamlined new visual reference organization tool
ArtDeck helps arrange imported visual reference material into organized reference boards.
It supports a range of standard image formats – both vector and bitmap images, plus animated media and video – and provides the options you would expect for arranging them.
There are also tools for analyzing the reference material, including sampling color values, making measurements, and checking composition and reading flow.
Once created, boards sync between Apple devices via iCloud, or you can export them for use on non-Apple devices in formats like PNG and PDF, at up to 8K resolution.
Import, play back and analyze video reference as well as still images
There are a number of other visual reference boarding tools, some of which we’ve covered on CG Channel, including the popular and widely used PureRef.
However, one thing about ArtDeck that caught our eye was that it supports video.
Users can import video files directly – it supports ProRes, and any unsupported codecs are transcoded automatically – and step through them frame by frame to check timings.
It also has an onion-skinning option to help check visual spacing between frames.
Inspired by the developer’s work on his own creative projects
Alves himself previously worked as an IT contractor from indie animation studio Disnosc, but got the idea for ArtDeck while working on a personal game project.
“My reference workflow had spread across PureRef, Notion, Photoshop, and Procreate, split between my desktop and iPad,” he says. “Switching between them repeatedly interrupted the work and added unnecessary overhead, which led me to start building ArtDeck.”
No Windows or Linux edition planned
However, what may be a deal-breaker for some CG Channel readers is that ArtDeck is an Apple-only tool, and there are no plans to port it to Windows or Linux.
Alves told us that staying in the Apple ecosystem lets him provide iCloud sync as a free option, rather than having to set up a separate cloud backend that would require a subscription fee.
Price and system requirements
ArtDeck is compatible with iOS 18.0+, iPadOS 18.0+ and macOS 15.0+. It costs $5.99.
Read more about ArtDeck on the product website website
Get ArtDeck from the App Store
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