The Symmetry and Perspective rulers alone justify the upgrade for many manga and concept artists.
If you purchase a license for Paint Tool SAI (currently around ¥5,500 JPY / ~$50 USD), you legally own both Ver. 1 and Ver. 2. The developer (Systemax) allows you to run either version concurrently. There is no upgrade fee. paint tool sai 2 vs 1
Includes vanishing point guides for 1-point, 2-point, and 3-point perspective. The Symmetry and Perspective rulers alone justify the
For over a decade, Paint Tool SAI has held a legendary status in the digital art community. It is the software that defined the "anime style" aesthetic for a generation of illustrators, praised for its lightweight performance, intuitive interface, and unparalleled brush stabilization. It is the humble program that ran smoothly on potato laptops when Photoshop would crash, and it became the go-to tool for line artists around the globe. Includes vanishing point guides for 1-point, 2-point, and
For most modern artists, It solves the memory limitations of the original and adds essential quality-of-life tools like text and auto-recovery.
However, a rift exists in the community. Systemax, the developer, eventually released Paint Tool SAI 2. This was not a simple patch; it was a complete rewrite of the software. Years later, a significant portion of the artistic community remains loyal to the original SAI 1, while others have embraced the upgrade.