Developers have leveraged AI to launch ArtCraft, a free open-
Many photography and video enthusiasts are already very familiar with Adobe’s post-production software. However, a programmer recently used AI to completely rebuild these well-known professional software, and made them fully free and open-ubscription fees are no longer a barrier, this time we have a legitimate free post-production software, giving long-time Adobe users new tools to experiment with
Software developer Brandon Thomas has launched a series of open-source creative tools called ArtCraft, directly targeting Adobe Creative Cloud. Among them, PhotoCraft is the counterpart of Photoshop, LightCraft corresponds to Lightroom, and FilmCraft is the alternative for Premiere Pro. There are also products aligned with Illustrator, After Effects, InDesign and Acrobat. These seven software are all designed to mimic Adobe’s interface layout and operation habits as much as possible, ensuring long-time users can immediately know where to click when they open them.
What’s more interesting is that the development of this batch of software heavily leverages AI. Brandon Thomas, a software engineer with over a decade of experience, used Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5 to assist in programming, rewriting the code for these applications in the Rust language. The AI here does not simply add an intelligent retouch button to Photoshop, but is directly involved in the entire software development process. The developer can describe the required functions to the AI, letting it assist in generating code, analyzing program logic, and fixing bugs. Through continuous testing and modification, the software is built step by step. Tasks that originally required massive amounts of time to write code can now be completed with greatly improved development efficiency thanks to AI assistance. Of course, the architecture design, performance optimization and troubleshooting of complex software still require professional development experience, which cannot be achieved with just a few simple commands.
According to the official demonstration, PhotoCraft features a familiar layer panel, selection tools and image adjustment functions; LightCraft focuses on photo management, RAW format processing and non-destructive editing; FilmCraft is equipped with a multi-track timeline, footage monitor and color grading tools. For people who often work on post-production of photography and videography, these interfaces are recognizable at a glance. Moreover, these desktop applications under ArtCraft are released for free and open-source, allowing users to use local retouching, color grading and editing functions without paying any subscription fee for the software itself.
However, it is worth noting that not all functions are free. In fact, two different sets of services are involved here. Local creative tools such as PhotoCraft and LightCraft are free and open-source, while ArtCraft additionally provides cloud AI generation services, such as calling image and video generation models. This part adopts a point system and paid package model. In short, conventional local editing tools can be used for free, but calling cloud generative AI may incur costs, which means not all functions under the ArtCraft name are permanently free.
Of course, free as they are, it is not that easy for these software to directly replace Adobe. At present, these applications are still in the early stage of development. Relevant information shows that editors from professional foreign media TechRadar and Creative Bloq have already tested them, and found that PhotoCraft has deficiencies in file format support and saving functions, LightCraft’s color management and mask accuracy still need to be improved, and FilmCraft also exposes many problems in audio processing and video editing. If you want to use them to process commercial shooting projects, you still need to carefully assess their performance first.
After all, the threshold for professional post-production software is never as simple as building a toolbar and a timeline. For photographers, RAW decoding quality, color accuracy and processing efficiency for large batches of photos all directly affect the final output. After years of development, Adobe has accumulated not only software functions, but also a plugin ecosystem, file compatibility and mature professional workflows. These obviously cannot be fully replicated in a short period of time.
In addition, ArtCraft may also face disputes over intellectual property rights. Although the developer emphasizes that the software code is completely rewritten, its interface and operation methods obviously refer to Adobe’s products. While software functions can be implemented independently, specific codes, icons and interface designs may be protected by law. AI participating in programming also makes issues such as code source worthy of attention. Of course, similar interfaces do not necessarily mean infringement, and there is no sufficient basis to confirm that ArtCraft has committed illegal acts for now.
In the past, developing a professional image retouching or editing software with complex functions usually required a team to continuously invest a large amount of time and capital. Now, an experienced developer leveraging AI can produce a fairly well-formed product prototype in a relatively short period of time. Although there is still a long way to go before it becomes mature for commercial use, this level of development efficiency itself is already striking. Adobe will certainly not be easily replaced by several early-stage software. However, when AI lowers the threshold for more developers to enter the professional creative tool market, it is worth looking forward to whether there will be truly mature, practical free alternatives in the future.
As for whether ArtCraft can eventually evolve to the level that can be used for formal professional work, it depends on whether the subsequent development can keep up. Compared with whether these seven software are competitive enough at present, what is really worth paying attention to in the whole incident may be that AI is changing the threshold of software development.
This article is from the WeChat official account “PConline”, published by 36Kr with authorization.
