We’re back this week with another update, and it's a BIG one! Behind the scenes we have been hard at work on some big changes to Artspaces and Chat. At last, Artspace Chat and Direct Messaging are here! Read on for more details…

Artspace Updates

Artspaces are all about community. And communities, often do more than just draw on the canvas together. Sometimes you need a space for everyone to just chat or to share announcements. For this, we’ve added Artspace chat channels!

You’ll notice that the interface in your Artspaces is a little bit different. Projects have been replaced with Categories which can have different channel types. Soon we'll be adding voice channels too!

Your Artspaces can now host Art Jams too! These coul be pivate jams for your members, or you can publish them to the main Atr Jams listing page. This is a great way to grow your community around a particular fandom, creative niche, or artistic purpose! Be sure to give it a try.

With all of these changes, it was important to improve the Artspace roles and permissons system. We've made some changes there for better management of your spaces and recommend reviewing your Artspace permissions with this update. You can read more in our Introduction to Artspaces guide.

Direct Messages

This has been requested for a long time, and we’re excited to finally release it. Direct Messaging let’s you connect privately with your friends on and off the canvas. Or, if you want to commission someone to create a custom banner for you, then you can send them a message request. Gifting Mags is also possible in DMs to make those commission requests possible.

You will notice a new chat bar when you are in the dashboard, and also on the canvas. The canvas chat bar groups DMs, on-canvas chat, and voice calls, and can be moved to any corner of your UI to best suit your layout. You can find out more about chatting wth others in this guide.

We do have some added privacy options for chat in your account's Privacy Settings page too. The recent release of the Blocking feature was an important one to have ready before this update and you can find out more about how it works in this guide.

Bux fixes and improvements

As usual, our engineering team is working hard to fix any bugs and issues found on the platform. While we aim to catch bugs before new features are released, some can sneak through. Thank you to everyone who reported issues to us so quickly after releasing the new Chat system. A few that came up:

• fixed truncated long messages in chat window;

• fixed online status of Artspace members not updating;

• added option to delete Artspace categories;

• fixed moving drawings in Artspaces;

• fixed brush pixelation setting not working correctly;

• and a few other behind-the-scenes things…

As always, let us know what you think. feel free to send us your Feature Requests, reach out to us on Discord or send us a message.