Skip to content

Varve v0.5.0

Choose a tag to compare

View all tags
@github-actions github-actions released this 09 Oct 08:48
· 340 commits to master since this release
v0.5.0
0c9b07f

Varve 0.5.0

Varve remains in public beta. This release adds broad authoring workflows while
keeping optional, hardware-dependent, and format-limited capabilities clearly
marked.

Added and improved

  • Six task workspaces and flexible panels — Design, Print, Draw, Photo,
    Motion, and Email share one document model. Docked, floating, and split panel
    layouts can be adjusted and restored; Logo tools stay in Design and Code
    export remains a shared panel. Enabled History and Timeline panels remain
    visible after restarting instead of reverting to hidden at editor startup.
  • Illustration and tablet controls — Separate flats and clipped shading
    layers, brush opacity and flow, pressure settings, and one-finger draw or
    navigation controls extend the painting workflow. Check pressure and tilt
    support on the device you use.
  • Comic lettering — Build speech, thought, and shout balloons, captions,
    panel layouts, and editable lettering with localization support. Pointed
    balloon tails now join the bubble outline without a line across the pointer;
    existing balloons are corrected when their documents migrate.
  • Photo workflows — Source-preserving retouch, Frequency Separation,
    Liquify, depth-aware masks, bracket merging, and verified Ultra HDR sharing
    join image tuning and colorization. RAW development is limited to the
    documented camera subset; model-based features may require optional downloads.
  • Vector and type tools — Shape Builder, compound-path editing, more precise
    tracing, path text, variable-font controls, and shaped-glyph outlines improve
    illustration and lettering workflows.
  • Reusable pattern authoring — Create definitions from copied vector art,
    raster tiles, or recipes; tune repeat and per-fill placement, inspect raster
    seams, and edit copied vector motifs in a bounded source editor. Imported
    raster tiles now remain rendered alongside other document images. SVG and PDF
    support defined subsets; unsupported PDF layouts are warned and omitted.
  • Presentation decks — Order editable Design frames, preview a deck, and
    export slides as a raster screen PDF or numbered PNG archive. PDF output is
    not editable/searchable and has no tagged accessibility structure; layout
    formatting inheritance remains limited.
  • Manual Token Sync — Import and re-import token sources and review mapping
    diagnostics. Automatic watching, Git integration, and write-back to source
    files are not included.
  • Local Wasm plugins — Review and run bounded local packages for selected-
    layer analysis and batch renaming. There is no marketplace, arbitrary
    JavaScript/HTML, or plugin-owned network and filesystem access.
  • Mockups and exports — Folded-mesh mockups join planar, perspective, and
    cylindrical surfaces. SVG and PDF export preserve more supported artwork;
    unsupported content can still use raster fallbacks or documented warnings.
    SVG raster fallbacks retain artwork inside positioned frames and groups,
    including frame backgrounds, clipping and transformed ancestor placement.
  • PDF artwork and dimensions — Desktop PDF exports retain embedded images
    instead of placeholder artwork. Quick screen-PDF output preserves authored
    dimensions after switching from a scaled raster export. Native PDF/X export
    and text outlining also receive their required print and font settings.
  • Experimental rendering options — Canvas2D remains the default. WebGL2
    and WebGPU are opt-in experiments with capability checks and Canvas2D
    fallback; results depend on the browser, driver, and hardware.
  • Document compatibility — The app now writes document schema 2.33;
    published v0.2.1 used schema 2.21. Older documents migrate on open, including
    the pointed-balloon outline correction, but newer files are not
    backward-compatible. Back up important .varve files before opening them.
  • Save, history, and recovery — Saved, Saving, Modified, and Save failed
    states are explicit, and failed writes retain recovery paths. Confirm a
    save by its successful destination write before closing important work.
    Buffered text edits and formatting now replay through undo/redo with exact
    grapheme boundaries, including emoji and combining characters.
    Home Open and Import consume the native picker's selected path correctly,
    including Unicode filenames; Open retains the disk path for subsequent Save.
    The macOS editor's application menu Quit action now runs the shared save
    and termination coordinator before exiting.
  • Responsive and accessible controls — Workspace panels, menus, touch
    targets, focus handling, home-screen reflow, group dragging, and enlarged-text
    layouts have been refined across compact, tablet, and desktop widths.
    Color-model labels wrap within narrow pickers instead of overlapping.
    Home project headings retain normal casing and aligned sidebar spacing;
    the New Project form has themed controls and focuses its name field.
  • Fit the active surface — Fit canvas frames the active Design Canvas's
    artwork. Fit page frames publishing trim in Print and comic Draw, including
    blank pages. Page-only documents retain paper fitting in other modes.
    Empty unbounded canvases show a disabled control instead of a
    enabled button with no target. Fitted artwork and portrait pages stay clear
    of the floating toolbar.
  • Document name entry — Initial selection of a suggested name yields to
    typing and other dialog interactions, preserving entered text when the
    opening animation frame arrives late.
  • Clearer selection and import feedback — Spacing labels avoid selected
    artwork, and missing-font recovery opens after the import summary is closed.
  • Bounded browser demo — /try/ remains a sample-document experience with
    browser-local storage and a limited workspace set; desktop-only print,
    inference, and other capabilities are not implied by the demo.
  • Consent-first desktop updates — Published, signed update feeds support
    Linux AppImage (x86_64 and ARM64), Windows NSIS (x86_64 and ARM64), and
    installed Apple Silicon macOS apps. Checks are user-controlled, downloads
    are signature-verified, and installation uses the save/quit flow. Debian and
    RPM packages, plus unsupported or non-writable installs, update manually.

Before you install

These builds are not code-signed. That is a statement about this project’s budget, not about the files — but your operating system cannot tell the difference, and neither can you without checking. Verify the SHA-256 checksum below against your download before running it.

  • Windows shows "Windows protected your PC". Choose More info → Run anyway. Windows 11 Smart App Control can block unsigned apps with no override — use the browser version at https://varve.studio/try.
  • macOS (0.5.0) shows "Varve is damaged and can't be opened" with no Open Anyway option. After dragging Varve to Applications, run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Varve.app — that removes the download quarantine flag so macOS will open the app. Do not disable Gatekeeper.
  • Linux has no equivalent prompt; verify the checksum instead.

Downloads

Platform Package Size Install
Linux aarch64 Varve-0.5.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage 78.4 MB chmod +x, then run. Needs FUSE2.
Linux aarch64 Varve-0.5.0-linux-aarch64.deb 83.7 MB sudo apt install ./
Linux aarch64 Varve-0.5.0-linux-aarch64.rpm 83.7 MB sudo dnf install ./
Linux x86_64 Varve-0.5.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage 85.5 MB chmod +x, then run. Needs FUSE2.
Linux x86_64 Varve-0.5.0-linux-x86_64.deb 91.5 MB sudo apt install ./
Linux x86_64 Varve-0.5.0-linux-x86_64.rpm 91.5 MB sudo dnf install ./
macOS Apple Silicon (aarch64) Varve-0.5.0-macos-aarch64.dmg 87.8 MB Open, drag to Applications.
Windows aarch64 Varve-0.5.0-windows-aarch64.exe 61.6 MB Per-user install, no admin needed.
Windows x86_64 Varve-0.5.0-windows-x86_64.exe 66.1 MB Per-user install, no admin needed.

Verify your download

4684fef861cdf3dd51cfd326f5a9452d29d733af9e9d4c53b18f06fc0ab8c404  Varve-0.5.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage
5fc30625f738f0b8394f59180568251857cc45cc1e031d8568872def3494faf0  Varve-0.5.0-linux-aarch64.deb
2a04e58bc01a37a86e53e3d7fa981e1d206905381df6d69408b18dca7baebc56  Varve-0.5.0-linux-aarch64.rpm
fb0c188286fbd92479f88dd0eefc4547d3544b33e7dc5120abd399bfdf2237af  Varve-0.5.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage
89be69610182319529c4335c7982ec2a3fc09fb94cb2dac2e61bbdde837a75fb  Varve-0.5.0-linux-x86_64.deb
baf25cacfa27775a61c0d10e4bb3ca35a533b8677d4f9132d41347663af855a6  Varve-0.5.0-linux-x86_64.rpm
4b1ae0cc9f3b8b75ffd241a461c50913b4fd20d293ab16918509a66ee8fc099d  Varve-0.5.0-macos-aarch64.dmg
e5e99de0a13a0c77b1cc2a1d9d6ea5d91cacf00094b7cca36f07ec6c6b080e84  Varve-0.5.0-windows-aarch64.exe
0650afc5cd773cc0d2aff40326900afa3200dc1f2e016d005ab274d5b30b5d32  Varve-0.5.0-windows-x86_64.exe

Download SHA256SUMS.txt and verify only the file you downloaded with sha256sum --ignore-missing -c SHA256SUMS.txt:

  • Linux: sha256sum --ignore-missing -c SHA256SUMS.txt or grep <filename> SHA256SUMS.txt | sha256sum -c
  • macOS: shasum -a 256 <filename>
  • Windows PowerShell: Get-FileHash .\<filename> -Algorithm SHA256

Known limitations

  • This is early software. Keep backups of anything you care about. The .varve document format may still change in ways that break older files.
  • An updater feed is published for eligible targets; Debian/RPM packages, unsigned or unsupported installs, and package-specific fallback paths remain manual. See the Updates guide.

A CycloneDX software bill of materials is attached as varve-0.5.0-sbom.cdx.json.

Assets 40
Loading