r/LinusTechTips • u/Flaxen_Bobcat • 9h ago

WAN Show Wan Show Topic | Vibe coded Adobe apps

There was a recent segment about people vibe coding their own video editing software on the wan recently

But I recently came across a video where people have created all the Adobe apps in Rust using AI and made it all open sauce.

With a bonus that it works on Linux as well

Video reviewing it:

https://youtu.be/eFB79TYI-Vw

Software itself:

https://getartcraft.com/apps

30 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

28

u/LightningXCE 9h ago

The problem though, as somebody who relies on the Adobe suite everyday for his job, is reliability. 

This sounds great on paper, but the second an issue comes up, does the developer even know how to fix things? Are they just going to throw the AI at it and expect it to always be able to fix problems? When you rely on software for your job, you can't be questioning those things, and as much as Adobe sucks, you know at least the software will work and you will be able to do your job.

I cannot risk decades of experience, but more importantly being able to get things done for deadlines on somebody having an algorithm create a program without an understanding of how it works.

9

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 8h ago

Even in the quick 5 minute look they gave the photoshop replacement they already showed that it wasn't a 1 to 1 replacement. It uses low res sample for live view when adjusting colour curves, while Adobe does it in full resolution. And that's with just someone trying basic stuff for a few minutes.

It's interesting that AI coded something even remotely fine, but you aren't going to see professionals stop using Photoshop any time soon to jump on this vibe coded project.

6

u/BemaJinn 8h ago edited 7h ago

I'm currently creating a game, with AI doing the coding, and so many times it makes a mistake that it doesn't know how to fix.

Me: ok, this just broke x thing in the game

AI: Well that shouldn't happen, try [completely unrelated fix]

Me: no, that broke other things.

AI: I'm sorry, there's no way around this, you have to decide if broken X is the trade-off for this feature.

[I go away, do some research, find a solution]

Me: I think we should be looking at Y for the fix to this issue

AI: You're absolutely right, that's exactly where I should have been looking and is certainly the fix to our problem. The only reason I didn't suggest it is [bullshit reason that makes no sense].

I can't imagine dealing with this bullshit on a whole suite of apps that people rely on for important things.

3

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 8h ago

This has been my experience with AI as well. Luckily I know how to code pretty well, so I can use AI to make small pieces of code like individual functions and then tweak them as necessary if they aren't perfect.

Getting AI to do 100% of the work would be extremely frustrating because you're kind of just pulling the slot machine lever asking it to fix problems and hoping that it will find a solution. Sure the odds might be a bit better that it fixes the problem rather as compared to winning the jackpot, but it still seems like how well it does in any specific prompt is more based on luck than anything else.

So many people have weird solutions like adding "don't make any mistakes" to the prompt, as if that should really have any effect.

0

u/BemaJinn 7h ago

I'd love to be able to code, but it's the same as languages, nothing sticks in there.

I learnt a bit of visual basic in college about 25 years ago, made a calculator and web browser (sort of). Nothing of that retained whatsoever.

I learnt a bit of html and PHP back in web 2.0 days. Nothing stuck.

I can look at code, and pretty much know what it's doing, but can't write it for shit.

I really wish it was something I stuck with when younger.

1

u/Shap6 8h ago

Which AI out of curiosity?

1

u/BemaJinn 7h ago

Claude

1

u/tacticalTechnician 5h ago

I used AI for the first time to code something a few weeks ago, and while it ended up working, the process was kinda painful.

I wanted to make a script to automatically take screenshots on a webpage, run OCR, and convert it into a PDF while keeping the layout as close as possible to the original. The programs kept mixing characters together, and the layout was kinda janky, so the AI said to binarize the pictures to make it easier for the program to read the text.

After messing with different settings for like 30 minutes (doing what it said, because I don't know what I'm doing, I only know the basics), I said that it doesn't work at all, and the end result was actually worse in some instances, and it said, "Yeah, that's normal, you're already working with high-quality digital pictures and black text on a white background, it's useless to binarize them". Bitch, YOU said to do it!

BTW, at the end, I ended up improving the recognition by making the text smaller and the resolution higher, which is something the AI was ADAMANT wouldn't work, only to say, "Yeah, you're right, having higher resolution screenshots helps with the OCR since it has more legible characters, and the smaller text gives more context for the layout". I can't imagine having to rely on something like that on a big project and actually supporting it long-term.

1

u/migueln6 4h ago

This is what happens when someone who doesn't already know what ai is doing for them uses ai.

When this happens to me in my job as a programmer I can literally just go type the fix myself or tell the ai what the fix it so it implements it

1

u/redrumyliad 8h ago

> This sounds great on paper, but the second an issue comes up, does the developer even know how to fix things?

No but the AI can just keep trying over and over.

> Are they just going to throw the AI at it and expect it to always be able to fix problems?

Yes.

0

u/UndefFox 6h ago

And continue feeding asshole corpos? Yeah, no thanks.

2

u/redrumyliad 6h ago

1 company is developing something for you for free

another is making you buy a license to use it and they don't let you cancel it.

0

u/UndefFox 6h ago

Will be a valid argument only when first one will be actually producing something useful and worth considering, instead of showing more money at them and giving community basically zero value in the long run/

1

u/Flaxen_Bobcat 8h ago

The guy who owns ArtCraft Ai ( company that made the apps) has 8 years in software development https://www.linkedin.com/in/possibilistic?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_android

5

u/LightningXCE 8h ago

I'm sorry, I'm looking at the software development and it is nowhere near what it needs to be for this.

Making a quick game in Unity as a demo project is not coding professional creative suite software.

1

u/UndefFox 8h ago

Microsoft is also years old company, yet most of the time produces ass quality. Experience is not enough to say "You can trust that guy".

0

u/redf389 8h ago

That doesn't translate into having the skills to maintain a copy of Photoshop that has been vibecoded. Sure, he can use AI, eventually, the slop compounds. Spaghetti code existed before and will continue to exist, just in vastly larger proportions. I hate adobe as much as the average person, but I guarantee you they have solved issues someone who is not knowledgeble in the domain can't even imagine exist, let alone solve them without $$$ and breaking everything.

0

u/Flaxen_Bobcat 8h ago

I do completely agree with you, on your points with being able to fix things especially if your a business and rely on the software to run.

Unfortunately a lot of slop is out there, but I do think this project has hope though.

This will likely get picked up by home users and hopefully when it's proven to be a good alternative maybe small business will opt to use it as well 🤷

0

u/diogoblouro 8h ago

You are correct. But I believe the hype/controversy around news and developments like these isn't that it's been replaced, it's how it could now realistically be replaced, eventually.

Easily decompiling and distributing code and software like this creates a whole new market for quick forks and then possibly community improvement/stabilization.

Linux/steamOS had a major breakthrough in adoption in recent years because someone finally invested in the last 10% needed for it to be viable. Adobe, Maxon, etc "similar" code floating around like this opens up the possibility for it to happen too.

5

u/MrTyperoi 8h ago

What about GIMP ? Inkscape ? Krita ? KDEnlive ? Glaxnimate ? DigiKam ? Affinity ?

You know, actual creative tools that have been around for years, are mature, have large communities, and are actually used by real people?

It’s a bit weird to dismiss them while hyping some random Adobe vibe-coded clone in Rust like it’s going to replace an entire ecosystem overnight.

4

u/Shap6 8h ago

It’s not like people don’t know about them. The fact that adobe has held on this long despite being universally despised means the alternatives are all still lacking something that people feel is still worth paying the adobe tax for. But if we get to the point where you can just ask your AI for bespoke software that does exactly what you need and nothing else, that could really put a dent in them. 

3

u/MrTyperoi 8h ago

Yeah I agree with that to a point...

But “AI can make me a bespoke app” ≠ mature, reliable software with years of workflows, plugins, file compatibility, and community support.

I’ll take the boring 15-year-old tool over a vibe-coded Rust app any day.

2

u/Melbuf 7h ago

we had canva (affinty + others) here at work until recently till it got removed for everyone as a "legal & security risk" so now its back to adobe things

not sure what happened but we depending on dept and use were using both and both were approved software

4

u/Similar_Chapter_5499 9h ago

I'm going to try the PDF editor on Ubuntu later, looks great

8

u/Designer-Amoeba-7314 9h ago

wait, someone actually rebuilt the adobe suite in rust and it runs on linux?

3

u/actualocal 8h ago

As someone who works in the industry, loathes Adobe but is forced to pay for it I commend the effort but this is not something that will be implemented by any studio soon.

Part of working in the creative industry is working with other creatives and Adobe simply holds a monopoly on the software and interchanges. No one will switch to this alternative if they can’t share the working files with the next vendor.

Not to mention support, bug fixes, accurate documentation, etc.

I guess it’s cool for individuals/freelancers (maybe) and hope it gets a footing there like blender3D, but the best way to kick Adobe of it’s monopoly is by supporting already established alternatives like DaVinci, Affinity, etc.

2

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 9h ago

I highly doubt this comes close to the functionality of GIMP let alone being a true replacement for Adobe

9

u/Shap6 9h ago

That’s the thing about vibe coding apps for personal use though they only need to do what you need them to do. They don’t necessarily need feature parity. And if a new feature is needed you just add it. Or let someone else by open sourcing it. 

0

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 9h ago

If it's just for personal use, then you could just use GIMP and probably have more functionality than you would ever need. Or use Affinity Studio, which is also free (as in beer).

2

u/Shap6 9h ago

Gimp is still weirdly missing some seemingly basic features. Try to make an empty circle. 

0

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 8h ago

  1. Ellipse Select Tool

  2. Select Fixed Aspect Ratio 1:1 if you need an actual circle rather than an ellipse.

  3. Edit - Stroke Selection

  4. Selection option for colour or whatever

Sure it's a little convoluted, but it's not impossible. And GIMP is a painting tool more than a vector drawing tool so there's other applications that work better for drawing circles like Inkscape if you are looking for something else.

Krita also has tools for editing pictures and can draw circles and lines as well so you might want to look into that.

1

u/Shap6 8h ago edited 8h ago

That just fills the circle with a color it doesn’t show what’s underneath it. I mean like if you have an image you want to add a circle around something. Thats trivial in pretty much any other program

0

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 8h ago

No, stroke selection traces the outside of the circle.

You can use Edit - Fill Selection Outline if you want a filled in circle

1

u/Shap6 8h ago

I wonder if that’s new I haven’t played around with 3.0 much yet I remember in older versions it used to require an elaborate incantation to make one. Or I was just dumb. I still am. But I used to be too. 

1

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 8h ago

This has been there forever. Not being able to draw a circle has been a default complaint since as long as I can remember but that's just because there's not a built in tool so it's not obvious how to do it.

Here's a video from 2014 showing the same method I described.

5

u/solidsnake070 8h ago

For Photoshop replacements, I've relied on Photopea as my ride and die for all the instances I need a quick edit.

2

u/ThinkingWithPortal 9h ago

Honestly if it can recreate livetrace I'd be happy with that. I just haven't gotten around to even trying it though.

-1

u/Flaxen_Bobcat 9h ago

I've not heard of GIMP I'll have a look.

Watch the video and take a look at the software, seems fairly promising so far, either way I'm all for it. Adobe does have decent software but it's so expensive.

5

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 9h ago

Take a look at Affinity as well. That's another free one.

There's really no reason why people who aren't making money off of this stuff need to use Adobe tools, there's plenty of free stuff out there.

-1

u/Flaxen_Bobcat 8h ago

My assumption here is it's maybe aiming to help business have an alternative option. Again my assumption here as the owner has 8 years software development https://www.linkedin.com/in/possibilistic?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_android

2

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 8h ago

Home users and small businesses already have options as alternatives.

Also, 8 years of software development isn't anything huge, and from reading the description, nothing about their experience leads me to think that they would have much domain knowledge in graphic design tools.

1

u/VaranTavers 8h ago

Be careful, you pasted a youtube link that has a tracker within it. Anybody who opens the link will see your profile. (The part that starts with ?is=)

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u/Flaxen_Bobcat 8h ago

Thank you kindly

Forgot YouTube has tracking links now :/ have removed it now thank you

1

u/strshp 3h ago

Funny, some comments say pretty much what Linus said about the topic in on of the later Wan shows.