What Astute Graphics delivered in 2025
13 minute readA roundup of what Astute Graphics managed to deliver to its customers in 2025.
Astute Manager Pro
Let's start with the news that Astute Graphics brought its new Astute Manager Pro service to market on 21st October (astutemanager.com). Continuously developing its Astute Manager software since 2017, this new Digital Asset Management service builds on the solution's proven stability, allowing Adobe Illustrator users and teams to secure and share the critical digital assets. But this is only the start: the magic really happens in 2026.
Plugin updates
So does work on the Astute Manager mean Astute Graphics has neglected its plugins? Entering its 20th year in 2026, the only way to answer this is to list all the improvements made to the plugins in 2025. A list is provided at the end of this article, with the full plugin change notes here. But this list tells only part of the story, as it masks three things:
Responsiveness to customers. Amongst the major new features, many of the smaller changes are customer-led and are often seen as the most valuable. Throughout 2025, Astute Graphics repeatedly created and deployed customer requested improvements to beta testers within 48 hours 📦
Bug fix priority. Customers, especially with SaaS, should expect and demand that stability is the #1 priority. Astute Graphics takes this duty very seriously and consistently delivers 🤝
Speed of updates. Astute Graphics invests heavily in systems and processes customers never directly see. But evidence is present in the speed at which updates can be deployed to customers, such as when Adobe releases major Illustrator updates which require all 20 plugins to be re-issued. We excelled in 2025, delivering updates in October for the Illustrator 2026 release within 24 hours 🚀
Training content
New features are mute without knowledge on how to introduce the new creative and workflow advantages into your own work stream. Astute Graphics continues to heavily invest in its training content on three major fronts:
YouTube. 23 new tutorials published in 2025. 590k views. 40k subscribers. Over 1k videos and shorts. youtube.com/astutegraphics
AG Docs. 1.5+k edits in 2025. 100's of extensive instructional pages. docs.astutegraphics.com
Blog posts. 39 new training blogs in 2025. astutegraphics.com/learn
Community
Our ever-growing Astute Graphics Slack user community (bit.ly/ag-slack) now houses over 1.2k members. It's a place to share ideas, make requests and gain immediate feedback from Astute Graphics staff as well as fellow users.
It's also where active subscribers can discover and respond to early access of new features put out to beta.
Support to grow your creative potential
Astute Graphics creates intentionally generalist plugins for Illustrator. This means that we chose the harder path to cater for the widest possible creative demands and workflows. We directly support Illustrator users, both creative and technical, in industries including branding, illustration, architecture, fashion, print, packaging, UI/UX, gaming, animation, education, signs, and more.
Our support colleagues provide direct and experienced support, including technical assistance and suggested methods to achieve results. This is all included in the subscription fee and is one of the key reasons such a high percentage of customers choose to resubscribe.
Selected facts
Maximum recorded use of a single plugin feature in 24 hours: 99k
Number of users benefitting from the Astute Manager Pro since launch: 700+
Number of latest release version plugin variants (all plugins, OS, versions of Illustrator supported, etc.) built and managed by the Astute Manager: 128
Number of subscribers who opted into the Astute Graphics beta test programme: 426
Plugin new features and improvements in 2025
For details of all plugin changes in 2025, refer to the plugin change notes page.
New AG Array and AG Shear effects - 18 Feb 2025
DynamicSketch v3.9.5
New feature: The AG Trim and Join tool now has options for not splitting or welding width profiles when trimming and auto-joining paths that have variable width strokes.
SubScribe v4.8.2
New feature: When clicking to lock an object with the Lock Unlock tool, the Shift key can now be held down to lock the object's layer instead.
VectorScribe v5.6.4
New feature: New AG Utilities live effect: AG Array
New feature: New AG Utilities live effect: AG Shear
New feature: In the Make Shape live effect, when using "Step" for either of the shape dimensions, the quantized value can be forced to the higher of two possible outside-range values by enabling the new "Round Up" parameter.
New feature: When marquee-selecting with the PathScribe tool, the space bar can now be used to reposition the marquee.
March 2025 updates - 20 Mar 2025
Randomino v1.4.3
New feature: Color Randomizer live effect.
New feature: Opacity Randomizer live effect.
Improvement: Randomino can now randomize the "seed" parameter of the following AG Utilities live effects: Add Points, Dashify, Extend Path, Make Shape, Path Removal, Point Removal, Segment Removal, and Stroke Attributes
SubScribe v4.8.4
New feature: A new menu item "Object > Pixels to Vector" converts each pixel of the selected raster art into vector shapes.
Texturino v2.9.7
Improvement: When textures are rewritten to disk when Illustrator is quit (for example, because their assigned categories have been changed), a progress bar now appears if the process is lengthy.
VectorScribe v5.6.6
New feature: When brushing with the Smart Remove Brush tool, the Command/Ctrl key may be held down to change the mode to "non-smart" removal.
May 2025 updates - 13 May 2025
DirectPrefs v1.9.4
New feature: Illustrator's isolation mode opacity can be adjusted through a new menu item on the panel.
DynamicSketch v3.9.7
Improvement: The AG Trim & Join tool can now use the 'S' and 'D' keys to force splitting of variable width strokes profiles or not splitting them.
FindReplace v1.9.6
The recently-added AG Array, AG Shear, Color Randomizer, and Opacity Randomizer effects are now available in the list of effects on which to search.
Randomino v1.4.4
Improvement: Randomino can now randomize the "seed" parameters of its Color Randomizer and Opacity Randomizer live effects.
VectorScribe v5.6.9
New feature: Angle Cap utility live effect.
Astute Manager change preparation - 17 Jun 2025
All plugins: Compatibility with forthcoming Astute Manager v4 changes.
Stylism v4.0.3
New feature: Live Effect Parameter Editor panel.
SubScribe v4.8.6
Improvement: The disk file holding GradientForge's pocket gradients is now dynamically updated whenever a change is made to them, not just on Illustrator shutdown.
AG Transform - 02 Sep 2025
DirectPrefs v1.9.5
New feature: New actionable panel menu items allow the canvas to be rotated in discrete steps.
Randomino v1.4.6
Adds support for AG Transform seed randomization.
Stylism v4.0.4
Added support for Make Shape's "Filter by Index" parameters.
SubScribe v4.8.7
Improvement: Art Switcher now uses the bounds of the clipping path for clip groups, even if the clip group is nested inside another group.
Texturino v2.9.9
Improvement: 'orphaned' metadata files now cleaned upon plugin startup.
VectorScribe v5.8.4
New feature: AG Transform live effect.
Improvement: The Make Shape live effect now includes "Filter by Index" parameters.
Roulette and QuickOps - 22 Oct 2025
ColliderScribe v4.1.6
Improvement: Space Fill now includes the option to not rotate any gradients within the filling objects.
Randomino v1.4.8
Improvement: Randomino can now randomize the "seed" parameter of the Close Path live effect.
Rasterino v2.9.5
Improvement: The maximum image resolution has been increased from 7200 to 29999 ppi.
Improvement: The "Non-proportional scaling" warning icon can now be clicked to return one or multiple images to proportional scaling.
Stylism v4.0.9
Improvement: The Live Effect Parameter Editor now supports AG Corners new "Filter by Index" parameters.
Improvement: The Live Effect Parameter Editor now supports the new "Close Path" live effect.
Improvement: When an object with a vanishing point type AG Block Shadow is selected, the position of the vanishing point may now be set directly with AG Block Shadow tool by Shift+Option/Alt-clicking.
SubScribe v4.9.4
New feature: QuickOps panel.
Improvement: The Arc by Points tool now tangency-snaps to interior path points, not just open path endpoints.
VectorFirstAid v4.3.1
Improvement: The special tagged paths used by the AG Transform live effect are no longer flagged when checking for stray points or unpainted paths.
Improvement: When removing duplicate art with "Consider Path Geometry Only," the direction of the path is now ignored.
VectorScribe v5.9.9
New feature: Create Roulette.
New feature: Close Path live effect.
Improvement: The AG Corners live effect now includes "Filter by Index" settings.
Improvement: When specifying a reference point in AG Transform using an art object's bounds, and the object is a clip group, a new option allow the clipped content to be ignored for the purpose of bounds determination.
Improvement: The PathScribe "Average Handles" button will now remain disabled when the selected handles are already coincident and do not need averaging.
WidthScribe v3.9.8
Improvement: When the Width Selector preference "Show Markers on Selected Paths Only" is enabled, the Select All Markers button will be available and will select all the markers on selected paths even if they have no selected markers originally.
Adobe Illustrator 2026 - 25 Oct 2025
All plugins - Illustrator 2026 compatibility updates
Stylism v4.1.0
Improvement: The Live Effect Parameter Editor can now handle some Texture effect parameters, and, more importantly, sync Texture effects among multiple objects.
November 2025 updates - 26 Nov 2025
Phantasm v5.9.0
Compatibility: Support for new native Dither and Perceptual gradient attributes released in Illustrator 2026.
Randominov1.5.0
Compatibility: Support for new native Dither and Perceptual gradient attributes released in Illustrator 2026.
Improvement: Randomino can now randomize the "seed" parameter of the AG Corners live effect.
Stylism v4.1.2
Improvement: The Live Effect Parameter Editor can now adjust the InkFlow pen size.
SubScribe v4.9.6
New feature: "Make/Release Text On Path" QuickOp.
Improvement: The Distribute to Grid QuickOp can now use different distances in the horizontal and vertical directions, and when using minimum spacing, the distance can now be negative.
Improvement: The preview chip of the AG Color Select tool can now be positioned to the left of the cursor in addition to the right.
VectorScribe v6.0.3
New feature: PathScribe flyout menu item Modify Native Join Command allows using the native Join command with smooth curves.
Improvement: AG Array now has an "Ignore Clipped Content" parameter.
Improvement: AG Transform has had its controls for "Ignore Clipped Content" consolidated, so the "Move (Relative)" function can use it.
Improvement: The "Create Roulette" dialog now has a help button.
December 2025 updates - 15 Dec 2025
FindReplace v1.9.9
Improvement: Method (Classic/Perceptual) and Dither are now searchable attributes for gradients in Illustrator 2026 and up.
VectorScribe v6.0.7
Improvement: Line constraining in PathScribe ('L' key) now works along curved bezier segments as well as straight.
Improvement: The Path Visualizer live effect's color now works with Edit > Edit Colors.
