I have the M1 Macbook Air. I use Sidecar to use my iPad as a 2nd screen and most apps work fine, though the line quality is a bit squirrelly on Sketchbook. Granted, if the iPad Sketchbook App was ever updated to allow me to load the brushes I have on the desktop app, it wouldn't even be an issue. Macbook Pro-15', Early 2009, Mac OS X (10.6.7), 2.53 ghz, 4 gb of RAM, 320 GB hard drive. Sketchbook Xpress is jut the trial version for Sketchbook Pro.
Sketchbook Macbook Pro Download
Autodesk SketchBook Pro is one of them. With an interface designed for tablet use (you can work without a keyboard!), great brush engine, beautiful, clean workspace, and many drawing-assisting tools, it's a perfect choice for both beginners and professionals.
At a glance
Cons
Our Verdict
With its large touch screen, the iPad is a great device for sketching, doodling and painting without having to lug around paper, canvas, paint or other art supplies. With the right app, your iPad becomes a mobile art studio so you’re ready to create that next masterpiece whenever inspiration hits. Sketchbook Pro from Autodesk is just such an app. With its many advanced features, it proves to be one of the best painting apps in the App Store.
Sketchbook Pro supports up to six layers with opacity controls and a few blend modes like Multiply and Screen. You can resize and reposition each layer independently. The app provides undo and redo buttons for mistakes and line, square or circle tools for drawing those shapes.
Something you would be hard pressed to find in any other app is Sketchbook Pro’s symmetry tool. When this tool is active, every stroke you make is perfectly mirrored on the other side of the screen. This makes drawing symmetrical objects like faces a bit easier.
Sketchbook Pro probably has the most powerful brush engine in the App Store, with 60 different brushes ranging from pencil, soft round, and stippling to square, airbrush, and splatter; you can even opt for several symbols like tree leaves or flowers. Each brush can be customized by adjusting its radius, opacity, feathering, and spacing. You can also set the minimum/maximum radius and opacity so the brush stroke will taper or fade out at the end of a stroke. There’s even a smudge brush that will smear previous strokes—a nice tool for blending your paintings. Of course, there’s an eraser brush and a paint bucket tool for filling the entire canvas in one tap.
I also appreciated the app’s color selector, which has several color swatches and a Painter-style color wheel with a saturation diamond in the middle for choosing virtually any color imaginable. Underneath the color wheel, you’ll find sliders for hue, saturation, and the amount of black you want in your color. An eyedropper tool lets you pick colors off the screen.
Sketchbook Pro’s interface has a slight learning curve to it, but before too long, you’ll find it to be well thought out and quick to navigate. A little circle at the bottom of the screen brings up a large circle in the screen’s center. By tapping the middle of this circle and dragging your finger left or right you can quickly adjust brush size. Dragging up or down will adjust the opacity of the brush. A three-finger tap anywhere on the screen displays or hides the toolbar and other icons. Swiping three fingers right or left will undo or redo the last action. Holding a finger down on the screen for two seconds will activate the eyedropper tool. These little gestures shortcuts are much faster than navigating menus, allowing you to focus more on painting.
Once you’re finished painting, you can save your masterpiece in the gallery where you can export it to your iPad’s photo library, save it to iTunes, or e-mail it as either a flattened image or a PDF with layers intact.
Sketchbook Pro is one of the most advanced painting applications available for the iPad. If you like to paint or draw you should really consider downloading this gem.
[Tim Mercer is a technology enthusiast, graphic designer, and blogger, whose blog, digital-artist-toolbox.com, offers free resources to the digital artist and graphic designer.]
Jump to Mobile or Windows 10
Looking at auxiliary tools to use with SketchBook? To get the best experience with SketchBook on either desktop or mobile, we recommend using it with an input device. Try SketchBook with a Wacom tablet, iPad Pro, or using an assortment of styluses. There are many options to choose from. For a list of supported pens for SketchBook for Mobile, see SketchBook for Mobile: Which pens works with which devices?
Auxiliary devices for SketchBook for Desktop
Exclusively available on SketchBook for Desktop for MacBook Pro usersFor MacBook Pro users, we’ve added quick access icons and sliders to the Touch Bar for undoing/redoing and changing brush/color attributes. See MacBook Pro Touch Bar support for more details.
Check out this video on Autodesk SketchBook - MacBook Pro Touch Bar [YouTube].
Wacom
For Mac or Windows users, Wacom has a variety of drawing tablets, ranging from interactive pen displays, to pen tablets and styluses. It has everything a beginner or professional artist needs. Learn more at Wacom.com
Astropad
With Astropad, you get all the features of SketchBook desktop on your iPad, iPad Pro, and iPhone. Astropad mirrors your desktop onto your Apple devices. For more information, see How to change your view.
Auxiliary devices for SketchBook for Windows 10
Unlock the drawing power of your Windows tablet with SketchBook. Specifically designed for both stylus and touch-input, it’s optimized for Windows 10. For more information, seeSketchBook for Windows 10.
Surface Dial
Do you want a new way to interact with SketchBook? If so, for *Microsoft’s Surface Studio, Surface Book, and Surface Pro 4 users*, we are delighted to introduce the [Microsoft Surface Dial](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/accessories/surface-dial). If you are familiar with the dial, jump ahead to **Getting set up below.
For those of you who are either curious about the Surface Dial or have just purchased one and haven’t had a chance to check it out, continue reading for an introduction to it. Change the paint color as you draw, without returning to the main interface.
Getting set up
Before you begin using the dial, as a Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, and Surface Studio users, ensure you’re running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update with Bluetooth 4.0LE. Next, don’t forget to install the batteries. Finally, tap the Bluetooth button on the bottom of the dial to ensure it’s paired with your Surface.
How to start
There are two ways to use the dial: off-screen and on-screen. Whichever mode you choose to work in, you’ll feel the vibration (haptic feedback) as you access the radial menu, select tools, and select tool options for adjusting brushes, colors, even your canvas. Plus, how would you like to undo or redo at the twist of a dial, seeing as each stroke is removed or replaced? It will probably remind you of watching a time-lapse of a drawing being created or undone. With the dial, the Undo/Redo feature is quite something!
Changing tool position for left-handed users
For anyone using the dial who is left-handed, I suggest you open your device Settings, select Pen & Windows Ink, then under Pen where it states Choose which hand you write with, set Left Hand. This will place all the tools on the opposite side of dial, where your hand/arm won’t obscure them.
Accessing the radial menu
The radial menu is a hub containing the Undo, Brush, Color, and *Canvas *tools.
Tap-hold to access the menu (you’ll feel the dial vibrate as the menu opens).
Selecting a tool
Once the radial menu appears, twist the dial to switch tools. As you twist, a different tool is highlighted.
To select the highlighted tool, either tap the dial or touch the tool on your screen. The name of the active tool is displayed briefly.
Cycling through and selecting tool options
Each tool has one or more options or properties that can be changed with the dial. You may have to cycle through them to select a specific one. See below for the specific tool options available.
Tap the dial to jump from one tool option to another. The circular selector appears in the next ring, as the dial is tapped.
INFORMATION: SketchBook remembers the last tool option used for the selected tool.
Adjusting tool options
Though the interface looks slightly different depending on whether you are using the disk on- or off-screen, the tool options are the same.
Keep in mind, when the dial is off-screen, your dial needs to be next to your Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, or Surface Studio and Bluetooth 4.0LE must be enabled.
Undo – The tool options for this are Undo and Redo. With Undo selected, use the dial to twist to the left to undo and right to redo. As you continue to twist the dial, more steps are undone or redone, kind of like watching a time-lapse movie.
Brush – The tool options for this are Size and Opacity. With Brush selected, tap the dial to cycle between brush size and opacity.
When in either tool option, twist the dial to adjust the brush settings (either opacity or size). A visual readout appears at the top of your screen.
Color – The tool options for this are Hue,** Saturation, and **Luminance. With Color selected, tap the dial to switch between hue, saturation, and luminance. When in the desired option, twist the dial to adjust it.
Canvas– The tool options for this are Zoom and Angle. With Canvas selected, tap the dial to switch between zooming and angle rotation. When in the desired option, twist the dial to adjust it. A visual readout appears at the top of your screen.
Auxiliary devices for SketchBook for Mobile
Sketchbook Pro Free Download
There are an assortment of styluses that are compatible with the wide range of available devices. Here are a few that work with iOS and Android devices. For more information, see Which pens work with which devices.
iOS
- Hex3 JaJa Stylus
Android
- Wacom Intuos (CTL4100 and CTL 6100 models)
Sketchbook Pro Mac Full
Related Topics
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