When it comes to digital drawing on the iPad, everyone who does it has fairly specific requirements and preferences for their work. Pretty much everyone wants low latency, smart pressure control, and a comfortable stylus. Beyond that, however, you wade into the world of specific shortcuts, drawing tethered, app choices, gestures, keyboard support, line prediction, and lots more. It's not surprising; art is a personal experience. It's only sensible that people have personal preferences for creating it digitally.
The iPad has become a fantastic tool for those digital artists in part because of its flexibility — different apps give you different drawing tools, ideas, and experiences, and you need only find one that fits your needs to be happy.
Jul 14, 2020 Draw On Your Macs Screen – Best App; has been made public on our website after successful testing. This tool will work great on MAC OS and WINDOWS OS platforms. And Latest mobile platforms Draw On Your Macs Screen – Best App has based on open source technologies, our tool is secure and safe to use. Screen Marker allows you to write and draw directly on your desktop and above all of your opened applications. You can use it to highlight areas you want people to notice before taking a screenshot, draw on your screen in classroom settings or just doodle away during those 'important' meetings. May 13, 2020 Step 1: Start sharing your screen, document, or whiteboard on the Zoom app as you do normally. Step 2: If you are sharing your screen, you will be taken out of the Zoom app. Apr 04, 2020 When you buy this screen capture app from the official website and the App Store, you will get it for a fixed price of $29.99. But if you are a student, you can get it at a lower price of $19.99. Meanwhile, the Setapp platform provides Capto with its recurring plans, starting from $9.99. Jan 06, 2016 Draw anywhere, any time on your screen! Note: Drawing is through the use of mouse or touchpad; i.e., drawing lines track mouse cursor on screen. If a touchscreen is equipped, a stylus or finger can be used to draw. Keyboard is also required during.
When it comes to hooking your iPad up to your Mac to create a Wacom Cintiq-like experience, however, your artistic options are far more limited. There are really only four solid options for people interested in using their iPad in this manner: Duet Display and Astropad, along with their two advanced subscription services, Duet Pro and Astropad Studio.
Which one is right for your needs? Let's break each app (and its services) down.
Wait, what is a second-screen or 'Wacom Cintiq-like' drawing tablet anyway?
Duet Pro mirroring the iMac's display, connected via USB.
You can draw directly on your iPad with many, many great programs; while the iPad Pro and Pencil now offer professional artists more opportunity to create print-quality work, most still finish their projects on the Mac.
To keep your iPad useful while working on your Mac, you can use a second-screen app to effectively 'take over' your iPad's screen and either make it a second monitor or mirror your Mac's display outright. These apps connect to your computer using a (usually paid) app on your iPad and a free 'helper' app on your Mac. From there, you can use touch commands on your iPad to directly control your Mac and even use your Apple Pencil for pressure-sensitive drawing inside certain apps. It's often referred to as a Cintiq-like experience in homage to the Wacom Cintiq, one of the first and best pressure-sensitive external displays for the Mac.
Duet Display
Duet Display, connected to my iMac via USB, resting on ElevationLab's Draft Table.
Though not the first second-screen app for iPad, Duet Display was one of the first to truly offer a usable second-screen experience. After connecting iPad to Mac via USB, it delivered users a Retina-quality second display at 60 frames per second, with minimal to no lag.
For those who wanted to view extra information — Twitter or work apps from their Mac on a second screen, for example — Duet was an excellent choice, and remains so today.
Unfortunately, where Duet initially lagged was with the art community — users who wanted that second screen for drawing on a digital Photoshop canvas (or mirroring the Mac's display to draw upon it): The otherwise speedy 60FPS screen had issues displaying Photoshop documents and vast-delayed strokes, making the drawing experience uninspired as a whole.
In the years since, Duet has improved its original app with options like a digital Touch Bar (for Macs without access to Apple's own hardware version), even faster rendering, and iPhone support — but no drawing capabilities, despite competition from newcomer Astropad.
In late May, Duet at last offered a solution: an in-app Duet Pro subscription, which enables pressure sensitivity and line prediction for artists, among other tools. (We'll talk about Duet Pro in just a little bit.) Duet Display's standard version still offers no drawing tools or pressure sensitivity, however.
Astropad Standard
Astropad was the first app that offered iPad users a truly great drawing tablet for their Mac: It was built specifically for working in certain Mac programs, like Photoshop, and offered ultra-low latency for drawing through smart hardware optimizations.
Unlike Duet Display, Astropad focuses solely on mirroring your Mac's screen — you can't use it as a true second monitor. But in mirroring the screen, it offers a host of different drawing features for artists.
For one, Astropad displays a dismissible Function bar that holds oft-used drawing shortcuts like Undo, along with Line Preview, which eliminates further latency issues by 'previewing' your drawing line (if your Mac hasn't yet caught up with your iPad's brush stroke).
Better yet, it takes advantage of pressure-sensitivity hooks in Mac apps to offer pressure-sensitive drawing for any number of third-party styluses — not only the Apple Pencil.
But perhaps the coolest thing about Astropad is that it can go wireless: You can draw tethered via USB for the best experience; if you don't mind suffering a minor drop in latency, however, you can sit elsewhere in your immediate Wi-Fi surroundings and continue to draw. (For instance, you can perch on your couch and continue to work on a project on your iMac or Mac Pro.)
Astropad has remained one of the best apps around for basic iPad drawing on your Mac, especially if you don't yet own an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, since it works with many iPads and styluses. It is a little pricier than the standard Duet Display app, however — $29.99 to Duet's $19.99 one-time fee.
Duet Pro
Launched in May of 2017, Duet Pro is Duet Display's venture into the iPad-as-pressure-sensitive-drawing-tablet world. Launching five months after the debut of Astropad Studio, Duet Pro offers many of the same perks as Astropad's high-end software — with a few extra wrinkles.
Like Astropad Studio, Duet Pro is a subscription service: For $20/year, users get access to Duet Display's new drawing features, including Apple Pencil-optimized pressure sensitivity, tilt and hover support, palm rejection, and touch-based shortcuts.
When setting up Duet Pro, users can customize pressure sensitivity with a personalized curve, adjusting based on how they draw and use the Apple Pencil, along with Line Lead (similar to Astropad's feature, though lacking in any sort of color customization).
Duet's big advantage over Astropad is its true second-screen nature for iPad Pro users: You can have a drawing tablet that also acts as a second monitor, eliminating the need to take up your Mac's main screen with a giant Photoshop canvas. (It's still USB-tethered, however — there's currently no Wi-Fi option.) In lieu of customizable digital shortcuts, Duet Pro offers a digital version of Apple's Touch Bar — if the app supports it, you'll be able to view (and change, if applicable) Touch Bar shortcuts along the bottom of the screen.
Currently, Duet only offers support for about 20 drawing apps, though big players like Adobe, Microsoft, Autodesk, and Pixelmator are all included.
One thing to note about Duet Pro: It's built as an in-app purchase inside Duet Display; to access Duet Pro, you'll first have to purchase Duet Display, effectively making your first year's costs $39.99, with subsequent years at $19.99.
Astropad Studio
The most expensive drawing tablet option for professional artists, Astropad Studio is also arguably the most full-featured. It takes all the goodies present in Astropad Standard and makes them faster and more customizable.
As with Astropad, the Studio option offers you pressure-sensitive drawing with palm rejection and lightning-quick drawing; it also continues to offer a Wi-Fi option, with improved latency over Astropad Standard.
Where Studio zooms away is on customization for pro users. Unlike Standard, it's limited to iPad Pro and Pencil users, which allows the app to provide an even speedier drawing experience. Both drawing pressure and smoothing can be adjusted, and users have full control over shortcuts buttons on a per-app basis, allowing them to tweak the tools they want for each individual program. Studio's Line Preview can also be altered to shorten or lengthen the amount of virtual line, change its color, or turn it off entirely.
Studio also offers what may be the coolest touch implementation for iPad and Mac in the form of Magic Gestures: These touch- and Pencil-based gestures let you use your fingers and stylus together to activate a Right-Click, Eraser, Hover, or Modification Keys, depending on your choice.
Which is best for casual artists?
For those who want to tool around with an iPad on their Mac every so often, it's a tight spec competition between Astropad Standard and Duet Pro. Both offer great options for pressure sensitivity, though Duet provides more customization on the pressure curve and offers a digital Touch Bar. In contrast, Astropad Standard offers more limited options, but it can connect to any app on your Mac with full pressure support, and on non-iPad Pro models with third-party styluses. It's also cheaper in the long run ($29.99 one-time vs $19.99/year), and offers wireless drawing.
Astropad has the seniority edge in the iPad-as-drawing-tablet game, and for that reason alone, it gets my vote for best casual artist tool. In my tests with Duet Pro, I frequently ran into minor bugs — a black screen when switching between second screen and mirrored mode, a non-functional Touch Bar — along with occasionally-spotty latency on the iPad Pro's Line Lead. Astropad, in contrast, has had several years to settle into a rock solid program, and that stability shows in everyday use.
Astropad Standard has had more years of development behind it, and can withstand recropping or moving displays with no lag or problems; I ran into a few bugs with Duet Pro.
![Print Print](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126466499/882917604.jpg)
That said, the advantage to a subscription model is that Duet's development team is likely hard at work making Duet Pro even better for its users; I wouldn't be surprised to see the app evolve and grow as more 'prosumer' and professional artists weigh in on their hopes and desires for the software.
Duet Pro might also be worth considering if you'd prefer to use your drawing tablet as a second display, rather than a mirrored option — neither Astropad Standard nor Studio currently offer this option.
Which is best for professional artists?
Duet Pro, despite its name, can't currently compete with the juggernaut that is Astropad Studio. There's a reason Astropad's developers charge such an elevated yearly fee for its software in comparison to Duet Pro: its features are reliable, endlessly customizable, and they simply feel like the right way to do professional drawing on the Mac.
As nice as a digital Touch Bar is, years of Wacom work have conditioned me for big shortcuts on the left or right of my drawing surface; Astropad's customizable shortcuts are easy to see when I need them, and vanish into the background when I don't. It's also very easy to quickly adjust line pressure and various settings while connected to my Mac; Duet currently requires you to bring up its settings menu with a four-finger tap or disconnect to adjust accordingly.
Some of Astropad's Line Preview and Magic Gestures customization options.
The same goes for Astropad's Magic Gestures and touch shortcuts: I can easily refresh my memory on a given shortcut or trick via the shortcuts bar, whereas I have to return to Duet's 'Connecting' screen to get a refresher course.
But in all honesty, the difference I keep coming back to is the wireless advantage: Astropad Studio has perfected a latency-light drawing experience without being tethered to your Mac, and once you get used to working wirelessly, it's very hard to convince yourself to go back to a wired connection — especially when Astropad Studio's implementation is so good.
Open Duet Pro or Duet Display without a USB connection to your Mac, and you'll see this sad screen.
Of course, the nicest thing both of these apps using the subscription model is that anyone can take them for a spin: Both Duet Pro and Astropad Studio offer a free trial before your subscription kicks in, and whatever my personal feelings on each app, I highly recommend pro artists download both and take them for a spin. After all, when it comes to iPad art, you never know what your own personal preferences will end up being.
Drawing on iPad: The ultimate guide
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Taking a screenshot on a Mac is effortless, as long as you remember the shortcuts. It only takes pressing a couple of keys to capture a portion, window, or your entire screen, depending on the keystroke you use. But when it comes to screen recording and video editing, you obviously have to use different third-party apps.
Even though Apple adds the Screenshot application in macOS 10.14 Mojave, it still seems insufficient, particularly for users who want to do screen recording frequently. In terms of screen capture, it is a great tool with all the needed features. You can quickly launch the screenshot toolbar to take a screenshot and then add annotations. However, it has fewer functions that you can use to record your screen as well as for video editing.
What if there is a screen capture tool that satisfies all your needs? For instance, taking screenshots, recording videos, as well as providing advanced image and video editing functions?
It is called Capto, a super friendly application for beginners to capture and record screens. Additionally, you can edit and annotate the screenshots and recorded clips right away without having to leave the app.
What Is Capto?
Previously known as Voila Screen Capture, Capto is a one-stop-solution for all your screen capturing, screen recording, and video making requirements. It is one of the most straightforward ways to capture screenshot and record screen video on your Mac. It is especially useful when you are making a tutorial slideshow or video with annotations and voiceovers.
In terms of screenshot capturing, Capto allows you to take a screenshot of:
- the entire screen
- a chosen area with different shapes, including rectangle, circle and freeform
- a specific application window
- a particular menu
- a full webpage with the built-in web browser or external web browser
When you finish capturing, you can start editing the screenshot directly within the app with a set of editing tools. These tools include select & move, pencil, paint, text, shape, callout, highlighter, blur, and many more.
In terms of video recording and editing, Capto has a ton of useful features to deal with the recorded video. For example, you can record a video of the entire screen or just a part of it.
When you finish recording, you can crop or cut the video to combine with the others, add different types of annotations and audio tracks. These tools aid you in making great videos for multiple purposes, such as guidance, teaching, technical support, marketing, or just for fun.
How Does Capto Work?
Capto has three different tabs: Organizer, Image, and Video on the top left side. When you launch the application, it displays the Organizer tab as default, which is the library to organize and manage all your images and videos.
Next to the three main tabs are quick ways to do the screen capturing and recording mode, which are Screen, Area, Window, Menu, Web, and Record. The first five modes are to capture screenshots, while the last mode records videos.
Give us a few minutes to go a bit deeper into each feature.
Best Drawing Apps For Mac
Screen Capturing
As we mentioned earlier, Capto gives five different modes to take the screenshot:
- Screen: use to take a screenshot of the entire screen
- Area: drag & drop to select a specific part of the screen to capture
- Window: select a particular application window to capture
- Menu: take a screenshot of a drop-down menu
- Web: either take a screenshot of a webpage with Capto's browser or other web browsers
As you can see, Capto has an intuitive user interface, which is quite easy to use to take a screenshot on a Mac. To use these modes, you can simply click on one of the buttons at the top to start capturing the screenshot.
The Area and Web modes have sub-options, which will display when you click on them. In the Area mode, you can select among three types: Rectangle, Circle, and Freehand. These sub-modes are the types of shapes that you can draw to take a screenshot of a chosen area.
For example, when you use the Rectangle mode, you can draw a rectangle or square frame to cover the area you want to capture. After you finish capturing the screenshot, it will have the same form and size as you drew.
Similarly, the Circle mode allows you to draw a circle or an oval-shaped frame. Meanwhile, the Freehand mode lets you draw a frame as a freeform shape.
In Web mode, there are three options you can use:
- Snap from Capto Browser: When choosing this option, you can use the Capto web browser to load the webpage you want and then capture the screenshot.
- Open the current URL in Capto: This option copies the webpage address from the currently active tab on your web browser. After that, it loads the webpage with the Capto web browser and then allows you to capture the screenshot.
- Snap active browser URL: Instead of loading the webpage with the Capto web browser, this option takes the screenshot directly from your web browsers, such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.
Image Editing And Annotation
When you finish capturing the screenshot, you can use Capto to edit it right away with a bunch of edit tools. For example, crop & resize the screenshot, add text & shapes, highlight & blur it, and a lot more.
Capto has most of the essential features of an image editor. You do not need to use another application to edit your screenshots. These features are more than enough.
Screen Recording
Screen recordings can be quite handy for tutorials. You can convey all of the necessary information to your audience most clearly. Even better, you can add annotations or audio tracks to the video.
To start recording your Mac screen, click on the Record button at the top. There are three basic options you can select, including record the entire screen, a particular portion of the screen, or with your FaceTime HD camera.
There are a few extra configurations you need to do before proceeding, such as select the source of audio, hide desktop, or add yourself to the video via the built-in webcam.
When everything is set, you can click on the big red button to start recording your screen.
Once you have recorded everything you need, press Command + Shift + Esc to exit the recording process.
Additionally, you can connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac and use Capto to record the screen of them. For example, Capto can help you to make a review video of a new game on iOS, or a tutorial video to show your audience how to play it.
Video Editing
Making a perfect video is not simple because sometimes, you may need a few changes, e.g., cutting unwanted parts, adding audio tracks, or add annotations. That is where the editing suite of Capto comes in.
It offers a bunch of options for finalizing your video, whether it is trimming and joining them into a longer video or just adding different types of annotations. Even more, you are able to crop the dimensions of the video after you have finished it.
For the audio, you can increase or decrease the volume of the track, or even set up fade in and fade out.
Take some time to discover this editing suite, and you will see how many choices you have.
Files Management And Sharing
Besides screen capturing and recording features, Capto has a great file management function. It arranges images and videos into different collections, so you can easily manage and quickly access them afterward.
Sharing your screenshots or videos is even simpler. It just needs a click to upload them anywhere, from commonplace Google Drive, Evernote, Dropbox, Facebook, and YouTube to all possible cloud storage services, including private FTP/SFTP servers.
Final Words
Currently, Capto is only available on the macOS platform. You can purchase it from the official website, the App Store, or the Setapp subscription.
Are there any differences between these places?
When you buy this screen capture app from the official website and the App Store, you will get it for a fixed price of $29.99. But if you are a student, you can get it at a lower price of $19.99.
Meanwhile, the Setapp platform provides Capto with its recurring plans, starting from $9.99. Once you are signed up, you can not only use Capto but also up to 170+ Mac apps, such as CleanMyMac X, Gemini, XMind, Workspaces, and so forth.
Therefore, you should consider the place you purchase based on your needs. Also, you can download the trial version from the official website or Setapp to try Capto's features before making your decision. Anyway, with all the powerful screen capture, screen recording, and editing features, it is worth the price.