The announced Apple Pencil for iPad Pro caused only bewilderment among some skeptical critics: how can you present a stylus to the public in 2015? However, Apple developers had their own views on the use of this device, which were then shared by everyone else. This short review of all the features of the Apple Pencil will show that the new development from the guys from Silicon Valley is far from a stylus or even a pencil.
Create amazing designs with Apple Pencil and iPad Pro
A stylus is a stick that can be used to “poke” the touch screen to control the interface. Steve Jobs warned against this a long time ago, saying that the graphical interface should be adapted for “poking” with fingers. Apple Pencil, on the other hand, takes a different path - it is an extremely convenient interactive tool that has a wide range of capabilities and is not intended at all to simply press virtual buttons on your iPad.
Response speed
The main feature that the creators prioritize. Yes, various tools have already been created to allow creativity in the virtual space. But Apple’s “pencil” is capable of leaving a mark on paper, that is, on the screen, much faster.
The number of dots that the iPad display registers when working with the Apple Pencil is twice that of a finger touch. The contact is scanned at a huge frequency: 240 times per second. For any professional, the absence of delays will be very important.
Pressure regulation
Another proof that you cannot equate the stylus, finger and device for the iPad Pro. You can only lightly drag a “pencil” across the display: then the drawn line will be barely noticeable. You can do this with force: then you will see a thick stroke on the screen.
The sensors that determine the pressure applied, unlike the iPhone 6S/7, are located not in the iPad, but in the “pencil” itself. This makes it possible to apply a much wider variety of effects. The pen will draw exactly what you want to see.
Tilt matters
Sensors in the interactive pen and Multi-Touch display allow you to accurately determine your tilt. So the trace on the screen changes if you tilt your Apple Pencil slightly. Do shading: try going over Apple Pencil from different angles and get a different effect each time and, accordingly, a different pattern.
Rest as you please
There is no need to be afraid to “scratch” your palm across the screen and ruin the drawing. After all, the iPad Pro will distinguish between hand touches and interactive pen touches. Professionals wear gloves when working with graphics tablets. Here, as you can see, this is not necessary.
Access to any creativity
Apple Pencil, for all its uniqueness, is a universal tool. Even if you are an ardent conservative, the device will surprise you. Whatever techniques you use for drawing, the “pencil” can easily reproduce them.
Many professional artists have tried this gadget and were very pleased with it. The resulting drawings were practically no different from those made using the traditional method on paper. And it allows you to try out even more features and effects of Apple Pencil for iPad Pro.
Working hours
The more prosaic characteristics of the device are also excellent. The Apple Pencil is charged using the Lightning connector, which is located at the tip of the device. To charge, you need to connect it to your iPad. Operating time is up to 12 hours. The developers also assure that 15 seconds of charging will be enough for 30 minutes of work. Yes, in practice a less impressive result is possible, but 12 hours is more than enough work.
How to connect Apple Pencil to iPad Pro? It connects to the iPad using Bluetooth 4.0. The charge level is not displayed on the device itself, but when connected, a corresponding widget will appear on the tablet screen, which will show how many percent are left until the battery runs out.
A few more characteristics that make you love this device
- Ease. Apple Pencil is made of white plastic. It is very comfortable to hold it in your hand also because it is quite light. At the same time, the low weight did not affect the hardness in any way, which is confirmed by various crash tests.
- Minimalism. Everything here is Apple style: a small oblong box containing the device itself, several instructions, an additional tip and an adapter for a standard Lightning cable.
- Dimensions. Apple Pencil is the same length as a regular pencil or pen. Therefore, you will have to get used to the new gadget much less.
Where can you use Apple Pencil?
Here are a few applications that will help you realize your creative potential to one degree or another:
- Notes. Standard supports this device perfectly. Notes has several modes that let you draw with a pen, marker, or pencil. Of course, this application is not suitable for professional use, but it is quite suitable for entertainment and for sharpening your skills.
- Procreate. This app has been specially adapted for the new iPad Pro. There is also a mode for “pencil”. Procreate 3 will allow you to create much more valuable works of art than Notes.
- Astropad Graphics Tablet. The program turns an iPad into a graphics tablet. With its help, when connected to a Mac, you can work with Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom and other popular editors.
- Paper. Paper from Fifty Three is already a full-fledged notepad, which is also fully adapted for the new device. With this application it will be very easy to do simple things, create graphs, charts, drawings, presentations and much more.
- Adobe Comp. Several Adobe apps have been optimized specifically for the iPad Pro. In Adobe Comp you can work with various sketches, professional vector and raster graphics, easily create layouts and templates, and then import them into the “big” Adobe programs: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign.
Who is Apple Pencil for?
Here it is worth facing the truth. Given its price, which today is seven and a half thousand rubles (and if you add to this the cost of the iPad Pro 12.9”), you won’t want to buy the Apple Pencil as a toy. The interactive pen will be used by professionals, for whom this price in exchange for such a high level of quality will not seem high. Few people can afford such a device for entertainment.
Apple has once again established a common standard that is gradually coming into use. Apple Pencil is not a stylus, but a highly precise and convenient tool. It’s only a matter of time before all the leaders in creative activity switch to it, and other companies start releasing something similar. And at the moment, quite a large number of analogues have already appeared.
A pencil document consists of layers. There are currently 4 types of layers: raster images, vector images, sound and camera. The Timeline window at the bottom of the screen shows existing layers. By default, a new document contains a layer of raster and vector layers on top, but you can add and remove layers as you wish (using either the button next to "Layers" or the Layer menu).
Layer names can be changed to reflect what you put in each by double-clicking the layer name in the timeline. A window will appear allowing you to change the layer name. Click OK when you have changed the name you want, and the new name will appear in the timeline.
Each layer has a track that will allow you to change it based on time. This is done by inserting buttons (small gray rectangles) on certain frames in the path. Each section contains information about what the layer should show or produce to the frame that contains the key. To add or remove keys to a specific frame in a composition layer using
or the buttons next to "Keys" (abbreviation: like "return" to create a new frame). For image layers (such as raster and vector), each key corresponds to a different image. The sequence of these images creates animation. The current frame is indicated by a red bar and can be changed by moving the red bar to wash through the animation (or use the left and right arrows). To play an animation using controls in chronological order. Note that you can bypass animations and also set the number of frames per second.
(Note you can loop and change the animation frame rate while the game is animating, it's big in terms of frames to find the best animation speed).
Layers
To select the layer you want to change, simply click on it in the list of layers (or use the up and down arrows). You can change the order of layers by dragging their names. For affects the way the image layers are displayed on top of each other, it does not affect the sound and camera layers. Layer properties, such as your name, can be changed by double-clicking on the name (see above).
Layers can be activated or disabled by clicking on the circle to the very left of the icon. Disable the image layer hidden from the canvas view.
If the selected layer is an image layer, it is shown in the canvas view at full opacity. By default, other layers in the image are semi-transparent to help you focus on the selected layer. However, if you want all the layers in the image to be at full opacity (as they will look in the final render), click the circle above all layers to turn it black. If, on the other hand, you want to concentrate on the selected layer and hide all other layers, click the circle again to turn it blank.
Drawing
The first thing you can do with a pencil is draw. In fact, regardless of the tracks and animation controls in the timing (which can be all hidden by dragging the vertical divider along the line), you can use Pencil as a drawing program. Using standard drawing tools (pen, pencil, brush, paint bucket...), you can draw a picture in one of the image layers. By default, the first layer selected in a new document is a bitmap layer. Note that you can do anything anywhere in the main window: it's a canvas with unlimited space.Bitmap drawing
Tools for oneself were more or less to be expected. Size, color, etc., and each tool can be defined in the Options palette. If stylet tablets are used (which is recommended), the pressure used affects the width and/or opacity of the selected instrument. If you don't have a stiletto (but only a mouse), it would be easier to draw polylines with a tool than with a pencil or pen tool. Simply click on various points on the canvas, and a smooth curve passing through those points is created. When you're done, double-click on the last step (or press enter). If you just want to draw a straight line, click to define the starting point and double-click to define the end point.
Vector graphics
When the layer is a vector image, you can use the same tools to make a selection on this layer. The main difference is that all your drawings and strokes are converted into geometric shapes. As a result, you can enlarge or expand your drawing without getting any "pixel" (anti-aliasing) effect. When you change a color in the color palette, the color changes automatically into the vector image. The points of vector curves can be adjusted using the finger tool. This makes vector images ideal for finished "crisp" drawings (usually a character in animation), then you may prefer bitmap images for quick projects or more complex/fuzzy images (usually a background in animation). Note 1 - The pencil tool is intended for curves that will not appear in the final drawing. So these invisible curves are only shown as dotted curves which you can hide and show using a button. To make curves visible, use the pen or polyline tool.
Note 2 - for vector images, the Paint Bucket tool (used to fill the path) is not 100% reliable because this operation is not trivial for vector shapes (trust me on this!). So you may need to click several times in different places before the desired outline is filled. If it doesn't work, make sure the outline is closed (zoom in and/or use the outline display button - or press F1). If you find a gap, cover her pen, pencil, or polyline. If it still doesn't work, redraw along some transitions to make sure all the curves are connected.
Zoom and Rotate
Using the hand tool, you can move the canvas in all directions. You can also zoom in and out by holding the Command key (Apple on Mac) and dragging your hand. Alternatively, you can drag with the right mouse button. You can also rotate the canvas by holding the ALT key, but note that some tools such as the painter bucket do not yet work when the image is rotated. To return to the original view, simply double-click the hand tool, or double-click the hand tool button.
Animating
Now we want to make animations. As noted above, the point is to create several key images in a layer.
It may help to have you think about the outermost keyframes in the animation and draw them first (then you can move the frame around later as you expand).
Keyframes
This will allow, for example, (if you imagine swinging a ball on a string), the majority right, middle and left frames of the ball are moving. The trick is to work out how fast you want it to move, and how you want your ball to change speed.
Thinking about this will help you understand what you do and don't need, as an animator, when you (or if you are already doing) more complex animations, you will need to be very conservative about drawing only the frames you really need, and you will often have to deadlines and work with hundreds of frames.
Number of frames per second?
Generally, shooting a sequence will use a frame rate of 25 frames per second (FPS).
Now that we know what this is, as an animator, you may find that drawing 25fps is not required at all. Often animators and viewers watching them are happy to use and view 12fps. While this will give you less wiggle room in terms of seamless details, 12fps is more than likely the best to use in most cases.
But tinkering with personnel and experience is very important.
Onion skin
The traditional way of drawing a key image is to use the previous (or other) key image to guide the drawing of the current key image, showing the previous (or other) key image in semi-transparency. This is called onion skin. You can use the bow skin buttons to activate or deactivate the previous and next bow skins.
Setting up keys
To test and improve your animations, you can change the layout of the keys. Select one key and drag it where you want it. To select multiple keys, use the HOLD SHIFT key. Often you want to extend the time between two keys, which involves transferring all subsequent keys. To do this, hold down the ALT key and click on the second key, this will automatically select all subsequent keys.
If you feel more comfortable with sketching on a real document, you can import existing pencil drawings. You can import a raster image of a particular frame into a raster layer using the Import Images... command in the Layer menu. Additionally, you can drag bitmaps from the outer window onto the canvas. A key is generated for each imported image. This is especially useful when you have a lot of images. By default, the top left corner of each photo is set to the center of view. If you want to import images at a specific location, use the selection tool and drag a rectangle on the canvas. The images will be imported in a rectangle. If the image is larger than a rectangle, they will be scaled. Please note that you can paste images from the clipboard, i.e. from other applications, copy/paste.
Cameras
The camera layer allows you to define a given view, with a certain proportion, in your unlimited canvas. Moreover, you can define the view for each camera key, track, and view by linear interpolation between keys. To do this, simply create a camera layer, move the red bush to the desired frame and use the hand tool to adjust the view inside the camera view frame. By double-clicking on the camera name, you can set the resolution of the frame viewing camera.
Sound
The Pencil has some basic sound support. To add some sound, create a sound layer. Then select "Import Sound..." from the Layer menu and select the sound file (WAV is the only format supported on Windows; the Mac version can be imported in any format that can be read by QuickTime). This will create a triangular key in the audio track. The key indicates where the sound will start playing. You can move this key like any other key. The sound layer does not play sound when it is disabled. All sounds can be turned on or off for the entire animation by pressing the sound button in the control timeline.
Note that the sound will not play if its start key is at the end of the timeline, simply because the Pencil stops playing when it reaches the last key document. You may have to add a key in some layer to be able to hear the audio.
Example
Vector graphics
Here's a typical example to take one shot. We start in the raster layer and using the pencil tool draw the character:
Once the project is finished, we go to the vector layer and use the Rep tool to "ink" the character, i.e. make clean lines at the top of the project. In order to draw exactly, you may need to enlarge the image. To do this, select a hand tool
and right-click on the image (or click with Apple Key on a Mac) and drag the mouse. You will get dynamic zoom in the center of the picture. If you're having some difficulty drawing with the Rep tool (especially using the mouse rather than the stiletto), you can also use the polyline tool.
The next step is to put in some colors. Select the Paint Bucket tool and select a color from the palette (click on the black square to show the color palette). The palette comes with a limited number of standard colors. You can change them at any time and add as much color as you want. Once you've chosen a color, click the Batch paint tool inside the area you want to fill. Make sure there is no gap in the document. Sometimes the program is unable to fill a region. In this case, click elsewhere or increase in the region and try again.
If you want, you can add shadows to the image. To do this, use the pencil tool. Used with vector layers, this tool creates line paths that do not appear in the final animation. These paths will define the boundaries of the shadow. After this you can fill in these regions with darker colors.
To hide or show these paths, click the button. Finally, click on the circle next to the raster layer to hide the original thumbnail.
To create an animation, you should draw a few frames and check that the animation works well. Then you can make ink drawings using the method described above.
Bitmap drawing
If you want, you can only use image layers. In this case, make sure that you raster the layer below the raster layer that you inked: This way, when you click with the paint bucket, it will put the flowers not in the current layer, but in the layer below it, which preserves the original drawing.
Saving and exporting animations
Saving and exporting animations
You can save your work in a specific XML format, as well as a folder containing raster data. This format is currently used by Pencil to save a document. You can also export the animation as a sequence of PNG images, or as a Flash movie or QuickTime movie (Mac OS X only). Note that the current mode is used for export, that is, either view or working camera view if the camera that is the selected layer. Could export to other vector formats such as SVG in the future.
The picture shows Pencil v 2.0.5 (2008 - 2014, March). Interface in English language. Weight 44 MB. Free program.
Works on Windows, Linux, Mac, Android systems.
The purpose of the program is to create layouts.
The created layouts can be given limited interactivity.
Pencil is available in two different types of packaging: a standalone application and an extension for the Firefox browser (as Pencil is based on Mozilla technology).
Note: Older versions were used as an extension for Firefox Pencil , which are no longer in active development.
From the author's description:
Make GUI Prototyping Easier
Pencil has a collection of graphic shapes that you can use to create layouts from desktop to mobile platforms. The collection includes general purpose forms, flowchart elements, and more.
Starting from version 2.0.2, the program works in Android and iOS, the UI has graphic elements appropriate for these systems.
There are some drawing capabilities in the program itself.
There are also many other community-created collections that can be downloaded from the Internet.
Some of the stencil collections that you can try are collected in the download archive.
Pencil supports connecting lines, which can be used to create diagrams and flowcharts.
Export created layouts - in various graphic formats, in web page format.
Pencil also supports document export in OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Inkscape SVG and Adobe PDF formats.
When working with Pencil, you can use clips downloaded from the Internet, such as
So, let's agree right away. I will call “Pensil v0.3.3b” “pensil” to make it more convenient.
There are a lot of different things in Pencil. Do you think it won't work out? You are very wrong! The program is very easy. If you don’t understand it, then read the instructions and you’ll figure it out 100%.
So,
Look: exactly like in paint. Let's explain the meaning of all the buttons.
1.pencil icon. With this thing you can really draw like a pencil. Difficult to sharpen. Just a little thin lines sometimes. You can choose the size. Well, you would understand that yourself.
2.Brush icon. This thing draws little glowing lines. That's not how a pencil draws. When you draw one circle, it will be red, and there will be a red shadow around it. Interesting, try it.
3.Feather. They are probably the most comfortable to draw. Do you know why? He paints without shadows, without thin stripes that sometimes show through. The size can also be changed. Quite convenient.
4. "multiple line". To be honest, I don’t really understand how to use it. So far, from experience, I say, it’s not very convenient. I drew something, but another line erases it... A difficult and inconvenient thing, but sometimes necessary.
5. Rubber band. You probably know how to use it. Wash only in white.
6.Cleaning. Well, he clears the entire field. Don't press when you draw what you like.
7.Shading. Well, you understand. It does not paint everything at once, but in stripes. Not very convenient, but that's what it is. Sometimes convenient. Quite simple.
8.Pipette. Click on a color (any color. For example, the girl’s dress is red) and this color will be in the eyedropper, which you can use to paint over all the buttons.
9."select". To be honest, I still don’t understand what this thing is, but I don’t think it will be needed, it’s not particularly important.
11.Hand. Transfer signs and pictures. Useful thing.
12. Finger. I haven’t figured it out yet... But it’s not really necessary.
Now how to use it!
1 step. open pensil. Choose a pencil, pen or brush. Draw something on a white sheet of paper. For example, we draw a cat. Steal the drawing. Click next to the word "keys" +. A new sheet will appear. Only there will be something like a shadow of the past. We don’t notice. We draw further.
2. So let’s draw until we’re done. At least 100 frames, at least 10. Now, let's look at our works. Press the "play" button.
Installing the Apple Pencil and starting to use the stylus is easy!
The Apple Pencil stylus makes the iPad Pro truly pro. With its help, you can write and draw quickly and smoothly, and the sensors accurately recognize the pressure and angle of inclination. All you have to do is install it and get started! Everything is incredibly simple, but if you want to study this issue before starting the practical part, full speed ahead!
How to connect Apple Pencil ToiPad Pro
To get started with Apple Pencil, you need to connect it to your iPad Pro. You can only connect one Apple Pencil to one iPad Pro at a time.
If you want to use another Apple Pencil with the same iPad Pro, just repeat the same steps with the new stylus. Do the same if you want to use your Apple Pencil with another iPad Pro.
How to check the battery level on yourApple Pencil
The Apple Pencil does not have a battery charge indicator - for example, a light that would turn from green to red to signal a low battery. Instead, you need to check the battery life of the stylus on your iPad Pro.
How to Charge Your Apple Pencil Using an iPad Pro
When your Apple Pencil needs to be charged, all you have to do is insert it back into iPad Pro.
You can also use the adapter that comes with your Apple Pencil to plug it into any standard Lightning cable.
15 seconds of charging will allow you to work for 30 minutes, but it will be more advisable to charge the device when no one is using it.
How to useApple Pencil
Apple Pencil is similar to a real pencil, but at the same time there are differences.
- Use the tip of your Apple Pencil to tap icons, buttons, and other interface elements on your iPad Pro. (Please note: Unlike your finger, the stylus does not allow many movements and touches.)
- Touch the tip of your Apple Pencil to the iPad Pro screen and start writing a word or drawing a line.
- To get a darker, wider line, press harder with the stylus.
- To create shadows, change the angle of the stylus relative to the iPad Pro screen.
Since the Apple Pencil does not support multi-touch functionality, you can use your fingers for basic navigation. Sometimes you can use both the stylus and your fingers at the same time. For example, tapping Notes with two fingers can bring up a ruler to help you draw straight lines with a pencil.
Loading...
