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 doesn't have a battery indicator, like a light that goes from green to red to indicate 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.

  1. 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 or touches.)
  2. Touch the tip of your Apple Pencil to the iPad Pro screen and start writing a word or drawing a line.
  3. To get a darker, wider line, press harder with the stylus.
  4. To create shadows, change the angle of the stylus relative to iPad screen Pro.

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.




The picture shows Pencil v 2.0.5 (2008 - 2014, March). Interface in English language. Weight 44 MB. Free program.
Works in Windows systems, Linux, Mac, Android.

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 Firefox browser(since 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

Pencil 2D animation is free software, designed for working with hand-drawn animation. The program runs without problems on different platforms - MS Windows, Linux, Mac OS. However, it is more suitable for amateurs and beginners who are just learning the basics of 2D animation.

Drawing tools

All drawing tools are located in the left toolbar. You can draw lines, closed shapes, fill, and customize shapes. The program also provides blur tools, an eraser and a selection tool for a specific area.

The right toolbar has color and transparency settings. Unfortunately, it is not possible to create a normal gradient in this program, since there is no necessary functionality.

The program even has layers, however, there are very few functions related to their operation, and they are mainly required for creating animation. However, with the help of layers, you can easily work with projects where there are many elements.


The program supports working with graphics tablets.

Importing files

You can add videos, GIFs, sound, and other images to your composition. The latter can be edited in the main work area. But do not forget that the program is designed primarily to work with vector graphics, therefore, you can only do the most primitive manipulations with a raster image, for example, increase/decrease its size, etc.


When it comes to imported sounds and videos, there aren't too many features available either. You can trim the video/audio track, adjust the sound, move it to compositions and that's it. All manipulations with video/audio are performed in the bottom panel with a timeline.

Working with animation

In this case, you can animate individual layers, where there may be one or more objects. All work will be done in the timeline column, which is located at the bottom of the work area.

Animation is created by creating points on a timeline. Each layer has a separate timeline, so you can animate almost any element of the composition.


Unfortunately, time points don't have many settings, so it's unlikely that you'll be able to create a professional animation. Also at the top of the timeline panel there are tools for adding new layers, time points, video and audio management, as well as an FPS adjustment graph.

Export of finished works

It is noteworthy that the program does not have its own extension for working files, which is very inconvenient when it comes to large projects, since there is no way to continue work from where you left off.

Fortunately, with the preservation finished works Everything is fine. You can save them as slides from PNG images (relevant for very small projects), or export to GIF, Flash or QuickTime format. The latter is only relevant for Mac users OS, or those who have installed a special application from Apple on their computer.

As a result, the program still needs improvement, but it is perfect for beginners or those who do not do animation professionally. The program has several support forums, as well as training YouTube channels (including in Russian). However, the project given time almost abandoned.


Pencil- simple C++ / Qt editor for creating raster and vector 2D graphics and animation.

Pencil has a minimum number of settings, an intuitive user interface, almost all the tools necessary for drawing are in detachable (movable) panels of the main application window.

Pencil works not only with vector graphics, but also with raster images (working with camera and sound is supported). Projects created in the application can include several layers (both raster and vector).

Drawing is an important part Pencil, there is a set of basic tools (brush, pencil, pen, etc...), there are standard copy and paste functions. You can add a shadow to the drawn image, set a static background and apply other effects. It is possible to download previously prepared images in the format PNG.

Despite the possibility of creating drawings, Pencil nevertheless, it is more intended for planning the animation timeline, which involves the sequential decomposition of frames from the produced drawings on it and setting up the key frames of the future video. Thanks to the time scale, the project will be more flexible in terms of corrections, changes and adjustments. The scale allows you to perform a whole set of control actions; you can create, move, edit, and also delete fields. It is possible to change the line length and size, it is possible to edit " back/forward".

Working with " camera" allows you to set an arbitrary point from which the viewing of the created animation or car will begin. The algorithm used (frame-by-frame animation) allows you to play animation with the ability to adjust the frame rate and set up looping.

Pencil supports adding sound; the application exports (saves) finished animations to sequential images (in GIF format), in format SVG (for vector animation), in the format SWF (flash) and format XML with uncompressed AVI format (this makes it possible to save the video as it was created and pre-spaced in Pencil).

The downside is that after drawing in this application, the vector has to be cleaned up quite a bit, since a lot of extra points are formed. On the plus side, you can drag a picture from your iPad directly into Illustrator with the click of one button, and it’s incredibly convenient!

There is also a very cool drawing application called Procreate - it is also free, it costs about $6, and, unlike Adobe Draw, you can only draw a raster, which then needs to be converted into a vector. There are a lot of settings, brushes and other nice things, but for me personally, drawing there, as they say, didn’t work out, I don’t know why (but I know that many people adore it).

#2 PROCESSING CONTOURS

True, for this method to work, you will need additional application, which is called Astropad and costs money. With this application you can “cast” your computer screen to your iPad. That is, by launching Illustrator and the Astropad application, you can turn the iPad Pro into a kind of Synthic (for those who don’t know, this is such graphics tablet from Wacom, which allows you to draw “directly on yourself”).

If you already have Syntik, again, this cleaning method will not surprise you. But since my role is played by the Wacom Bamboo, which lies on the side of the computer and does not have its own screen (that is, it essentially works as a more convenient semblance of a mouse), I really liked being able to edit “directly on the screen” using the iPad Pro.

In theory, you can draw just the same way - right in Illustrator, but when working through Astropad, there is still a slight delay in the appearance of lines, and therefore I prefer to use this application for “finishing” pictures. I open the image after the trace in Illustrator, connect the iPad via a USB cable (this makes the connection more reliable), launch Astropad and use the pencil tool to edit the lines. On the downside, in the CC version the selection constantly cancels itself, so you have to keep one hand on the keyboard to press CMD + A (and who came up with the idea of ​​canceling the saving of the selection when working with this tool? Obviously some evil person)

#3 RECORDING THE DRAWING PROCESS

Nowadays, videos are trending, showing how quickly, easily and coolly you draw. Well, or even not cool, but you draw - everyone likes to watch the accelerated process. Therefore, if you are thinking about how to promote yourself on social networks, then recording a video of the drawing process is it. I must admit, I’m ignoring this trend for now - not because I don’t understand its importance, but rather because in my current habitat it’s too dark to shoot decent videos (and it’s already a little cold to draw outside). Well, I have a terrible habit of hanging over the drawing, which greatly complicates the process of shooting top view (one top of my head is visible, which, as I found out, is not very photogenic for me :)).

And yes, you can record the process without an iPad Pro. But it’s cool when I drew a picture and recorded a video :)


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