Air Stylus turns iPad into pressure-sensitive drawing tablet for your Mac

Air Stylus 1.0 for iOS (iPhone screenshot 001)

Both FiftyThree’s Surface Pressure technology coming to its Pencil stylus this Fall and Adobe’s new Ink stylus offer a glimpse of iOS 8′s variable touch sizing technology that allows these accessories to vary the pressure, thickness and width of lines you create.

Say you’re an artist in a desperate need of a drawing tablet. Sure, you could pick up a dedicated Mac drawing tablet from the likes of Wacom, Intuos and others.

But why spend hundreds of dollars on a dedicated drawing surface when you already have one in your home – your iPad? All you need to turn your beloved Apple tablet into a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet for the Mac is Air Stylus, a $19.99 app from Avatron…

Air Stylus lets you use your iPad as a pressure-sensitive, wireless drawing surface for your favorite graphics software on your computer.

After installing both the iPad app and the free Air Display host Mac software (both your Mac and the iPad must be on the same Wi-Fi network), click the Air Display menu on the Mac to connect to your iPad.

Air Stylus 1.0 for iOS (iPhone screenshot 002)

Next, simply launch your favorite graphics app on the Mac, drag its window to the iPad and you can start drawing or painting on it.

Here it is in action.

The app supports more than 30 popular graphics and design Mac apps, such as Pixelmator, Adobe Photoshop or just about any app compatible with pressure-sensitive pens such as the Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus, Adonit Jot Touch 4 and Ten One Designs Pogo Connect.

Key highlights:

  • Make Your Mark – With palm rejection and multi-touch support, Air Stylus lets you draw naturally and makes your stylus do all the work.
  • Quick On The Draw – Air Stylus creates a fast, reliable wireless link so you can immerse yourself in your art without distraction.
  • Draw The Line – Pen-based pressure sensitivity means your lines are accurate, whether they’re paintbrush bold or feather light.
  • Best Of All – Compatible with 30+ graphics apps so you can incorporate your iPad into your existing workflow (support for Windows and Android imminent!)

Buy Air Stylus for $19.99 in the App Store.

The iPad-only app requires iOS 7.0 or later. The OS X client requires an Intel-based Mac running OS X 10.7 and above.