Procreate gains support for iPad Pro, Apple Pencil features and more

Procreate 3.0 for iOS iPad screenshot 001

Procreate by Savage Interactive, the popular sketching and painting app, was refreshed today in the App Store with more than a dozen new features, among them specific ones aimed at the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil which are scheduled to launch later this month.

Procreate 3, a free update for existing owners, now allows for up to 16K canvases on the iPad Pro, with its 128 brushes taking full advantage of pressure sensitivity, tilt detection and palm rejection provided by the Apple Pencil. All told, this edition of Procreate packs in over a hundred new features and refinements.

If you’re planning on purchasing an iPad Pro, you’ll be able to create images up to 16,000-by-4,000 resolution on the device. Owners of the iPad Pro 2 can now create canvases up to 8,000-by-4,000 pixels.

In addition, the app takes full advantage of Apple’s predictive touch technology in iOS 9 to improve the accuracy and responsiveness of finger-based drawing, especially when used with the Apple Pencil as the app includes a set of eight brushes designed specifically for the Apple stylus.

Procreate 3.0 for iOS iPad screenshot 002

“If you don’t have an iPad Pro, don’t worry—from Quicklime and Instant Replay to the two pixels we shaved off the Transform tool button—there’s tons of new things to explore, no matter which iPad you have,” developers noted.

Procreate 3 highlights

Here’s everything that’s new in Procreate 3:

  • Breakthrough resolution with up to 16K by 4K on iPad Pro, and 8K by 4K on Air 2. That’s canvases with more Ks than you’ve ever had before.
  • We don’t often add new tools; but when we do, they’re things we know you want. Pause at the end of your stroke and Quickline will help you create precise straight lines without lifting a finger.
  • One does not simply integrate Apple Pencil, so we’ve added predictive touch, coalesced touches, pressure sensitivity, and customizing modes for Pencil and multi-touch input.
  • Brush settings have been added specifically for Apple Pencil; Accumulation, Flow, Tilt, and Azimuth. There are 8 new Artistic brushes to show off your hot, new capabilities.
  • We made a cool new feature early in development and literally forgot about it until final testing. Now you can paint on brush previews to quickly test out all the new brush settings without having to paint on your canvas.
  • Make your stylus work for you. Adjust the pressure curve of any supported stylus to tailor it to your personal style.
  • Relive your artistic journey right there in the canvas. You can now Instant Replay your artwork without needing to export.
  • We’ve made it easier to make things look like they’re going by really fast. Procreate 3 includes Motion Blur and fully customizable Perspective Blur: a Procreate exclusive.
  • Support for iOS9’s multitasking allows your friends to keep distracting you while you paint. In compact Split View Preview mode, you’ll just be able to admire your artwork.
  • For the seventh time, we’ve made Procreate’s sidebar even better. You can now move the sidebar to wherever works best for you.
  • Convoluted gestures have been replaced by simple taps; undo (2 fingers), redo (3 fingers), and fullscreen (4 fingers). So now you could, I don’t know, hold a pencil or something. The 1:1 ratio gesture has left to pursue other opportunities.
  • Canvas rotations no longer have a strange wibble. Nobody likes strange wibbles.
  • The new San Francisco font has been implemented throughout Procreate to help you read good.
  • If you always want the shiniest, new things you can purchase our Early Access tools before they go free into the next Procreate release. This time it’s new Perspective Guide tools to help you paint in another dimension. You can create grids for up to 3-point perspective by tapping to add vanishing points. Perspective Guide Assist snaps your strokes to the guide.

Interestingly, this update appears to have removed Apple Watch compatibility via a dedicated WatchKit app that used to be present in the previous version. As mentioned, this update to Procreate is free for existing users of the app.

Availability

Procreate 3 requires an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad with iOS 9.1 or later. The app is localized in English, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese and Turkish.

Procreate 3 is $5.99 in the App Store.