New features are on the way for Procreate and Procreate Dreams to optimize them for Apple’s latest iPad Pro range and the all-new Apple Pencil Pro. iPad and Procreate have always been intimately linked — the day of the first iPad announcement, Alanna and James Cuda founded Procreate. When Apple Pencil joined the fold, we were able to unlock further capabilities for precision.
The latest devices offer an even more responsive experience for creatives around the globe. Apple Pencil Pro's new features — squeeze, barrel roll, and haptic feedback — combined with existing Apple Pencil capabilities, will open up new ways to interact with Procreate’s canvas and Procreate Dreams’ Stage.
Long-time Procreate collaborator, artist and animator Nikolai Lockertsen demoed the upcoming features made possible with Apple Pencil Pro and the M4 iPad Pro. A devoted Procreate artist for over a decade, Nikolai first started painting on iPad with his finger, creating astonishing results. “Apple Pencil Pro really feels like it’s unlocking the last missing piece of the puzzle. Especially when painting with barrel roll. I feel like I can sculpt and chisel the canvas with a palette knife or a flat brush — it connects the artist with their artwork even more than we’ve had before. Now that you can paint and roll with your Apple Pencil at the same time, every small nuance in your movements finds its way into your painting and comes to life on the screen.” See more of Nikolai's incredible work on YouTube or learn his techniques in his brilliant Schoolism courses.
Painting in Procreate will become even more tactile thanks to these advanced features. With barrel roll, artists can optimize brushes to automatically change size, color and more as they twist the pencil, enabling astonishing new effects. Squeeze will allow you to quickly activate shortcuts and select layers of an artwork without touching the screen. Haptic feedback will provide a new physical dimension to Procreate, giving artists confidence when making fine adjustments, such as snapping an element to precise alignment.
Procreate Dreams will be pushed to a whole new level with Apple Pencil Pro’s barrel roll technology. When using Performing, one of Procreate Dreams' intuitive features that allows anyone to animate, you’ll be able to move and rotate objects simultaneously, helping you stay in the moment as you bring your animation to life.
With the power of the M4 chip in the latest iPad Pro range, we’ll introduce more computationally complex intense features. To illustrate this, Nikolai demoed the new Lens Blur feature that enables animators to create realistic bokeh and camera focus animation for a startling and professional effect.
With the release of latest range of powerful iPads and the groundbreaking Apple Pencil Pro, it will be an exciting year ahead for artists using Procreate’s creative tools. CEO James Cuda observes, “The first Apple Pencil was a breakthrough for artists, and now Apple Pencil Pro completely transforms the painting experience in Procreate. Seeing what artists like Nikolai can achieve with these incredible advancements in technology inspires us to continue to build tools that amplify the creativity within all of us.”