Pressure sensitivity

Whether you're using vector-based Pen, Pencil or brush tools, or pixel-based brush or retouch tools, you can simply connect your device and you're ready to go.

For mouse users, Affinity apps let your mouse become velocity sensitive by default. The same tools can be used but with simulated pressure sensitivity based on the speed (velocity) of your mouse movements.

While you get the response you need from either input, you'll still be able to fine-tune settings for pressure/velocity.

If you want to create a custom pressure profile that can be applied to a previously drawn stroke, you can design it and apply it from the Stroke panel. This can be optionally saved as is, or modified before saving.

Pressure sensitivity while painting

Pressure-sensitive painting is governed by the brush controller which is set to automatic by default—it senses the type of input device and varies brush size, flow, etc. as you paint according to a particular input:

For Vector Brush Tool: 'Automatic', 'Pressure', 'Velocity', 'Brush Defaults', or 'None'. Automatic will sense the type of input (Apple Pencil, finger) automatically for you.
For pixel brushes: 'Pressure', 'Tilt', 'Velocity', 'Velocity Inverse', 'Random', 'Angle', 'Cyclic', 'Direction', 'None'.

If set to 'None', the brush is always a fixed size, flow setting, etc. Otherwise, the brush stroke properties will vary from a minimum to maximum amount (e.g. the full brush width).

Jitter options

For vector brush settings: jitter options let you control how brush size and flow are affected by your pressure-sensitive device or mouse.
Pixel brush settings: as for vector brush options, but additional jitter options are provided that affect brush hardness, shape, color, and the scatter and rotation of nozzles.

To create a custom pressure profile:

On the Stroke panel, click the Pressure input box.
Manipulate the chart by moving the square pressure points to form the desired pressure profile. (See examples below.)
Begin drawing your strokes.

Uniformly reducing stroke width using locked points (A), linear tapering of stroke (B; unlocked by -drag or second click then drag), tapering of stroke at both ends (C; a combination of A and adding a new point by clicking) and modulating stroke width (D; a combination of A and adding multiple points).

Point type	Description
	End point (deselected)—drag to move both end points up/down at the same time
	End point (selected)—drag to move both end points up or down at the same time or click to move the end point independently of the other end point
	Added point (deselected)— drag to reposition the point which becomes selected
	Added point (selected)—drag to reposition the already selected point