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 Apple Pencil and you've got pressure-sensitive input. If you don't have an Apple Pencil to hand, you can achieve simulated pressure sensitivity just using your finger. The simulated pressure is based on the speed (velocity) of your finger movement.

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

This response is governed by the brush controller (input type) which varies brush stroke width, flow, etc. as you paint. Types of input are:

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, using the displayed Pressure chart, do one of the following:
- Drag either end pressure point downwards, then tap halfway along the profile line to add a point which can be dragged upwards to taper the stroke according to the curvature of the chart.
- Drag either end point downwards, then tap repeatedly along the profile line to add multiple points which can be positioned vertically and horizontally to form a variable width stroke.
Begin drawing your strokes.

Uniformly reducing stroke width (A), linear tapering of stroke (B), tapering of stroke at both end points (C) and modulating stroke width (D).

To reset the pressure profile:

Do one of the following:

Tap on an empty area of the pressure chart, and then select Reset Pressure.
Double-tap a node to select it, then select the option from the pop-up menu.

The profile reverts to its default.

To simulate pressure-sensitive pen strokes:

On the Stroke panel's pressure profile chart (see above), select an end node on the profile's line and drag it vertically to a new position; nodes can be added by tapping on the line and then positioned freely to form a curve.
Repeat for other nodes as needed.

Pressure sensitivity while painting

Jitter options

SEE ALSO: