Pressure sensitivity

Affinity Publisher is fully optimised for use with Apple Pencil which gives realistic pressure-sensitive drawing and painting. Without an Apple Pencil, you can simulate pressure instead.

Whether you're using vector-based Pencil or brush tools, or pixel-based brush 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.

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

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

For Pencil, Pen and Vector Brush Tools, you can create a custom pressure profile in the Stroke panel that lets you manually taper your stroke. This will be remembered the next time you use the tool.

To create a custom pressure profile:
  1. On the Stroke panel, using the displayed Pressure chart, do one of the following:
    • Drag either end node downwards, then tap halfway along the profile line to add a node which can be dragged upwards to taper the stroke according to the curvature of the graph.
    • Drag either end node downwards, then tap repeatedly along the profile line to add multiple nodes which can be positioned vertically and horizontally to form a variable width stroke.
  2. Begin drawing your strokes.
Pressure profile
Uniformly reducing stroke width (A), linear tapering of stroke (B), tapering of stroke at both ends (C) and modulating stroke width (D).
To reset the pressure profile:

Do one of the following:

The profile reverts to its default.

To simulate pressure-sensitive pen strokes:

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