Astropad Studio 5.4 puts new Apple Pencil Pro features to work on iPad

Popular professional iPad drawing solution Astropad Studio is out today with a major update that takes advantage of the new Apple Pencil Pro features. Those include custom squeeze gestures, brush barrel rotation, and more.

Last year Astropad Studio gained Apple Pencil Hover tilt and azimuth support alongside the ability to directly connect to your Mac or PC for a faster and smoother experience.

Now Astropad Studio version 5.4 is available which works with the new Apple Pencil Pro features like squeeze and barrel rotation to take workflows to the next level.

Astropad believes these enhancements put “the iPad on par with Wacom Cintiq drawing tablets.”

Astropad Studio 5.4 new features

• Squeeze Gesture Shortcuts: Set custom shortcuts to quickly switch between your favorite tools with the Pencil Pro’s new Squeeze Gesture.
• Brush Barrel Rotation: With the Pencil Pro’s gyroscope, you can now turn and twirl your Apple Pencil Pro for precise brush rotation while drawing. Astropad Studio stands alone as the sole drawing tablet solution to support barrel rotation, a feature absent in Wacom, Huion, or XP Pen tablets at present.
• Adaptive Image Rendering: Our new video compression algorithm balances fast and high-quality image rendering for 53% clearer image quality during high-motion content.

The release also includes curated shortcut presets that can improve your workflow.

The update is available now for existing users and Astropad Studio is available as a free 14-day trial (runs $79.99/year).

If you’re curious about how all the Apple Pencil models compare, here’s our in-depth guide:

• Apple Pencil Pro vs USB-C, 2, and 1: What’s different?