Astropad Turns Your iPad Into a Pro Graphics Tablet for Mac OS X

Jul 09, 2015

Michael Archambault

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A graphic tablet can be a useful but expensive piece tool in a photographer’s setup. That’s why the folks over at Astropad HQ decided to enable Apple’s iPad to give you the same experience as using a graphic tablet. Astropad is a $20 solution that lets you to turn your iPad into a full featured graphics tablet. Powered by the company’s custom technology know as ‘LIQUID’, your iPad is always responsive and ready to work.

Astropad is brought to you by two former Apple engineers, Matt Ronge and Giovanni Donelli. Simply download Astropad to your Apple iPad and you can begin working with applications such as Photoshop or Illustrator. In fact, Astropad works with all Mac applications, so no special drivers or plugins are needed. You can easily pinch to zoom and pan within your favorite work suites.

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The backend of Astropad is powered by a technology the company is calling ‘LIQUID.’ The technology ensures that your work is properly color-corrected and optimized for the iPad’s retina display. In short, “what you see on your iPad is the same as on your Mac.”

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Astropad can be used wirelessly over Wi-Fi or via a USB cable. If you opt for Wi-Fi, the app’s LIQUID technology will give you quick response times as low as 12ms; by comparison, AirPlay’s performance is 32ms.

The Astropad application is GPU accelerated and allows stellar performance of 60 fps to make sure that your workspace is consistently responsive, and it was coded with a focus on maximizing your iPad’s battery life. Astropad currently supports all models of Adonis and Wacom iPad styli, as well as Pencil, Pogo, Connect 2, and Hex3.