SketchBook Pro for iPad – Review
By App Type: Uncategorized
Our rating: 
By: Autodesk Inc.
Version #: 2.0.1
Date Released: 2011-01-10
Developer:
Price: 4.99
User Rating:
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I’ve already done a review of the iPhone version of Autodesk’s Sketchbook app, however the larger screen of the iPad makes this particular beauty worth revisiting. I’ve worked with several drawing apps for iPad and this one is easily the more sophisticated yet intuitive of the bunch.
The app contains the standard set of brushes, pen, erasers and color palettes you’d expect from such an app. It also has up to 12 layers for a piece of art (sadly only 6 on the 1st generation iPad) and the much-needed ability to pinch-and-zoom to a section of the art to work on the detail (a feature sadly lacking in my previous review). You can even "pin" palettes to the screen if you switch brush types often.
You can import photos from a camera, Dropbox, iTunes or your Photo Library and export them to the aforementioned (well, not a camera) as well as Flickr, Facebook and by good old-fashioned e-mail.
Interestingly, you can do different things on the screen depending on how many fingers you use. A three-fingered tap activates the surrounding controls for the canvas whereas a two-fingered pinch or swipe zooms in or moves you around the canvas.
The only downside of the app (and this is being extremely nitpicky) is that it doesn’t quite have the capabilities of its Mac equivalent. On the other hand, it’s far more portable and only one-sixth the price.
If you act now, you can get this amazing app for $5 instead of the $8 that I paid. So what are you waiting for?
Quick Take
Value:High.
Would I Buy Again:Yes.
Learning Curve:Medium to high, depending on your use of drawing programs.
Who Is It For:Artists and aspiring artists.
What I Like:Ease of use. Rich feature set.
What I Don't Like:Not much.
Final Statement:If you are an artist, then this app should be the palette on your tablet.
Autodesk SketchBook® Pro for iPad is a professional-grade paint and drawing application. Using the same paint engine as its desktop counterpart, SketchBook Pro delivers a complete set of sketching & painting tools through a streamlined and intuitive user interface designed exclusively for the iPad experience.
Whether you are an occasional doodler or a professional illustrator, SketchBook Pro transforms your iPad into the ultimate digital SketchBook.
Features:
• Full Screen work space with support for any device orientation
?Canvas size: 1024 x 768
• 6 layers on iPad 1
• 12 layers on iPad 2
?Optional High Resolution canvas on iPad 2
• 2048 x 1536 with 4 layers
?Multi-Touch Interface:
• Two finger pan & zoom navigation with 2500% zoom
• Three finger tap for controls
• Three finger swipe gestures for quick access
?High Quality Brushes and Tools:
• Professional grade paint engine delivers smooth and precise brush strokes
• More than 60 preset brushes, including pencils, pens, markers and natural media
• Install more than 90 additional brushes and stamps brushes from the in-app Store
• Flood fill and smear tool
• Completely customizable brush settings for each brush
• Draw styles for creating straight lines, rectangles, and circles
• Synthetic pressure sensitivity (brush fade-off)
• 10 levels of undo/redo on iPad 1
• 20 levels of undo/redo on iPad 2
• Dynamic symmetric drawing
?Layers:
• Import images from Photo Library
• Import from Camera on iPad 2
• Duplicate, Merge and Reorder Layers
• Move, scale, and rotate layers
interactively using Multi-Touch
• Toggle visibility and adjust Layer Opacity
• Layer Blend Modes: Multiply, Add, Screen and Normal
• Preserve Transparency mode to paint only on top of existing paint strokes.
• Template Library in the Layer Editor that includes a variety of grids, perspective reference and ruled paper.
? Video Output
• When connected to a compatible display through either the Apple Component AV Cable or the Apple Dock Connector to VGA adaptor your canvas and gallery can be mirrored to an external display or television.
?Gallery:
• Store and view work-in-progress
• Export to Photo Library
• E-mail images
• Import/Export as a layered file (PSD)
• Import/Export via iTunes File Sharing or Dropbox
• Browse images in full screen mode
?Colors:
• Color Wheel with HSB and RBG color space
• Customizable Color Swatches
• Eye-dropper color selection
• Erase color chip to convert any brush into custom eraser
? Customizable UI
• Customizable double tap canvas shortcuts.
• Palettes to store your favorite brushes and colors
• Radial menu so store custom brush and color combinations.
?Stay Connected:
• Built in SketchBook News panel for live info about Sketching events and announcements
• Visual help pages
Email any inquiries to: [email protected]
What's new
?Bug fix
• Corrected an issue where painting on a zoomed out canvas could cause the app to unexpectedly exit
