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Astropad Studio adds new ‘Magic Gestures’ and Apple Pencil Hover support on macOS through M2 iPad Pro

Astropad Studio has received an update today with a number of handy new features. Headlining the release is Apple Pencil Hover coming to your favorite desktop creative apps through the M2 iPad Pro. There are also new Magic Gestures and 3D sculpting support in Blender and ZBrush.

Astropad Studio 5.2 (and Luna Display 5.2) arrived today with the company detailing everything new in a blog post.

Apple Pencil Hover support

“Our users have been asking for Apple Pencil hover for years, but there wasn’t much we could do without proper iPad support. Now that Apple delivered, we are thrilled to support Pencil hover on the new 2022 iPad Pros!”

Astropad also notes that “Hover was one of the last features that Wacom tablets had that the iPad didn’t. Adding Apple Pencil hover makes the iPad an even better Wacom replacement for digital artists.”

Here’s a look at Apple Pencil Hover support in Blendr on iPad Pro:

Luna Display 5.2 also gets Apple Pencil Hover:

New Magic Gestures

Astropad Studio gets a range of new custom gestures for an even more seamless experience.

Per-app custom gestures: Artists love customizing their workspaces, so we’ve gone a step further with custom gestures per desktop app!

  • For example: Have one set of Magic Gestures for Photoshop and a different set for Blender.

New tap gesture option – Now, you can configure a one-finger tap gesture

  • For example: Use your finger to quickly pick a color from the Photoshop canvas

Double-tap shortcuts with Apple Pencil: Configure two commands to switch between when double tapping on the side of the Apple Pencil.

  • For example: Set the first double tap to switch to eraser and the second double tap to switch to brush.

3D sculpting in Blendr and ZBrush

“This one’s for all the 3D artists! We’ve added new gestures for panning, zooming, and rotating the 3D canvas.” Astropad Studio also gets 3D shortcuts and custom quick keys for both Blendr and ZBrush.

How to update

Astropad highlights that both your iPad and Mac/PC will need to be updated to the latest Astropad Studio release to get all of the features.

  1. Update your Studio desktop app
    • Open the Astropad Studio desktop app (on your Mac or PC). You will automatically be prompted to update to the latest version.
    • If the desktop app doesn’t automatically update, you can download the latest version below.
  2. Update your Studio iPad app
    • Visit the iOS App Store to update your iPad app.

If you don’t already have Astropad Studio or Luna Display

Astropad Studio is available to try for free with a 30-day trial then runs $99.99/year. But the company is offering 30% off annual subscriptions with code “FESTIVE” at checkout.

It’s also doing an automatic 30% off for all Luna Display orders.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

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Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.


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