Astropad may have been 'Sherlocked' with Apple's announcement that the ability to use an iPad as a secondary display will be baked into macOS 10. 15 Catalina as a feature called Sidecar, but that hasn't stopped Astropad from updating its third-party solution.
Yesterday, Astropad 3. 2 was released with a few new updates and a note from its founders saying they have no plans to stop Astropad development, even amidst Apple's Sidecar announcement.
Astropad 3. 2 brings along your normal bug fixes and under-the-hood fixes as well as a fix to minimize pixelation. According to the update notes, the development team re-engineered the data flow from Mac devices to iPads 'in order to push data more efficiently between devices. ' This fix should mean pixelation is 'significantly reduced' when your iPad is connected to a Mac device over strong Wi-Fi networks or USB. Astropad notes the changes should especially be noticeable when scrolling through text documents and websites.
On iOS, Astropad Studio 3. 2, Astropad Standard 3. 2 and Astropad Mini 3. 2 should all be available to update in the iOS App Store if you currently have the apps on your device. The macOS app should automatically update to the latest version, but if not, Astropad has a dedicated download page where you can manually download the updated version.
As for future plans, Astropad's founders have written up a blog post explaining that Astropad isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Under the headline 'We're not going anywhere,' the note reads:
We’ve spent the last five years building innovative products like Astropad and Luna Display that cater to true creative professionals. Our team has always doubled-down on delivering rich features, deep customization, and low-latency input. Why? Because that’s user-driven and that’s what we do.
So while Apple’s Sidecar merely scratches the surface of a Mac-iPad workspace, we went all in on the bells and whistles. What does this mean for you? If you have basic needs, Apple’s Sidecar may do the trick. But if you’re a pro, we’ve built Astropad to cater to your creative workflow.
Oh, and one more thing: the message from the founders also hints that a Windows version of Astropad is in the future. 'We see a bright future in that exciting new space and we hope you’ll join us along for the ride,' reads the message. 'So while we may be the underdogs, we’re ready to charge head-on because we’re just as committed to creative pros as we’ve always been — whether that’s via Mac, PC, or beyond. '
. dpreview.com2019-6-8 15:54