Explore the differences between Illustrator on the iPad and desktop and explore new features.
Published
Introduction
Welcome to Illustrator on the iPad.
This is Illustrator reimagined for the iPad and Apple Pencil.
In this tour, you'll see how Illustrator is made specifically for a touch device and stylus.
So, let's jump in.
Cloud sync and cross-device workflow
Your documents are synced to Adobe's cloud right away and auto saved while you work.
I'll tap to go back to the home screen up here, and you can see your Cloud documents.
That means you can switch from your iPad to your computer and back again without losing anything or having to save or export.
I'll tap to open a file I'm working on.
Now the workspace on iPad is clean and simplified
Navigating the iPad workspace, panels, and gestures
so you can focus on your work.
On the left is the Toolbar with some familiar tools.
You can either long press or double tap to see any nested tools.
On the right, you'll see the Properties panel and the Layers panel.
With content selected, you can see properties like size, position, text formatting and more.
With Layers to reorder content, you can press and drag a thumbnail.
You can rename and delete layers by swiping left.
The Taskbar you see here is unique to iPad, and where you'll find familiar features like Shape builder for intuitively combining shapes.
Pathfinders that are actually nondestructive on the iPad and even show a live preview of your shapes and a variety of path and object editing options.
And with two fingers you can use the pinch gesture to zoom in and zoom out or do a quick two finger pinch gesture to fit your active artboard in the window.
As you make changes, you can tap with two fingers to undo and three fingers to redo.
You can see a list of gestures by tapping the Help icon here and choosing View gestures.
Drawing with the pen tool and touch shortcuts
Now when it comes to creating, the Pen Tool has been optimized for this touch workspace, but it's just as powerful as desktop.
To start with, I'll set the fill, tapping Fill and choosing a color.
With the Pen Tool selected, tap to make points, tap and drag for curves.
On the iPad, we used to touch shortcut with the tool.
The circle you see here - like you would Command or Control keys on desktop.
For instance, when you're drawing to split anchor handles, touch and hold the circle on screen with your finger or thumb for as long as you're using the tool to activate the primary Touch shortcut.
Touch and hold the circle and drag your finger or thumb to the ring that appears around the circle for the secondary touch shortcut.
In this case, when you're drawing with the pen, it allows you to drag an anchor like this.
To see a list of touch shortcuts you can use, you can tap Help and choose touch shortcuts.
You'll also see keyboard shortcuts for your external keyboard in that menu.
Now the pencil has been reimagined for iPad.
Sketching with the pencil tool and smoothing controls
Before drawing you can set the Smoothing at 0 for no smoothing or 10 for the cleanest curves.
You can then swipe or drag for a smooth vector line.
And if you pause while drawing the path changes direction creating a corner.
You can also draw straight lines with the Pencil Tool when you activate the primary touch shortcut or the secondary touch shortcut.
I'll tap to undo that.
Now if you select artwork with the Selection Tool the Common Actions bar appears beneath it.
In it, you'll find actions you commonly perform like arranging content or grouping content.
If you double tap a shape or path, you can enter Isolation mode to edit the anchors.
The Direct Selection Tool is then selected, and you can select an anchor or a series of anchors by dragging.
You can smart delete points to keep the path closed, convert anchors or simplify the whole path or parts of the path and more.
You can double tap away from the artwork or tap Done to exit.
Working with text, repeats, and exporting artwork
Like on the desktop, you can add text by tapping or dragging to make a text area.
You can also adjust typical formatting like size in Common Actions.
There are a lot more formatting options in the Properties panel that opens when you create text.
Tapping the Font menu, you can search fonts by name up here, add your own fonts here, and even browse more fonts by tags to find the perfect match for your project.
To take your artwork further, there are a lot of options to help you draw like repeats.
For instance, create half a logo or an icon intended to be symmetrical, and you can apply a mirror repeat to complete the other half.
You can import a reference image, maybe an initial sketch or a photo that you capture with your camera, or bring them in from different sources, including Creative Cloud files and Photoshop files.
When you're finished, you can continue working on desktop Illustrator using the same Cloud document.
You can also export to native AI and other formats like PSD.
There's a lot to explore and discover in Illustrator.
Now that you have a feel for some of the differences between Illustrator on the iPad and desktop, jump in and see what you can create.
What you learned: Tour the reimagined Illustrator workspace on the iPad. Learn the differences between desktop Illustrator and iPad and see what is new for Illustrator users
Workspace differences on iPad
Documents created on your iPad are saved to Adobe’s cloud. That makes them accessible on iPad and desktop without saving or exporting.
The toolbar, Layers panel, and Properties panel are similar to what you find on desktop.
The new Taskbar contains commonly used features like Shape builder, alignment, pathfinders, text features like create outlines, and new features like repeats.
Drawing and editing
The Pencil tool has been reimagined for iPad. Smoothing controls, pause while drawing to create a corner, and touch shortcuts for creating straight lines.
The Pen tool works like the Pen tool in Illustrator on your desktop. Tap to make points, and then tap and drag for further adjustments.
Unique to iPad, primary and secondary touch shortcuts add extra functionality to all kinds of tools.
Select an object with the Selection or Direct selection
tools to change its opacity or duplicate, delete, or arrange it in the Common actions bar that appears beneath the artwork.
New and updated features
Save yourself some work with repeats and patterns: radial repeat, grid repeat, and mirror repeat.
Pathfinders on the iPad are nondestructive, which means you can edit individual shapes even after combining them.
Bring in artwork from somewhere else
Take a photo with your device or bring in another asset from Creative Cloud. You can also bring in Photoshop files.
Share your work
Export your work in different formats, like JPEG, PNG, and PSD, to share with others.
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