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I've been using Affinity Photo for awhile now, more extensively in the past several months than previously as I 've started working  with mixed media collage  and am  starting to get familiar with the various Affinity photo tools --- cutting out images, using layer effects, etc., learning as I go.  Although I do most of the preliminary work by hand, for the composites  I work on a MacBk pro, and do the various digital manipulations with my finger on the track pad.  This works fine for now --- and I don't know how far I'll branch out with my new approach --- but if I were drawing or painting as I would with a "real" pencil or brush, on paper or other support,  it seems as though the track pad would have its limitations.

At this point  I don't know whether I want to  try Affinity Designer in the near future or whether I might want to get an iPad as well, since you can draw directly on the screen with your finger   or with the Apple pen/pencil that comes with the iPad.  My next laptop will definitely be a  MacBook Pro.   But if you are working  In AD on a laptop,  you can't draw directly on the screen --- so do you  still draw/paint  with your finger on the track pad, or do you  use another type of drawing device -- one of those  computerized drawing pads that you hook up to your computer?   

Posted
2 hours ago, CH Trippe said:

so do you  still draw/paint  with your finger on the track pad, or do you  use another type of drawing device -- one of those  computerized drawing pads that you hook up to your computer?   

You would have to either get one of those things or just draw using the mouse on your desktop mouse pad as best as you can.

BTW, the Apple Pencil does not come with an iPad. It is an extra cost item.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.5.7 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
A
ll 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

Posted
4 hours ago, CH Trippe said:

My next laptop will definitely be a  MacBook Pro.   But if you are working  In AD on a laptop,  you can't draw directly on the screen --- so do you  still draw/paint  with your finger on the track pad, or do you  use another type of drawing device -- one of those  computerized drawing pads that you hook up to your computer?

Well there are several (price-)different solutions possible here:

  • Connecting a cheaper external graphics tablet (no own screen, just a bigger drawing area for pen use than a trackpad has/offers) via USB/Bluetooth
  • Connecting a better external graphics tablet (with direct pen drawing on an own tablet screen) via USB/Bluetooth/display inputs
  • An iPad with the auxilliary Apple pen accessory, either using directly the iPad version of AD, or connecting/reusing the iPad then as an input device for a MacBook Pro
  • etc.

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Posted
14 hours ago, R C-R said:

You would have to either get one of those things or just draw using the mouse on your desktop mouse pad as best as you can.

BTW, the Apple Pencil does not come with an iPad. It is an extra cost item.

Right. I knew that. If I were going to buy an iPad, I would get the pen, though I've never tried it out.  Haven't been the the Apple store in awhile!  I still prefer drawing the old fashioned way,  but for several months  I have been experimenting with  different media to make illustrations, creating temporary collages,  then photographing them, also making cutouts ( with the wonderful selection brush) and playing around with them, using the move tool  in Affinity to create composites. These don't have the highly polished look of computer graphics, but I'm not after that anyway, and so far, I find my finger on the track pad works just fine, so I'll probably stick with that. But it's good, I think,  to get as much information as you can about various possibilities. Thank you!

 

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