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Posts Tagged ‘Astropad’

Astropad announces Luna Display for Windows, turning your iPad into a wireless display for your PC

01 Oct

Astropad successfully funded Luna Display for Mac on Kickstarter in late 2019. The company is back with another project, Luna Display for Windows. The new project was fully funded in its first hour on Kickstarter. Luna Display for Windows allows iPad owners to turn their Apple device into a wireless PC display.

Astropad states that Luna Display for Windows is the only hardware solution available to turn any modern iPad into a wireless second display for a PC or Mac. You can connect your iPad via Wi-Fi or with a wired connection. For a physical connection, you can select between USB-C or HDMI Luna Display units. Astropad promises ‘lag-free lightning-fast speeds’ and compatibility with any Windows or Mac application

Luna Display for Windows boasts many features, including support for iPad touch gestures. Image credit: Astropad

Luna Display for Windows is fully compatible with external keyboard and mouse peripherals, full iPad touch gestures and supports Apple Pencil pressure sensitivity. Astropad promises low latency and a ‘crystal clear’ display.

When working on a single display, especially a smaller notebook display, it can be difficult to fit your entire workspace. With a second display, you can instantly and easily expand your workspace, allowing additional flexibility when working. If you don’t need a second display but would like to be untethered from a desktop computer, you can use Luna Display wirelessly to work on your iPad anywhere you can connect to your Wi-Fi network, such as in a more comfortable room in your home or maybe even outside.

In order to ensure a low-latency and clear wireless image, Luna leverages its own custom video compression technology, LIQUID. The rendering system adjusts in real-time to prevailing network conditions to ensure fast performance. Luna Display promises latency as low as 16 milliseconds, which is considerably faster than the 204ms of Windows Connect and 64ms performance when using Apple’s Airplay technology. Further, LIQUID uses GPU acceleration when available to ensure stable performance.

Luna Display requires the use of a small device, which you can plug into an HDMI port (Windows compatibility only) or USB-C (compatible with Windows and Mac). The device’s size varies slightly with the selected port type, but in either case, it weighs a little over an ounce.

Once your Luna Display is inserted into your computer, you will need to open a dedicated Luna Display app on your computer and your iPad. As soon as the applications are running, you’re good to go.

Luna Display for Windows requires Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit, Build 1809 or later. It requires an Intel or AMD processor with 64-bit support that is 2 GHz or faster. As for RAM, Luna Display requires at least 4 GB. Luna Display for Windows is compatible with Intel HD Graphics 520, AMD Radeon RX Vega 3, NVIDIA GeForce 820m or later; or an equivalent DirectX 11 compatible GPU. On the iPad side of the equation, nearly any iPad will work. Luna Display is compatible with iPad Mini 2 (2013 or later), iPad Pro (2016 or later), iPad 5th generation (2017 or later) and iPad Air (2013 or later). Your iPad must be running iOS 9.1 or later and 32-bit devices are not supported.

Image credit: Astropad

You can pledge $ 49 USD to support Luna Display for Windows and save up to $ 31 off retail price. Luna Display for Windows is scheduled to begin shipping in May 2021. For additional information and full pledge details, head to Luna Display for Windows Kickstarter project page.

Disclaimer: Remember to do your research with any crowdfunding project. DPReview does its best to share only the projects that look legitimate and come from reliable creators, but as with any crowdfunded campaign, there’s always the risk of the product or service never coming to fruition.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Astropad 3.2 update shows it isn’t going away anytime soon—and teases a Windows version

08 Jun

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.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Astro HQ releases Liquid 3.0 video engine for Luna Display and Astropad Studio

25 Jan

Astro HQ has announced the release of Liquid 3.0, the latest version of its video engine for Luna Display, Astropad Standard and Astropad Studio. The updated software brings accelerated GPU support with up to four times better GPU performance over the previous version. As well, Liquid 3.0 slashes latency and screen refresh rates for up to two times faster responsiveness.

Astropad is a product that comes in Standard and Studio variants, both designed to transform an iPad into a full graphics tablet compatible with a Mac computer and any macOS app. Luna Display, meanwhile, is a small dongle-based system that turns an iPad into a small, portable second screen for Mac computers.

Both products utilize Astro’s Liquid video engine, which is Astro’s own proprietary technology. The company said in its announcement today that it focused on GPU performance optimization and latency reduction in its latest engine update. Product owners must update both the Mac and iPad software from their respective app stores to use the new engine.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Astropad launches Astropad Studio for the Apple iPad Pro

12 Jan

The team behind Astropad, an iOS app that turns your iPad into a graphics tablet for the Mac, has today released Astropad Studio, a premium version of the original Astropad. The new release was specifically designed to work with the iPad Pro and offers better performance and an expanded feature set. 

Astropad Studio can communicate with an Apple Mac computer via a Wi-Fi or USB connection and uses Liquid Extreme, an improved and 5 times faster version of the standard app’s Liquid technology which allows for smooth operation of the tablet and image quality that is free of compression artifacts. 

In addition, Astropad Studio supports both Bluetooth and wired keyboards and comes with the new Magic Gestures feature that allows for the creation of gesture shortcuts using touch-Pencil combinations. Sidebar shortcuts automatically adapt to the Mac app you are working with and Stroke Lab lets you adjust the characteristics of your pencil stroke in a variety of ways. 

Astropad Studio will be available as a subscription service for either $ 64.99 per year or $ 7.99 per month. This includes syncing of settings across devices and priority support. A 7-day free trial is available for those who are interested in trying the app. More information is available in the video below and on the Astropad Studio website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Astropad 2.0 brings better performance and increased compatibility

04 Aug

Astropad, the app that turns your iPad into a graphics tablet for your Mac, has released its first major update. Astropad 2.0 comes with a range of improvements that allow for a more responsive drawing experience and increased compatibility with Mac software packages. The makers of the app claim the technology is so good that users are starting to replace their Wacom tablets with Astropad.

The new version of Astropad comes with the following improvements:

  • Astropad’s LIQUID technology, which allows for very smooth operation at 60 fps, has been upgraded to run three times faster and with significantly reduced pixelation.
  • The new velocity control analyzes network conditions at a very high frequency to find the optimal balance between image quality and latency.
  • Astropad 2.0 uses 3x less CPU power and 4x less memory than before, extending the iPad’s battery life.
  • The pressure curve has been refined for a more natural drawing feel.
  • Ehanced software capability means that the app now supports panning and zooming gestures across more software applications, including: Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Art Rage, Clip Studio Paint, Lightroom, Mischief, Autodesk Sketchbook.
  • The cursor can now be auto-hidden while drawing.
  • The user interface has been updated for a sleeker look and feel.

The update to Astropad 2.0 is free for existing users. Anyone else can purchase the app now for $ 29.99 on the Apple App Store. Astropad 2.0 works on all iPads with iOS 8 and all Macs with 10.9 (Mavericks) or later.


Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Astropad Mini turns your iPhone into a graphics tablet

29 Aug

The makers of the Astropad iPad app have launched a version for the iPhone, aptly called Astropad Mini. Like the iPad version, the new app allows you to use your Apple device as a graphics tablet when working with imaging applications such as Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom using Astropad’s LIQUID technology for communication with the Mac. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Astropad turns iPad into drawing tablet for Mac

19 Feb

Two former Apple engineers have just launched Astropad, an app for Apple’s iPad and Mac computer that turns the former into a drawing tablet for the latter. It works with most styluses, and allows use of applications like Photoshop for image retouching and editing with more precision. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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