Apple Pencil 2.0 - Wiggly Lines

[Mister John]

Hello MacRumors,

Very long time lurker, first time poster.

After holding off buying an iPad Pro for quite some time, I took the plunge and bought the new 12.9" along with the Apple Pencil. I design tee shirts on Threadless.com in my spare time and having something comparable to a Wacom Cintiq without all the cables really appealed to me.

I'm super impressed, my last iPad was from 2012, which I was lucky enough to win in a competition at the tee shirt site I mentioned. This feels like seeing an iPad for the first time again!

I do have one concern though. After finally getting home from work last night, I got some time to have a play. Downloaded Affinity Designer and Procreate last night to mess around on. Some of the lines I'm drawing aren't as smooth as I'd expect them to be. They go slightly wiggly in the middle. I can't think of the best way to describe it properly. I'm not sure if the pencil is slightly dragging on any grease from my hands, or if it's an issue with the software. I didn't get chance to test it exhaustively, but after spending over a grand on it, and being super impressed, this issue is niggling in the back of my head, hence my post.

I wouldn't usually bother posting and just search the web and forums for people with a similar problem.
I am finding those posts, but nothing on how people got them resolved or if they ended up with faulty hardware.

I don't know anyone else with a pro, so I'm hoping I might get some suggestions and experiences from the MacRumors massive.

Thanks in advance…

tl;dr : New pro and pencil, pencil shows slight wiggles on straight lines when drawing.

 

[sracer]

The Pencil on a bare screen is indeed quite slippery. It took a while for me to adjust. What I found to be very helpful was to apply a matte screen protector (avoid using glass protectors as they interfere with the Pencil). Not only did it eliminate glare and fingerprint smudges, but also provided a slight resistance to help make the Pencil feel more natural. I've also discovered an evenness in the resistance. Without the protector, the Pencil resistance depended upon whether or not the tip was gliding through an area where there were fingerprints or clean.

It could also be the apps. I've used Affinity Designer and Procreate on my 1st gen 12.9 Pro and 2018 iPad. Affinity Designer in particular doesn't work well on my devices. Procreate works well.

Have you tried using the Pencil in other apps like the built-in Notes.app or some of the other free draw/sketch apps? If that behavior exists in those apps then I would conclude that there is a physical issue with the Pencil, iPad Pro, or both.

 

[Mister John]

Thanks for getting back to me.

I spent some time doing some type in Procreate this weekend and it was fine. I think it was Affinity Designer, which is a shame because I mostly work in vector and it looked liked I'd found a potential workflow between Designer and Illustrator.
I like the paths to remain as strokes, rather than shapes, if that makes sense. Most of the other vector apps I've tried render everything as shapes.

I've pre-ordered some "paper-like" screen protectors over the weekend, so I'll give them a go.

Cheers!

 

[csjcsj]

In Procreate, when you hold the pencil down after drawing a line, it straightens the line for you. If you think it straitened itself too quickly - or too slowly - there’s a pref somewhere that lets you adjust the time.

 

[sracer]

Thanks for getting back to me.

I spent some time doing some type in Procreate this weekend and it was fine. I think it was Affinity Designer, which is a shame because I mostly work in vector and it looked liked I'd found a potential workflow between Designer and Illustrator.
I like the paths to remain as strokes, rather than shapes, if that makes sense. Most of the other vector apps I've tried render everything as shapes.

I've pre-ordered some "paper-like" screen protectors over the weekend, so I'll give them a go.

Cheers!

For vector work, I use an app called "Graphic for iPad". Plenty of features and performance is quite good.

Please keep us posted as to what happens... it will be helpful for others.

 

[Donka]

If you also want to test for a hardware issue, use a ruler on your screen and draw a straight line with that for assistance. If the line is as straight you would expect then it pretty much confirms the wiggles are coming from your own technique on the glass screen.
Even a clear screen protector film will assist with the feel on the screen - it's what I use - but a matte screen protector as sracer mentions is the best solution.

 

[Mister John]

Cheers for the replies everyone. I've created a couple of things now, and I think it was definitely Affinity Designer.
I've actually picked up Astropad and tested it with adobe illustrator and it works like a dream.
Will definitely check out Graphic for iPad though.

 

[Donka]

Did you raise this on the Affinity support forums? They could confirm if it is a setting you are missing since there are a lot of options in that app or if it is a bug and get it resolved.

 

[Mister John]

I didn't, no. I did see a few threads about similar issues where people had used a smoothing option somewhere.
For various reasons, I just gave up with it.