Just saw that the new Procreate update allows for more layers with 2020 iPad Pro models - taking advantage of the extra RAM apparently
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iPad Pro Procreate update allows for more layers with iPad Pro 2020 models
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I can’t remember off the top of my head, but I think an A3 sheet at 300 DPI was 24 layers now 34.
Interesting how they didn’t mention the 2018 iPad Pro with 1 tb storage. Simply neglected to include it or the extra ram in said model isn’t available for use?
Does it prove that the 6GB of RAM in the 1TB 2018 iPad Pro model wasn't for apps and simply for system/storage management or whatever?
Honestly, I have no idea. I do not recall reading about anyone trying to test the ram in the 2018 iPads either.
There we go. Glad to see they've updated Procreate to make use of the extra RAM. I'm curious if they've limited it only to the 2020 models, or if the 1 TB 2018 model finally gets increased layer support too. How does Procreate determine the RAM? Does it just sense the model ID number? If so, that would explain why the additional RAM is not available for the 1 TB 2018 iPad Pro. There are different ways to identify the model, but some of those methods don't indicate storage size (and thus wouldn't indicate RAM amount). OTOH, all 2020 models have 6 GB RAM.
As I've mentioned before, RAM is often the limiting factor for iDevice longevity. Not only does the OS slowly grow to require more RAM, over time apps also grow in their RAM usage. What is sufficient RAM at launch slowly becomes proportionally less and less sufficient as technology marches on.
That's why IMO the 9.7" iPad (so-called) Pro was a very disappointing release. It should have at least gotten 3 GB RAM. 2 GB RAM in a high priced "pro" device was just lame, esp. when its big brother got 4 GB RAM.
That's what one Procreate employee claimed years ago, but it is simply not true.
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Rene Ritchie did an interview with the Procreate CEO on Vector a few months ago, and he repeated the same thing. He seemed to know his stuff pretty well.
People also said that about the iPhone 7 (2GB) and iPhone 7 plus (3GB) as supposedly the extra GB was 'for the double camera' - but review comparisons showed the RAM was fully available to the system for other uses, even if the reason for its inclusion was related to the camera system.
Even in 2018, test applications could be written that would max out the iPad Pro memory usage, with iPad Pro global memory usage at over 5 GB and individual app usage of around 3.5 GB. No, that isn't over 4 GB, but that's awfully close, and is at the expense of all other multi-tasked applications. I suspect this doesn't follow Apple's development guidelines, but it proves the extra memory could be useful, even in 2018, for multitaskers (which is basically everyone these days). The other point is that is that some have reported that app refreshes happen less often on the 1 TB 2018 iPad Pro than the other models.
I haven't seen the interview (do you have a link?), but what I suspect Procreate would be talking about would be RAM usage in their individual app, which plays fairly under Apple's application development guidelines and the rules within Xcode. However, if you run two such apps, suddenly your RAM usage has near doubled. In this context, the 6 GB 1 TB iPad Pro still benefited, even if Procreate couldn't take advantage of that RAM benefit on its own.
Fast forward to 2020, and suddenly the 6 GB isn't just about multi-tasking. It's now also about increasing individual app RAM usage, now that Apple allows it. However, the mildly surprising thing for me is that this doesn't seem to apply to the 2018 1 TB iPad Pro. Initial information is that it only applies for the 2020 models. This may be due to model identification issues, and/or Apple's annoying rules sometimes that prevent functionality on older hardware even when the old hardware is capable.
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Photoshop on my iPad Pro was Able to get to 200 layers before i got tired to add more. Curious how many layers procreate allows.