Xp Pen Affinity Designer

DrawPlus is a 2Dvector graphics editor and animation software developed by the UK-based software company Serif, also responsible for PhotoPlus, PagePlus, WebPlus, Digital Scrapbook Artist, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo and other titles.^[1]

Serif have ceased development of DrawPlus in order to focus on its successor, Affinity Designer, following its release for Windows.^[2]

Affinity Designer Best in class for creating concept art, print projects, logos, icons, UI designs, mock-ups and more, our powerful design app is already the choice of thousands of professional illustrators, web designers and game developers who love its silky-smooth combination of vector and raster design tools. Was $49.99 Now only $24.99. Affinity Designer vs. Which one should you buy? What's the difference between these two apps? Which one is better? Here is the quick and simp.

In addition to traditional vector drawing tools, DrawPlus provides realistic, natural-looking brushes that allow the user to paint with watercolours, oils and other media whilst retaining vector editing capability. DrawPlus is also able to produce Stop frame and Key frame animations, including output to Adobe Flash swf file format and support for ActionScript.

DrawPlus X8 and Starter Edition offer support for pressure-sensitive input devices such as Wacom's range of tablets. Both applications feature a Pressure Studio to allow calibration of the individual devices and allow functions to be mapped to the supported buttons on the tablet. DrawPlus supports pressure-sensitive vector lines and brushes to create a striking range of effects from manga through to painting in an array of media.

DrawPlus is available both as a paid-for version, DrawPlus X8, or as a cut-down Starter Edition which is completely free. Both variants support SVG import and export to provide compatibility with other vector editing software.^[3]

Supported platforms[edit]

DrawPlus was developed for Linux and Microsoft Windows and is fully compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista (32/64bit), Windows 7 (32/64bit) and Windows 8 (32/64bit).^[4]

History[edit]

The first standalone version of the program, DrawPlus 2.0, was published in 1994. It coincided with the launch of PagePlus 3.0. New versions of the software were released every 1 to 4 years, with DrawPlus X8 being the final version.

Full list of versions:

• DrawPlus 2.0 1993.
• DrawPlus 3 1996.
• DrawPlus 4 1998.
• DrawPlus 5 2000.
• DrawPlus 6 2001.
• DrawPlus 7 2003.
• DrawPlus 8 2006.
• DrawPlus X2 2007.
• DrawPlus X3 2009.
• DrawPlus X4 2010 introduced PhotoLab in which photos can be edited or enhanced within the program, and Blend Mode capability that gives more control over how objects and layers blend together.,^[5] as well as improved compatibility and new illustration options.^[6]
• DrawPlus X5 2011 introduced a new drawing engine to take advantage of multi-processor computers, end-to-end CMYK workflow and a new drawing mode that works with overlapping objects, amongst other fixes and improvements.^[7]
• DrawPlus X6 2013.
• DrawPlus X8 2015.

Features[edit]

Object creation and editing[edit]

DrawPlus provides a range of object creation and editing tools which are common in other editors, and also offers additional tools ^[8]

• Pencil and Paintbrush tools create freehand curves. The Pen tool creates Bézier curves and the Line tool allows easy creation of straight line segments. All of these tools can also be used to manipulate existing curves.
• Arc, Spiral, and Triangle tools create curves
• B-Spline tool creates B-Spline curves
• Context-sensitive Node tool provides control over post-editing objects and nodes.
• A range of QuickShapes which are predefined simple shapes that can be quickly modified with sliders to adjust certain parameters, for example quickly creating rounded rectangles, etc. Shapes include: Rectangles, Ellipses, Stars, Spirals, Cogs, Petals, etc.
• Freeform Paint tool creates solid polygons by 'painting' areas.
• Vector Flood Fill tool fills visible areas
• Eraser tool for intuitive object erasing and manipulation.
• Knife tool to cut through objects leaving them in multiple, editable pieces.
• HSL, RGB and CMYK colour models. Plus a range of Pantone palettes.
• Gradient colour picker which samples gradients and allows them to be used as fills, in addition to single colour picking.
• Gradient fill and transparency effects, also mesh fills.
• Connector and Dimension tools for creating flowcharts and technical drawings.
• Artistic Text, Frame Text (which wraps to a frame) and Curve Text which can be entered onto an existing curve.
• DrawPlus offers image editing and filters through its PhotoLab and also provides a dedicated background-removal tool in the form of Cutout Studio. X4 introduced an Autotrace Studio to automatically convert bitmaps into vector representations.
• Shadow tool to interactively add drop and wall shadows to any object.
• Crop tool allows easy cropping of any object(s) including photographs.
• Blend tool.
• Envelope, Roughen and Perspective tools.
• Filter Effects for one-click realistic effects such as glass, metallic, plastic and other 2D/3D filters. (this is limited in Starter Edition).
• Instant 3D to transform 2D objects into 3D.
• Snapping allows objects to be snapped to page margins, centres and guides. Dynamic Guides allow snapping objects to existing objects and vertices.
• Object Properties tab shows all the current attributes applied to the selected object at a glance and allows them to be edited freely.
• 3D Planes to aid creation of pseudo-3D objects.
• Various Overlays such as Golden Spiral, Rule of Thirds and an Export Overlay, which help with design and layout.
• How To tab offering context-sensitive help depending on current selection and tool choice.
• Layers Control showing previews of each element of the document in a tree-view.
• User-definable keyboard shortcuts.

Import/export[edit]

DrawPlus X8 exports EPS, and this version and the free Starter Edition both support the SVG file format in order to allow cross-application document exchange. Both versions also support PNG, JPEG, GIF, Microsoft HD Photo and TIFF export. DrawPlus also opens and exports PDF documents, CAD drawings, and is also able to open EPS documents and Adobe Illustrator files (version 9.0 onwards). DrawPlus can be used to create Adobe Flash swf files and WMV/AVI movies from user animations. DrawPlus can also be used to create GIF animations.Output from both DrawPlus and Starter Edition can be automatically supersampled to create very high quality exported images.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'About Us'. August 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-24.
2. ^'Digital Craft: Serif discontinues its Pageplus, Drawplus and Photoplus designing software to focus on its(Serif) new Affinity range of Professional graphic design software - ANINO'. ANINO. 2017-08-10. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
3. ^'DrawPlus X8: Overview'. March 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-24.
4. ^'DrawPlus X8: In Depth'. March 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-24.
5. ^Scudder, Rebecca (April 2010). 'Reviewing DrawPlus X4: Affordable All-in-One Design Solution'. BrightHub. Retrieved 2015-08-24.
6. ^Williams, Mike (April 2010). 'Review: Serif DrawPlus X4'. Software Crew. Retrieved 2015-08-24.
7. ^Burns, Michael (August 2011). 'Serif DrawPlus X5 review'. PC Advisor. Retrieved 2015-08-24.
8. ^'DrawPlus Full Feature List'. (Serif Europe) Limited. 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-25.

Bibliography[edit]

• 'DrawPlus X5 User Guide'(PDF). Serif. June 30, 2011. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
• 'DrawPlus X8 User Guide'(PDF). Serif. March 4, 2015. Retrieved 2019-02-10.

External links[edit]

• DrawPlus Starter Edition official website and free download
• DrawPlus X8 Tutorials

XP-Pen currently has two series of pen tablets for digital artists. There's the Star series which features a more angular design and the Deco series which has rounded and curved design. Other than the design differences, the functionality and features of the Star and Deco series are kinda comparable. Maybe there are other significant differences but I find it difficult to spot.

Deco Mini 7 comes in two models, the XP-Pen Deco Mini 7 Wireless (US $59) and the wired (US $49).

You can find the full specs on the Deco Mini 7 product page or online store.

These are the items included:

• P05D battery-free pen
• USB-A to USB-C data cable
• USB-A to micro-USB adapter
• USB-A to USB-C adapter
• 10x replacement nibs
• Nib remover
• USB-A wireless receiver
• Manual

These are the USB-C and micro-USB adapters included so that the tablet can be used with Android.

I experienced connection issues with the wireless receiver under certain situations.

With the desktop Mac I'm using that already had lots of wireless devices (Bluetooth and wifi) connected, the connection with the tablet was choppy. Sometimes the cursor would move slow, sometimes in a choppy manner. This choppy connection issue happens when the tablet is one keyboard length away, which isn't too far away. Wireless connection is strong if the tablet is just besides the receiver which tells me that there is definitely some wireless interference somewhere.

When used with my laptop which is not connected to other wireless devices, connection is good.

So if you use multiple wireless devices, this is something you should take note of, unless you plan on placing the tablet just beside your USB port.

This by the way is a review unit from XP-Pen.

The active drawing area is 7 x 4.37 inches. I usually recommend people get a graphics tablet that's at least 10 x 6 inches because that's a size that works well with laptop's small display as well as much larger 27 - 32 inch displays.

It has been a while since I used a smaller tablet like this and I've got to say that I still recommend people to get 10 x 6 inches if they have the budget to do so, and if they intend to work on the tablet for long periods of time.

When you pair a small graphics tablet to a large monitor (I'm using 27-inch monitor), a small movement with the pen will translate to a large movement on the display. It will take time to get used to be able to control the cursor movement precisely. That's the main concern when getting a smaller tablet. But 7 x 4.37 inches is not that small. Smaller ones can be 6 by 4 inches.

That's the back. You can use the serial number to download ArtRage Lite for free (normally US $29). If you want free apps, check out Medibang Paint Pro and Krita too.

Oh, to protect the drawing surface from scratches, XP-Pen has this protective plastic/film that you have to peel off. It's quite challenging to peel that off so keep scratching it with your fingernails until you see a tear and pull it off.

Build quality is solid. The rounded corners and curved edges are nice.

There are 8 customisable physical shortcut buttons on the side.

Left handed users can use the driver to turn the tablet orientation 180 degrees. Since this is wireless, you don't have to worry about the cable going up or down.

The L-shaped data cable is USB-C so you can have the cable point in either direction. That cable is used for charging the internal battery which is rated to last at least 10 hours of continuous drawing. When charging, the tablet can still be used. The tablet will power off after 5 minutes of inactivity though to conserve battery life.

10 hours continuous use to me is kinda short if you're going to be drawing a lot. If you draw 4 hours a day. You'll probably have to charge the tablet every 3 days. If you don't want to deal with the charging, just get the wired Deco Mini 7 model which is $10 cheaper.

This is the P05D which supports tilt sensitivity and up to 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity.

It's not powered by battery so no charging required.

The pen has good build quality. Design looks good and it's comfortable to hold with its large rubber grip. The nib moves slightly just like others from most styluses.

Driver

The driver I'm using is the XP-PENMac_3.0.8_210112(New UI Beta Driver) released on 14 Jan 2021.

I tried the XP-PENMac_2.1.8.210119(Official Driver) released on 20 Jan 2021 but it didn't work for me – the cursor could move but I couldn't click on anything.

These XP-Pen drivers are suppose to work for MacOS 10.14 and 11 Big Sur. Thankfully at least one worked for me.

MacOS driver installation is not that straightforward and requires many steps. There are installation instructions for MacOS 10.14 and MacOS 10.15.

And finally there was one issue. The MacOS driver has to be launched each time you want to use the tablet. Apparently installing the driver, at time of this review, does not mean the driver will do its magic in the background all the time.

The workaround is simple: just use MacOS System Preferences to have the driver launch (and hide) automatically each time you power on.

And don't quit the driver or the tablet won't work (cursor won't move) again. Use the red cross button or just hide the app to background.

Here's where you can customise the 8 physical shortcut buttons, aka ExpressKeys

The most important thing here is you can rotate the orientation 180 degrees. This is for left handers.

Pressure curve can be adjusted by moving the square dot around.

These are the other shortcuts you can set to the pen's buttons or ExpressKeys. The more useful ones are probably 'Switch Monitor' which will move the cursor to another display if you're using dual monitors, and Precision mode which will slow down the cursor's movement so that you can draw more precisely.

Drawing performance

Drawing performance is excellent on MacOS. I did not test the tablet with Windows though.

The pen is very sensitive. Pressure and tilt sensitivity works well. Lines can taper smoothly. Transition from thin to thick lines, vice versa, is smooth. Line were able to come out just the way I want them too.

Xp Pen Affinity Designer Software

Initial activation force is low, even lower compared to pen displays which is not surprising.

Photoshop CC 2021

Xp Pen Affinity Designer Download

Clip Studio Paint

Clip Studio Paint Android root exe.

Medibang Paint Pro

Krita

Pressure and tilt also work well with Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer and Adobe Illustrator.

Drawing on Android

Using with Android is plug and play, no driver installation needed.

Tilt and pressure sensitivity work with Android. But since there's no driver, you won't be able to adjust the pressure curve or use the ExpressKeys.

Call of duty 4 modern warfare serial number. The tablet and your Android device have to be in portrait orientation for the cursor tracking to match.

Shown in the photo above is the tablet used together with the Samsung Tab S7+. This use case does not make sense because you can already draw on the Samsung tablet with the S Pen.

To have the tablet able to work with Android is a nice extra. Note that the cursor may not appear with certain Android devices. That's a risk you have to understand if you want to buy this tablet specifically to use with an Android tablet. E.g. You may have a large tablet that doesn't come with an active stylus and want to use Clip Studio Paint (Android) which is an awesome drawing app.

The tablet is said to be able to work with Chromebooks too, but I don't have any Chromebook to test though.

Conclusion

Design and build quality is good. Drawing performance is excellent. Performance is consistent and predictable.

There are only minor issues I noticed.

First, MacOS driver has to be launched each time before the tablet can function. Workaround is to set the driver to launch at login since installation doesn't do that for you.

Second, if you use multiple wireless devices with your computer, you may expect some wireless connection issues.

Third. 10 hours continuous battery life is kinda short to me. If you draw a lot, definitely check out XP-Pen's other wireless tablets that offer longer battery life, e.g. 14 hours with US $69 XP-Pen Star 05 and 16 hours with US $86 XP-Pen Star 06 (one of top three tablets I always recommend), but they are more expensive.

If I want to buy a Deco Mini 7, I may probably go with the wired model.

Pros and cons at a glance
Pros
+ Nice looking design
+ Good build quality
+ Up to 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity
+ Tilt sensitivity support
+ Wireless
+ 8 physical shortcut buttons
+ 10 replacement nibs included
+ Tablet usable while charging
+ Has left-handed mode
+ 5 minutes auto power-off to conserve battery life
+ Works with Android and Chromebook

Cons
- MacOS driver has to be launched manually for tablet to work
- Wireless connection issues with other wireless devices
- 10 hours battery life feels short

Where to buy

At the time of this review, XP-Pen Deco Mini 7 Wireless is US $59 and can be found on XP-Pen's various online stores:

US&CA: https://shrsl.com/2re9z
UK: https://bit.ly/3tANSIS
EU: https://bit.ly/36RNsny
SEA: https://bit.ly/3cQeG1V
PH: https://bit.ly/2MJKMSb
AUS: https://bit.ly/3aOWCme

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