Gestures

Draw with Apple Pencil and use your fingers for everything else: undo, zoom, pick colours and go full screen without reaching for a button.

All gestures

The same list is in the app under Actions › Help.

Zoom, rotate and fit

Pinch with two fingers to zoom, twist to rotate and drag to move the canvas. While you do, CrowDraw shows the zoom and angle, such as 150% · 90°.

The zoom snaps to 100% and to the size that fits the screen, and the rotation snaps to right angles, with a light tap of haptic feedback, so it's easy to get back to straight. A quick pinch in, done in under half a second, fits the canvas to the screen.

Touch and hold for the eyedropper

Touch and hold the canvas with one finger. A ring appears around your finger: the new colour on top, the previous colour below. Move to sample another spot, and lift to keep the colour. The eyedropper doesn't appear while you use Selection, Transform, a fill or an adjustment.

Copy and paste

Swipe down with three fingers for the Copy & paste menu: Cut, Copy, Copy all, Duplicate, Cut & paste and Paste. With a selection, they work on what's selected; without one, on the whole layer. Pasting adds a new layer and opens Transform so you can place it. See Selection & transform.

Full screen

A four-finger tap hides the top bar and sidebar so you see only your artwork. Tap with four fingers again, or tap the small button in the corner, to bring them back.

The quick menu

The quick menu is a ring of six shortcuts that opens where you are working. Squeeze an Apple Pencil Pro to open it (that's the default), or set it for double-tap, or for holding the modify button while you touch the canvas.

Slide towards an action and lift, or tap it. Touch and hold a slot to change what it does. Out of the box it holds New layer, Clear layer, Eyedropper, Eraser, Undo and Flip horizontal, and you can choose from New layer, Clear layer, Duplicate layer, Merge down, Fill layer, Eyedropper, Brush, Smudge, Eraser, Undo, Redo, Flip horizontal, Flip vertical, Drawing guide, Edit guide, Reference, Add text, Fit to screen and Full screen.

Set all six in Actions › Prefs › Quick menu, where Restore defaults puts them back.

Painting with your finger

In Actions › Prefs, Finger painting has three settings:

• Automatic (the default): your finger paints until you first draw with Apple Pencil. CrowDraw then says Apple Pencil draws, fingers now pan and zoom: from then on, fingers only move, zoom and use gestures, so your palm can't leave marks. If you drag one finger with a brush later, a short hint says where to change this. If Only Draw with Apple Pencil is on in your iPad's Settings › Apple Pencil, fingers don't paint from the start.
• Always: fingers always paint, alongside Apple Pencil.
• Pencil only: only Apple Pencil paints.

Apple Pencil always draws and cancels a finger stroke in progress. When you start a two- or three-finger gesture, the first finger doesn't leave a mark. Once a finger stroke is under way, a palm or another finger that lands on the screen doesn't stop it or move the canvas. A mouse or trackpad always paints.

Turning gestures off

Actions › Prefs › Gesture controls has a switch for each one: Two-finger tap, Three-finger tap, Four-finger tap, Quick pinch, Snap zoom and rotation, Touch and hold and QuickShape, plus the Touch and hold delay (0.15 to 1.5 seconds), the QuickShape delay and what Modify button + touch does: Eyedropper or Quick menu.

Keyboard shortcuts

With a hardware keyboard attached (hold ⌘ to see the list in the app):

Shortcuts without ⌘ don't work while you're typing, for example in a text layer or a name.