First Krita Beta for Android and ChromeOS in Play Store
krita.org
krita.org
There are plenty of fantastic artists who use Krita but I find him interesting because of how dedicated he is to using open-source software for all his work.
As this is only about Android I thought of promoting my take on this problem. In fact I released a small program I use to take handwritten notes via iPad on my Linux system just a few weeks ago. It works on both Android and iOS and basically turns these devices into graphic tablets. You can take a look at: https://github.com/H-M-H/Weylus
I love Krita. Actually, my kids love it so much. I've had a Wacom tablet for years and thanks to Krita my kids are expanding their artistic skills rapidly. I wish the people behind it all the best!
I believe that we lost at least one generation of digital artists due to this - not everyone can be productive by a non-LCD tablet and even those have been overpriced.
Thankfully with the main Wacom tablet patents finally gone, the situation seems to be finally recovering, with many new, mostly Chinese, LCD tablet makers and a lot of people using high end Android and Apple tablets for drawing (which are still much much cheaper than what Wacom used to want for a simple LCD tablet display or for what it sells its bulky mobile studio devices these days).
But to this day, we can still see the technical dept caused by Wacom blocking a whole area of HID devices for ~20 years - drivers for non Wacom LCD drawing displays are still a mess and there is a lack of quality drawing software, especially on Android.
So good to se Krita helping to address at least one of these issues. :)
There has been no lack of cheap non-screen drawing tablets, and I really think that there’s nothing even resembling a whole generation of digital artists who done exist because of the lack of screen tablets. There’s a FUCKTON of pro artists out there who were enabled by a cheap drawing tablet and a pirated copy of (insert art program here).
For me the gating factor was Linux support: along that axis, there was Wacom (which had it), and everybody else (which didn't). These days, even though the kernel and X drivers are called "wacom", they support all manner of budget tablets under a variety of brand names (though you will want to check to see if a particular model is supported, and how well).
LCD tablets are nice (albeit for a while it was cheaper to simply buy a tablet-based notebook computer than a Cintiq of equivalent size) -- but not having one doesn't prevent you from being proficient at digital art. Using a regular tablet is a great way to get started; the extra precision offered by an integrated LCD display extends your reach and productivity, it doesn't gate being able to produce at all.
I have seen this one some festivals where they set up a couple Wacom LCD tablet devices for people to draw on - there was a lot of interest and basically everyone was able to start drawing in a couple minutes. Seeing what you are drawing on the screen and not in front of you basically throws all the muscle memory people have from paper drawing and writing out of the window.
Finally - a few months ago - I aquired something remarkable cheaper, a chinese Gaomon M106K. It turned out, it is not cheap at all in the other sense of the word. Good quality and support at least for my use case (a bit different, handwritten formulas and sometimes some sketched diagrams). But my youngest kids use it for painting with Krita too.
On both my iPad Pro (2017) and an open-box Huion H610 Pro (pretty old) I saw stairstepping behavior when drawing a straight line with a ruler on a diagonal. It wasn't very pronounced on the iPad, but it was still there. If you draw the stroke quickly, the smoothing kicks in and straightens it. I'm pretty sure this is a normal side effect of the tech used to identify the grid coordinate of the stylus. But the wobbling was notably bad on the Huion. https://imgur.com/a/iPNZzrY
When I got a Wacom Intuos Pro PTH660 (Amazon renewed), the same test without smoothing showed a perfectly straight line, even when drawing quite slowly.
I don't know why the Wacom is better. Maybe it's got a higher resolution grid for detecting the pen location. Or maybe it's just got better tuned drivers. It's also much easier to freehand accurate lines and ellipses on the Wacom.
You generally can't trust the reviews of Wacom alternatives on YouTube. As reported by Aaron Rutten, most of the companies are not looking for fair and unbiased reviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twy5Wo8m284&t=337
On the other hand any other brand than the leading brand is truly terrible.
Using a large tablet is like using a mouse with the sensitivity turned down. It quickly becomes frustrating having to move your arm around so much to manage the interface, especially when you don't have a direct connection between what you're looking at and touching.
The difference is why someone might use a steno pad or moleskin journal rather than a full-size legal pad.
He ended up changing the mapping to only use a small portion near the front as he could barely reach the back.
I bet most people who switch to touchscreens never want tablet back. Many people prefer tablets over touchscreens because you don't have to slouch.
Why should I do so when I have my own experience?
> On the other hand any other brand than the leading brand is truly terrible.
So you've tried them all? Not to talk about the use cases...
@parent Of course - I also switched for ebooks from a dedicated reader to a tablet. But I'm still missing the ability for reading in the full sun, power for two weeks w/o charging, easiness on the eyes.
Similar - but harder to tolerate - things apply to a painting tablet. You cannot replace it simply by a multi-function device without losing quite a lot functionality.
Layers are a great example of how simple tools can act as a multiplier for creativity and inspiration.
They've recently published a revamped version with Mac compatibility and I bought it just for the sake of good old times, although I'm far from doing any graphic work anymore.
I wish more free software projects would do that. You can download Krita for free but if you want to support the project you can buy it from Steam or Windows Store.
I'm using it this way as a tool (being a software writer in this industry), but the tasks belonging to it and those for Krita have a virtually empty intersection.
>Unlike the Windows and Steam store, we don’t ask for money for Krita in the store, since it’s the only way people can install Krita on those devices, but you can buy a supporter badge from within Krita to support development.
I don't know about the Windows store because I don't use Windows, but doesn't the Steam store allow you to put up free tools? Godot Engine is available for free on Steam, IIRC.
Asking users to use developer mode is not easy, and a huge barrier to entry that most would just not bother and download something else from the Play Store instead.
1. User downloads an .apk using a browser
2. User tries to open it
3. Android prompts the user to allow the browser as a trusted source
4. User agrees by flipping a switch
5. Installation resumes
6. User enjoys the app
https://developer.android.com/distribute/marketing-tools/alt...
https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/android-101-sideload-...
This is, however, a great thing to have.
A better substitute would be using F-Droid. By the way, some free software apps are not gratis on the Play Store but are on F-Droid.
It can still be confusing to manage two app stores for some people, while installing an app from a downloaded executable is usual on Windows, so Krita probably did the right thing.
Just installed this on my Galaxy tab. It still has some rough edges, but it is miles ahead of all the drawing adware I had used so far.
Oh and, thank you Krita developers: it actually feels like a desktop app (as in: you can load and save files, and there's an actual "exit" button").
So getting an open source, full-featured alternative is fantastic for me.
It only stressed to me the need for an open-source solution -- which Krita on Android fills nicely.
Anyone using Krita with a Wacom tablet under Linux? How do you draw?
I would add that I did have some issues with the Flatpak version of Krita where the tablet didn't draw as expected. Replacing it with the standard deb from apt repositories fixed that though.
This page of the Krita manual has some troubleshooting suggestions specifically for Windows: https://docs.krita.org/fr/user_manual/drawing_tablets.html
I bought a pen tablet with screen recently, the Gaimon PD1161. Incredibly cheap compared to the Wacom Cintiq, and it works great with Krita (on Windows). My girlfriend uses it all the time now: https://www.youtube.com/user/PapillonMarianne/videos
I must say, I had to try very hard to not explore Photoshop and other 3D tools, It wasn't easy when I see most professionals using Photoshop, 3DS, Maya, etc. From time to time i get frustrated with low quality Youtube's tutorials, numerous times I had to remind myself to have patience, and stick with Krita & Blender.
Now I in love with Blender, and getting used to like Krita with Wacom table.
I also got a Huion H1060P which works better than I expected.
It's actually got me craving for drawing on paper again too, and it's great because of psychological drawing barriers because this way I can hide all my mistakes on my hard drives. And it's a steep curve, like learning to program.
I wish there was a mode conducive to less control and creativity a la ArtRage. I am not a professional digital artist and all the control that digital drawing platforms have encumbers my creative workflow. Any chance we’ll get this in Krita? In ArtRage for example colors interact more like in real life and don’t need to separate objects in layers but just paint over the way layers naturally happen.
The only way still working for me is an arcane - in fact deprecated for a long time - Qt environment variable (QT_DEVICE_PIXEL_RATIO), that makes a difference for at least a portable Krita installation.
But, Play store is showing that "Device is incompatible" to my phone. Is this restricted to Tablets?
Another suggestion. Can't Mobile compatible UI be created (using MAUIKIT/Qt) so that Krita can become best image software for phones too ?
It uses Qtwidgets and mauikit qml so it would be a heck of a job to port that to qml
I have a phablet (6+ inches, high resolution and DPI) with pressure-sensitive stylus and I'd love to see Krita running on it, even if the UI is not optimized yet.
Looking forward to the phone version.
I also bought a HP Spectre x360 recently. Krita works really well on it too.