Misaligned strokes and messy outlines are a nightmare for any artist. Without smooth bold lines, many works of art lose the clean and captive value of their aesthetic. The new Procreate 5.2 update brings a highly requested feature to help you with this problem. One of the main features in Procreate 5.2 is called hit stabilization. As a major upgrade over the existing layout feature in Procreate, it has been one of the most requested features by artists. There’s a lot we can unlock with the stabilization feature, so let’s not waste any more time and learn how to use hit stabilization in Procreate on iPad.
Stroke Stabilization in Procreate: Disclosure (2021)
The purpose of this feature is to help artists create softer, more pointed strokes. With contour stabilization enabled, you don’t have to constantly worry about every turn and twist when drawing outlines or shapes. Procreate can help you draw faster without lots of random fluctuations. The end result here will be even and smooth and will work on any supported iPad model, including the M1 iPad Pro and even the new iPad mini 6. Use the table below to jump to the features you want, as the pin option includes a ton of options. They are interested in reading.
How To Turn On Stroke Stabilization Per Brush In Procreate
Stroke stabilization in Procreate has both global and brush-based settings. First, we’ll focus on the brush-based feature that you can apply to individual brushes. It has more in-depth options and is used more often than global stabilization. So, open the Procreate app and let’s get started.
1. First, open any of your existing artworks or create a new one. You can tap the “+” button in the upper right corner of the screen and choose a size to create the new canvas that best suits your needs. You can also choose to import and paint 3D models in Procreate. The application does not allow us to edit the brush settings from outside the canvas.
2. When the picture is opened, tap on paint brush icon located at the top right of the screen. It will open brush library With a list of available brushes in Procreate.
3. Here you can scroll through the various brushes installed in your application. After you find the brush you want to adjust, tap the name or pattern of the brush. This will open the brush settings page. For this tutorial, we will adjust the settings of the “monoline” brush under the Calligraphy category.
4. Tapping the brush will take you to the Brush Studio, the settings page. Here you can find various settings for each brush available in the app. “stabilization” section from the left sidebar to access the beat fixing feature in Procreate.
Now there are a few individual options in the stabilization section of Brush Studio. We’ll go over each one as we talk about the differences they can bring to your strokes.
Stroke Stabilization Features in Procreate
The new Stabilization section in Procreate Brush Studio includes: Three options including StreamLine, Stabilization and Motion filtering. Each may sound similar, but they offer unique ways to soften your strokes. Without further ado, let’s go over each of the options to better understand them.
Flowline
Many Procreate users may already be familiar with the StreamLine setting, as it was available in the app even before the 5.2 update. Not much has changed with this popular brush setting. StreamLine eliminates any small, accidental uneven movement what you can do when creating a beat
With a regular stroke, the ink on your brush moves freely and is affected by even the smallest movement of your fingers. Meanwhile, with StreamLine turned on, the ink takes a more rigid path and doesn’t let your stroke get affected unless there’s a big movement of the brush. Let’s see what happens to a simple circular shape if I increase the amount of StreamLine from 0% to 100%.
As you can notice, the circle drawn with 100% StreamLine smoother and less shaky Even close to a real circle shape with the same minimal effort than a regular circle. You can use this feature for calligraphy, creating shapes, and even outlines. StreamLine has two internal settings:
- Amount: It defines the stickiness and smoothness of your stroke. You can use the slider for Open StreamLine value For softer strokes. However, turning it off will get you back to your natural kicks.
- To make pressure: If the pressure in the StreamLine is turned off, stroke smoothing will begin as soon as you hit. However, if you increase the pressure using the slider, the smoothing effect only kicks in when you apply some pressure while drawing strokes.
stabilization
This feature can be seen as a more aggressive version of StreamLine. Stabilization, technically, averages the movements you make with a stroke and simply plots the estimated average of what you’re trying to do. In simpler terms, instead of following your natural pencil movements, makes your shape much flatter and smoother automatically.
So with stroke stabilization enabled in Procreate, what you get is a simpler shape than your actual movement or the original stroke you made. To understand this better, look at what happens to a normal circular when I increase the stabilization value from 0% to 100%.
As you can notice, if you push the stabilization high enough using the slider, it can completely change the shape. Here is another aspect of the game the speed you hit. The faster your strokes, the smoother and straighter they are. Therefore, if you want to use stabilization, we recommend shooting slowly or holding it at a lower amount. It’s a great feature to fill in the small details your image may require.
Motion Filtering
If you think hit stabilization is too serious about turning your hand-drawn circle into a straight line, wait until you see motion filtering working.
As the name suggests, this feature filters out any unstable motion detected by Procreate’s algorithms. Yes, no focusing or averaging on random moves like the other two options. Unlike stabilization, motion filtering unaffected by the speed of your hits. So whatever your pressure or speed, motion filtering will give you smooth and straight strokes. Let’s see how the feature looks in action and how it affects a simple circular figure.
As you may notice, if you push it high enough, motion filtering can completely change the shape of your drawn element. Drawing patterns and shapes with straight lines is a great option without worrying too much about getting them naturally right. If you think this feature can take away the natural flow of your strokes, even at lower levels, there is an option to fix that. Let’s see how we can set up motion filtering in Procreate:
- Amount: Use the amount slider to increase motion filtering and make strokes flatter and smoother. Keep it under 70 so as not to lose the ability to make curved figures
- Expression: This setting acts as a counter against the strict behavior of motion filtering algorithms. It gives back some of the natural expression to your strokes. This ignores a few minor fluctuations and means that it tries to include more of your natural stroke flow while keeping the figure mostly straight and smooth.
note: Expression has no effect on filtering higher amounts of motion (~70 and above).
How to Enable Stroke Pinning for All Brushes in Procreate
If you want to use the stabilization with one or two brushes, setting this in the internal settings (as shown above) seems like a good option. But if you want canvas-wide stabilization It is also possible to save time and effort. With the Procreate 5.2 update, the app introduced global “Pressure and Smoothing” settings for users’ convenience. Here’s how to access it.
1. First, Tap the “Actions” button (key icon) in the upper left corner of the screen. It is located next to the “Gallery” option.
2. Next, from the Actions drop-down menu, Open “Preferences”. Next, tap on “Pressure and Smoothing” choice.
3. Now, you will see the option: Adjust stabilization, Motion Filteringand Motion Filtering Expression. Use of these options remains the same as described in the section above. You can use the slider for each option by sliding your finger or pen over it to adjust the values. The rest of the settings here are pressure related and you can leave them as they are.
Stabilization vs StreamLine in Procreate 5.2 Update
In versions prior to Procreate 5.2, users there was only option to use StreamLine as the only reliable option for making smooth strokes. The app didn’t even have the option to work according to the applied pressure. By comparison, the latest update gives you 3 different types of stroke balancers. Each has unique functionality and techniques for smoothing out your strokes in Procreate. You also have the option to make it work based on the speed, pressure, and desirability of the natural expression in your strokes.
To see how much of a difference this update really makes, let’s do a number with the original StreamLine option and then rebuild it using the new stabilization options. In both cases we kept the stabilizers at medium (50) levels.
As you may notice, even on longer curves and straight lines the smoothness is not uniform. There is a certain wobble (natural strokes) in the lines of the general shape. Another detail you can notice is, the algorithm makes no attempt to convert the beats to a particular shape. It remains to follow the true guidance of hand movement. This can be a good thing with elaborate artwork, but can make things harder in simpler ways like this. Now let’s try to draw the same shape with hit stabilization enabled in Procreate 5.2.
The first difference you can notice here is the smoother flow of lines. stabilization feature automatically eliminates vibrations or fluctuations You may have seen it while drawing. Then they’ll also help you automatically create the shape that stands out the most in the triangular flag section. Hit stabilization in Procreate 5.2 will not lose its natural shape if you use it with the right settings. You can play with each of the balancers until you find the one that suits you best.
Get Started with Stroke Stabilization in Procreate 5.2
These are all the ways to use hit stabilization in Procreate. This is one of the many features the new Procreate 5.2 update has given us. There’s even the option to view 3D models in AR using Procreate and edit the 3D lighting and environment, among other features. Fortunately, there are several reliable alternatives to Procreate on Android, but none of the apps have equally good stabilization capabilities. Drop your query in the comments section if you run into any issues while trying out the new Procreate features. Our team will assist you immediately. What new features do you expect from the app in the future? Let us know in the comments below!
