No Bézier Pen tool in Adobe Illustrator Draw?

[michaeld87223797]

I'm not sure what the developers were thinking when they decided to omit the Bézier pen tool in Adobe Draw. It is the defining tool of Adobe Illustrator. It's the icon used in the Adobe Draw app and yet it is nowhere to be found in the toolset.

It makes perfect sense to make a clean break from outmoded input paradigms when developing apps for mobile vs desktop. But without a Bézier pen tool Adobe Draw is essentially Adobe Sketch with vector output. When an illustrator or designer friend asks me if Adobe has a vector drawing tool for iPad Pro I have to say, sadly "No."

Yes, I could buy an app from one of the many third-party developers who have rushed in to fill Adobe's void. But their apps I am sure won't be of the same quality or have the cloud integration I've come to love from Adobe's Creative Suite.

Come on Adobe! I beg of you! Make our dreams come true and solve this first-world problem. We know you can do it! On behalf of all the loyal working illustrators and lifelong Adobe enthusiasts out there. Put the pro in iPad Pro.

Sincerely, Michael DiMilo

Illustrator, animator

[abakker]

One more vote. Really.

Pen is necessary in the toolchain to CAD. The vector brushes produce shapes, and I only want the one line. Nice thing about Pen is that I can go straight from lines to Autodesk, to CAM to carving.

[alices79706901]

I’m still in disbelief about this, and unless I missed it, don’t see an actual reason why Adobe‘s mobile team isn’t working on implementing it in Draw or a new, separate app; not even something like an “It’s so much harder than you realize” explanation. It’s just “yeah, we know, and aren’t doing anything.” I mean, other apps are (thankfully) doing it, though they’re not as streamlined yet and don’t integrate well with Adobe’s other apps. Adobe can’t possibly be so out of touch with their consumers that they don’t see that there’s a huge market for people that are desperate for a decent pen tool on their iPad ... can they? It’s not like it’s just confined to this thread. But considering they thought it was good idea to make the pen tool the icon for an app that doesn’t even have one, who knows where their logic is at.

Obviously Adobe doesn’t owe us anything, and I am immensely grateful for what they’ve offered in other apps, but this decision just seems so illogical to me. Thanks for the updates anyways, Sue. It’s helpful to know we’ve at least been heard.

[mwemmer]

Please add the vector/bezier pen tool! I want an iPad Pro (to work in an other place/environment then at my desk), but without the pen tool I can't work in Illustrator draw

[brooksg49689606]

I’ve been using an app called Vectornator. It’s decent and it integrates with Creative Cloud. You can even send straight to Illustrator...and it’s free.

[alices79706901]

I’ve been using Vectornator also, the pro version. Definitely better than Draw.

[RIBugBoy]

Adding my voice to the throng of disappointed people. Adobe Draw has incredible potential, and it's fascinating as one of the more intuitive and straightforward vector PAINTING tools, but who on EARTH made the choice to use the pen tool as the icon with NO PEN TOOL in the app? I bet that person gets paid a lot of money too.... Wondering about better selection tools as well.

Another thing I wish is that I could download the app to PC and use on my touchscreen Thinkpad in tablet mode. It is mighty difficult to use the app on a phone because the tool interface covers a large portion of the drawing surface. But I'm not sure if that's an Adobe problem or a Lenovo problem.

[jonh4248565]

Also very disappointed the draw app doesn't include a bezier pen tool. Graphic has done this pretty well. What are you waiting for!?!?

[jasperf12345678]

+1 on the request of the bezier tool. It would allow me to take my desktop work to the iPad. Right now I have to move to Autodesk Graphic, which feels like a missed chance...

[Bobby Henderson]

Autodesk Graphic works okay, but its pen tool is pretty limited. It does not respond to the standard keyboard shortcuts used by the pen tool in the desktop versions of Illustrator and Photoshop. That makes it impossible to adjust anchor points on the fly as paths are being drawn with the pen tool. For anything more than really simple projects I end up having to fire up desktop applications to get the work done.

I hadn't heard of Vectornator Pro before. It used to cost $8 in the app store, but is now apparently free. That app has a lot of the usual vector drawing tools and its documentation says it supports the standard keyboard shortcuts. I guess I'll download it and see. As I said earlier up-thread if Adobe were to put a pen tool in Illustrator Draw I'd not only like to see the standard keyboard shortcuts for the tool supported, but I'd also like on-screen modifier keys if a keyboard is not attached. A pen tool isn't worth much unless you can change the nature and position of the anchor points as the path is being drawn. When I use the desktop versions of Illustrator and Photoshop my left hand fingers are on the Shift, Ctrl, Alt and Spacebar keys constantly. I'm not only using those keys to adjust anchor points, but also adjusting my view (zooming & hand panning) while drawing the path. It's very easy to get spoiled to that keyboard shortcut system.

[crispe123]

This is my precise problem with the pen tool in Autodesk Graphic. The program itself seems pretty good, nice and fully featured, but the inability to adjust anchor points on the fly while drawing makes it essentially unusable for me. It's a bit of a shame. 

[Bobby Henderson]

I've been noodling around with the pen tool a little more in Autodesk Graphic as well as Vectornator 2. The pen tool is usable in both applications, but it takes some adjustment to get used to it in both apps. Along with the Apple Pencil you have to press one, two or even three fingers onto the screen elsewhere to modify an anchor point from a smooth point to a corner point, one that's symmetrical, etc. Even with those features I still feel some limits. I like being able to go back and adjust other points on a path while that path is still being drawn. It's easy to do with the pen tools in the desktop versions of Illustrator and Photoshop. If there's a way to do that in Graphic or Vectornator I haven't figured it out yet. It's more of a hassle to draw out a path completely and then go back and adjust individual anchor points.

As far as I can tell, Graphic and Vectornator don't utilize any of the keyboard shortcut combinations many users of Illustrator, Photoshop (and Freehand) associated with the pen tool. Along with those pen tool short cuts were keyboard combos to zoom in/out and hand-pan the canvas on the fly. I think they have most of the functions geared for iPad users who don't have a keyboard.

One big difference between desktop drawing apps and the iPad is we're used to using graphical tool tips on screen to select objects and modify them. We can see the tool tips change when certain keyboard shortcuts are applied (such as the spacebar toggling on the hand tool). Very few of us are drawing directly on our computer monitors, so we need those moving on-screen tools to get anything done. We don't have that with the iPad. Arguably it's unnecessary. Your finger or the Apple Pencil is the selection tool.

If Adobe incorporates a pen tool into Adobe Illustrator Draw (as well as the upcoming iPad version of Photoshop) it might be nice to have some kind of visual indicator to let us know what kind of modifier has been applied to the pen tool when certain keyboard shortcuts or on-screen touch combos have been applied. I'd really like to see a pen tool in the iPad apps work as closely like the desktop Adobe applications as much as possible.

[crispe123]

The pen tool drawing in graphic and vectornator are a bit crumby for the reasons you mentioned. Pretty much unusable for me.

Its a lot better in Affinity Designer. There is a context toolbar for each tool and the pen tool one contains an ‘edit’ button that you can tap as you’re plotting points and edit the handles then continue laying points. It’s still not quite as easy as using a keyboard modifiers on a computer but its a much better system than the 2 apps you’ve mentioned.

[Bobby Henderson]

The real key is having a way to modify and move anchor points on an active path while it is being drawn. In Vectornator and Graphic I pretty much need to complete the path before I can go back and edit it. I can't really go back and select an existing anchor point on a path currently in progress of being drawn. If I try to click on a point I'll just end up creating a new point, inadvertently extending the path there. If there is a way to avoid that (such as some extra finger touch on the screen) I haven't figured it out yet. The desktop versions of Illustrator and Photoshop don't have that problem since the keyboard shortcuts are clearly defined and always available.

Another big complaint with Graphic and Vectornator both: I can't figure out how to place a JPEG, TIFF or PSD image into an existing document. It's like they require the user to open one of those images to start an entirely new document. That approach stinks. At least with Adobe Illustrator Draw you can place an image into an already existing document. I like creating hand-drawn items in either Procreate or Adobe Photoshop Sketch and then converting the resulting sketch to vector format. Right now I do that vectorizing work on the desktop in either Photoshop or Illustrator, depending on the nature of the artwork. The tools are just better. And I have even more latitude with plugins such as those from Astute Graphics. It would be nice if I could get the entire process done on the iPad. It is kind of nice to be able to do all the drawing work directly on screen.

[brians19802677]

adobe doesn’t want to give full capabilities to their device versions of their apps, because then people wouldn’t need to pay for the desktop versions. You would then be able to do all your work on your device app which only costs the one time fee to download. It’s the only logical reason for the limitations on these apps. They won’t give us the Bézier tool cause then they will lose money!

[Bobby Henderson]

I thought Adobe Illustrator Draw required a Creative Cloud subscription. Is that not the case? Either way there are competing free applications available for iOS and Android that do feature a pen tool. Autodesk Graphic is one of the leading examples.

[Joelle_Dietrick]

I agree completely. Thanks for this post.

I was hoping to uplate my work flow and teach my college students to sketch first in Adobe Illustrator Draw, like a sketchbook that you always keep on you, but indeed, Draw’s focus on the blob brush is not workable. I’ll try the many apps recommended in this thread.

[Mac One]

I need to draw paths, not compound paths. I was stunned to find it didn't have a pen tool. Please add it so it is of use.

[Will Chadwick]

Of course, I agree with the jist of what you're saying. But, the developers only do what the folks ask- so let's not rag on the developers. It's Product Owners and the like that are responsible for this sort of thing.

[Tsu.jp]

I bought iPad pro and I was dreaming that "I finally use the Pen tool with great interface , great display tablet".

But AdobeCC has no way to access the Pen tool.

To be honest , I do not think Adobe is insane. like a flawing gemstone.

[DoggyGraphics]

Here another one.
I draw everyday with pencil and pen, creating vector lines for logos and illustrations that I can correct moving and changing the handlers. I Don't understand why Adobe omit in Draw their most important tool.
You have a big pile of requests since 2016. Are you gonna do anything?

[mstankovich]

Seriously, just add the pen tool.  It’s apparently needed by myself and every other designer out there. What a huge let down. This app is useless without it.

[MichaelCluff]

Galling to have to use a third-party app requiring workarounds to get the same functionality.

Even if a Bezier tool is too tough to implement, how about a tool that simply paints (non-compound) paths? That's what I was originally hoping for!

(FWIW, I was especially hoping to use Draw to hand-trace photographs as vectors, and export them to Illustrator to do more wizardry.)

[hippiekasey]

I am a design professional of 20+ years adding my voice, begging you to add the pen tool to adobe draw! I love free-form drawing, but the precision of your beautifully designed pen tool made me fall in love with you. Please don't continue to break our hearts this way.

[Ashzoi]

This is my first forum comment and I came here to add myself to the list of People who want the pen tool in this app. The whole reason I downloaded the app in the first place was because I was looking for that tool, to use on the go. Fingers crossed that maybe we’ll get this one day!

[egnyrb]

One more vote for this. At least add it for those of us having a paid subscription for illustrator!