iPad Pro, PS & Sidecar in macOS

[jaduffy007]

Hi all.  My wife uses an iPad Pro and PS for iPad to collage.  She uses her finger to apply brush strokes on layer masks etc.  She prefers not to use an Apple Pencil.

Switching to the desktop / macOS version of Photoshop, we have not found a way to use sidecar and have this "touch" functionality with her fingers with PS tools like brushes.  Does anyone have suggestion or solutions?  Would a Wacom cintiq be a solution?  AstroPad Studio?

Also, we've been unable to import additional images into layers in macOS PS, where it is easy in PS for iPad.  We can only import / open additional files into tabs or separate windows.....what are we missing?

Thank you in advance for all replies.

[LAMY2017]

jaduffy007, definition, please -- "sidecar?

Like a file that has the extension XMP?

A finger on a touchscreen, touchpad or tablet will allow use of brush tools. In my opinion, a stylus + tablet is the way to go.

import additional images into documents as layers --

• drag-and-drop from Finder onto an open layer in Ps
• Edit>Place Embedded or Place Linked, navigate using Finder to the file to be placed
• copy and paste (like, if open in Preview, Edit>Copy., then in Ps, Edit>Paste
• (Edit>Paste Special>Paste in place

For starters.

[jaduffy007]

Thanks for the reply and info.  very helpful.

macOS "sidecar" allows for extending the desktop.

[Conrad_C]

I think Apple Sidecar requires an Apple Pencil for direct manipulation. Without an Apple Pencil, in Sidecar you can use fingers in some applications (such as Photoshop) only for view changes, such as zooming and scrolling. The Apple help article Use an iPad as a second display for a Mac says:

To point, click, select, and perform tasks such as drawing, editing photos, and manipulating objects on your iPad while it's extending or mirroring your Mac display, you can use your Apple Pencil instead of the mouse or trackpad connected to your Mac.

Unfortuantely it never says this can be done with fingers. Only with the Apple Pencil. And I haven’t found any option or workaround that lets me use fingers for input with Sidecar, except for view changes.

So this seems to be an Apple limitation ,not a Photoshop limitation.

What she needs depends on what exactly she wants to do. But study the following options carefully, because the main point of many of these options is to take advantage of Apple Pencil, so again, some might not do much with fingers. Remember, the reason people seek out these options is to get pressure sensitivity and other stylus features that you can’t do with a mouse or a finger.

Wacom Cintiq. This tablet product line is tightly focused on drawing directly on the screen image with a stylus, so it won’t help much if she wants to use only fingers. Because they include a screen, these are also expensive. Probably not what she needs.

Wacom Intuos. This tablet line is their most traditional and more affordable, because it’s a stylus and tablet without a screen. Some Intuos tablets also work as touch trackpads, which means she can use her fingers. But I dislike the touch feature on my Intuos so much that I turned it off. In fact if she must use fingers only, she should go with the best, which is the…

Apple Magic Trackpad. This is like the excellent trackpad on the Apple laptops, but bigger and on its own to be used with any Mac or iPad. Fingers only…it does not need the Apple Pencil, and doesn’t even work with it.

Yes, there are some iPad apps that can make an iPad work as a tablet for a Mac. Unlike Sidecar, which is directly integrated with macOS, these iPad apps normally need a companion app on the Mac to make the connection. Astropad Studio is one, another is Duet Studio. I think both require a subscription, and you will have to confirm with them that they can work with fingers only and not requiring the Apple Pencil. Again…these are intended for artists who want the additional stylus capabilities that fingers cannot do.

There are also much simpler iPad apps that let the iPad work as a trackpad.

Astropad Slate works like a tablet peripheral without a screen. It works with fingers so it doesn’t require an Apple Pencil (although it can use one), and it’s a low one-time payment (no subscription) — she might want to look into this.

Remote Mouse looks like it might work with just fingers, but I’ve never used it.

Also, we've been unable to import additional images into layers in macOS PS, where it is easy in PS for iPad.  We can only import / open additional files into tabs or separate windows.....what are we missing?

By jaduffy007

To add more images as new layers to a document, do any of these:

• Open both documents and with the Move tool, drag any number of layers from one document to another. Or, copy and paste them. 
• Choose the command File > Place Embedded. (The file is copied into the document as a new Smart Object layer.) 
• Choose the command File > Place Linked. (The file is added to the document as a new Smart Object layer but not embedded in the document, instead the documents links out to it, the same way that video editors, page layout software, and web pages link to external files.) 
• Drag a file from the desktop, and drop it into the Photoshop document. This is a shortcut for the Place Embedded command. If you drag with the Option key held down, that’s a shortcut for the Place Linked command. 
• If you want to select several files and make a single Photoshop document with each of the documents as layers in it, choose the command File > Scripts > Load Files Into Stack.

[jaduffy007]

Thank you soooo much !!!