Procreate 5 for iPad got its official release today, introducing a completely rebuilt graphics engine and several notable new features.

procreate 5 animation assist
Under the hood, the new Valkyrie graphics engine takes full advantage of Apple's Metal architecture and is designed to get maximum performance out of ‌iPad‌, utilizing new sophisticated shaders and running at 120fps on supported devices.

On the feature front, an all-new Animation Assist toolset aims to make the creation of animatics, looping GIFs and storyboards an easier process for newcomers and more streamlined for experts. Meanwhile, the same applies to custom brush creation thanks to the powerful new Brush Studio, which allows finer control over every aspect of how brushes look, react and behave.

procreate 5 brush studio
Procreate 5's new Clone tool allows you to use any brush style to give a cloned area the look of that brush, or to lock the clone area in place to plaint with a multicolored brush based on your selection. The Color Panel can also now be detached and minimized into a new Mini Color Panel, for moving it out of areas that you want to work on.

Elsewhere, new Color Dynamics offer tactile control of hue, saturation, brightness and more to a brush, through the tilt or pressure of the Apple Pencil. There are also 18 individual sliders to allow for more control.

This version also includes new importable CMYK and RGB ICC profiles for print-based users, a new Photoshop Brush Import feature for using Photoshop brushes in the app, a new Color Harmony section in the Color Panel for easily picking complimentary colors, and a new 10-step Color History palette.

procreate 5 interface
Lastly, the Procreate 5 interface has been refined and improved to make it more accessible and unobtrusive, while retaining the familiarity of previous versions.

Procreate 5 for ‌iPad‌ can be purchased on the App Store from today for a one-time payment of $10. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

jonnyb098 Avatar
77 months ago
Meanwhile over at Adobe......


Attachment Image
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sfwalter Avatar
77 months ago
It really puts Adobe to shame. To add insult to injury it can import Photoshop brushes. Plus it cost less than a single months subscription to Alfresco.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chrono1081 Avatar
77 months ago

I'm curious what they mean by 'sophisticated shaders'. Shaders here seems to me an ambiguous word. Well understood in 3D applications of course, but in a 2D painting app, I'm not sure what they mean by it.

In the past, shaders meant one thing (how light is calculated on the surface of a 3D object), now they can mean multiple things. In modern graphics pipelines there are "compute shaders" that exist solely to perform complex calculations on the GPU that don't necessarily have to do with graphics, they could be using these to generate texture data used by the brushes (like wet edges, etc).


Seeing this post (and one on MacStories) made me wonder, how does Procreate compare to Pixelmator? I already have Pixelmator as an attempted PS substitute, but I find it to be designed somewhat awkwardly and counterintuitively.

My iPad Pro is my primary device, but I learned most of my image editing on PS. I tried the PS app, but Adobe continues to suck, full stop, and releasing a beta with what, a quarter of the full features is brain meltingly awful.

Most of what I need this kind of application for is resizing, editing, and light design (making components for flyers and sometimes assembling posters and such.) Frequently it involves finding something online to use as a template to build off of. Canva gets some of the job done, but not all of it. I can usually get the job done with Pixelmator but it takes twice as long as it would with Photoshop.

Loooong story short, opinions as to Pixelmator v Procreate?
Do you have Pixelmator or Pixelmator Pro? Pixelmator Pro for iPad is really good for image editing, the regular Pixelmator on iPad, not so much. Procreate isn't an image editor but rather a drawing/painting software.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
77 months ago
Procreate 5 for iPad can be purchased on the App Store from today for a one-time payment of $10. [Direct Link]
The only link I see in that sentence, in the original article, is "App Store", which just explains what the App Store is. No link to Procreate itself.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mansu944 Avatar
77 months ago
I have procreate but if this is not an update I might buy it just because it’s NOT a subscription.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sfwalter Avatar
77 months ago

Seeing this post (and one on MacStories) made me wonder, how does Procreate compare to Pixelmator? I already have Pixelmator as an attempted PS substitute, but I find it to be designed somewhat awkwardly and counterintuitively.

My iPad Pro is my primary device, but I learned most of my image editing on PS. I tried the PS app, but Adobe continues to suck, full stop, and releasing a beta with what, a quarter of the full features is brain meltingly awful.

Most of what I need this kind of application for is resizing, editing, and light design (making components for flyers and sometimes assembling posters and such.) Frequently it involves finding something online to use as a template to build off of. Canva gets some of the job done, but not all of it. I can usually get the job done with Pixelmator but it takes twice as long as it would with Photoshop.

Loooong story short, opinions as to Pixelmator v Procreate?
ProCreate is more of a painting program, and the the line gets blurred sometimes. You won't find curves, levels, etc. If your primary goal is to edit photos then I would stick with Pixelmator.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone Air

Report: 'Virtually No Demand' for iPhone Air

Wednesday October 22, 2025 3:22 am PDT by
Apple is "drastically" cutting production of the iPhone Air and shifting focus toward the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro models, Nikkei Asia reports. The business publication claims to have learned of a major cut to iPhone Air production motivated by weaker-than-expected consumer interest, nearly to "end of production levels." Despite early reports of the iPhone Air selling out within hours of...
sam sung auction

Former Apple Employee Sam Sung Changed His Name to Avoid Attention

Wednesday October 22, 2025 4:44 pm PDT by
Back in 2012, an Apple retail employee named Sam Sung went viral because his name is similar to Samsung, one of Apple's main competitors. In a recent interview with Business Insider, he detailed that period in his life, how Apple responded, and he explained why he ultimately changed his name. Someone posted an image of Sung's Apple business card on Reddit in 2012, and it spread rapidly....
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features for Your iPhone

Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
cadillac lyric infotainment

GM to Remove CarPlay from All Future Vehicles, Including Gas Cars

Wednesday October 22, 2025 11:34 am PDT by
General Motors began phasing out support for CarPlay in its electric vehicles back in 2023, leading to complaints from iPhone users, but the company has no plans to back down. In fact, GM is going further and plans to remove CarPlay from all future gas vehicles, too. In an interview with The Verge, GM CEO Mary Barra said that the company opted to prioritize its platform for EVs, but the...
All Screen iPhone 2027 Feature 1

Apple's Plan to Launch Three New iPhone Designs Allegedly Revealed

Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:24 am PDT by
Apple plans to launch a new type of iPhone every year for the foreseeable future, according to an Asia-based source. The detailed information was shared by the account "yeux1122" in a blog post on the Korean platform Naver, citing domestic trend and component research companies. Corroborating other reports, Apple will apparently launch its first foldable iPhone in 2026, featuring a...
ios 26 1 liquid glass opaque

iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle

Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass. The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
maxresdefault

Apple's iPhone Air Experiment Fails as Supply Chain Cuts Production by 80%

Wednesday October 22, 2025 10:48 am PDT by
iPhone Air demand failed to meet Apple's expectations and the company's supply chain is scaling back shipments and production, reports Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Suppliers are expected to reduce capacity by more than 80 percent between now and the first quarter of 2026, and some components with longer lead times will be discontinued ...
All Screen iPhone 2027 Feature 1

Report: Apple to Skip 'iPhone 19' Name for 'iPhone 20'

Thursday October 23, 2025 4:28 am PDT by
Apple's new iPhone lineup launched in the fall of 2027 will be called the "iPhone 20" models, rather than the "iPhone 19," according to research firm Omdia. Speaking at a conference in Seoul (via ETNews), Omdia Chief Researcher Heo Moo-yeol corroborated rumors that Apple plans to move the launch of its standard iPhone to the first half of the year and provided some additional clarity about...
iOS 26

What's New in iOS 26.1 Beta 4

Monday October 20, 2025 1:02 pm PDT by
Even though we're at the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple is continuing to add new features. In fact, the fourth beta has some of the biggest changes that we'll get when iOS 26.1 releases to the public later this month. We've rounded up what's new below. Liquid Glass Transparency Toggle Apple added a toggle for customizing the look of Liquid Glass. In Settings > Display and Brightness,...