Apple makes way for Blender on iPad capability this fall without rewriting Blender.
This fall, MacOS will feature Sidecar, an application that allows a compliant program to be used on both Desktop and iPad at the same time; though not strictly for iOS only. Apple's website claims Maya, zbrush and Cinema 4D are already with it, among others. Supposedly it is easy to code for it.
Is it possible that someone at Blender can check on the compatibility and possibly add this to 2.81-2.82?
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I know this is an old thread but...
For anyone interested in using Blender on your iPad, we've added improved Blender support to Astropad Studio, which is similar to Sidecar and works on Mac and PC.
Astropad Studio mirrors your screen onto the iPad and lets you use Apple Pencil and gestures to interact with desktop apps like Blender. You can think of it as a way to use your iPad as a Wacom Cintiq replacement.
After requests from users, we've improved our Blender support with things like built in gestures and shortcuts. For example, we built custom gestures for Blender:
Plus the new iPad Pros have hover, which is key for Blender! This is our first attempt at improving our support for Blender. I'd love to hear what you think as we aren't Blender pros ourselves but we'd like to make support even better!
Astropad Studio Blender support astropad.com/apple-pencil-hover-and-3d-sculpting/
Worth noting that this was brought up over on devtalk and shot down there as well. It's not a 'magic solution' despite what apple's marketing department would have you believe. Blender has very limited gesture support- currently aimed at a single point of input (tablet mode). What you're suggesting would a very big lift to create multitouch support and then support it. It's not something you can simply 'tack on' to a point release.
Some folks be using the iPad as their only computer.
That iPad is a real workhorse these days.
Seems fair to limit touch support and steer folks towards using a mouse.
Just say in 2024 this idea could be worth looking at again.
I didn't do enough research on the iPad before I bought it, thought I could install MacOS on it, but my plan for Blender was iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard + USB/Bluetooth mouse & numeric keypad. It's basically the same PC laptop setup I have now. Unfortunately iPad is stuck with IOS.
So, I've heard you can use your ipad as a duel screen. Set it up like a graphics tablet. I'd like to know how to do that tho. I just saw Sir Pink Beard on youtube using his ipad
That'd be a dream come true. 😍