Astro HQ updates its software bringing better response time and huge performance improvements

Illustration by Astro HQ

Astro HQ, the company behind some of our most favored digital drawing software solutions, Astropad and Luna Display, has recently announced an update to its Liquid video engine that offers up to 4x better GPU performance and is now twice as responsive to provide an ultra-low latency experience on the iPad. “Luna Display runs on innovative video technology we call LIQUID — our proprietary tech that ensures stunning image quality and responsiveness on your iPad. In the latest version, LIQUID 3.0, we focused on reducing latency and optimizing GPU performance across all of our products. This update is available now in Luna Display 3.0, Astropad Studio 3.0, and Astropad Standard 3.0.” – as it was announced by Astro HQ on January 24.

Comparison charts provided by Astro HQ

If you use our site, you’ve probably read our articles raving about Astro’s solutions to bring desktop Photoshop to the iPad. However, for those not familiar with the products, Astro’s Luna Display relies on a hardware dongle, that lets you use your iPad as a second monitor for your Mac. On the other hand, Astropad Standard and Astropad Studio are separate apps for creative professionals that we use both in the field and in our studio as a Wacom substitute.  It lets you mirror or extend your Mac display and use Photoshop with your Apple Pencil. They both rely on the same rendering engine. Performance can be hard to measure in a reliable way, however Astro claims that their solution is far outperforming the competition. On Astro’s website, Luna Display was measured up to Duet Display, that was also updated recently, claiming better results than Luna for less money, as their solution doesn’t need a dongle. It’s obvious that there is a lot of competition in this area, which, at the end, provides better and better apps for our epigraphic work.

Taking advantage of the new improvements requires you to update both your Mac and iPad apps. You must visit the iOS App Store to update your iPad app. If you aren’t automatically prompted to update the Mac app, you can download the latest desktop versions of Luna Display here, Astropad Standard here and Astropad Studio here. 

Photoshop tethered wirelessly to the iPad in our studio office at Chicago House