XP-Pen currently has two series of pen tablets for digital artists. There's the Star series which features a more angular design and the Deco series which has rounded and curved design. Other than the design differences, the functionality and features of the Star and Deco series are kinda comparable. Maybe there are other significant differences but I find it difficult to spot.

Affinity Designer Best in class for creating concept art, print projects, logos, icons, UI designs, mock-ups and more, our powerful design app is already the choice of thousands of professional illustrators, web designers and game developers who love its silky-smooth combination of vector and raster design tools. Was $49.99 Now only $24.99. For macOS, Affinity Designer is able to open version 10 & MX Freehand files. Adobe Illustrator is a commonly-used editor because of Adobe's market dominance, but is more expensive than other similar products. It is primarily developed consistently in line with other Adobe products and such is best integrated with Adobe's Creative Suite packages. The XP-Pen Deco 01 V2 supports a rotation of 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees. Now you can set out to what you want to be! XP-PEN Deco 01V2 drawing tablet lights up at the ends of the drawing area, and comes with adjustable brightness levels, so you can work and create in your preferred lighting environment. I have a Mac and I've used the tablet so far with the following applications: Corel Painter Essentials 5 and 6, Art Rage 5, Rebelle versions 1 and 2, Pixelmator, Affinity Designer and Mischief. I have also found that XP-PEN's customer support is very responsive.

Deco Mini 7 comes in two models, the XP-Pen Deco Mini 7 Wireless (US $59) and the wired (US $49).

You can find the full specs on the Deco Mini 7 product page or online store.

These are the items included:

• P05D battery-free pen
• USB-A to USB-C data cable
• USB-A to micro-USB adapter
• USB-A to USB-C adapter
• 10x replacement nibs
• Nib remover
• USB-A wireless receiver
• Manual

These are the USB-C and micro-USB adapters included so that the tablet can be used with Android.

I experienced connection issues with the wireless receiver under certain situations.

With the desktop Mac I'm using that already had lots of wireless devices (Bluetooth and wifi) connected, the connection with the tablet was choppy. Sometimes the cursor would move slow, sometimes in a choppy manner. This choppy connection issue happens when the tablet is one keyboard length away, which isn't too far away. Wireless connection is strong if the tablet is just besides the receiver which tells me that there is definitely some wireless interference somewhere.

When used with my laptop which is not connected to other wireless devices, connection is good.

So if you use multiple wireless devices, this is something you should take note of, unless you plan on placing the tablet just beside your USB port.

This by the way is a review unit from XP-Pen.

The active drawing area is 7 x 4.37 inches. I usually recommend people get a graphics tablet that's at least 10 x 6 inches because that's a size that works well with laptop's small display as well as much larger 27 - 32 inch displays.

It has been a while since I used a smaller tablet like this and I've got to say that I still recommend people to get 10 x 6 inches if they have the budget to do so, and if they intend to work on the tablet for long periods of time.

When you pair a small graphics tablet to a large monitor (I'm using 27-inch monitor), a small movement with the pen will translate to a large movement on the display. It will take time to get used to be able to control the cursor movement precisely. That's the main concern when getting a smaller tablet. But 7 x 4.37 inches is not that small. Smaller ones can be 6 by 4 inches.

That's the back. You can use the serial number to download ArtRage Lite for free (normally US $29). If you want free apps, check out Medibang Paint Pro and Krita too.

Oh, to protect the drawing surface from scratches, XP-Pen has this protective plastic/film that you have to peel off. It's quite challenging to peel that off so keep scratching it with your fingernails until you see a tear and pull it off.

Build quality is solid. The rounded corners and curved edges are nice.

There are 8 customisable physical shortcut buttons on the side.

Left handed users can use the driver to turn the tablet orientation 180 degrees. Since this is wireless, you don't have to worry about the cable going up or down.

The L-shaped data cable is USB-C so you can have the cable point in either direction. That cable is used for charging the internal battery which is rated to last at least 10 hours of continuous drawing. When charging, the tablet can still be used. The tablet will power off after 5 minutes of inactivity though to conserve battery life.

10 hours continuous use to me is kinda short if you're going to be drawing a lot. If you draw 4 hours a day. You'll probably have to charge the tablet every 3 days. If you don't want to deal with the charging, just get the wired Deco Mini 7 model which is $10 cheaper.

This is the P05D which supports tilt sensitivity and up to 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity.

It's not powered by battery so no charging required.

The pen has good build quality. Design looks good and it's comfortable to hold with its large rubber grip. The nib moves slightly just like others from most styluses.

Driver

The driver I'm using is the XP-PENMac_3.0.8_210112(New UI Beta Driver) released on 14 Jan 2021.

I tried the XP-PENMac_2.1.8.210119(Official Driver) released on 20 Jan 2021 but it didn't work for me – the cursor could move but I couldn't click on anything.

These XP-Pen drivers are suppose to work for MacOS 10.14 and 11 Big Sur. Thankfully at least one worked for me.

MacOS driver installation is not that straightforward and requires many steps. There are installation instructions for MacOS 10.14 and MacOS 10.15.

And finally there was one issue. The MacOS driver has to be launched each time you want to use the tablet. Apparently installing the driver, at time of this review, does not mean the driver will do its magic in the background all the time.

The workaround is simple: just use MacOS System Preferences to have the driver launch (and hide) automatically each time you power on.

And don't quit the driver or the tablet won't work (cursor won't move) again. Use the red cross button or just hide the app to background.

Here's where you can customise the 8 physical shortcut buttons, aka ExpressKeys

The most important thing here is you can rotate the orientation 180 degrees. This is for left handers.

Pressure curve can be adjusted by moving the square dot around.

These are the other shortcuts you can set to the pen's buttons or ExpressKeys. The more useful ones are probably 'Switch Monitor' which will move the cursor to another display if you're using dual monitors, and Precision mode which will slow down the cursor's movement so that you can draw more precisely.

Drawing performance

Drawing performance is excellent on MacOS. I did not test the tablet with Windows though.

The pen is very sensitive. Pressure and tilt sensitivity works well. Lines can taper smoothly. Transition from thin to thick lines, vice versa, is smooth. Line were able to come out just the way I want them too.

Initial activation force is low, even lower compared to pen displays which is not surprising.

Photoshop CC 2021

Clip Studio Paint

Clip Studio Paint

Medibang Paint Pro

Krita

Pressure and tilt also work well with Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer and Adobe Illustrator.

Drawing on Android

Using with Android is plug and play, no driver installation needed.

Tilt and pressure sensitivity work with Android. But since there's no driver, you won't be able to adjust the pressure curve or use the ExpressKeys.

The tablet and your Android device have to be in portrait orientation for the cursor tracking to match.

Shown in the photo above is the tablet used together with the Samsung Tab S7+. This use case does not make sense because you can already draw on the Samsung tablet with the S Pen.

To have the tablet able to work with Android is a nice extra. Note that the cursor may not appear with certain Android devices. That's a risk you have to understand if you want to buy this tablet specifically to use with an Android tablet. E.g. You may have a large tablet that doesn't come with an active stylus and want to use Clip Studio Paint (Android) which is an awesome drawing app.

The tablet is said to be able to work with Chromebooks too, but I don't have any Chromebook to test though.

Conclusion

Design and build quality is good. Drawing performance is excellent. Performance is consistent and predictable.

There are only minor issues I noticed.

First, MacOS driver has to be launched each time before the tablet can function. Workaround is to set the driver to launch at login since installation doesn't do that for you.

Second, if you use multiple wireless devices with your computer, you may expect some wireless connection issues.

Third. 10 hours continuous battery life is kinda short to me. If you draw a lot, definitely check out XP-Pen's other wireless tablets that offer longer battery life, e.g. 14 hours with US $69 XP-Pen Star 05 and 16 hours with US $86 XP-Pen Star 06 (one of top three tablets I always recommend), but they are more expensive.

If I want to buy a Deco Mini 7, I may probably go with the wired model.

Pros and cons at a glance
Pros
+ Nice looking design
+ Good build quality
+ Up to 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity
+ Tilt sensitivity support
+ Wireless
+ 8 physical shortcut buttons
+ 10 replacement nibs included
+ Tablet usable while charging
+ Has left-handed mode
+ 5 minutes auto power-off to conserve battery life
+ Works with Android and Chromebook

Cons
- MacOS driver has to be launched manually for tablet to work
- Wireless connection issues with other wireless devices
- 10 hours battery life feels short

Where to buy

At the time of this review, XP-Pen Deco Mini 7 Wireless is US $59 and can be found on XP-Pen's various online stores:

US&CA: https://shrsl.com/2re9z
UK: https://bit.ly/3tANSIS
EU: https://bit.ly/36RNsny
SEA: https://bit.ly/3cQeG1V
PH: https://bit.ly/2MJKMSb
AUS: https://bit.ly/3aOWCme

Tags:

On these days demand of the graphic design is huge, especially in cyber world graphic works are happen in a huge amount. Lots of people doing business by doing graphic design.

From packaging to magazines, websites, and cutting-edge apps, stunning images and stylish visuals drive the modern economy. Whether creating standalone artwork or assets for a larger project, powerful graphic design software is critical for making your ideas stand out. Use the creative industry's go-to graphic design software for art, design, and collaboration to bring your ideas to life. Work where you want, when you want, and share instantly with colleagues and clients.

Computer graphics software refers to a program or collection of programs that enable a person to manipulate images or models visually on a computer.

Computer graphics can be classified into distinct categories: raster graphics and vector graphics, with further 2D and 3d variants .

Raster graphics are those made up of a grid or dot matrix of color or pixels. Common raster file types are .jpg, .png, or .tiff. raster graphics software examples : photoshop , Corel Painter , Affinity Photo , GIMP , Krita , Clip Studio Paint , Medibang Paint , Clip Studio Paint , Sketchbook ......

The type of software for graphic design depends on the area you specialize in, and that of course depends on where your talent and passion lie.

There is not the one best software for graphic design. Depends on what exactly you're looking for. You need more than one.

for example : InDesign for your layouts and everything that contains a lot of text, Illustrator for drawing and logos, infographics and a lot more, Photoshop for photo editing or pixel based illustration, Acrobat for prepress … you get the idea.

Typically in graphic design vector graphics are more widely used. When it comes to photographs and certain shaded graphics however, raster graphics are the better option.

graphic design editor for Vector art

Exploring images in the world of visuals have become a seamless task with Vector graphics. With sophistication and perfectness; you can edit, draw, and modify images, diagrams, and figures by making use of vector graphics software.

The vector graphics software allows users to use mathematical commands to design computer images. It will enable you to create high-definition Illustrations. With vector images, you can create programs without compromising the quality aspect.

Do you know that vector graphics have an unlimited number of uses? From graphic design to page layout along with the freehand illustration users can create high-definition images with this vector graphics art. Among its many uses, printing companies, 3-D graphics, CAD technology are the prime areas where vector images play a more significant role. Also, graphic designers can create precise, scalable, and layered images with this vector graphics technology.

What is a Vector Graphics?

The creation and designing of digital images through a series of commands or mathematical statements that helps in placing lines and shapes in the space of two-dimensional or three-dimensional is known as vector graphics.

In simple terms, it means that vector graphics consist of paths which are defined by the start and endpoint along with other points, curves, and angles. The path can be a line, triangle, curvy shape, or a square. You can make simple or complex drawings with these paths.

Without losing the image quality, you can scale vector-based images to a larger size as they are not made up of dots.

The edges of the object in vector graphics remain smooth and clean. If you want to use non-line art images like digitized photographs or scanned artworks, then you can employ raster graphics.

Raster graphics are pixel-based and to store information they make use of bit maps. But if you want to scale images to different sizes, then the best option is to use vector graphics.

What are the benefits of vector graphics software?

In designing, the main advantages of vector graphics software are as follows:

1. perfect for detailed illustrations;

2. Good Quality;

3. Scalable vector drawings;

4. Good for animation and presentations;

5. Graphics are aesthetically delightful;

6. The file sizeis based on complexity;

7. Easy to creat images;

8. No image distortion;

9. Simple to Re-edit;

10.Occupies less space-fits into smaller file size.

In the market, you will come across various types of Vector Graphic design Software. Some would be commercial, open-source, free or web-based. If you are looking for free and open-source vector graphics software, then I must say that you landed on the right page.

Best software for graphic design - at a glance

1. Adobe Illustrator CC
2. Corel DRAW
3. Affinity Designer
4. Inkscape
5. Gravit Designer
6. Xara Designer Pro X
7. Sketch
8. Serif DrawPlus
9. Vectr
10. SVG-Edit

1. Adobe Illustrator CC

Illustrator is far better suited for vector objects. This is the first software for graphic designers to go to. It is the gold Industry standard. Today, Illustrator remains the standard to which all other vector graphics and illustration software aspires, with an imposing array of pencil, pen and curve tools for creating vector artwork, along with ‘bristle brushes’, ‘scatter art’ and calligraphy tools as well.

If you want to use vector art to create logos, sketches, typography, icons or even complex illustrations for videos or mobile then Illustrator is the tool for you. You can create artwork with seamless alignment by drawing pixel-perfect shapes.

For logo design you would use Adobe Illustrator or another vector program, if your logo style is simple and flat, as most logos are. If you’re just designing logos or certain types of book covers, posters, etc., where there is limited text you can do all that with Illustrator (and Photoshop ).

With Illustrator designing could never be faster. Illustrator comes with its own plugins that help in making a blank web page into a brilliant looking web page. Some plugins are made for older versions of Ai and have a zest of new features for new versions like Creative Cloud, making it an ideal graphic design software.

Adobe now only offers this product on the Creative Cloud (CC) suite, and it isn’t cheap. It might have a powerful feature set, regular updates and be available for both Apple Mac and Windows PC, but the cost is prohibitive for occasional users.

Pros of graphic design software : Touch-type tool is awesome; The Free Transform tool is very simple to use; Great user interface, In-panel editing , Great scalability.

With a xp-pen drawing tablet and the right brush settings in illustrator I was able to replicate my hand drawn art style. Much quicker than with the pen tool, too. And once you're used to the tablet you can start sketching directly from Illustrator .

2. Corel DRAW

You might want to check out CorelDraw, a vector graphics editor, that is hands down one of the most popular Industry Standard editors presently. CorelDraw has some cool productive functions and such an ease of use that no other vector editor can match up to. Corel Draw is OK for Vector Illustration and (at a push) Logo design .

CorelDraw itself is very much a jack-of-all-trades program, combining powerful vector graphics tools with versatile page layout features. As well as simple tools for creating geometric shapes and freehand drawing, the program includes a variety of more sophisticated tools for drawing interconnected lines and curves.

You can create vector-based brush strokes and effects that mimic traditional paint media, and there's an adjustable LiveSketch tool that smoothly converts your freehand drawings into precise vector graphics. You can even apply filters and effects to both vector graphics and imported bitmap images, with each effect stored in a series of non-destructive layers so that you can retrace your steps or create different versions of a single image.

May be few years ago CorelDraw could not compete other Vector drawing and editing software like illustrator, but now CorelDraw is became a versatile & powerful Vector editing application specially its Drawing & layout making tools are very easy & powerful. Almost all problems were being faced in previous version have been fixed. Its other language support specially Right to left typing & setting options is very powerful.

Xp Pen Affinity Designer

The CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is actually a software bundle rather than a single application. The main star, of course, is CorelDRAW itself, which isn't just a vector-drawing package but also includes a desktop publishing feature as well, so you can design projects with a multi-page layout.

the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite offers a veteran range of software that remains very up-to-date, and widening its use to Apple users as well as Windows can only be a plus.

3. Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer will be an attractive and affordable alternative for many designers who don't need the vast – and expensive – array of features offered by Adobe Illustrator. which is especially suitable for someone who is in the early stage of design career. The software is known to work smoothly, which can improve your workflow and make you express your creativity more freely. You can move and zoom your artwork at 60fps; see the gradients, effects, and adjustments changing live along with the transforms and curve edits.

Specifically aimed at professional designers and how they work, this software can handle a very wide scope of design tasks, including web, branding, concept art, typography and even repeating patterns, as you might need on ceramics, wallpaper or soft furnishings.

Affinity Designer lets you work on both vector and raster workspaces, and you can switch between them easily. This software can work on any device, and you can create unlimited artboards within it. Advanced color controls are provided where you can work in RGB , CMYK, Greyscale , or LAB color spaces with up to 32-bits per channel.

You can find a wide range of toolset in the program which can be used to achieve a high level of accuracy and productivity. The grids and guides are fully customizable, where you can change the spacing, sub-divisions, gutters, angles, etc. Another powerful feature of Affinity designer is that you get floating-point accuracy by zooming your artwork, even by more than a million per cent.

Compatible with macOS and Windows. Affinity designer provides a graphic design app for the iPad with the same features offered on the desktop versions.

4. Inkscape

Inkscape seems to be the most popular free software ideal for vector art lovers and graphic designers who use SVG file format . As a GPL licensed app ( same with GIMP ) , along with Windows, Linux and Apple Mac versions, you can also download the source code and compile it for whatever version of Linux you use.

It's a vector design tool that offers broad file support, extensive text manipulation and both Bezier and Spiro curve types. It also has an extension model that allows new features to be easily installed, and there are some amazing ones available ( more developed drawing and path tools. ).

It doesn't matter whether you are a professional or just a person who wants to create vector images for a personal blog. In terms of sketching, coloring or making illustrations Inkscape is very easy to use. With the Ghostscript extension .eps files are easily readable. You can check difference between Inkscape vs Illustrator. Inkscape also comes with awesome features like: Ability to directly edit the source code; Keys to move screen pixels; Edit clones on the canvas; Edit gradients; Fill paint-bucket with one click.

This highly capable editor has a very good SVG integration, supporting many of the more advanced features that aren't always available in other apps – such as alpha blending, cloned objects and markers.

Full support for different colour modes means this is a viable alternative to Illustrator for both print and web design, and although the interface is somewhat simpler than Illustrator, it's still possible to achieve extremely sophisticated artwork. Of particular note is the ability to trace bitmap images, support for variable width strokes and native import of Illustrator files.

Inkscape provides a lot of filters and a helpful community for the designer to grow. It is fairly easy yo use and has a good community if you need some help. I have found I have been able to accomplish everything in Inkscape that I used to do in Adobe Illustrator .

The only reservations I have is that even on a powerful PC it can be slow at times when a complicated process involves rendering. also you should notice that Free software graphics tools such as Inkscape and Gimp don't support CMYK color or have very limited support .

5. Gravit Designer

Gravit Designer is a full-featured vector design app from the company behind Corel Draw. Which is another free graphic design software that can be used to create vector-based designs. You can create logos, edit photos, and create illustrations and animations in this program. Gravit does not have an offline version in the free plan. The software is fully customizable according to the user’s needs. The pro version of Gravit is paid and has more advanced features like advanced export options, offline version, more color space, etc.

Gravit Designer online version is an HTML-based graphic design application to deliver high-quality vector graphics.

Dashboard: The dashboard is easy to navigate and allows to switch between the tabs or switch dark themes instantly easily. Users can also easily set the width and height of the document through the dashboard.

Pages: Its pages feature a perfect blend of artboards and pages that comes with its canvas settings.

Tools and Effects: It offers several tools, including the Bezigon tool, Lasso tools, and Pen tool, among others. It also allows adding multiple fills to an element.

Portability: It offers absolute cross-platform portability for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome OS to enable the designer to work from any machine efficiently.

It offers a modern user interface that is entirely customizable, engaging, and easy to use.

Gravit Designer offers an implicit way to design social media posts for various platforms, including Instagram and Facebook.

It offers natural flexibility through web and desktop versions of the software.

It supports multiple file formats for export as well as import.

It allows editing of scalable vector graphics.

Users get knife and tool support for non-destructive Boolean that makes it a potent tool for user interface design
Designers can easily open multiple documents and go to the papers on the tab.

Its Pro version offers unlimited cloud storage.

Cons:

There is not a lot of information present about the software from official resources.

A real-time collaboration feature is absent.

Designers can't run prototypes on smartphones to find out how would they look.

Fonts need an active internet connection to work.

6. Xara Designer PRO

Xara Designer PRO X or Xara for short is an advanced but easy to use graphic design tool available on Windows. Xara Designer is built for both bitmaps and vectors. That means it can handle DTP (desktop publishing), graphic design, illustration and photo manipulation tasks in a single tool.

The graphic design software provides you with hundreds of template layouts, design elements, and over a million archive photos to get you started quickly. While drawing any shape, lines, or curves using vectors, you would not face any loss in quality when you scale it up. You can create custom design elements and use them in any of your designs. Tools like gradients, outlines, and transparency in the software will give your artwork a special touch.

It has tons of features that make it an amazing graphic design tool and it is available at affordable prices .

PROS:

Easy to use.

Drag and drop features.

Anti-aliasing features that speed up the editing process.

Can zoom up to 25,000% and more.

Capable of syncing files with Dropbox and Google Drive.

Supports importing and exporting Adobe PSD files, including layer support, alpha channel, and 16-bit color and CMYK layer conversion.

Array of tools for drawing, 3D extrude, text handling, blends, page layout, live effects, transparency and feathering, and shadows and contours.

CONS:

Only available for Windows.

Its advanced features are sometimes hard to use.

The masking feature is cumbersome and difficult to understand.

7. Sketch

Sketch is a Mac-only vector graphic design program that focuses mainly on digital design. These digital designs are used to create websites, apps, and interfaces. Unlike Photoshop, Sketch isn’t built for photo editing or print work.

With Sketch, you can create a prototype by collaborating with other designers on the platform itself. The program has a smart layout feature in which the component will automatically resize based on the content. There are hundreds of plugins in the software which will let you do vector editing and other design work with precision down to the pixel.

Digital icons are another thing that can be created through this software. Sketch, on the downside, is not great for print design or illustrations.

Sketch is focused on screen design, specifically creating the icons and interface elements for websites and applications. And, as the software is exclusively available for the Apple Mac, mostly designers working on iPhone, iPad and macOS applications are going to find it useful.

That said, it can be used more generally, but its strength is creating slick user interfaces.

Xp Pen Affinity Designer Software

8. Serif DrawPlus

Serif DrawPlus is a 2D vector graphics editor and animation software. Whether it’s banner ads or rollover-graphic web-buttons, you can embed them with HTML no problem.

What makes the software interesting is the interactive, easy-to-use interfaces. Serif DrawPlus has a variety of tools that allow designers to create logos, animations, posters and much more. Serif DrawPlus is available for Windows only.

Serif DrawPlus provides realistic, natural brushes with vector editing capabilities. The program offers a good array of painting “techniques:” charcoal, pastel, watercolor, and even spray-brushes let you augment photos or create something from scratch.

DrawPlus also lets you add a touch of 3D to your drawings; you can apply surface effects and lighting effects to make your creation come to life.

9. Vectr

Vectr is free, intuitive, simple,yet powerful to perform vector graphics editing tool. It is used by bloggers, digital marketers and website designers. It can be business cards, logos, posters, brochures, etc.

Available both as a browser-based web app and as a stand-alone desktop app, Vectr is a free editor for creating 2D vector graphics. With all the vector features you'd expect, plus a wealth of options for using filters, shadows and fonts, it's versatile enough for day-to-day design tasks.

Its live collaboration and synchronisation options are particularly handy, as they essentially enable anyone to watch you design, live, meaning it's really easy to create in tandem or send feedback.

PROS:

Handy and easy for new users of vector

User friendly interface

Xp Pen Affinity Designer Download

CONS:

Limited templates for users

It’s mostly best for simple tasks and small projects.

10. SVG-Edit

SVG-edit is the grandfather of browser-based vector editors having been around since the mid-2000's. It has no server-side functionality, running solely in the browser – you can't save your work without adding your own functionality to the app.

It is a cross-browser javascript graphic design tool. SVG-Edit consists of two interfaces, which include svgcanvas.js and svg-editor.js. These two components work mutually to create effective vector graphics.

Nevertheless, for an editor that began life as a fairly limited and unremarkable vector paint program, SVG-edit’s functionality has continually improved over time.

Xp Pen Affinity Designer Free

With SVG-edit you can draw the standard shapes (lines, rectangle, circles, polygons, freehand, etc.), use paths, layers, and gradients, view and edit SVG source, export to PNG, JPEG, BMP, WEBP and more. and provides a range of editing tools to select from, such as shaping tools, pathing tools, a text editor, as well as hand drawing tools.

Xp Pen Affinity Designer Pro

What's more – as the tool is open source, there are new features being added all the time. Yet despite this, the tool still has a relatively low learning curve with a clear interface and allows you to export in both raster and vector formats.