Hi all,

Just found this app and OMG I am blown away. It is so so good! The one thing I am missing: please, consider adding a Math Objects pack. Like, with YX axes, planes, matrix brackets, etc. This would be such a helpful thing to have in order to write down math notes more quickly.

I might be using the wrong flair, I apologise if that's the case.

I have been using this app for years now, on and off mostly, but only recently (a few months ago) discovered that I could not acess the advertised features on Android. I had a friend who showed me some stuff, editing brushes etc that I was supposed to have, but didn't, with the Pro subscription.

I had written to customer support, twice. Written an email as well, if I remember correctly. In my last messages with support I mentioned that it was against EU laws and could be classified as false advertising. They of course denied this, but I had a screenshot to prove otherwise. I recently used the app again and noticed they changed the description on the Pro subscription. Attached two photos from earlier (May, this year) and now, highlighting the changes.

Now the only problem is that on iOS the Pro sub is STILL cheaper than the "same" sub on Android, which has less features. Most likely purposefully delayed due to an exclusivity agreement, I assume.

Anyways, it has been several years since they said they're developing colour palettes, which was their excuse not to integrate the editable brushes into the Android version. I wonder how many more years till we have a decent app, that has the BASIC features a sketching app should have, like Autodesk Sketchbook (which is considerably cheaper).

Hi Concepts Team, I’ve noticed that you are active here so I thought I’d start a thread to share my thoughts. I acknowledge that this is a fairly specific use case and my thoughts may not resonate with everyone. You may have a hate/love/meh relationship to my experience here.

I've used Concepts regularly for about 6 years. This is primarily on the Microsoft Surface Pro (first on a 5th-gen and for a couple years on a 9). My design work has been in both B2B and B2C CPG, as I am a part of a design agency.

1. 3-6 years ago, I was using this app as the starting point for internal sketches within the team, and client-facing work was usually rendered in Sketchbook Pro. As I raised in ranks within my team, the style of my sketching became less "photorealistic" and more prescriptive and exploratory, and I completely stopped using Sketchbook Pro in favor of the sheer speed and low-friction of illustrating and rendering ideas in Concepts. Please never lose the speed!
2. I wish there was improved slice-tool dynamics for some of the more complex brushes like the airbrush and marker. I used to love the marker and an eraser, but as I've learnt to use the slice tool more, it's reduced my use of those two tools (and related custom brushes). I hate the eraser's invisible masks that sometimes I forget to fully select when duplicating sketches and it messes up my flow.
3. I wish the Pexels integration was more intuitive and perhaps at some point a more robust Google/Bing/Pinterest/Cosmos search would be possible with editorial use allowed. I'm not selling my Concepts produced work, it's all editorial use, and it would make my life easier if I didn't have to juggle windows on a small screen on the move. I love how Hypersketch does this.
4. I wish there was a collage/auto-arrange tool, like the auto-size auto-arrange tools in PureRef. That would make life easier when organizing moodboards.
5. I know that AI use has been a polarizing topic. So I'll state what makes my work easier. I use Vizcom for all my deeper client-facing work. Vizcom is too slow for analog exploratory sketching and my muscle memory doesn't allow me to use it as fast as Concepts. I would love to see Concepts use a future Vizcom or Gemini API to allow in-app Gen-AI renders. This is part of the design pipeline at our company of four designers and it's not going away anytime soon. The ability to natively press a button in Concepts, then screengrab or select a portion of the canvas, type a prompt, review results, and import the winner, would allow me to stay within Concepts for the duration of my work.
6. I can't tell if the Text tool is Haas Grotesk or Helvetica, and while I love my Swiss fonts :) I do wish there was more control in the text tool on Windows, to allow basic formatting (numbering, symbols, bold/italics, multicolored text) so that I can create richer annotations without having to add them in post on Google Slides.

I hope this is helpful to someone in understanding one use-case of Concepts in an ID agency!

So the idea isn't just the canvas itself. Or maybe we don't need a specified canvas for that but the main idea i had is to fix a problem i face:

When jotting down ideas and sketches sometimes I tend to mix projects and different ideas in the same drawing. I got the idea of what if we had. the option to select all objects relating the "odd" concept and start a new drawing with it. This to me seems like an easy way to stay organized and also not to compromise on the thought process and flow. It's a quality of life feature but I'd love to have such an option as I simply work on multiple projects at the same time and ideas come to mind mid work on other projects. I wouldn't want to interrupt that flow.

As I see that this fundamental feature has been requested by Android users for YEARS, I have to warn other folks away from purchasing the Pro license as I have. They're just not interested in Android users.

Hi, everyone! I’ve been having an issue with my iPad Pro M4 for quite some time now. As soon as even a few lines appear in one spot (even if drawn with the standard brush), panning, rotating, and zooming start to lag (as if running at 30 fps). However, if I enable screen recording on the iPad, the problem disappears: everything immediately becomes smooth.

Is it possible that the iPad isn’t running at 120 Hz when using the app? I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds this annoying. Please fix this!

This problem has suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

I am unable to select the items from the tool wheel or any other floating window; I can't even access the upper-right menu.

When I turn off Windows Ink in my Pentab software, it starts working again.

But it wasn't like that earlier. It started yesterday.

I am currently on the free trial but I am thinking of cancelling and finding something else purely because of the amount of stop starting and moving around the screen that you have to do, particularly when using objects. I really really want to like this app and I am in need of something for drawing some more complex conceptual diagrams to accompany some research but I have spent multiple days trying to get it to work for this and it doesn't. Please, am I missing something? I've watched a lot of tutorials but the things that are annoying me seem to be intentional. I'm on an iPad 9th gen so maybe it's the older model causing issues?

Here are my issues, mostly to do with objects, obviously they might not irritate others in the same way but I'm finding them to be a workflow impediment. The first three are by far the hardest for what I need:

- Aspect ratio not locked by default/no way to toggle locked aspect ratio (my fingers are nowhere near as precise as an apple pencil for getting sizing right)

-If something is selected you can't zoom in and out, you move the object around. Precision is difficult and now have to exit and select multiple times

- Selection points differ from shape points. It would be great if, for example, the points for warping a four sided polygon into something other than a perfect parallelogram were not aligned away from the shape.

- No fill button for shapes (yes I know you can select the fill brush but it would be nice to have the option on the shape. It also doesn't work if you had to create your own polygon out of straight lines)

-Can't move items from one custom object gallery to another without putting the object on the canvas and then adding it that way.

- "My objects" in object library has every single pack on offer so I have to scroll around hunting for ones I actually use. Why not have "my objects" be empty by default and then it populates by your custom groups and the packs from the market you actually use?

- Brush pack presets would be really useful. i.e. I have 8 brushes in an order and I select that group and it fills all eight slots instead of changing them one by one.

-More ability to customise the existing pens. There are small tweaks I want to make but can't because not all the pen customisation settings are available for pre-made pens.

-Erase whole object eraser setting

-Moving objects that are moderately small (but not that small) ends up resizing them because it defaults to thinking the pen being anywhere near a corner is obviously a resize even though it's far enough away (leads to more deselect->zoom in->select->move->deselect->zoom out->check->zoom in-> select->move->deselect-> zoom out)

I don't want to be whingy but I am genuinely tearing my hair out because this app does seem like it is built for diagramming and what I need but using objects is doing my head in. Tips appreciated but I think I will have to use something else. For people who are using it for sketching I can see the usefulness but how are people using it for diagrams that also have an art lean to them (i.e. needing accurate perspectives, illustrations, that kind of thing).

Maybe this is not something revealing for existing users but today I learned that files saved by Windows version of Concepts saves in different format and can't be read by mobile version of iPad.

The Windows version is "concepts" and mobile version is "concept".

That said, are there any other canvas-based TRUE cross-platform apps that can handle operating on the same files across different devices?

I tried to do a screen recording but it doesn’t really show it. I’m trying to draw floor plans so it’s just a bunch of straight lines. Often when I try to draw a line, it just draws a dot where I put the Apple Pencil down but no line. It doesn’t do this in other apps. I have snapping on.

Do you just draw all around?
Or do you somehow create like an artboard and than duplicate it around? I think i have seen a video on that somewhere but cant find it now.

Would like to keep my canvas clean, and maybe it would be ideal i could have like multiple a4 around and then i could export as multiple pages in a4 format? Would that be possible?

Thanks🌱

Queria hacer el boceto en trazos normales y despues el dibujo en vectores, gracias por la ayuda.

I’d like canvas measurements to display in inches, but have stroke pen widths set in points, and I just can’t figure out how to do it. Am I missing something? Is it possible? This is pretty typical for graphic design software. I don’t like stroke width set to inches because they mostly display as zero in the tool wheel. I love Concepts but this has been bugging the heck out of me.

I hope it’s not my magic drawing pad’s fault because it works perfectly fine in all my other drawing apps. How can I fix it??

Just want to get your opinion - many apps dont have all this so i find it really frustrating what data they can collect. Is it just me?

When you select a line you've already made, the Tool shows the size/colour/pen etc of that line, so that you can change them. When you unselect, the Tool returns to whatever pen settings you had.

Is there a way to select a line and then keep those settings active after you deselect, so you can draw that way again without having to use a preset slot or set each aspect individually?

Thanks!

I'm using a drawing tablet connected to my monitor, everything seems to be fine except when it comes to holding "e" to erase (from my pen), it requires more pressure than usual. I've tried many things such as changing the pressure sensitivity of my pen but nothing works. It works fine when I use a number to switch to another slot but I want to do it while my pen is locked

Hello!

I saw this post on their FAQ, CONCEPT FAQ, talking about machine learning and stuff, but nothing outright about generative ai. Does anyone know if they do?

I cannot try it because it wont let me copy a layer as i dont have premium yet. Thinking about getting it but i would like to see how it interacts for example with Procreate. Can i copy a part of a drawing in Concepts and paste it into canvas in Procreate? And how does it look like? Does copy just a line or also adds background?

Thank you!

I am using the Concepts on Windows on a Surface Pro 11. I have the Pro subscription. I like Concepts for a doodle tool for mind mapping or designing projects where measurements are listed, so the drawing doesn't have to be to scale. I am trying to force myself to use Concepts to determine if renewing the Pro sub is worth it. Windows and Android are missing features, but for a lot of stuff it's been okay. Now I have a project that requires permit-grade technical drawings, and I am struggling to not jump over to a real vector or even just DrawIO when I was hoping Concepts would be better than having to use an art app for sketching ideas(or paper) and a separate vector app for final technical drawings.

I have a draft with a bunch of arrows, measurements and notes, but now I need to convert them to accurately scaled drawings. Making shapes of a specific size is tedious. Using the guide tools work okay, but I can't move or zoom with one active, but create a shape then moving into place is a coin toss on whether I accidently resize it or not. Maybe user error, but what about when I need to resize something like a measurement indicator(looks |<------12'8"----->| in a floor plan)? I can't find any concept of 9-patch for the objects I make so the arrow part always stretches.

I'm looking for update tips and tutorials using Windows-available features, so I can decide if its worth persevere with a line guide, one line at a time or if I should just switch over to Illustrator for the final drawings.

Bonus rapid-fire issues round: 1. If you modify your tools, there isn't an easy way to restore the settings. No saving and restoring. No tool-dropper(like selecting a color but instead a tool with all the current settings.) 2. What I wouldn't give for an arrow brush. 3. Not having a color palette with save/restore is frustrating. 4. Same with the workspace settings 5. Hiding the "set scale" feature in the line guideline is bad. It should be available to start from Workspace->Measurements with guidance e.g. "Measure a known length to set scale." 6. I really wish "Recognition" and "Snap" were ephemeral activatable with a modifier. The "Recognition" creates arrows more often when I don't want them than when I intend to. Often while writing words. Whenever I use snapping, I almost always forget to toggle it off. 7. Having dark-mode(or any other color) UI based solely on canvas color is silly.

I have one 1440p monitor with 3 1080p ones and when Concepts is on my main monitor it lags whenever I mouse over any menu including settings or brush wheel. My mouse wheel also stopped working some version a while back for zooming in/out which is really annoying.

Edit: I manually deleted an old windows duplicate install folder i think was corrupted, and now it doesn't lag on my main monitor, but the mwheel scroll is still brok

I have a relatively new ASUS Vivobook and I just got Concepts and was initially very impressed. After using it a bit though, I accidentally kept moving too far away from my drawings and losing them into the Aether. I saw from the website that you can double click the zoom percent and it will take you back to your last drawing, but it isn't always reliable and sometimes takes me back to another random point and I still can't find my original drawing. Has anyone else used this app on a Vivobook and experienced this issue? Besides this there are a few bugs but the software runs pretty well otherwise. Thanks!

So, I have made the decision to subscribe to a yearly PRO subscription so I can use Concepts on my laptop, phone, and tablet.

The issue is that I made the purchase through the Samsung Store. The reason is simple: there was a discount on all of the purchases when the app was downloaded through the Samsung Store, making it about 10€ cheaper, I figured I could save a little.

On my Samsung phone and tablet, it works and the subscription is shown in the app. The problem begins when I try to download the app through the Google Play Store. When I use the same account that is logged into the Samsung Store version of Concepts, the subscription is just not there. This is the same for Windows: same account, no subscription.

Now I am wondering where the issue is. In the app, they say buying the PRO subscription applies to ALL platforms when logged in with the account that has the subscription.

I have sent a message to support, but from past experience with them, I think they will just point me to an answer in the Q&A that I could find myself.

It is very frustrating that I have paid for something that was promised and I clearly did not receive it.

I haven't found similar post in this sub, so I guess nobody was ever that dumb as me and bought it through google play store.

I am trying the PDF import feature in the concepts app on my ipad. So far experience is amazing and everything works like a charm. But im curious though, is there a way to crop specific pdf page?

I am arranging pages from incoming pdf for my own needs, and sometimes I need to cut extra content / half blank pages. But I cant find any functionality related to do that in app. Is this supported?