# Camera Lucida™: AR Drawing — Masterful drawing in minutes! > AR drawing app that superimposes reference images onto your drawing surface. (iPhone/iPad app by Camera Lucida.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/camera-lucida-ar-drawing/id362499096 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Camera Lucida](https://appshunter.io/developer/1738527998) - Category: Graphics & Design, Education - Price: $14.99 with in-app purchases - Rating: 4.80/5 from 1,947 App Store ratings · 272 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 12.0 · 55 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2010-03-20 - Data updated: 2026-08-31 - Monetization: paid - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/camera-lucida-ar-drawing/id362499096/reviews.md ## What is Camera Lucida™? Draw Like a Pro with Camera Lucida™: AR Drawing One-Time Purchase: No subscriptions! Buy it once and use on your devices. Enhance Your Art Skills: Whether you're sketching with a pencil or painting with a brush, Camera Lucida™ helps you become a better artist. Unmatched Functionality: With 12+ years of development, Camera Lucida™ offers features that no competitor can match. Create stunning physical art using your iPhone or iPad's camera. Simply point your device at your drawing surface, and watch the screen to see your reference image superimposed over your work. It's more versatile than a light table, better than a projector, and easier to use than a traditional Camera Lucida™. How It Works: Place your iPhone or iPad between your eyes and your drawing surface. The app shows a virtual image on your screen, guiding your hand as you draw. This clever method makes it easy and fun to create detailed art. Top Features: • Buy it once for lifetime use. • Advanced Image Filters: See with an artist's eye. • Zoom in Lock: For ultra detailed drawing. • Session Save & Restore: Automatically realign your camera, sketch, and reference image. • Full Color Palette Control: Use your own paints, markers, and more. • Camera Adjustments: Use your device camera and adjust for different setups manually or with an in-app purchase to auto-adjust. • Time-Lapsed Recordings: Share your drawing process on social media. • Advanced Tools: Vertical split screen sliders, timed image fading, and more. • Video Tutorials: Watch tutorials within the app or on YouTube. • Comprehensive User Manual: Accessible from within the app. • Reliable Customer Support: Plus, an active user community for inspiration. • External USB Camera Support: For USB-C equipped iPads running iOS 17. Easy Setup: Secure your iPhone or iPad above your drawing surface using common household items like a stack of books or a vase. Tutorials are included to help you get started. Contact: For any questions or support, email cameralucida@bigidesign.com. ## Key features - AR image superposition for drawing - Advanced image filters - Zoom lock for detail - Session save and restore - Time-lapsed recording - External USB camera support ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: $14.99. **One-time purchases** | Purchase | Price | Type | | --- | --- | --- | | Auto-Correct For Perspective | $4.99 | one-time | ## Chart rankings - #10 in Top Paid · Graphics & Design (US App Store) ## What do users think of Camera Lucida™? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Great drawing aid - 👍 Easy to use - 💡 Helpful for improving drawing skills - 🚀 Saves time in drawing - 👍 Accurate proportions and perspective - 💡 Useful for cookie/cake decorating - 👍 Excellent customer support **Cons** - 🐛 Difficult to set up and use at first - 🐛 Occasional issues with image alignment - 🐛 Needs a stand or mount to work properly **Commonly reported bugs** - Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions - Occasional crashes or freezes **Most requested features** - Ability to draw larger images - More camera settings and controls - Integration with other art apps ## Recent user reviews (10 of 272) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/camera-lucida-ar-drawing/id362499096/reviews.md ### 5/5 — Love Camera Lucida! *2026-07-21, version 17.1* Very Easy to use and makes short work of big projects! ### 1/5 — Kind of pointless *2026-02-24, version 17.1* Nothing works, doesn’t recognize the Apple Pencil. Does not allow you to draw on pictures. ### 5/5 — The best *2026-02-15, version 17.1* I use this app frequently and it works perfectly. Excellent customer support and a great Facebook group ### 1/5 — Alghdry *2026-01-29, version 17.1* Just stole money this program is not working 👎 ### 5/5 — Great find!! *2025-11-03, version 17.1* I am a watercolor/colored pencil artist who has always “eyeballed” my drawings for painting. I’m not too bad at it but had to spend long hours getting dimensions and perspectives right on buildings and other mechanical or architectural structures. Recently, I was commissioned for the first time to paint a house which took hours just to draw making my pay next to nothing for the work I put in. I was really pleased with the painting and did another as a gift for a friend. This time I purchased an art projector to make the drawing go faster but the projected image was terrible for detail and again I spent way too much time hand drawing the house. I searched for a faster way to draw these types of images to sell and to give more gifts like these and discovered Camera Lucida. Wow! After watching the training videos and purchasing a $17 iPad bed stand from Amazon to hold the iPad above the canvas, I had a great tool! I finished drawing the third house for painting with every small detail perfect in about an hour and a half instead of five or six hours going back and forth with a small ruler from a blown up photo to my canvas (on an 12x16” piece of watercolor paper). Now I feel like I can make money by spending much less time drawing these. Thank you, Camera Lucida, for such a great tool! ### 1/5 — how does it work? *2025-06-19, version 17.1* Either higher learning curve than expected or doesn’t work as advertised. Can’t get the mirror trick to work and flashlight doesn’t seem to work. Also so far haven’t gotten it to connect with my laptop. ### 4/5 — Very Helpful (and smaller than the old machines!) *2025-04-12, version 17.1* I’ve used this kind of equipment years ago, but it was the size of a phone booth (if you know what that is). Haha. You do need some sort of tripod or bracket to use this but how else would you? I just transferred a sketch from a notebook to paper with it and it worked great. The app styling is very “early iPhone” and I’d like to see it updated but it works well and has been maintained. The in app purchase sounds helpful. I found the controls under the camera icon. You have to print out a paper for the camera to register its perspective. I admit I bought this one because the other apps were expensive subscriptions. 👍🏻 I’m not disappointed at all. ### 5/5 — Excited *2025-03-27, version 17.1* Thank you Pete for what looks like, in my observation of this app, to be something that will bring me tons of pleasure to my already artistic journey. ### 5/5 — Easy to Use *2025-03-14, version 17.1* Just what I needed to check my freehand drawing! So easy to use too ### 5/5 — Drawing *2025-03-10, version 17.1* Best app ever used ## Frequently asked questions about Camera Lucida™ ### What does Camera Lucida™: AR Drawing do? Camera Lucida™: AR Drawing uses your device's camera to project a reference image onto your drawing surface. This allows you to trace or draw along with the superimposed image, helping you create detailed artwork with ease. ### What are the key features of this app? Key features include AR image superposition, advanced image filters, zoom lock for detailed work, session saving and restoring, time-lapsed recordings of your drawing process, and support for external USB cameras on compatible devices. ### How much does Camera Lucida™: AR Drawing cost? The app is a one-time purchase, meaning you buy it once and have lifetime use across your devices. There are no subscriptions involved. Some advanced camera adjustments may require an in-app purchase. ### What devices is Camera Lucida™: AR Drawing compatible with? The app is designed for iPhone and iPad. It specifically mentions support for USB-C equipped iPads running iOS 17 for external USB camera functionality. ### Who would benefit from using this app? This app is ideal for anyone looking to enhance their drawing and painting skills, from beginners to experienced artists. It's particularly useful for those who want a modern, easy-to-use alternative to traditional drawing aids like light tables or projectors. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 17.1 — 2024-07-06 The professional choice for assisted drawing! Version 17.1 has been recompiled to take advantage of the newest iOS 17 features, and some minor graphic designs have been updated including a new app icon. ### 17.0 — 2024-03-28 The professional choice for assisted drawing! Version 17.0 has been recompiled to take advantage of the newest iOS 17 features. To ensure operational interoperability of functionality dual-device support and "levelize" filtering has been removed from this version. ### 16.1 — 2023-12-09 The professional choice for assisted drawing! Still no subscriptions! Purchase it once and everyone in your family can run it on every device they own! Camera Lucida 16.x brings support for all USB enabled web cams and document scanners. By using an external camera, you can place your camera and you iPad where it's the most convenient for you! What a great way to create large art! This *does* require a USB-C iPad running iOS 17.0 or higher. This version also adds a host of undo and redo features including a complete history. Plus, you can create your own custom image filters for use later! There's also simplifications to the user interface, a new guided tour feature and lots of little improvements requested by the users such as the ability to tap on the user manual table of contents and jump to that section. (The user manual is now over 50 pages long and filled with graphics, tips, etc.) ### 16.0 — 2023-11-01 The professional choice for assisted drawing! Still no subscriptions! Purchase it once and everyone in your family can run it on every device you own! Camera Lucida 16.x brings support for all USB enabled web cams and document scanners. By using an external camera, you can place your camera and you iPad where it's the most convenient for you! What a great way to create large art! This *does* require a USB-C iPad running iOS 17.0 or higher. This version also adds a host of undo and redo features including a complete history. Plus, you can create your own custom image filters for use later! There's also simplifications to the user interface, a new guided tour feature and lots of little improvements requested by the users such as the ability to tap on the user manual table of contents and jump to that section. (The user manual is now over 50 pages long and filled with graphics, tips, etc.) ### 15.3 — 2023-01-23 Wow! Wow! Wow! It keeps getting better! Version 15.3 brings support for iOS 16.x and Apple's new front center landscape camera found on the new iPad 10! With version 15.3 you can now use multiple iOS devices at the same time and stream the video from one device to another! (Requires iOS 10.3 or higher to receive video.) With this capability you can easily create enormous art, even murals. Or perhaps you just want to draw more comfortably with your large iPad screen in front of you and your iPhone's camera poised about your drawing surface. It's up to you! If you are on the fence about which drawing app to get, be sure to read the functionality list and the reviews! No other app comes close! Version 15.3 also contains many changes to take advantage of iOS 16 features. ## Apps similar to Camera Lucida™ | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Sketchbook®](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sketchbook/id883738213) | 4.8 (220,344) | Free | Graphics & Design | | [AR Drawing How to Draw Sketch](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ar-drawing-how-to-draw-sketch/id6451340162) | 4.7 (23,927) | Free | Graphics & Design | | [Tayasui Watercolor & Painting](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tayasui-watercolor-and-painting/id671867510) | 4.6 (5,019) | Free | Graphics & Design | | [Sketchar: AR Drawing App](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sketchar-ar-drawing-app/id1221482822) | 4.2 (9,709) | Free | Graphics & Design | | [Drawing App: Doodle Draw Pad](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/drawing-app-doodle-draw-pad/id1503601939) | 4.5 (45,948) | Free | Graphics & Design | | [Drawing Desk: Sketch Paint Art](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/drawing-desk-sketch-paint-art/id1262785828) | 4.3 (15,126) | Free | Graphics & Design | ## Related topics [camera effects drawing](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/camera-effects-drawing) · [camera lucida](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/camera-lucida) · [camera obscura](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/camera-obscura) · [lucida studio mobile](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/lucida-studio-mobile) · [drawing picture camera](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/drawing-picture-camera) · [lucida](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/lucida) · [3d camera draw](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/3d-camera-draw) · [photo camera drawing](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/photo-camera-drawing) · [picture to drawing changes](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/picture-to-drawing-changes) · [ar camera drawing](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/ar-camera-drawing) --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-31.*