Tool for using iPad as RealTime "Chalkboard" on MacOS?

Question

Due to Covid-19 I'm holding my lectures as webinar from my iMac (WebEx, Zoom, ...). Meanwhile my setup works, but there is one thing I miss a lot: Drawing sketches in front of the class while I talk about it.

Now, that I own an iPad + Pencil I'm looking for any Mac app that would allow me to

• sketch on the iPad (simple, symbolic stuff, just like scribbles on a white board)
• while talking on the conference software
• see my drawing in a window on the Mac in (kind of...) real time (I can put on the shared screen of my conference software)

Any ideas?

[Edit: iMac 27“ 2020, iPad Air 4 (2020), Pencil 2)]

Answer 1

Thanks to the keyword "Airplay", that Morgan Rogers dropped, I found another way I want to document here (but maybe someone still has a better idea ;-) ):

I remembered there was an app called X-Mirage that works as an airplay receiver app for MacOS. So I can set up X-Mirage as a Airplay receiver and send from the iPad from any sketching App I choose (Notability looks promising). A short test setup was very promising.

This way I am totally independent of

• the choice of sketching app on the iPad
• the choice of conference software (as long as it can share my mac screen)

Answer 2

The best tool I have found for this is the iPad app Notability (I am not affiliated, I am a math professor who is also giving all lectures on Zoom). When I share the screen in Zoom (on my Mac), I am able to select "iPad over AirPlay" as the source for the share.

Notability has a "presentation mode" where you can see the UI to select colors, tools, etc. but it broadcasts through the screen share with the UI hidden (in essentially real time). Zoom works really nice here, your video is broadcast on the side of your "whiteboard" surface.

Notability has some nice tools, and works really well with the pencil (I am using an older iPad pro with the first gen pencil). You can use it to simply draw, you can have it do shape recognition and clean up stuff like rectangles, circles, triangles, etc, options to do straight lines. I am using it for my math classes and like it a lot.

Answer 3

Astropad lets you use your iPad as a monitor for you Mac that you can "draw" on with your stylus.

There are integrations for a few apps built in, otherwise it can simulate mouse clicks / movement.

Answer 4

Since Notability has been mentioned in a previous post it is fair to give GoodNotes 5 (V5.8) a chance. I am also in a similar situation (as the OP) and I use GoodNotes for years (even before Covid-19) not only for my lectures. I use it for meetings, calculations, etc. almost for everything - in fact, I do not need any real paper. Long calculations within a split mode where you can see different parts of the same (or even different) paper are no problem at all.

Actually, GoodNotes together with the brand new 12' iPad Pro was a change in my workflow.

In contrast to Notability, in GoodNotes you have the option to move and change folders and papers to other folders/places (nested folder structure). And yes, GoodNotes has also a presentation mode with various laser pointer options, etc.

In my opinion one of the best apps for the iPad (actually it is also a Editors' choice).

Just check it out and compare.

Answer 5

Reflector 4

I wanted an app that allows me to

• Real time sharing of iPad screen to the Mac
• Easily move the "iPad" window around in the Mac
• Do just one time purchase (no subscriptions!)

Reflector 4 was perfect for this:

https://www.airsquirrels.com/reflector

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated in any way.