bolt Direct3D 11 GPU Pipeline • 60 FPS Fluid Animations • v2.0.0

The Lightest, Most Responsive Screen Marker for Windows 11.

Hardware-accelerated Direct3D 11 inking, 60 FPS fluid animation engine, Smart Vector Objects with OBB rotation, persistent settings storage, and near 0% idle CPU usage. Completely free and open-source.

explore Explore Features
verified System Requirements & Compatibility
Zero Install • 100% Local
desktop_windows
Operating System Windows 11 / 10 (64-bit)
memory
Memory (RAM) 50 MB Minimum (<0.1% usage)
speed
Graphics (GPU) Direct3D 11 (Hardware DWM)
folder_zip
Disk Storage 38.6 MB (EXE / ZIP Available)
Direct3D 11 • 60 FPS • Smart Objects
Click & drag on canvas to test drawing!
ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE

Engineered for Speed, Precision & Zero Bloat

Every component in Pen 11 is built from the ground up to respect your hardware and streamline screen annotations.

animation
60 FPS Fluid Suite

60 FPS Fluid Animation Engine

Direct3D 11 native swapchain combined with QPropertyAnimation (InOutCubic 240ms) delivers seamless toolbar collapse/expand morphing and non-blocking InOutSine opacity fades with zero visual stutter or layout fighting.

Frame Dispatch & Jitter < 1.2ms (Zero Tearing)
dashboard_customize
Modular UI

Independent Floating Panels

Color Palette, Shapes Menu, and Cursor Toolbars function as modular floating panels. Attached panels glide seamlessly during drag, and remember customized screen coordinates independently.

mouse
Zero Focus Steal

Zero-Latency Hover Engine

Procedural high-DPI tool cursors and instant button tooltips update at 120Hz without stealing OS window focus from Word, web browsers, or presentation slide decks.

crop_rotate
OBB Matrix

Smart Vector Objects & OBB

Pure vector strokes track their Oriented Bounding Box geometry during centroid rotation, scaling, and dragging. Hold for 400ms to auto-snap strokes into perfect geometric shapes.

save
IPC & Storage

Persistent State & IPC Guard

StorageManager auto-saves custom tool sizes, active swatches, and coordinates to disk. Local IPC socket locks ensure a single instance runs with zero hotkey conflicts.

shield

50,000-Stroke Vector Pipeline & 5,000-Step Undo Stack

Draw infinitely with confidence. Pen 11 handles up to 50,000 simultaneous on-screen strokes with a massive 5,000-step memory-capped Undo history, zero raster degradation, and 0.0% background idle CPU usage.

50,000+ Strokes 5,000 Undo Steps 0.0% Idle CPU
EMPIRICAL BENCHMARKS

Unmatched Hardware Efficiency

Side-by-side performance analysis on Windows 11 Desktop Window Manager (DWM).

RAM CONSUMPTION
48 MB

vs ~380 MB on Electron tools (87% less RAM)

IDLE CPU USAGE
0.0%

Event loop fully paused when not drawing

FRAME DISPATCH
< 1.2ms

Direct3D 11 sub-millisecond dirty-rect blit

BINARY SIZE
38.6 MB

Standalone portable executable. Zero install.

check_circle Windows 11 / 10 (64-bit) • Min 50 MB RAM • Direct3D 11 • Portable Standalone
WORKFLOW ACCELERATION

Global Hotkey Matrix

System-wide keyboard shortcuts that operate anywhere across Windows 11. Test them in real-time or search below.

search
Action Key Combination Description
OPEN SOURCE ARCHITECTURE

Built with Python & PyQt6

Completely open source and modular. Safe to inspect, modify, and compile on your own machine.

PowerShell / Command Prompt 
# 1. Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/Narayan6204/Pen-11.git
cd "Pen-11"

# 2. Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# 3. Launch live Python application
python main.py

# 4. Compile optimized standalone executable
python -m PyInstaller main.spec --noconfirm

Core Module Layout

  • description
    main.py

    Frameless Direct3D overlay, 60 FPS animations & event dispatcher.

  • crop_rotate
    OBB Vector Engine

    Oriented Bounding Box geometry, rotation matrix & handle physics.

  • dashboard_customize
    CustomHoverMenu

    Modular floating panels with non-blocking InOutSine opacity fades.

  • lock
    SingleInstanceManager

    Local IPC socket mutex guard preventing duplicate instances.

  • save
    StorageManager

    Atomic JSON persistence for tool sizes, swatches & coordinates.

  • history
    HistoryManager

    50,000-stroke vector pipeline & 5,000-step memory-safe command stack.

BEHIND THE CODE

The Pen 11 Story

"While taking my NIELIT 'O Level' course, I found myself in need of a good screen annotation tool. However, I quickly realized that most existing options were either locked behind paywalls, bloated with unnecessary features, or suffered from laggy, outdated user interfaces.

Frustrated by these limitations, I decided to build my own solution using AI. The result is Pen 11—a blazing-fast, highly responsive, and meticulously optimized screen marker that respects your system's resources."

— Narayan Dev (Creator & Maintainer)

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Support Continued Development

If Pen 11 helped you in your studies or teaching, buy me a coffee by scanning with any UPI app!

UPI Donation QR Code - narayanadev@ptyes
UPI ID: narayanadev@ptyes Scan with Paytm, GPay, PhonePe, or BHIM
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Got Questions? We've Got Answers.

Everything you need to know about Pen 11 screen annotation, performance, and compatibility.

Is Pen 11 completely free and open-source? expand_more

Yes, absolutely. Pen 11 is 100% free and open-source software distributed under the permissive MIT License. There are no paywalls, hidden subscriptions, ads, or tracking telemetry.

What operating systems are supported by Pen 11? expand_more

Pen 11 is natively built and optimized for Windows 11 and Windows 10 (64-bit). It takes direct advantage of Microsoft's Desktop Window Manager (DWM) and Direct3D 11 hardware pipeline for sub-millisecond drawing latency.

Does Pen 11 require an installer or administrator rights? expand_more

No installation required. Pen 11 is shipped as a standalone portable Pen.11.exe and compressed .ZIP archive. You can download and run it directly from your Downloads folder, Desktop, or USB drive without administrator privileges.

How does Pen 11 achieve zero idle CPU usage? expand_more

Unlike web/Electron-based tools that run heavy Chromium background loops, Pen 11 is built on native C++ and Qt bindings. When you are not drawing, its event loop sleeps at 0.0% CPU and renders only modified dirty rects during active mouse/stylus strokes.

Can I draw over Zoom, Microsoft Teams, PowerPoint, and games? expand_more

Yes. Pen 11 creates a transparent, click-through capable overlay layer with WS_EX_NOACTIVATE flags so your active PowerPoint slide, PDF reader, browser, or screen share never loses focus while you annotate.