BRUSHES MANUALBrushes for Photoshop ® and Photoshop ® Elements (+ Paint Shop Pro ® and others)

by Andrew Buckle

Brushes Manual

Introduction

Thanks for the purchase of the brushes (or if not, thanks for reading the docu-mentation!) Hope you find the brushes of interest and use. The manual / guide will hopefully help you install and use the brushes in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements and also in Paint Shop Pro, Photo-Paint and other applications.

All the brushes displayed in this docu-mentation are from graphicxtras.com, where you can find 1000s and 1000s of additional hi-impact brushes for com-mercial as well as personal use.

Andrew

fig. X Brushes from the X brushes pack fromgraphicxtras.com

fig. Rosette brush from the rosette brushes 3pack. To change the color from black, changethe foreground color to another color

Brushes installation

Extract the brushes from the zip file (if in a zip, really depends on how you get the brushes). Most recent OS should be able to unzip a zip file but if you can’t, I would suggest finding a copy of PKUnzip or Winzip or Stuffit Expander (there are also many others, you can find them with any good search engine). Once expanded, you should see a selection of folders such as ‘Brushes ABR’ (or Brushes for Photoshop) ‘Brushes PNG’ etc. The ABR files are the main format for Photoshop and Elements and are probably the ones you will be most interested in. The PNG folder / PSP folder contain brushes for other applica-tions. The thumbnail gallery folder contains a display of all the brushes in the set (in most cases)

After that, please either place the ABR brushes file in the Photoshop Presets Brushes folder and access via the brushes palette dropdown or place the brushes in an easy located file location and access the brushes using the load / replace browser of the brush palette.

Another, and perhaps easier option, is to just load the ABR brushes file by using the Photoshop or Elements file > open command.

Brush files are ABR format

The ABR brushes will only work in Photo-shop ® or Photoshop Elements and cannot be accessed by Paint Shop Pro or Photo-Paint or even Illustrator ® (though now in volume 11 onwards of the packs, the PNG equivalent files exist) . The brushes will not work in Photoshop ® 5 / 4 / 3. Note: none of the brushes have presets added, they are purely the brush dab. If you wish to save a preset, you will need to select the dab, set the angle / scatter etc and then save the brush preset in a later format. Not all brush sets work in PS 6 now

fig. Dot brushes from the dot brushes set

fig. Rosette brush from the rosettes brushespack 5

Brushes palette

The next steps to access the brush files are 1) startup Photoshop 2) Select one of the brush tools in the Photoshop toolbox (such as the paint tool), go to the top banner and 3) select the brush palette 4) The brushes are loaded via the right hand button of the palette. Either select from the dropdown (if the brushes are located in the presets folder) or use the brush browser load / replace to locate the ABR.

Once loaded, you can always restore the default set by selecting the reset option of the brushes palette (the default brushes are not deleted, they can be restored at any time)

fig. Photoshop brushes palette, go to the right side of the palette to use the load / saveetc commands

fig. Antique brush (from a play written in the18th century from the original book)

Brushes installation folder

Brushes presets folder doesn't vary from version to version of Photoshop and elements. In all cases, the brushes can be found in the presets folder 'brushes'.

c:\program files\adobe\photoshop ...\presets\brushes

or on mac HD:applications:Adobe Photo-shop .... :presets:brushes

The actual Photoshop... depends on your version of Photoshop.

You may wish to keep the brushes in a separate folder and then load the brushes as required. You can load brushes from a different folder by using the load / replace command via the brushes palette or the edit->preset manager

fig. The brushes folder for CS4 PC

fig. Brushes from the dot brushes pack

Brushes in Photoshop ® Elements

The brushes ABR files are placed in the same folder structure as Photoshop, in the Photoshop elements 5.0 (or 6.0 or 7.0 or 8.0) presets brushes folder. The way to access them is slightly different than Photoshop

The easiest way is the above, place the ABR files in the presets folder (a selec-tion of ABR files, the rest can be kept in a temp or holding folder for all the brushes) and access via the brushes tool and brushes palette

To access the brushes, select one of the brushes tools

To access the brushes via the brushes palette dropdown, select the brush file from the list. As mentioned, you might prefer to add only a small number of brushes files here and use the load command to select a different folder. Only have you favorite brush sets here (otherwise the list will be very long)

The brushes can be loaded into Elements via the file > open command but you won’t be able to see them via the brushes palette, only via the presets manager

Once you have loaded the brushes via the brushes palette dropdown or the preset manager, select the required brush via the displayed palette

Apply the brush using the current color etc

Pressure can modify the tools

The options to modify the brush are limited compared with Photoshop

Other brush tools such as blur are also available

fig. Perhaps the easiest way to access the brushes is via the file > open command inPSE

fig. If the brushes are located in the presetsfolder they will appear in this list

fig. Or use the load brushes command to search for the ABR files

Brushes in PNG format (Brushes packs 11 onwards only)

The brush sets also contain (only for some of the later sets) most, if not all, of the brush files in PNG format. If you haven’t got Photoshop or you would like to use the brushes in another applica-tion, the PNG files are included so you can import them into your favorite application. They are the same size etc as the ABR brush equivalents. See later in the documentation for install details into some applications such as Paint Shop Pro ®

Some of the sets even contain PSPBrush format files so you can place the brushes in the folder for PSP brushes (to find the location, check out the file > prefer-ences > file locations section)

fig. Embellish brush from the embellish 3pack

fig. Celtic design brush from the embellish3 brushes pack

Brushes thumbnail gallery

The sets on graphicxtras.com come with a variety of extras, one of them being a thumbnail gallery printout of all the brushes in the set. The thumbnail gallery is fairly small in comparison to the actual size of the brushes (600 x 600 for the brushes, the thumbnails are gener-ally only 1500 x 1500 for the entire set). Not aware of any tool that can create a gallery from the brushes, though this might be a feature of one of the brushes presets viewers available on the web.

fig. Brush from the butterflies brushes pack

fig. Another brush example from the butterflies brushes pack, this time using adifferent foreground color for the brush

Backup of brushes

It is recommended that you make a backup of the brushes and store this on a CD or DVD or another machine. We can supply replacement disks but there will be a charge for this, post and packaging

Issues / suggestions

I would suggest placing all the brushes on the hard disk in a folder for brushes.

Drag the brushes to the presets brushes folder as required as too many brushes files in the menu may cause issues with the menu dropdown for the presets brushes or a slowdown on startup of the application. It might be best depending on the machine to just use the load / replace command in the preset manager and use that to access the brushes from a designated brushes folder setup, so put all the brushes in c:\photoshop brushes\... and then access the brushes from there.

For some odd reason, and perhaps it is a reasonable feature of the Photoshop automate command and create web gallery, the web gallery feature will create thumbnails and JPG etc but it also reads and loads the brush files in the same path and will load them up to the max number of brushes allowed. It is not recommended to overload the brushes palette as this will slow down access in future startups of Photoshop

Number of brushes in pal-ette

You can only generally load a certain number of brushes into a palette at one time, this might be 500 or so depending on the version of Photoshop. Photoshop will display a message when it reaches it's limit (and that has nothing to do with my brushes or anything, that is a limit set by Photoshop). Too many brushes might also cause a slowdown on startup

fig. Selection of embellish brushes fromembellish 4 pack displayed in the brushespalette of Photoshop

fig. Embellishment pack 3 brushes palette

Problems

Any problems, please contact me on support@graphicxtras.com or check out the website http://www.graphicxtras.com

Serial number

Please make a note of the serial number (this is not to be confused with the order number). Any updates will use the serial number as a key to access the zip file.

Brushes documentation

Best source would be the manual and online documentation but there are 100s of great books available, with hints and tips on brush use. One such series being the Scott Kelby books, Photoshop world and Down n Dirty series, also the Com-puter Arts magazine UK run various articles on brushes and their uses in their main magazine and their art project series

The manuals for all the graphicxtras.com products can be found on http://www.graphicxtras.com/manuals.htm

Use of brushes

The brushes are royalty-free. You can use them in 99% of ways (within reason-able limits), use them in creating CD designs, book covers, paintings and more for commercial or personal use. The brushes should not be collected together and a new brushes CD set created (though any licensing etc. etc use, please contact us)

Please check the examples list for many valid uses of the brushes

The license is always on http://www.graphicxtras.com/license.htm

fig. A good place to check for information isthe Photoshop brushes help as well as onlineThere are many 100s (if not 1000s) of sitesdevoted to Photoshop, brushes et al.

fig. A selection of heart brushes in the brushespalette (from the hearts brushes pack)

Brush tools

The brushes can be used in nearly all the brush tools in Photoshop (though not in the healing brush etc) but the brushes work well in art history, brush tool, clone tool, pattern stamp and others.

Some of the palette options are not available for all brushes. If a brush option is not available, the palette entry will be disabled. Below is an example of a brush palette setting for angle jitter.

Some of the brushes are not initially available in the toolbox, they are beneath an existing tool / share an icon. An example of this is the pattern stamp and clone tool.

fig. Clone stamp tool and pattern stamp toolshare the same icon. The application alwaysdefaults to the clone stamp tool.

fig. The blur tool shares with the blur andsharpen and smudge

fig. The toolbox offers littlein the way of modification, you canchange it from a one or two column mode but that is it (you cannot remove tools from the toolbox- even if you never use them - or move the most used tools to the topof the toolbox or change the size of theicons etc)

Art history brush

There are a number of brush tools with Photoshop: paint smudge art history blur etc, they can all use the brushes from the brushes collection in a variety of ways.

The art history brush uses the brushes and the history palette along with a variety of dab application styles.

History brush

A useful way to undo changes but with-out any great artistic or creative effects (as in the case of the art history brush). Use to return an image to an earlier state or use the brush to apply ‘future effects’ to an earlier point of the image (the history brush then becomes a stored effects / plugin brush which can be applied to different regions of the image with varying strength)

Brush tool

Useful painting tool, though it has limita-tions compared with Painter’s brushes. The brush tool accepts all the ABR brushes, and comes with a number of options via the brushes palette such as shape dynamics, scattering, texture, etc

fig. Use the history palette and the art historytool to apply impressionist or painting brush strokes to an image. Select the starting sourcefor the brush strokes, set the brush, set the stylesuch as dab or tight curl and apply brush

fig. Select the start source pointfor the history brush and apply OR you could apply the effects, select start point at the end of all the effects, return to an earlier point and apply the generated effects to only part of the image

Smudge tool

The smudge tool is useful for a variety of tasks, such as subtle tweaking of an image or create distorted brush stroke effects. The smudge tool can also blend in the current foreground color via the finger painting option

Blur toolUseful for localized blurring of an image or text.

Impressionist tool (PSE)

Basically the same as the art history options but with less options to change things, still, a useful tool for a quick ‘impressionistic’ painting using different styles such as tight curl, dab etc

fig. Brush options in PSE for the impressionistbrush - such as dab, tight curl etc

fig. Blur tool as well as the smudge tool

fig. Blur tool applied to an image to blur a particulararea of the image

Pattern stamp tool

The pattern stamp tool uses the patterns as input. You can also paint using an impressionist effect (via the impression-ist checkbox) and pattern. As with all the brush tools, the brush palette can be modified to scatter / modify brush color / angle the brush stroke

Clone tool

Clone another area of the image. Alt-Click to define the source area. The tool comes with a number of clone source options (via the clone source palette) such as scaling or rotation; as well as offering multiple sources for the cloning

Eraser Tool

Useful for removing past mistakes. Does offer a selection of interesting creative features as well.

fig. Clone source panel offersa selection of interesting variantapply options

fig. Pattern stamp allows the userto apply a pattern as well as an impressionistic pattern effect

fig. Eraser tool and others

Define brush presets / brushes

You can use the brushes to create new brushes. Create a new document, paint with the brush dabs as require and then edit->define brush (or brush preset). The brush preset, if saved, will be saved in the format of the current version of Photoshop ®

fig. Define brush preset means that you can save more than just the brush dab,scattering etc can be saved. Saving the brush, saves the brush in the current Photoshop version which may or may notwork with earlier versions

fig. Rosette brush from rosette brushes pack

Brush sizing

With version 7 / CS / CS2 / CS3 / CS4 of Photoshop ®, please check out the new brush palette.

In version 6, to re-size the brushes please use an art-pad and pen or paint a dab and re-size and re-define the brush (not all brush sets work in version 6)

Many of the brushes in the earlier sets are low in size but the later sets approach the maximum brush size of 1020 x 1020 (with version CS4 the maxi-mum diameter is 2500 x 2500 - which is pretty decent but then again, some use documents in the 1000s with many GB of memory installed)

fig. Set size via the basic brushes palette

fig. Or set the diameter via the moreadvanced brushes palette (why is one calleddiameter and the other a more imposingmaster diameter though??)

Re-arranging brushes

You can always delete brushes and then save a brush set for yourself with your own particular favorites, just use the brush palette and save the current brushes to a new brushes file.

You can, if you want, create a totally new brush set by opening the brushes you want, set to the brush tool, create a brush dab in a 1000 x 1000 file and then use the define brush command for each of those dabs and then saving the new brush dabs file.

In CS, you can also re-arrange the posi-tions of the brushes so if you want a particular set of brushes to be next to each other, go to the preset manager and then select the brush and drag (this doesn't work in the brushes palette, just the preset manager (?)) and then save the file.

All the files were created in Photoshop 6 format for maximum compatibility with future versions, if you save the brushes in CS then the backward compatibility will be gone, but at least you will be able to save all the various brush palette settings as well, creating even more unique brush effects.

fig. Brushes from the pipes brushes pack beforemoving items in the preset manager

fig. The first few brushes have been moved via the preset manager, selectand drag

Brush palette

The brushes can be tweaked in a variety of ways and the brushes saved as brush presets for that particular tool. Not all the features of the palette are open to all brush tools. The brush palette allows access to modify the color / size / appli-cation / angle / scatter / texture and even combinations of brushes.

fig. Shape dynamics screen

fig. Scattering brush panel

Brushes and effects

Brushes can be used in combination with effects. Some effects work well with the brushes and others, not so well. Some effects are ignored on layers (it seems) so a brush stroke on a layer might have an effect applied and the effect will change nothing

fig. Embellish brush beforeeffects (plugins) applied

fig. The embellish brush strokewith a blur and water coloreffect applied in Photoshop

Brushes and opacity

Painting with opacity set to 50% or 15% or 100% will result in a totally different brush effect. Use a low opacity setting to create a more blurred / blended in image.

fig. Original brush stroke with opacity set to the default 100%

fig. Opacity set on top bar to 47%All brush strokes are now applied using 47% instead of 100%

fig. Brush strokes applied with the samebrush but now at 47% opacity

Blending mode and brushes

You can also alter the blending mode for a brush stroke. This option can be vari-able in use, especially using blending modes such as difference which can create a jumble of brush strokes and colors in seconds. Subtle brush strokes can be created using multiply or other blending modes. Some of the brushes give full access to all the blending modes, others less.

fig. Blending modes for the brush tool

fig. Brush tool applied using thedifference mode (X brush from the X brush pack)

Channels and brushes

Brushes can be used on different chan-nels (paint on the red channel but ignore the green and blue etc) Or select the red channel and the green channel and paint only on those.

Also, use the brushes to paint on the alpha channel (s)

fig. Brushes applied on different channels.

fig. Spiral brush applied to red and greenchannels only

Layers and brushes

Brushes can be used on a new layer. The brush stroke can be applied as a brush stamp, pre-apply or apply the style after the brush stroke.

The new layer can be pre-assigned a style before any brush strokes. The brush stroke can be applied and used to spread out the style. If the style contains elements that can grow or shrink depending on the application, many interesting brush designs can be created. You may wish to vary the size (using an art pad and pen) as well as using the layer scaling to modify the size of the applied style. Depending on the style and the brush stroke, brush strokes applied can take on a viscous quality with the style blending and changing as you apply the brush stroke. More akin to a brush stroke applied in more paint orientated applications.

Brushes can be used as a dab or nozzle. Create a layer, apply a single or multiple dabs (keeping within the bounds of the document layer) and then just duplicate the layer. The layer can be converted into a smart object though it will lose some functionality. If it is not a smart object, re-sizing it can be an issue. The layer can have effects applied and warps (within limits) and can be repeatedly duplicated to create unusual designs

The brush dab via layers is not as flexible as a 'true' nozzle / image hose effect but it can still be used to create great back-grounds, frame designs, overlays and more.

fig. Brush applied to a layer but without a layer effect applied

fig. Layer effect (metal) applied tothe brush layer

LAB mode and brushes

Brushes can be used in different image modes such as CMYK or LAB. The brushes can be applied as if on a RGB document. Use on different channels such as light-ness. For example, use the blur brush to great effect in LAB mode.

fig. Brushes can be applied in LAB colormode

fig. Brushes can be applied in CMYK documentscolor mode as well

Brushes and patterns

The brushes can be used as a source for patterns. Apply a brush stroke (avoiding the edges). Use the offset command to further manipulate the design, adding more brushes (again avoiding the edges) and then use the edit menu [ define pattern ] command

The pattern then can be applied using the fill or fill layer content or via the pattern stamp or as brushes texture

The brush generated pattern file can also be used as a displacement map, save as a PSD. Use the displacement file in displace filter and glass filter in Pho-toshop ® fig. Brush to be used for the pattern

fig. Use the define pattern command tocreate a pattern based on the brush strokes

fig. Use the brush as a source for patterns, use the offset filter to create a more complexpattern design

Distress effects

The brushes can be applied using various opacities and also oversized (to create a rougher brush design) to distress or grunge any image

Apply the brush strokes with various colors or a single color as well as using various different random settings found in the brushes palette

Use the brushes in a variety of other tools such as the smudge tool and blur.

fig. Ink brush from the ink brush pack

fig. Ink brush with various scattering and huesettings applied

Brushes and masks

Click the edit in quick mask mode (via toolbox) and paint the mask using the brushes. Use the load selection and mask to turn into a selection and then modify the selected area or inverse in many ways (such as apply fills or effects) Great for creating a quick frame design from any brush

fig. Original image

fig. edit in quick mask mode etc

fig. Create different masks / selections using thebrushes in quick mask mode.

New brushes from old

The brushes are a great source for creat-ing a new brush. Simply open a new document and apply a brush stroke, perhaps apply effects or smudge or distort the brush strokes or lighten or darken the brush strokes. Apply multiple brush strokes, either the same or differ-ent brushes. Use the define brush com-mand to save the brush to the palette. You will need to save the entire library if you wish to permanently store the brush (save to a new ABR file or overwrite an existing one)

The new brush can then be used in all the brush tools as before, such as the paint brush tool

fig. Source brush

fig. A new possible brush created from thebrush dabs and effects

fig. Define new brush and then use from the brushes palette as required

PNG brush files for Paint Shop Pro ®

*** Please note, not all the sets include the PNG files

1) Open the PNG file 2) Selection menu > select all3) Go to a brush tool (such as burn or paint)4) Display the tool options, this will show all the current brush5) Click the brush palette to display all the current brushes6) Click the create brush tip from selec-tion button7) Enter all the details for the brush tip such as the name, author, steps, vari-ance etc. 8) Click OK. The brush has been saved to the current brushes folder (depends on the setup) Go to the brushes palette and you will see a grayscale representation of the brush. To use, click the brush

fig. Open PNG file and then select and then use the brush palette to save the brush to the palette. Thebrush files can be found via the file > preferences > file locations.Screenshot is with kind permission ofCorel Corporation, Paint Shop Pro isregistered trademark of CorelCorporation

PNG brushes (converted) for Painter (TM)

1) Convert PNG files first to BMP or TIF 2) Open the BMP file3) Select file4) Go to brushes palette5) Capture brush command6) Apply brush strokes with the new brush dab

fig. Sphere brushes palette

fig. Painter default brushes such as erasers,nozzles etc (screenshot with kind permissionof Corel Corporation, Painter is trademark ofCorel Corporation

PNG brushes for Photo-Paint TM

1) Open PNG file2) Select a brush tool3) Display brush settings palette 4) Select brush file5) Go to the nib properties and select the first button / dropdown menu and select the create from contents of mask command6) Enter the size (depends on the brush)7) Modify properties as required8) Apply as required.

fig. Line brush from the lines brushes

fig. Wavy line brush from the lines brushespack applied with different colors and scattering

fig. Toolbox ofPhoto-Paint, accessbrushes via thepaint tools. Screenshot withkind permissionof Corel CorporationPhoto-Paint is trademark of Corel Corporation

Comments

If you have any suggestions to how we can improve our products or manual, or if there is something that is hard to understand or badly stated, please contact us and we will try to correct any errors or misunderstandings in the next release of the manual. It is always great to hear your feedback. You can always enter comments as well in the forum comments section of the graphicxtras.com site

fig. Greek ornament brush from the Greekornament brush pack, applied initially usingblack foreground for shadow and then a lighter color with the brush shifted slightly

fig. Use three colors to create a slightly different shadow brush stroke - usingthe Greek ornament brushes pack

System requirements

Adobe ® Photoshop ® CS4 CS3 CS2 CS1 7 6 and Photoshop ® Elements 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 - Windows 98, and NT Vista, ME, XP Vista Windows 7, & Mac OS X 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 (collection set)

Adobe ® Photoshop ® CS4 CS3 CS2 CS1 7 and Photoshop ® Elements 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 - Windows 98, and NT Vista, ME, XP Vista Windows 7, & Mac OS X 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 (brushes packs)

Not sure about 64bit at the moment, I have no system with 64bit active so all the references above are to 32bit, though I would imagine the brushes are equally at home on 64bit systems as 32bit ones

Mac OS earlier is not supported, but the files should work fine on the system (though I would suggest more OS 9 and 9.1 etc) should be ok. Please check your system before any purchase with the demo samplers!

Later sets (from brushes pack 11 onwards - not the collection) include PNG files relating to the ABR brush files. Not all the brushes are included in the PNG set (most sets, the brushes in the ABR match the brushes in the PNG brush files folder) Use these in Paint Shop Pro ® and many others

fig. Some brushes consist of a single dab ormark, some of the brushes are more complex with multiple elements included in the designUseful for creating a quick distressed or jumbled design. Brush from the circles brush pack

fig. Some of the brushes are fairly complex to start with, case in point being one of the strange brushes (strange brushes pack). The 3D designs werecreated using an excellent application called GroBoto

Trademarks

The brushes were created by Andrew Buckle and copyright 1998-2009 Andrew Buckle and Abneil Software ltd (depending on the set) All products mentioned in this manual are trade-marked or probably trademarked by their respective owners. Illustrator ® and Photoshop ® and Adobe ® and After Effects ® are registered trademarks of Adobe ® Systems Incorporated. We have no connection whatsoever with Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Company contact details

Telephone: UK (44) 01622 688 375

Abneil Software ltd is a limited company registered in Great Britain

http://www.graphicxtras.comsupport@graphicxtras.com

fig. Odd shapes from graphicxtras.com strange brushes pack. Created using the excellent 3D application, GroBoto

fig. A complex brush design created usingthe GroBoto (TM) application.

Fade brush strokes

The brush can be applied and then faded. This can be useful if the applied brush stroke is too ‘intense’ - or if you just wish to lessen the effect say in the case of a blur or smudge etc. The fade is also useful in that it offers a blending mode fade which can be useful for spe-cial effects etc

fig. Ink brush from the ink brush pack

fig. After applying a brush stroke, you can always fade it (do it after the brush stroke, any other action such as new document etc will lose the fade command)

fig. Fade command offers opacity and mode.Useful at times.

Actions

The brushes cannot be used with actions, other than saving the setting as well as define brush etc. If you wish to use the brush dabs in actions you are out of luck. Scripting might be more helpful and you will need to check the scripting folders for more information on that, and in particular the ScriptListener plug-in. To find out more, I would suggest checking online.

fig. The brushes collection comes with a lot morerealistic brush strokes, the image above showing acrayon brush stroke

fig. Pencil brush stroke from the brushes collection from graphicxtras.com

Displacement maps

The brushes are a good source for displacement maps, either as a basic PNG to PSD displacement map or use the brushes to create a file to be saved as a displacement map. The example below is for a displacement map of 300 x 300 but it could easily be 500 x 500

1) Open document 300 x 3002) Apply brush dabs using the selected brush and paint tool3) Use the offset filter (part of Photo-shop in the other menu - set to -150 and 150 (half of the size of the map)4) More dabs (avoiding the edges)5) Save as PSD file6) Go to the distort menu and select the glass or displace or texturizer etc filters

The brushes can be used to create stun-ning glass and displacement and tex-tured designs.

fig. Create a displacement file by applyingbrush dabs to a document, use offset to shiftand create more complex maps

fig. Use the map in the distort > glass filter, go to the folder that contains the saveddisplacement map (PSD files)

Border / frame brushes

The brushes are useful as a ‘frame’ stamp. Not all brushes work well as a frame but many can be used for this purpose. Open an image, apply brush to image to highlight or frame the area as required

Another approach is to create a new document, apply ‘frame’ brush (using black foreground) and then select the outer area of the frame and fill with black as well. You then have a frame design that can be applied to any image. Another approach is to start with a black image and then fill with a white brush stroke. The frame design can then be used easily in various frame plug-ins such as Photographic Edges from AutoF/X

fig. Create a ‘standard’ frame (one for use ina frame plugin such as Photographic Edges etc)by using the brushes. Either select the outerarea and fill with black or start with a black image and apply a white brush to the centerregion

fig. Apply ‘color’ framing element to the image

Brush spacing

The brush dabs can be spaced, Setting the spacing to 2% etc and the generated brush is a nearly a continuous line; spacing at 25% and you can see more of the structure of the brush; at 100%, depending on the brush, the brush will join from one dab to the next (great for line themed patterns as shown to the right)

Setting the rotation etc will change the result.

There appears to be no ‘pressure’ sensi-tivity to the brush spacing which would be useful. Spacing can be disabled which creates an interesting effect in itself.

fig. Spacing for the brush 25%

fig. Spacing set to 100%

fig. Spacing set to 8%

fig. Spacing has been disabled, creating brush dabs with minimal spacing one after another but notas a continuous line (great for distressedeffects)

Brushes / path

The current brush stroke can be applied to a path.

1) Select brush2) Set brush settings3) Draw path4) Go to the path palette5) Right menu6) Stroke path7) Set the required brush tool8) OK

The brush is applied to the current path

fig. Once you have created a path, you can stroke the path with the current brush / brush tool

fig. Embellish brush applied to a circle

Brushes and basic anima-tion

You can also ‘animate’ the brushes by applying a brush stroke to a new layer, another to a new layer and so (shifting the brush with each layer) and then using the animations palette ‘make frames from layers’ command.

1) Select brush, settings etc (perhaps scattering settings to create a random-ized brush stroke, along with color settings)2) Create brush stroke on layer3) Layer > new layer4) Create new brush stroke5) New layer6) Go to the animation palette7) Make frames from layers

fig. Embellish brush used in animation

fig. Use the layer palette to add brush strokes,shifting or scattering (or changing color etc) andthen go to the animation palette and makeframes from layers command. Will not win anaward for the greatest animation ever butcan be used to create interesting backgrounds, brush characters etc

Brush and palette fade

The brush size can be made to fade away rapidly or slowly via the controls entry for fade. Other options for angle can modify the angle of the brush stroke.

fig. Original line brush from lines brushes pack

fig. Set the fade via the shape dynamics panel, 50 for a reasonably quick fade

fig. Fade of 10, fairly rapid fade away

Frames from brushes

The brush can be used as a frame but the brushes can be used to create a frame or border layer.

1) Create a layer2) Apply brush stroke around the edges of the layer3) Apply styles / layer effects if required to add a shadow or bevel

fig. Brush applied to a layerto create a frame, a dropshadow is applied via the layer effects

fig. Another line brush usedto create a basic frame for a design

fig. Brush from the lines brushes pack is used, this one combines black brush strokes and graybrush strokes to create a slightly more interesting frame

Brushes / 3D (Extended)

1) Create new layer2) Select brush tool3) Apply brush dab4) 3D > New 3D postcard from layer5) Go to the 3D tools on the toolbox and select 3D rotate6) Rotate the brush dab in 3D

fig. Source brush dab before rotation (brush from the tangled brush pack)

fig. Brush dab has been rotated in 3Dafter conversion into 3D postcardand the rotation tool has been applied

New 3D shape from brush dab (Extended)

1) Create new layer2) Select brush tool3) Apply brush dab or multiple dabs4) 3D > New shape from layer > sphere (could easily have been a cylinder etc)

The brush is now the surface of the 3D sphere and can be rotated in 3D using the 3D rotate etc tools

fig. Original brush dab (from a rosettes brushespack) before 3D conversion

fig. The brush dab is now the surface of asphere and the sphere can be rotated etcusing the 3D tools (in Photoshop Extended) Thebrush dab can also have other tools appliedsuch as smudge etc to blur / smudge thedesign as required

Create 3D mesh using brush (Extended)

1) Create new layer2) Apply brush stroke3) 3D > New mesh from grayscale > Plane (or sphere etc)

Creates a 3D mesh for possible export to another application. The mesh can be rotated etc using the 3D tools.

fig. original brush dab from the rosettes pack

fig. 3D menu (Extended only)

fig, 3D mesh after a slight rotation in 3D using the3D rotate tools

Create a new brush

Most of the brushes created for the graphicxtras.com either start out on Illustrator or as custom shapes designs in Photoshop followed by a define brush (on Photoshop 6 for maximum support). Perhaps a mistake, perhaps the lowest should now be a brush preset for CS2 say. I don’t know, one day I will just change and drop 6 and 7 and CS versions. Means I will be able to go for 2500 x 2500 etc files. Anyway, a quick note how to create a basic brush.

1) Create a new document2) Select the custom shape tool3) For something simple, select the ellipse tool and just create dots. 4) Set the color to black (or gray) - colors are not important when it comes to brushes, just the grays.5) Create a design, avoid touching the edges of the document 6) Set settings such as scatter etc if required7) Edit > define brush

fig. A basic brush dab created usingcustom shapes

fig. Brush applied with 9% spacing

fig. Brush applied with 58% spacing

fig. Roundness 20% Angle 135%

fig. Background jitter 40%

fig. Size fade 10

fig. Opacity fade 25

Examples of brushes

The following section shows an example of the brushes included in the brushes packs from graphicxtras.com. Many different types of brushes are available such as stars, embellishment, grids, hearts and more. The samples are small compared with the full size of the brushes (600x600 etc), also the sets often contain many different items including bonus material such as EPS designs and more.

The brushes can be colored (the examples here are generally just using the black foreground but you can use any color, or apply on a layer and use a layer effect as the brush material such as a gradient or pattern). Literally millions of possible designs are possible,

fig. Wavy brush pack example

fig. Additional wavy brush design example

fig. Examples of brushes from radial brushes pack

fig. Selection of brushes from theink brushes pack

fig. Distress brushes from thedistress brushes pack

fig. Flames brushes from the flames pack

fig. Sphere brushes from 3D spheres brushes pack

fig. Selection of brushes from thebrushes collection. The brushescollection includes 10,000 unique brushes. Not the same as the brushespacks which came later. The brushes collection also includes more realistic(pencil, marker etc designs)

fig. Selection of brushes from thebrushes collection. The brushescollection includes 10,000 unique brushes. Not the same as the brushespacks which came later. The brushes collection also includes more realistic(pencil, marker etc designs)

fig. Selection of brushes from thebrushes collection. The brushescollection includes 10,000 unique brushes. Not the same as the brushespacks which came later. The brushes collection also includes more realistic(pencil, marker etc designs)