6.0 Brushes
Used for creating,
and choosing brush type and size
Found in the options bar of tools that use brushes
[If you are using Photoshop 7, none of this information is valid. The brushes palette has been completed changed. See my Brushes in 7 tutorial to find out how to use it.]
In previous versions of Photoshop, the brushes had their own palette. Now, they appear only in the options bar when a tool which uses brushes is selected. For example, shown below is the options bar of the paintbrush tool. Clicking the arrow next to the brush thumbnail will access a pop-up palette of all the available brushes. Be sure and click the arrow, and not the thumbnail.
The options on the options bar will vary according to the tool selected. There is one additional brush related option that appears at the extreme right end of the options bar, and this is the Brush Dynamics icon. By clicking on the icon, the menu shown below can be accessed. Each of the options, Size, Pressure, and Color offers the same menu of Off, Fade, and Stylus.
The default brushes that appear in the pop-up palette include a row of hard edged brushes at the top, followed by two rows of soft edged brushes. The third row’s brushes are so big, that their size is indicated by the number below them, not by the spot on the thumbnail. The numbers indicate the brush’s diameter in pixels.
From the fourth row, down, there are odd and unusual brushes that are a lot of fun to play with. Be sure and try them out on a blank white background. You can create your own brushes by editing an existing brush. With the old brush selected, choose New Brush from the palette menu shown below. Play with the options to make a brush that you like.
New brushes can also be created by drawing a square selection with the rectangular marquee tool around the pixels you would like to make into a brush, and then choosing Edit > Define Brush. You will then see a dialog box asking you to name your new brush. Once named, it will appear in the brushes palette. However, it is best to save your custom brushes in their own set. To do this choose Edit > Preset Manager. Choose Brushes from the menu, and then click, and Shift-click to select all the brushes you want to include in your set. Choose Save Set, and name your custom set. After closing and reopening Photoshop, your set will appear in the brushes pop-up palette menu.
When editing an image with any tool that uses brushes, you can right click on the image and the brushes pop-up palette will appear right next to your cursor. Likewise, the palette will appear next to your cursor if you press Enter while any tool that uses brushes is selected. You can then use the arrow keys to navigate to the brush that you want, or click on a brush to select it (as usual). [ these shortcuts were added in the v. 6.01 patch]
In all cases, once the brushes pop-up palette is open, pressing Enter will close it for you.
Keyboard shortcuts for brushes include the bracket keys for cycling through all available brushes. The left bracket [ will move you to the next smaller size, and the right bracket will move you up one size. Holding down the Shift key while pressing the left bracket will decrease brush (edge) softness. Shift plus the right bracket increases softness..
Be sure and set your brush cursor preference in Display & Cursors preferences. Find them at Edit > Preferences > Display & Cursors. If you have chosen “brush size”, you can toggle to “precise” by pressing Caps Lock. If you have your preference set to “precise”, it will toggle to “brush size”. A preference of “standard” will go to “precise” when Caps Lock is pressed.
The illustration on the left below is the options menu found if
you click the arrow in the upper right corner of the brushes pop-up palette.
The pop-up palette is found by clicking the down arrow next to
the brushes thumbnail on the options bar.
On the right below is the dialog box you find if you choose New Brush from the options menu. You can create, preview, and save your own brushes here. Diameter sets the brush’s size. Hardness affects the fuzziness of the brush’s edges. Spacing determines how often an imprint of the brush’s tip is applied. Spacing can be set to give a dotted line, or one where the brush dots barely overlap, like a beaded necklace. To paint without spacing, deselect this option by unchecking the Spacing check box.
Note that the brush featured in the illustration at below right, is one of the Photoshop default brushes, and it has a setting of 25 % for Spacing. This spacing gives a smooth, continuous stroke.
Shown below are four of the different brushes palettes that you can choose, and load from the options menu shown above, left. They are the default palette at top left, Assorted at top right, Calligraphic, bottom left, and Drop Shadow, bottom right.
Below the four palettes, is the message you will see when you choose a new brushes palette. Choosing Append will add the new brushes to the current brushes. Choosing OK will replace the current brushes with the new palette.
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