|
The key to using Photoshop's new painting engine
is the new, high-powered Brushes palette. Let's take a look at
the basic workings of the palette.
When the Expanded view is selected in the
palette menu, you see the Brushes palette in all its glory. (If
the palette is grayed out, press B on the keyboard to activate
the Brush tool. The palette is available when any brush-using
tool is active.)
Without the Expanded View, the Brushes palette
is similar to the older Brushes palette, where you simply chose
a brush. (This, by the way, is also the view you'll see when
accessing the palette from the left end of the Options Bar.)
The Brushes palette is similar to the Layer
Style dialog box - you can check a box on the far left to apply
the current values of an option without seeing them, or you can
click on the name in the left column to open the particular pane
of the brushes palette.
The top entry in the left column, Brush Presets,
shows you the available brushes. Once you have selected a brush,
you can adjust its size using the Master Diameter slider in the
Brush Presets pane. You can also move to other panes of the
Brushes palette to modify the brush's appearance and behavior.
To change the content of the Brush Presets, use
the palette menu commands Reset Brushes (restore the default set
as specified in Preset Manager), Load Brushes (add to or replace
the content of the palette), Save Brushes (create a set that can
be loaded at another time), Replace Brushes (delete the current
content and add a different set of brushes). The Brush Presets
pane is the only one in which these menu commands are active.
You can delete and rename individual brushes using the palette
menu.
While most of the menu commands are
straight-forward, a few require additional clarification.
EXPANDED VIEW: The default Expanded View mode
for the Brushes palette, seen earlier in this section, enables
you to customize brushes using all of the brush options. If you
have already created all the brushes you'll need and selected
their options, you can simplify the palette by deselecting this
option from the menu. You select a pre-set brush by clicking on
it. Double-clicking enables you to change the brush's name. The
content of the palette can be changed using the palette's menu,
but in the simplified view, the brushes themselves cannot be
edited.
CLEAR BRUSH CONTROLS: This command deselects all
of the user-definable settings for the selected brush. The brush
reverts to the basic brush tip shape, using the Angle,
Roundness, Hardness, and Spacing settings with which it was
originally defined.
Note: Clearing the controls does not permanently
change the brush, but you can clear the controls and then use
the New Brush command to save the changes.
COPY TEXTURE TO OTHER TOOLS: When you
painstakingly prepare a texture for a specific brush, you can
use the New Brush command to save your work. However, if you
quickly whip up a texture for a little touch-up to an image, you
may want to simply use the Copy Texture to Other Tools command
to make that texture available for the editing job at hand. For
example, if you match the grain of an image for the Burn tool,
rather than going through the process again for the Dodge tool,
you can use this command. The tools to which the texture will be
matched are Brush, Pencil, Eraser, Clone Stamp, Pattern Stamp,
History Brush, Art History Brush, Dodge, Burn, and Sponge.
Note: Copying a custom texture doesn't apply it
to the other tools, but rather makes it available to the tools.
If you change tools, you might still need to open the Brushes
palette and check the Texture box to activate your custom
texture.
PRESET MANAGER: This command opens the Preset
Manager, which enables you to customize the content of the
Brushes palette. You can also open the Preset Manager through
the Edit menu. Customizing the Brushes palette can streamline
the search for the appropriate brush. Remember, too, that you
can save sets of brushes that can be loaded through the Brushes
palette menu or selected as the default in the Preset Manager.
In the following columns, we'll look at
the individual panes of the Brushes palette, what they have to
offer, and how to apply their options. |