Photoshop Brush Palette is collection of all Brush Shape Presets that allow you to create new brush, load, save or modify brush size, brush shape and brush dynamic in one single palette. The primary advantage of the Brushes palette is that you can define your own brush shapes and adjust various exciting dynamics.

Whether you’re using a mouse or a pen and tablet, every tool behaves differently based on the size and shape of your cursor (the brush tip), and brush tips come in many different styles (called brush shapes, or typically just brushes). A big, round brush paints in broad strokes; a small, elliptical brush paints in thin, hairline strokes. Of course, there’s much more going on in Photoshop than just big, small, round, or elliptical.

With Photoshop Brush Palette you can do following tasks.

• Select Brush Preset (describe below in this page)
• Modify Brush Shape (describe below in this page)
• Photoshop brush dynamic
• Save and Load Brush set (Import or Export)
• Create Custom Brush
• Manage and Organize your Photoshop Brushes

To Select Brush Preset

Press “,” or “.”: Use this shortcut to select Brush Preset with out access to brush palette. Use “,” key to select previous brush preset or “.” key to select next brush preset in the list. And also press Shift + “,” to select first brush or Shift + “.” to select last brush.

Right Click (Control + Click): If all you want to do is select a predefined brush. Right Click anywhere in your image, while painting tool selected, to show Brush Shape Preset pop-up allow you to select brush size, brush hardness or even other brush shape preset without accessing Brush Palette.

Using Brush Palette: Press F5 or using menu Windows » Brushes to open Brush palette and select brush preset from list by click its thumbnail. You can stack Brush Palette to other Palette windows to nicely organize your work space by unchecked Expanded View in the Brush Palette Menu (A) to switch to Brush Palette Compacted View.

• A. Brush Palette Menu: Use this menu to customize Brush Palette, allow you to set how brush thumbnail to show (Text, Large or Small Thumbnail, List and etc.) and also Save or Load set of Brush Presets.
• B. Brush Presets: Click to show List of brush that currently loaded.
• C. Brush Tips Shape: Click to enter brush setting area for Size, Shape, Hardness and etc. (See Modify Brush Shape)
• D. Brush Dynamic: The list of Brush dynamic option. (See Photoshop Brush Dynamic)
• E. Brush List: You can select brush preset by click its thumbnail in this list. Your cursor will turn to indicate that you can select and if you show brush list as Small Thumbnail or Large Thumbnail you can also move your cursor to empty area, your cursor will turning to , and click to save current brush. (See also Create Custom Brush)
• F. Brush Preview: Show Stroke thumbnail for current brush setting. If you’re modify the setting of Preset Brush you can preview the change in this area.
• New Button: Click to save current brush setting. When you click will pop-up dialog that allow you to naming your new brush or just leave it for default name. If you didn’t change any brush setting the Brush Preset that currently select will duplicate. Use Alt(Option) + Click the new button if you don’t want to be ask to enter brush name. (See also Create Photoshop Custom Brush)
• Trash Button: Click to delete current selected brush preset. This button will disable if you make any modification to currently selected brush preset or If you’re in Brush Tips Shape (C). To delete its original, click Brush Presets (A) and select the brush preset again and click Trash Button.

Note: When you create/save brush, for default name, Photoshop will name it from original brush name with brush diameter if the name is already existed numerical value will be added. However you can use exactly same name for more than one brush, the brush name is need just you to identify it.

The new brush that you create, like other presets or action, will automatically save when you quit Photoshop. If your machine crash before Photoshop normally shutdown your newly created brush will be lost. Anyway you can manually save your current brush set by using Brush Palette menu (A).

Tip: For expanded view, you can hover your cursor over the brush thumbnail (E) for a couple seconds to see its stroke preview (F) and also brush name without actually selecting it.

Modifying Brush Shape

Modifying brush shapes is quite simple, most of the interface are self-explanation. Go to the Brushes palette and click the item named Brush Tips Shape (C) to display the options shown below. Photoshop displays thumbnails for the predefined brushes in the top-right quadrant of the palette. Select a brush to serve as a starting point for your custom creation and then start tweaking.

Diameter : This option determines the width of the brush (Brush Size). If the brush shape is elliptical instead of circular, the Diameter value determines the longest dimension. You can enter any value from 1 to 2,500 pixels in text box or use slider to set brush size.

Please note that Photoshop brush and stroke previews have limits. For example, the Options bar can’t accurately display brush shapes larger that 15 pixels in diameter, and the stroke preview at the bottom of the Brushes palette is accurate no higher than 50 pixels.

Tip:You can determine brush size, more accurate from preview in Brush Palette, by change setting of cursor display to brush size. This will change cursor to preview current working brush size.

In Photoshop preference, by using menu Edit » Preferences » Display & Cursors (for Windows) or Photoshop » Preferences » Display & Cursors (for MacOS). Use Ctrl(Command) + K to bring up Preference windows and Ctrl(Command) + 3 to go to Display & Cursor panel. And select Brush Size radio button in Painting Cursors section.

You can also use Caps Lock key to switch between Brush Size Cursor to Precise Cursor . When Caps Lock is on cursor will change to Precise.

Flip X and Flip Y: These options are most useful and obvious when you’re using an asymmetrical brush shape. Select the Flip X check box to flip the brush shape into a mirror image of itself, and the Flip Y check box to flip the brush shape upside-down.

Angle: This option pivots a brush shape on its axes. Unless the brush is complete round shape, though, you won’t see a difference. So it’s best to first adjust the Roundness value and then adjust the Angle. To set Brush Angle enter degree value in text box or drag the arrow in the white preview box at the right of angle option. Clicking anywhere in the white box rotates the arrowhead to that point.

Roundness: Enter a Roundness value of less than 100 percent to create an elliptical brush shape. The value modifies the height of the brush as a percentage of the Diameter value, so a Roundness of 50 percent results in a short, fat brush. Or Drag the handles on either side of the black circle to make the brush shape elliptical.

Hardness: You can soften the edges of a brush by dragging the Hardness slider bar or enter value form 0 to 100 percent in text box. The softest setting, 0 percent, gradually tapers the brush from a single solid color pixel at its center to a ring of transparent pixels around the brush’s perimeter. Brush edges are always anti-aliased however the Pencil tool , which is not anti-aliased, ignores any Hardness settings.

As you see in above example (all using 50 pixels brush), the low Hardness percentages will expand the size of a brush beyond the Diameter value even a 100-percent hard brush shape expands slightly because it is anti-aliased.

Tip: Press Shift + [ key to make the brush softer, and press Shift + ] key to make the brush harder. Both shortcuts work in 25-percent increments.

Spacing: The Spacing option controls how frequently the spots are emitted, measured as a percentage of the brush shape. For example, if the Diameter of a brush is 100 pixels and the Spacing is set to 25 percent (the default setting for all predefined brushes), every 25 pixels you drag with the Brush tool (25 percent of 100 pixels), Photoshop lays down a 100 pixel spot of color. A Spacing of 1 percent provides the most coverage but also slows down the performance of the tool. If you deselected the Spacing check box, the effect of the tool is wholly dependent on the speed at which you drag, this can be useful for creating splotchy or oscillating lines.

Related Articles

• Photoshop brush dynamic
• Save and Load Brush set (Import or Export)
• Create Custom Brush
• Manage and Organize your Photoshop Brushes

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