CS5 Mixer Brush Wetness not working with Bristle Brushes

[Marsyas]

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this problem or if it just has something to do with my setup (Photoshop CS5 Extended 64-bit Windows Vista):

http://forums.adobe.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/31819/bristlebrushes.jpg

I was scratching my head for a long time wondering why the Mixer Brush's Wetness slider apparently had no effect until I started experimenting with regular brushes.

It's quite annoying that the Bristle Brushes are affected considering that they're practically made for the Mixer Brush.

[JohnMalcolm1970]

What about all the other variables? Mix, Load, Flow and pressure from tablet.

I did a quick test of all the presets for both a bristle brush and a round hard edged brush - I also did versions with 0%, 1%, 50% and 100% wetness.

What I got were roughly similar results between bristle and normal brush. It was a useful exercise anyway... I'll keep it to remind me what each setting does.

[JohnMalcolm1970]

On reflection it's rather strange that none of the presets do the following: Paint initially with a full on red colour, then mix and get contaminated by the black before trailing off as the loading kicks in.

I'll be sticking mainly for Painter and Artrage for this kind of stuff. The mixer brush in Photoshop CS5 is an advancement, but I'm finding it too awkward and indeed glacially slow.

[Marsyas]

Thanks for the feedback, JohnMalcolm1970.

Are you using the 32-bit or Mac version of Photoshop? Or did you have any other settings active when you made the tests with the Wetness slider?

The Wetness slider for me acts more like an on/off switch with the Bristle Brushes.

[JohnMalcolm1970]

I'm using the 64 bit windows version on Windows 7. It does seem a bit weird... as I said, I expected at least one of the presets to allow laying down stong colour yet mixing... and none of them seem to. I was using a tablet though.

I expect more testing might help... using stuff more like in a live project... it's a pity we're not beta testers for Adobe :)

[Marsyas]

I'm using the 64 bit windows version on Windows 7. It does seem a bit weird... as I said, I expected at least one of the presets to allow laying down stong colour yet mixing... and none of them seem to. I was using a tablet though.

I expect more testing might help... using stuff more like in a live project... it's a pity we're not beta testers for Adobe :)

You might try playing with the Smudge tool. I've found that the Finger Painting option seems to work with tablets much better now (my last version of Photoshop was CS). As shown below, I think it might give what you're looking for if you play around with the settings. I've found that adding some strength jitter instead of pressure sensitivity makes the Smudge tool work better. Controlling the brush 'load' seems a bit tricky though and depends on the brush.

[JohnMalcolm1970]

You might try playing with the Smudge tool. I've found that the Finger Painting option seems to work with tablets much better now (my last version of Photoshop was CS). As shown below, I think it might give what you're looking for if you play around with the settings. I've found that adding some strength jitter instead of pressure sensitivity makes the Smudge tool work better. Controlling the brush 'load' seems a bit tricky though and depends on the brush.

to be honest... I'd just rather stick to Painter 11 for most of my digital art. Photoshop is wonderful for many things, adjustment layers, transforming selections, and general tweaking of an image that's 99% done... it kinda sucks for colour blending though. I prefer to use the strengths of both.

Quick edit for anyone looking at the post later.... in my example image all of the brush strokes were made with the same full red colour selected.... yet that colour only showed with settings that had almost no blending or colour mixing.

All of the stuff in this attached image was in Painter, with one brush and no changes other then pen pressure being applied. When Photoshop comes up with a brush engine that can do this, this fast, then I will consider it.

[Ouisri]

I'd recommended you to check again the set up of monitor you use, is it correct driver for it or not and driver is for your OS or not (64 bit Vista). This is the main key of incorrect result on the display.

[sdiverdi]

Hi JohnMalcom1970 - one thing you might want to try with the Mixer Brush is to do your tests again on a transparent layer. In the test image you posted from Photoshop, the heavy mix brushes only appear white because the background layer is white. If you were to use them on a transparent layer, you would see the brush's red color first, before mixing with the black paint and then drying.