Help with PS cs2

[Angroc]

Hello there, CA.orgers, I was wondering how you save custom brush palettes. I must say I dont find photoshop very intuitive at this aspect; I find some buttons here there that seem to do something I need, but I still have problem saving the settings in the brush editor (I can only save the state it was in when I defined the brush), and then saving my new brushes, WITH custom settings, into an entirely new brush palette. This is sadly slowing my workflow down quite a bit, not to mention is annoying when I have to change a brush, and must then set all the attributes right each time I switch. So, if anyone could help me with this, it would be surely awesome, and appreciated.

(I am a little confused about this forum as of yet, but it said that this part is about the technical aspect of art, so I hope I came to the right place to ask the question. if not, then I am sorry about it:/ )

[tensai]

if you want to save changes you made to settings of certain brushes than open the tool preset tab (under window). at the bottom of that tab you can click an icon that enables you to save a new preset. check out the help funtion too about the presets manager and all that. you can save settings for any tool ps has (crop, stamp etc.).

you can also save different brush libraries that you can load when needed. like i said, check the help a bit for info about that too to get the most out of it.

hope that helps

[Datameister]

You're a Painter native, aren't you. :)

I just started using Painter after a year of painting in Photoshop (and many years before that using it for other purposes), and I had just the opposite sort of confusion. Here's how it breaks down:

Painter's brushes retain whatever settings you apply to them (i.e. you can save changes to a brush). Photoshop's brushes are read-only (i.e. you save 'em once and they can never be changed). Thus, you have to either save a new version of the brush or be satisfied with manually tweaking it each time.

Painter offers "custom palettes"; Photoshop offers "tool presets," like tensai said. They're based on the same idea--put various tools all into one place for easy access. To add a brush or other tool into the Tool Presets dialog box (you can't have multiple ones, unlike Painter :( ), activate that brush/tool and hit the little New button at the bottom of the Tool Presets dialog box. Unlike brushes, tool presets retain information about flow and opacity (and color, if you so wish). But they're still not dynamic like Painter's brushes--if you click a tool preset that has a saved opacity of 50% and then manually increase it to 100%, clicking that preset again will take opacity back down to 50%.

Being used to Photoshop, I actually find the amorphous qualities of Painter's brush-saving scheme a little annoying. I like to be able to tweak a brush's settings when necessary, but I also like to know exactly what a given brush is. A brush in Photoshop will always give you the same results. But that's just me. Both systems have their advantages.

[Angroc]

Hello guys, and thank you for your kind replies. I made this topic before going out of town to visit my parents, to give some time for people to answer the thread. So I havent been able to try out your info as of yet, but just from reading it I think I understand it more now:)
And nope, Datameister, I have only tried Painter a little, and from what little I tried, I got very annoyed, because of small things here and there. For example, in painter you cant just leftclick and nice slider for brush type and size will pop up. I really really miss that in Painter. Also, I think its slow at times, and I am quite intimidated by the brush system there. I tried my hands at some 'oil' painting, but I just ended up with a weird, ugly, glittery image, since the oil had 'stacked' so much over time. Wherent actually impressed by the 'oil' texture. So so far, I am quite satisfied with PS, even though it has some stupid quirks here and there.

[tensai]

Being used to Photoshop, I actually find the amorphous qualities of Painter's brush-saving scheme a little annoying. I like to be able to tweak a brush's settings when necessary, but I also like to know exactly what a given brush is. A brush in Photoshop will always give you the same results. But that's just me. Both systems have their advantages.


Datameister - I'm extremely used to Photoshop, have it customized to the bone and wouldn't hear of anything else. Recently tried, and bought Painter. I think its amazing. Really, especially sketching with 'ink' and 'pencils' and painting with the Artists Oils. It's difficult switching back and forth some times, and I still love PS. What I came to say though, is that you can define your own brushes, or tweak brushes, and then go to the little triangle in the brushes settings (top right hand corner) and click Restore Default Variant and you're back where you started. I think you can also define your own brush (with teaked settings of a standard brush) and then do the same Restore Default Variant for that brush, but havent had to use that yet so check if that is actually possible.

Just thought perhaps you didn't know that one.