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Brush presets

A preset brush is a saved brush tip with defined characteristics, such as size, shape, and hardness. You can save preset brushes with the characteristics you use often. You can also save tool presets for the Brush tool that you can select from the Tool Preset menu in the options bar. Later, you can convert all these Brush tool presets to brush presets using the Options bar > > Convert All To Brush Presets option.

When you change the size, shape, or hardness of a preset brush, the change is temporary. The next time you choose that preset, the brush uses its original settings. To make your changes permanent, you need to create a new preset. See Create a new preset brush.

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Use the Brushes panel to select a preset brush in a few simple steps.

Select a preset brush

  1. Select a painting or editing tool, and click the Brush pop‑up menu in the options bar.
  2. Select a brush.
    Note:

    You can also select a brush from the Brush Settings panel. To view the loaded presets, click Brushes in the upper-left area of the panel.

  3. Change options for the preset brush.

    Diameter

    Temporarily changes the brush size. Drag the slider or enter a value. If the brush has a dual tip, both the primary and dual brush tips are scaled.

    Use Sample Size

    Uses the original diameter of the brush tip if the brush tip shape is based on a sample. (Not available for round brushes.)

    Hardness

    (Available only for round and square brushes.) Temporarily changes the amount of anti-aliasing for the brush tool. At 100%, the brush tool paints with the hardest brush tip, but is still anti-aliased. The Pencil always paints a hard edge that is not anti-aliased.

Note:

You can also modify preset brush options from the Brushes panel (Window > Brushes).

Note:

To dynamically preview brush strokes in the Brush Settings panel, position the pointer over a brush in the Brushes panel until the tool tip appears. As you move the pointer over different brushes, the preview area at the bottom of the Brush panel will display sample brush strokes.

Manage brushes and brush presets

You can manage your brushes conveniently by organizing them in groups in the Brushes panel.

  1. In the Brushes panel, click the  icon.

  2. Specify a group name. Click OK.

  3. Drag brushes and presets into the group.

  4. Create more groups per your requirements.

Rename a preset brush

Do one of the following:

  • Select a brush in the Brush Presets panel, and choose Rename Brush from the panel menu. Enter a new name, and click OK.
  • In the Brush panel, double-click a brush tip, enter a new name, and click OK.

Delete a preset brush

In the Brushes presets panel, select a brush, and select the Delete brush icon from the panel menu. 

Import brushes and brush packs

You can import a wide variety of free and purchased brushes—for example, Kyle's Photoshop brush packs—into Photoshop. Follow these steps:

  1. In the Brushes panel, from the flyout menu, choose Get More Brushes. Alternatively, right-click a brush listed in the Brushes panel and select Get More Brushes from the contextual menu.

    Select Get More Brushes from the Brushes panel flyout menu...

    Right-click a brush and select Get More Brushes...

  2. Download a brush pack. For example, download Kyle's "Megapack".

  3. With Photoshop running, double-click the downloaded ABR file.

    The brushes you added are now displayed in the Brushes panel.

Note:

You can also use the Import Brushes option in the Brushes panel flyout menu to locate the downloaded ABR file and open it. Once you do so, the downloaded brushes are added to the Brushes panel.

Getting started with advanced custom brushes

Create a new preset brush

You can save a customized brush as a preset brush that appears in the Brushes panel and Preset Manager.

Note:

New preset brushes are saved in a Preferences file. If this file is deleted or damaged, or if you reset brushes to the default library, the new presets will be lost. To permanently save new preset brushes, save them in a library.

  1. Customize a brush.
  2. Do one of the following in the Brushes panel:

    • Choose New Brush Preset from the panel menu, enter a name for the preset brush, and click OK.

    • Click the Create New Brush button .

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