qendl

Would love a vector brush that allows you to draw like a calligraphy parallel pen. Want be able to stroke a pen-tool curve with a static shape to create caligraphic lines. An editable dynamics curve for rotation would be an added bonus. Discussed in more detail this thread: This video shows what I'm talking about implemented in Illustrator (drawing starts at 2:18):

Thanks for the replies. Surprised you can't do this.

Is there no way to use it as a stroke along a pen tool curve then?

I've been trying to achieve something that seems like it should be simple but I can't make it work. I want a brush that works like a calligraphy parallel pen - the brush tip is basically a 45 degree angled line that's always oriented the same direction regardless of which direction the path of the stroke goes. It would be even cooler if I could adjust the rotation of the brush as a dynamics-curve but I can't even get the basic idea to work so I haven't thought about that yet. I've been trying to get it to work in either Designer (preferably) or Photo but I can't get it in either. I can make something approximately right with a "square" brush in Photo but it can only be used as a raster brush and can't be applied as a stroke to a curve. I'm on pretty old versions of both programs so there may be new features I'm not aware of. Here's an example of someone doing exactly what I want in Illustrator (starts drawing at 2:18). Notice that no matter which direction his stroke is in the brush stamps the shape in the same orientation so drawing straight down yields a thick line with a tilted end, while drawing SW to NE yields a narrow line: I've tried using a 45 degree tilted thin rectangle as a "textured image brush" and a "textured intensity brush" in Designer but both brushes stretch, distort, or rotate the image in weird ways. I just want a brush that stamps the same shape in the same rotation continuously to form a line regardless of stroke direction. Surely it must be possible. Thanks for your help everyone.

Hi Sean. Same behavior in 1.7.1 now too. I'm just holding shift while I click+drag.

I'm on mac so I had to get the apps on the app store. Might have a backup of the old version in my backup drive. The new version replaced the old version without alerting me when I installed it, so I don't know if it's possible for both apps to be on the same machine at once. I don't mind if any of my new documents aren't openable, I just want a version of the app that doesn't have the huge, app breaking bugs that 1.7 has.

First image shows a single pixel layer on gray rectangle background with no blur. Second picture shows exact same project with Gaussian blur added via fx on the pixel layer. As you can see, glitchy vertical banding appears.

New version re-written blend modes produce glitchy results in a lot of situations for me. Didn't experience this in the previous version. The new version seems to have replaced the old version on my computer. Is there a way I can get the old version and is it possible to have both versions on the same machine simultaneously?

Same bug from previous version. When using shift+drag to draw straight lines with Pixel brushes, unwanted lines connecting from the end of the previous stroke are inserted. Designer and Photo. designer bug.afdesign photo bug.afphoto

Also experiencing this in 1.7 beta on mac

Was wondering about the exact same issue. Why does it work like this?

This works well enough. Thanks.

I do a lot of stuff using power duplicate on semi-transparent layers to make repeated outlines appearing to move back into or forward out of the image. Sometimes it would just be much easier if I could duplicate behind.

When I duplicate a layer, the new layer appears in front of the old one. Is there a way to set layers created through duplication to appear behind the original layer? I tried Layer>Insertion>Behind but it didn't change anything.

I figured out an easy way. You can merge visible, getting the shape with the right colors and the background as an image. Then you can take the original shape, use the "color overlay" effect to turn it solid black, rasterize that, and use that as a mask on the merge visible image. Thanks for the replies Bri-toon.