AP- Hair/Fur brush

[ivykok]

Hi, I am new to photo editing and have never used photoshop before. While I am having tremendous fun with my affinity photo software, it is also a steep learning curve for me. While looking up photoshop techniques on youtube, I came across the following video:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZraT1pwdSo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6eEo-UnbfE

 

I created the hair brush in affinity photo (new image brush) and was able to use it with the paint brush tool. However, the brush did not work with the smudge brush tool. 

 

Is this technique not possible with affinity photo?

 

Regards,

Ivy

[anon1]

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[ivykok]

Hi MBd, thanks for your reply. Ah, I've seen the video you mentioned. In fact, it was one of the reason I decided to buy the software as I was so impressed with the ability to select fine hair, among others.

 

However, it didn't work quite well when I tried it on the picture attached (taken with my iPhone, my apology for that) of my cat who has dense, short fur.

 

Perhaps the reason is one or all of the following:

- the photo quality is bad,

- there is not enough contrast between the subject and background, or 

- I simply suck at it.

 

When I used the refine tool after making a selection with the brush, I got smudgy edges  :(. After many failed attempts, I resorted to the technique in the youtube videos, to improve the edges with fake fur after making the selection. Only, I couldn't get the brush to work in smudge brush tool.

 

 

[anon1]

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[A_B_C]

Hey ivykok,

 

the brush should definitely work with the smudge tool … I would try one of the standard brushes first, perhaps from the “Painting” category. That should work in any case …  :)

 

Alex

[ivykok]

Hi Alex, that's the effect I was looking for!

 

Hmm, maybe my mistake lies in the creation of my 'fur' brush. 

 

First, I created a new document with transparent background. Then, I painted the dots in black colour with the paint brush tool, using the basic round brush. After that, I exported the document in PNG format as per screenshot attached. Finally, I created a new image brush under the brush tab by selecting the PNG file. But my brush looked different from yours (see screenshot 2).

 

Where did I go wrong?  :unsure:

 

Rgds,

Ivy

 

[jmac]

ivykok, If you look at your first attachment showing the brush you made you will see a small menu button to the right of the "Basic" brush palette. Click that to bring up the brush editing panel. There are quite a few adjustments you can make there to get your brush to behave the way you want. It looks like A_B_C has his brush spacing and other adjustments set up differently than yours.

[A_B_C]

Hi Ivy,

 

you were completely right, but as jmac said, you need to adjust your brush a bit. Double click your brush in the list or use the Edit button, as jmac described. Then you might want to set Spacing to 1 – 5% and play around with the other parameters a bit to get a feel of what they’re doing. There’s a chapter in the In-App Help about the Brush Editing Panel as well (Help > Affinity Photo Help > Paint and Erase).

 

Hope that helps …  :)

Alex

[ivykok]

Thanks heaps for taking the time to explain, MBd, Alex and jmac. And for bearing with this noob.

 

I finally got the fur brush to work in smudge tool after changing the colour of the dots from black to white. The brush editing panel is neat for creating different brushes.

 

You are right Alex. There are readily available brushes in the painting category and I really didn't need to create a new one after all  :P