Feature request- An option for "fixed feather region" scaling on brushes

[colin_e]

This is a feature I have wanted for years, but never found in any software.

I find it a nuisance, especially when refining masks, that the default brush scales the feather region (how many pixels wide the region of varying opacity is) linearly with the overall size of the brush. This behaviour effectively means the brush edge gets harder as the brush gets smaller, so-

1. I'm constantly having to fiddle with the brush hardness as I change the brush size
2. Below a certain brush size even a 100% soft brush still produces a noticeably hard edge on the image (or mask)

What I want is an option to set a fixed feathering region width on the brush (either by % initially, or pixels). Then as the brush scales this feather region just moves inwards or outwards based on the brush outer radius.

One implication of this is once the brush radius is reduced below the feather region radius, the opacity of the brush would start to reduce (in addition to whatever the current opacity and flow settings are).

The attached image tries to illustrate what I mean.

[NotMyFault]

Interesting request👍🏼
 

As a workaround, you could create a set of brushes in selected sizes which have a fixed feather size. Instead of changing brush sizes, just select the one of appropriate size.

 

[colin_e]

Interesting idea. I could see it would work toa degree. However you'd have to do quite a bit of setup for the custom brushes, and that's only for a single brush shape, and you wouldn't be able to use the standard [ / ] shortcuts for brush size, so only a partial wotkaround.

[NotMyFault]

 

51 minutes ago, colin_e said:

Interesting idea. I could see it would work toa degree. However you'd have to do quite a bit of setup for the custom brushes, and that's only for a single brush shape, and you wouldn't be able to use the standard [ / ] shortcuts for brush size, so only a partial wotkaround.

Actually you need only 8 or 16 circles, add circular gradient with 3 nodes (black / black/ white), and shift the middle node in equal steps. You can then select the appropriate brush by 1/8 to 7/8 fill.