Problem with the Paint Brush Tool.

[Suzanne Fade]

Hello.

I am using Affinity Designer 2 on an iMac. I bought it in Jan 2023 and have used it successfully since. I use the Paint Brush Tool a lot and have imported and used many .abr brushes. 

Since yesterday 6th March 2023 I have a problem.

 

When I want to use the Paint Brush Tool, the thumbnails in the Brushes Panel are no longer visible. I can see the names of the factory set categories but that’s all, not my imported categories. So without thumbnails it’s impossible to choose and use a brush. 

I can’t import any new brushes including new .afbrushes. It tells me "No compatible brushes in the file" although I imported them before.

I can export one of the factory set categories for example Oils and import it back as Oils 2 but still with no thumbnails and I can’t delete Oils 2. Maybe that’s normal since it is a factory category.

The last brush I used it still present and visible on the cursor and I can use it but it’s impossible to choose another one or to remove it.

 

I have reset the brushes to factory settings.

I have binned and deleted the whole application and downloaded a fresh one but the problem remains. I suppose the computer retains data of the original app. I see that styles and swatches I created are still there.

 

I have tried to find information but this problem is not mentioned. Can anyone please help? Without the Paint Brush Tool I am rather lost. I’m elderly and make pictures for my pleasure.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Suzanne Fade said:

I have reset the brushes to factory settings.

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums.

I will guess that you used the application Settings, Miscellaneous, Reset Brushes. That performs a partial reset.

There is a more complete method of resetting:

1. First, make sure none of the V2 Affinity applications are running.
2. Press and Hold the Ctrl key while you start Designer 2.
3. When you get the Clear User Defaults dialog, release Ctrl.
4. Uncheck the first 3 items in the list, and check Reset Brushes. This will reset all the brushes for any of the Affinity V2 applications.
5. Click Reset.

You will need to recreate or reimport any custom brushes.

[Suzanne Fade]

Many thanks to walt.farrel  for his advice which has worked. I'm very pleased.