Affinity Designer: How to tell which brush was used

[SK89]

Hi,

I am doing an illustration and I can't find a brush I used for one of the section. Is there a way to know? I have so many brushes.

Thank you!

[Callum]

Hi SK89,

Unfortunately there is no way to tell which brush was used to create a specific stroke etc however this has been requested a few times in the past so it may be considered for a future update

Thanks
C

[KarinC]

What I have been doing is naming the layer with the name of the brush used.

[SK89]

It's really too bad it's not possible. It would be useful.

Naming the layer with the name of the brush is a good idea. I will also maybe track them in a separate document.

Thanks to both of you!

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, KarinC said:

What I have been doing is naming the layer with the name of the brush used.

Since in the Pixel persona many different raster brushes often might be used on the same pixel layer, that is not a very useful workaround. Besides, in the Designer persona for a curve made with the Vector Brush Tool you can change the brush type at any time to a different one by selecting the curve with the Node Tool & choosing a different brush.

[KarinC]

12 hours ago, R C-R said:

Since in the Pixel persona many different raster brushes often might be used on the same pixel layer, that is not a very useful workaround. Besides, in the Designer persona for a curve made with the Vector Brush Tool you can change the brush type at any time to a different one by selecting the curve with the Node Tool & choosing a different brush.

If you can come up with a better idea, let me know. I tend to use a different pixel layer for different brushes rather than mushing them up all together on one layer in pixel persona.

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, KarinC said:

I tend to use a different pixel layer for different brushes rather than mushing them up all together on one layer in pixel persona.

Since it could result in thousands of pixel layers, I doubt that many users do that, but for those that do it might be useful.

But out of curiosity, since the brush size can be changed on the fly while using a brush, do you include the starting or final size when you name the layer? Also, how do you achieve effects like wet edges, blurs, & so on with everything on different layers?

[KarinC]

52 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Since it could result in thousands of pixel layers, I doubt that many users do that, but for those that do it might be useful.

But out of curiosity, since the brush size can be changed on the fly while using a brush, do you include the starting or final size when you name the layer? Also, how do you achieve effects like wet edges, blurs, & so on with everything on different layers?

Out of curiosity how do you manage to turn everything into an argument?

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, KarinC said:

Out of curiosity how do you manage to turn everything into an argument?

I am not arguing about this. But I am curious about how you and/or others would like to see this implemented and/or what workarounds work for you and/or others. IOW, I see this as just a discussion, not an argument.

In that spirit, I wonder how close to the desired function the Recent brushes popup on Pixel layers in the Layers panel might be. It just shows the (final) pixel brush size(s) & thumbnail(s) of the brushes recent used, & it only does so for the current session. It does not show brush names so for instance it would be almost impossible to tell the difference among many of the built-in Pen brushes just from their thumbnails.

It gets even more complicated when using pressure-sensitive input devices because so many different brush variables could be changing dynamically just in one stroke, & I don't see any obvious way for the thumbnails to show that, but maybe someone else has an idea how it could work.

[Gripsholm Lion]

On 1/23/2024 at 5:13 PM, Callum said:

may be considered for a future update

🙏

[KarinC]

Actually, after a while I didn't find it to be a problem. I used to use watercolor (the wet kind). So, when I bought a watercolor pack and had all of these brushes I made a swatch panel like I would with traditional watercolor, naming all the brushes so I could see what they looked like. The name is all I need. Before I did that I named the layers and I still do with a vector brush if I don't use it often, but found that I really liked it and wanted to remember what it was. I have found myself settling down, right now, on this current project, with a handful of my favorite brushes, I know their names and where they are and I keep thinking I should put them all in one favorites category.