What brush am I using?

[NPriore]

4 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Sounds like a good idea but since there can be hundreds of brush presets stored in dozens of different brush categories, just displaying the name may not be of much help if you want to reuse the same brush preset.

Worse, many brush parameters can be changed on the fly after a brush preset has been selected, so the name of the preset won't necessarily correspond to what the brush created the last time it was used.

Personally, I think they need to rethink the whole brush implementation, perhaps adding a separate Brush Manager feature of some sort.

Yes, I understand, but what I'm describing should be very easy to implement and so much better than the current behavior that it can serve as a stop-gap while we all wait for the perfect implementation sometime in the future.

What I described can be expanded to account for changes in presets and other issues. One small data structure can hold all of the necessary information with very little overhead.

But leaving it as it is now boggles the mind. This thread was started 4+ years ago, this bug is so old it might as well be called a feature.

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, Old Bruce said:

Brush name, from which category and an indication if it has been altered to start with.

The altered indication might not be of much use unless maybe there was some indication of specifically how it had been altered. I have no idea how that could be done, short of some really complex graph of the changes to each parameter.

[Old Bruce]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

The altered indication might not be of much use unless maybe there was some indication of specifically how it had been altered. I have no idea how that could be done, short of some really complex graph of the changes to each parameter.

Thinking about makes me agree. Just changing the width is something I do pretty much all the time so every brush would wind up showing that.

Maybe we could tag the things we want to not indicate an edit. Myself, I change Width and/or Opacity and/or Hardness about 80-90% of the time so I would say ignore those for my notification of edits done to the brush.

[Andy05]

9 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Brush name, from which category and an indication if it has been altered to start with.

I'd prefer a system comparable to the colour swatches, which show the "last XX used colours" in the current session. So some kind of "swatches", representing the "last XX brushes used", inclusive ALL modifications per brush used would be a nice have-to. Might even come as a dynamic brush category (last brushes used) at the very top of the drop down list.

[R C-R]

5 minutes ago, NPriore said:

What I described can be expanded to account for changes in presets and other issues. One small data structure can hold all of the necessary information with very little overhead.

I am not so sure the amount of overhead that would require would not be substantial, or at least how to make that data available in some useful form.

After all, there could be dozens or even hundreds of on-the-fly changes to any of several different brush parameters, particularly if using a brush that responds to pressure changes when using a pressure sensitive input device.

[Andy05]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

particularly if using a brush that responds to pressure changes when using a pressure sensitive input device.

That's nothing which needs to be stored with the brush setup/settings, tho. Only the setting about "pressure sensitivity yes/no".

The on-the-fly dynamics caused by pressure would still apply to the brush, you don't change the brush settings either whilst using a dynamic (pressure sensitive) brush. That's usually a setting you just do once before you start using the brush.

[R C-R]

3 minutes ago, Andy05 said:

I'd prefer a system comparable to the colour swatches, which show the "last XX used colours" in the current session. So some kind of "swatches", representing the "last XX brushes used", inclusive ALL modifications per brush used would be a nice have-to. Might even come as a dynamic brush category (last brushes used) at the very top of the drop down list.

I like the idea of a "last brushes used" category but I think it would have to be substantially different from color swatches to include modifications since there could be half a dozen or more modifications of different brush parameters.

[Andy05]

12 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I like the idea of a "last brushes used" category but I think it would have to be substantially different from color swatches to include modifications since there could be half a dozen or more modifications of different brush parameters.

Yeah, I thought of basically storing just the "initial (modified) brush". Ignoring on-the-fly modifications like brush size etc., which you might be doing by shortcuts whilst drawing. 

All the other extended features (like jitter, distance and suchlike) should be stored. Because size, opacity and those basic settings, which one usually changes constantly during drawing shouldn't create a new "last used brush" each time. If that's something one would constantly need to have access to, there probably should be a quick-add button/icon/shortcut or something like that to add the current brush inclusive size and opacity etc. to the list.

But having access to the last 5-10 brushes, inclusive all the extended settings you may or may have not modified when you started painting (even with a standard opacity and size) would help a lot already.

Edit: I used the term "swatches" in my first example only as a comparable feature for colours. Of course, I wouldn't want to see the last used brushes in such a tiny square/icon. 

[iconoclast]

I would like a feature like the Toolbox in ArtRage, where you can store all the Tool Presets, Colours and other things that you use in a certain document. It would sometimes be verry helpfull to have all the stuff you need for your work on a document at the same place, for quick and easy access.

[R C-R]

16 minutes ago, Andy05 said:

The on-the-fly dynamics caused by pressure would still apply to the brush, you don't change the brush settings either whilst using a dynamic (pressure sensitive) brush.

But the effect of changing the pressure while using the brush constantly changes, which means if the goal is to see how the brush created something the last time it was used, we would need something like a graph showing how it changed as it was last used.

If we just want to know what preset was last used, it is a lot simpler, but probably also a lot less useful.

[iconoclast]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

But the effect of changing the pressure while using the brush constantly changes, which means if the goal is to see how the brush created something the last time it was used, we would need something like a graph showing how it changed as it was last used.

If we just want to know what preset was last used, it is a lot simpler, but probably also a lot less useful.

Maybe something like a Snapshot-Feature for brush-settings.

[Andy05]

14 minutes ago, R C-R said:

But the effect of changing the pressure while using the brush constantly changes, which means if the goal is to see how the brush created something the last time it was used, we would need something like a graph showing how it changed as it was last used.

If we just want to know what preset was last used, it is a lot simpler, but probably also a lot less useful.

As far as it might be useful in order to find out what brush settings have been used exactly, I guess storing each change of size and—even worse—pressure would be way too much. Especially pressure can vary hundreds of times in a single stroke. Just imagine painting something like hair onto an object with a pressure sensitive brush. Hundreds of strokes within just a couple of minutes, multiplied by probably dozens of pressure changes each strike...

Your idea with a graph might work for size, opacity and such features (please, as a feature which one can turn off in the settings as this might cause even more lagging when drawing). But I can't think of any viable solution for storing altering pressure applied for each stroke as well. 

[NPriore]

5 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I am not so sure the amount of overhead that would require would not be substantial, or at least how to make that data available in some useful form.

After all, there could be dozens or even hundreds of on-the-fly changes to any of several different brush parameters, particularly if using a brush that responds to pressure changes when using a pressure sensitive input device.

I am sure. Unless, of course, application programming and software development has changed so much since I left the field and computers have regressed, which I doubt. The only changes that would need to be stored are those made to the already existing parameters that are found in the brush editor. A 32 bit register can hold any one of more than 4 billion unique configurations. I doubt that however many parameters there are in the brush editor that they would total more than that. And yes, some of the parameters are not on off switches and can hold any one of a variable set of values but even then I doubt all possible configurations would reach 4 billion, and what if they did? Then use two registers instead of one and more than 18 quintillion unique configurations can be stored. 32 bits is .0004% of one megabyte. Saving the name and current state of the last selected brush is a no-brainer. Saving the current state of all changed brushes for the duration of the current session is a no-brainer.
The hurdle here is not one of processing or storage overhead. 
Anything that is done would be an improvement over the current broken implementation. If all I could see was the name of the last brush I selected whenever I choose the brush tool, then that is an improvement over just looking at the brush panel and trying to remember what brush I was using last.

[R C-R]

34 minutes ago, NPriore said:

I am sure. Unless, of course, application programming and software development has changed so much since I left the field and computers have regressed, which I doubt.

It isn't that programming development has changed. It is that the number & range of parameters, particularly for graphic features like brush strokes, is extremely large. For example, as already has been mentioned, on-the-fly dynamic changes can occur hundreds or even thousands of times while a brush is being used, & that may apply to any of about half a dozen different parameters.

Besides, a single register can't possibly store billions of unique configurations. Just encoding names (which can be of many different lengths & quite possibly renamed at any time after the last use) requires far more than just a bit or two. Likewise, storing the last state of each of its parameters can't be encoded in just a few bits. Somewhere, the app would have to store the actual last used value of each parameter.

More to consider:

• Multiple documents may be open at the same time, so each of them needs space somewhere to store their last used parameter values.
• Brushes can be duplicated, renamed, & moved between categories at any time, so there must be some provision to track that.
• Likewise, the parameters of a brush preset can be edited at any time; the "More" button allows changes to the currently selected brush without changing any of the brush preset values; & there are numerous options for wet edge behavior (including ones with standard or custom profiles).

Basically, there are an unlimited number of 'last used' values to keep track of.

[NPriore]

5 minutes ago, R C-R said:

It isn't that programming development has changed. It is that the number & range of parameters, particularly for graphic features like brush strokes, is extremely large. For example, as already has been mentioned, on-the-fly dynamic changes can occur hundreds or even thousands of times while a brush is being used, & that may apply to any of about half a dozen different parameters.

Besides, a single register can't possibly store billions of unique configurations. Just encoding names (which can be of many different lengths & quite possibly renamed at any time after the last use) requires far more than just a bit or two. Likewise, storing the last state of each of its parameters can't be encoded in just a few bits. Somewhere, the app would have to store the actual last used value of each parameter.

More to consider:

• Multiple documents may be open at the same time, so each of them needs space somewhere to store their last used parameter values.
• Brushes can be duplicated, renamed, & moved between categories at any time, so there must be some provision to track that.
• Likewise, the parameters of a brush preset can be edited at any time; the "More" button allows changes to the currently selected brush without changing any of the brush preset values; & there are numerous options for wet edge behavior (including ones with standard or custom profiles).

Basically, there are an unlimited number of 'last used' values to keep track of.

For the sake of brevity, no to every assumption you're making. 
And, I just hope that one day soon, Affinity will at least allow us to see the name of the last used brush on the status bar.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, NPriore said:

For the sake of brevity, no to every assumption you're making. 

So for example you are saying that any permitted brush name could be encoded into just 32 bits, no matter how many characters it contains or if any of them are among the thousands of supported unicode characters?

I would be very interested hearing about how you think that could be done.

[simonlayfield]

I feel like this is ballooning out a bit. Features like tracking historical changes made to a brush throughout the timeline of a document is something interesting to consider for the future but quite honestly the problem that exists now is that there's no way of knowing even which brush you started with.

If you're a user who uses brushes extensively and is making constant changes to brush configuration, sure, this basic information may not be as useful as knowing what modifications were made at various points etc, but for a lot of users this basic information is the only signpost they need for finding the last brush they used, which is currently just a guessing game.

I'm not suggesting 'basic information' means it's an easy feature to implement; perhaps it isn't, but it surely has to be easier than the more advanced features I've seen suggested.

I like the idea of a brush manager. Sounds like that would be a welcome inclusion to the application for those more advanced users.

Anyway, my intention isn't to cause more of a stir, just to reiterate that I'm sure a lot of users would find the most basic implementation of this feature very useful.

[R C-R]

4 minutes ago, simonlayfield said:

If you're a user who uses brushes extensively and is making constant changes to brush configuration, sure, this basic information may not be as useful as knowing what modifications were made at various points etc, but for a lot of users this basic information is the only signpost they need for finding the last brush they used, which is currently just a guessing game.

I (& probably others) have suggested that a relatively simple way to see which brush was last used would be for its name to appear in the History panel, instead of just saying "Paint Brush Tool" as it does now.

Of course, that info would be preserved only if Save History with Document was enabled, which could bloat file sizes, & it is not going to be very useful if different brushes have the same name; or unless both the category & brush name appears in the step, which could result in very long text strings.

[Bynah]

I was so happy to find this post. I too would love to see a way to find which brush you used on certain strokes made. I don't know if it is possible but it would be immensely helpful to me!

[Bynah]

On 2/7/2018 at 6:32 PM, Fahad Javed said:

Hi everyone,

 

I have faced this issue especially when painting in Affinity Designer. If i am using multiple brushes in a single painting i cannot select them by sampling them from the paint on the canvas. Lets say if i have utilized 7 brushes in my painting,then there must be a way for me to select any of them by sampling them. This mechanism is actually available in the mypaint software that i have used a lot. In order to select a brush from a painting in my paint,you move the cursor over the brush stroke and press the 'w' key to sample and then select the brush[along with its settings] without selecting and remembering the brush from the brush panel. Here is a short video demonstrating this feature as i do many brush strokes and select those by sampling them. A similar feature should also be available in affinity designer and photo,as if we are using close to a lets say 25 brushes in a painting,do we need to remember each of them?. This feature will boost our productivity.

 

I thought this was exactly what I need. If this program can do this, can Affinity find a way to do the same thing? It would be the GREATEST thing!

[iconoclast]

9 minutes ago, Bynah said:

I thought this was exactly what I need. If this program can do this, can Affinity find a way to do the same thing? It would be the GREATEST thing!

Hi Bynah!

Cool!!! I used Mypaint for years, but this "w"-thing is absolutely new for me. Verry nice feature! Would like to have it in Affinity Photo too.

[Bynah]

Yes for sure. After reading this I looked to see if I could download Mypaint but it is only for windows. :(

[iconoclast]

1 minute ago, Bynah said:

Yes for sure. After reading this I looked to see if I could download Mypaint but it is only for windows. :(

Haven't ever tried to use Mypaint on Mac, but this website says that it should be possible with MacPorts.

[Etostudio]

Seriously Affinity?

How is just separately highlighting the brush type from changing parameters so hard that you can't remember that the brush used when selecting previous vector strokes? My god... Adobe had this on lock since the early 90's with AI.....Simple answer....British engineering....No wonder the brits will never catchup....sigh I guess we will be waiting for this "bug" to be fixed till end of time....

[Ian R]

Here's a scenario for you Affinity:

I start using a brush

I test the size

I see it's too big so I reduce the size (selection of brush type disappears)

I then skip to a marquee tool to make a mask or to the pointer to move something

I then click B to go back to the brush tool and trust I have the same brush type and size and start painting because I can't see which I have selected

then I use a different brush for a different effect and change the size (and also lose the selection of said brush type)

losing the knowledge of knowing which brush I have selected I click on the brush I want, and in so doing I reset the brush to it's default, so I have to modify it to get it back to how I wanted.

Time goes by with every selection and modification

Making custom brushes is absolutely necessary to work efficiently in AP, but I find it very unintuitive.

These things make me frustrated and when you're working under tight deadlines the annoyance levels go up and up.

I love Affinity software but this issue really needs to be fixed. Please give us an easy way to know which brush we have selected and/or modified (just a simply blue dot but the brush selection to show it's modified?)

I could go on, but lets hear from you Affinity - we'd really appreciate it.