Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Organizing brushes in Affinity Photo?


Recommended Posts

Hello!

I'm just making my first steps in Affinity Photo. I'm an illustrator and I usually create my digital paintings in PS using a lot of different digital brushes. In PS there was a nifty plugin that did a great job (BrushBox).

I love that you can use and even import some brushes in Affinity Photo, but I can't locate any of them just going by the visual list. Is there a way to have the names of the brushes displayed next to the brush tips? Or a way to mark your favorites? Currently, I'm trying out new brushes (from a list of over 100...) and each time I want to go back to one I liked, I've already forgotten which one it was. Affinity Photo seems like a great software, but I'd love some way to organize the brush tips better!

Thanks!

Julia

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i think the best way would be to create more brush categories (panel menu) and organize your brushes. 

 

5a5758eaf011c_panelmenu.png.93dc2b06ab4db9438ea16fad127fc765.png

Panel menu

category.png.35cbb113e24db9259bc7ec495f4ea207.png

 

Make an "I like it" type category and a "favourite" category, or two, and as soon as you find a brush you like, rename it and move it.

 

Name the brush by right clicking on it (Rename) and then, the names will pop-up as you hover over the brushes.

 

If you have trouble remembering which brush you just tried, hover first to get its name and take notes ;)

Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi toltec,

thanks for the suggestion! A favorite category will help a bit. But without having names displayed, I still feel lost and it makes for a less smooth drawing experience.

When working, it takes away valuable time to hover over a couple of brushes, wait for the pop-up to appear, and then find out you wanted a different one. This is not practical when switching between brushes all the time (particularly when they're similar looking ones). I know every software takes a bit of getting used to, but I wonder if it would be possible for the software to display the names - since they are stored with the brush, it would be awesome to switch between modes so that everyone can choose what works best for them. I happen to rely a lot on the names of the brushes to make my selection.

Just wanted to show how the PS plugin BrushBox does this, you can switch display modes:

5a5765f3e2c9a_Bildschirmfoto2018-01-11um14_23_03.png.f2410aa333fa25e4d28872a4a32ae860.png

 

Should I post this in the suggestions thread instead for the dev team to see? :)

Julia

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, JuliaB said:

Should I post this in the suggestions thread instead for the dev team to see? :)

I think this has already been requested by quite a few people so maybe search for one you want to give a "+1" to ....

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

I, too, would like to "remember" which brush was last used - not just a recently used. Switching from more than one pixel layer, it would nice if the last brush used was highlighted within the brushes studio at least. 

I know that using multiple brushes within one pixel layer, showing which ones were used would be nigh impossible. Remembering the last should be doable. I’ve often switched layers, and upon going back to the one using a brush, the difficulty in identifying which brush was used can be vexing. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • 7 months later...

Could we please have the ability to nest brush categories? With the flat hierarchy it gets unmanageable fast. With parent categories it would also be easy to group categories such as those favourites, recently used (system populated category) etc. Also desperately missing the ability to reorder brushes. At present they are ordered by creation ordering, which is pretty hopeless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Hello JuliaB,

Was wanting to know if you tried installing the Photoshop (Brush box plugin) into Affinity Photo? And if you did, does it work? I contacted the Creator of Brush Box plugin but haven't heard back.

If anyone has tried installing the Brush box plugin I would love to know if it works 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, taustin said:

If anyone has tried installing the Brush box plugin I would love to know if it works 

It shouldn't work. Only .8bf plugins that operate on images are supported, not ones that work on other parts of the interface.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.