1. Edit and save
So far, you've saved your brush in your basic
set (it appears by the end of your standard
brush listing). To get a little more control
over it and to save a whole set you can use
something called "The Preset Manager".
Access it by going to "Edit/Preset Manager..."
in the menu. In this new window, you can manage,
rename, save and load your brushes (as well
as other things in Photoshop, like patterns
or gradient). Make sure you have "Preset
Type" set to "brushes". You
will see a complete list of your current ones.
Rename any you think aren't right, and then
select the new custom brushes you've made
(only yours, not the rest of them). Click
"Save Set..." and choose what to
name it and where to put it. Photoshop will
create an ".abr" file which contains
your selected brushes. This way, you can create
a set for a specific type of texture, a set
of traditional art brushes, one for patterns
or effects etc. And, the good thing is, you
can move it between computers, or share the
sets with your friends or colleagues.
Note:
Creating sets in Photoshop CS and then trying
to load them in Photoshop 7 won't work. I
Haven't found a converter for it either, but
if you know a way around this, let me know.
The hard way is to check the CS brush' settings
and then recreate it in version 7.
2.
Loading brushes
When
you want to load your sets, enter the menu
for the brush tool. I will go through the
most important choices in this menu:
Reset
Brushes - This will replace all the brushes
you have with the standard set. You will get
a dialogue box asking if you want to "append"
(the default set will be added after your
current set) or simply just replace it (all
your custom brushes will then be GONE so don't
do it if you haven't saved your brush set!)
Load
Brushes - Here you load you custom brushes
into the standard list. They will be added
after the standard brushes. This choice is
what I recommend when you load your own brushes.
Save
Brushes - Will save all available brushes
(just like you did in the "Preset Manager"
with the difference that here it will save
them all, not just the selected ones).
Replace
Brushes - This is the other way of loading
your brush set. All your current brushes in
the list will be deleted and the set you load
will be the only choice you have. Good if
you have a special set with a couple of standard
brushes together with a bunch of texture brushes,
and you don't want Photoshops long default
list clogging up your workspace.
That's it!
Now you have two pattern brushes if you ever
need a bumpy surface, you know the difference
between a custom shape brush and a texture
brush and you know how to manage your sets.
This
might have given you some additional ideas
of how you can use custom brushes, and hopefully
a whole lot of ideas on brushes you'd like
to create for your own.
