Brushes introduction

This a manual / guide to the use of brushes for Illustrator ®. Explains how to install the brushes, use them, convert them, apply as symbols and more. The brushes are known as Illustrator brushes or Illustrator CS3 brushes etc, I will refer to them as brushes. Adobe and Illustrator are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated

Andrew

Guide (c) 2009 Andrew Buckle / Abneil Software Ltd (graphicxtras.com)

Brushes installation folder

The following folders are to be used if you wish to see the brushes in the brushes menu. You can always place them in a totally different folder and then access them via the file browser within Illustrator (it might be a good idea .. there are a lot of AI files and the menu might end up being a mile or two long)

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Illustrator 10\Presets\BrushesC:\Program Files\Adobe\Illustrator CS\Presets\BrushesC:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS2\Presets\Brushes C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS3\Presets\BrushesC:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS4\Presets\en_GB\Brushes

Or on the mac / OS X in the equivalent Illustrator path i.e. HD:Adobe Illustrator CS2:presets:brushes

No longer supported in packs but some work in 8/9

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Illustrator 8.0\Brush Libraries (some volumes, not all. This version is no longer supported as the brushes now contain transparency)C:\Program Files\Adobe\Illustrator 9.0.2\Brush Libraries (some volumes, not all. This version is no longer supported as the brushes now contain transparency)

Later brush sets are only stored in 10 upwards and will NOT work in 8 or 9 (.0.2)

Alternative location for the brushes in CS4

PC : Please place the Illustrator brushes files in your user folder [user] \ appData \ roaming \ Adobe \ Adobe Illustrator CS4 settings \ en_US \ brushes changing the en_US to en_GB etc as required and the [user] to your username. You will then see the styles files appear in the preset browser drop-down for the styles panel.

OS X : Please place the Illustrator brushes files in the <user>: library : ApplicationSupport : Adobe : Adobe Illustrator CS4 : en_US : brushes folder. Again, depends on the username (Andrew, Maggie, Steve or whatever your current username is) and the en_US depends on the language so it could be en_GB etc en_JP etc

Brushes - next step

Startup Adobe ® Illustrator ® 10 / CS1 / CS2 / CS3 CS4 (8 or 9 if you are using some of the earlier brush packs)

Accessing the brushes varies from version to version, in earlier ver-sions the best approach was 1) Go to the window menu item > brush libraries 2) Select a brush library. Or use the other libraries option if the brush library is not located in the drop down or use the brush palette itself and use the open command from there.

For CS2 or CS3 or CS4, you can access the brushes via the brushes palette and select a brush library.

Once the brush file has been opened, the brushes can be fully accessed in Illustrator ®. Once you select a brush, the brush is placed in the document's brushes palette and can be modified in a variety of ways

fig. The brush palette for the document (left) and on the right, one of thebrush libraries. Select an item in the brush library, the brush is then addedto the document’s brush palette

fig. The brush palette menu to opena brush library, save a brush library,delete brush, duplicate a brush etc

Installation issues

If you have problems installing or using this product, please e-mail our tech support at support@graphicxtras.com or check out http://www.graphicxtras.com

Comments

If you have any suggestions to how we can improve our products or manual, or if there is something that is hard to understand or badly stated, please contact us and we will try to update it in the next update of the manual.

Please let us know if you would like to see additional features added to these plug-ins (or perhaps features removed!), it is always great to hear your feedback.

Brush issues

Please note that these paths / brushes are (can be) complex and contain many points, and if applied to certain paths might cause problems and also there are potential print issues, please consult with your printers about these.

It is suggested that you regularly back up your work as we cannot be held responsible if the brushes cause issues with Illustrator - they are brushes, that is all, paths.

There is nothing intrinsically different from the complex brushes here and the standard path created during the normal use of Illustrator

Brushes thumbnail gallery

The full release set of the brushes come with a brushes gallery displaying all the brushes in the set (along with scripts to re-generate the thumbnails if required). You can find the file (or files) in the folder ‘Thumbnail Gallery’

Brushes Requirements

Adobe ® Illustrator ® 8 (only some of the packs) / 9.02 (only some of the packs) /10 / CS1 / CS2 / CS3 / CS4

Mac OS X 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 / ME, Windows ™ XP, 98, 2000, and NT + Vista + Windows 7

At least 64 MB of memory, though some operations might require a lot more.

Brushes trademarks

The brushes were designed and developed by Andrew Buckle, and copyright 2001-2009 Andrew Buckle and Abneil Software Ltd (depending on the brushes set)

All products mentioned in this manual are trademarked or probably trademarked by their respective owners. Illustrator and Photoshop and Adobe and in Design are registered trade-marks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Adobe product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

We have connection whatsoever with Adobe Systems Incorporated

Company contact details

Telephone: UK 01622 688 375

http://www.graphicxtras.com

support@graphicxtras.com - if you do not receive a reply, it might be that you have set your e-mail system to block unwanted mail and the reply is being blocked. All mail received (genuine mail that is) is always replied to.

The license for the use of the brushes is based on my company, Abneil Software Ltd

Other Items

We have a large selection of vector plug-ins for Illustrator (as well as Photoshop ® and Illus-trator) as well as superb graphic styles

Basic paint

Brushes can be used with the basic paintbrush tool. Just select a brush and then paint (it is probably best to set the fill to no fill)

fig. Brush applied as a brush strokevia the paintbrush tool

Brush single line

If you want to create a brush in a straight line, use the line segment tool and then apply the brush to that line

fig. A basic line

fig. Graphicxtras.com brush (ink) applied to 0.25pt line

fig. Graphicxtras.com brush (ink) applied to 0.25pt line

fig. Red line brush (same brush as above)

Duplications

Create a row of single line (line segment tool created) paths and apply the brush to the selected lines

fig. Multiple brush lines

Brush size

The size of the brush stroke is varied from the stroke size setting, so to create a thin brush, set the stroke weight to 0.1 pt, or use 10pt for a wider brush example

fig. Brush with 0.1 pt brush size

fig. Brush with 1pt brush size

fig. Brush with 3pt brush size

Brushes and opacity

Apply different brush strokes to the same area of the image, changing the brush stroke opac-ity via the transparency palette

You can also select the brush strokes and then drag to the brush palette and create a new artistic brush from the brush set, and apply that as required

fig. Path with opacity set to 100%

fig. Brush path with opacity set to 50% and then re-appliedover and over

Art brushes ->scatter

The brushes are all generally set to art brushes, some are set to scatter brushes

To convert to another format, select a brush, draw a line or drag the brush from the library into the document brush library, and now take it from there, just drag it onto the surface of the document and drag back in and the scatter /art / pattern dialog will pop up. Thus the brush can be converted from the original format to another brush type.

To save these new brush format in a more permanent library, you will need to save the cur-rent file and then use that as a brush library (or better, open a new file and create the brushes there and save that as a new library)

A brush that might not be very effective as a scatter brush might be excellent as an artistic brush or a pattern brush.

Each type of brush has its use. An artistic brush may work better as a scatter or vica versa. The artistic brushes come with less settings. The scatter brushes can have a number of size, spacing, scatter and rotation settings as well as randomization settings and fixed as well as art pad settings. Scatter brushes can become fairly complex and a subtle change may result in a magnificent brush stroke.

fig. Artistic brush

fig. Brush copied from the palette to the document and then back to the brush palette but saved as a scatter brush and set with low spacing and small size and rotation on the path (random)

Brushes and frames

The brushes are excellent as a source for frames, either use with a regular shape and apply the brush or irregular path designs for irregular frame designs.

fig. Source brush

fig. Same brush applied to a circle to create a basic frameNo fill set

Apply brushes to text

Brushes can be used on converted text (outline) or other paths. To get the best setting you might have to tweak the brush options (with the preview on). A brush applied to a path may not look right using the default setting; change the brush scale or rotation and the brush may be just right. Changes can be done interactively and you will be prompted to apply the change of settings to the current brush. Text in particular does require modification of the scaling etc, as the default setting might result in a total unreadable mess. A smaller scale setting will certainly make the text more readable (if that is the purpose)

A better alternative approach1) Select text2) Go to appearance palette3) Add new stroke4) Apply brush (now the text is editable at a later stage)

fig. Text expanded (via object > expand) and then a brush applied (the width reduced to 20%)

text fig. Text not expanded but using the appearance palette, add astroke and then apply the brush to that

Brush settings

For an explanation of all the brush settings such as rotate and scaling and color and tinting, the best place to start would be the Illustrator ® manual; other useful alternatives being the Layers magazine and Computer Arts Projects and the Wow! book series.

Most of the brushes in the collection (or packs) are without any tint settings etc but these can be easily set for the brushes in the brushes palette, simply click and modify the color settings for the brush and change the stroke color to modify the brush color

1) Go to the brushes palette2) Select brush - if this is a brush library then the brush will be now placed in the document brushes palette (then go to the document brushes palette)3) Double click the brush (if in the docu-ment brushes palette)4) If scatter - set size etc If artistic, set direction etc. If scatter, set the rotation of the path to path / page5) Set the colorization method such as tint or hue setting6) Apply brush. If colorization method applied, set the stroke to the required color and then apply brush

fig. Raw artistic brush applied to circle

fig. Width changed

fig. Direction changed

fig Colorization method changed andcolor of stroke set to green

Saving brushes

You can save the brushes in a separate library and build your own library from them or you can expand the brush strokes and then apply effects or you can apply to text or to a shape, endless creative possibilities. Remove all the brushes from the document's brushes palette and then use the save brush library command to save the current brushes.

The brushes are saved in the same format as Illustrator, so if you wish to use the brushes in version 8 (for whatever reason), you will need to open the brush file and re-save as AI format 8

fig. Brush stroke from pack 8

Brushes as paths

The brush library can be considered as a path resource. Drag a brush from the brush palette and un-group, remove the bounding box, and you have a new path. Just apply a filter or change the color or tweak as normal.

The libraries contain a vast selection of different shapes and styles and brush types. Some are not particular perhaps suited to be brushes but they can be effective in many circumstances.

Another approach, apply to a path, expand, and un-group as required

fig. Raw brush dragged from the brushes palette. Ungroupand remove the boundingpath

fig. 3D live effect applied to thebasic ‘brush’ converted path

fig. parts of the path re-colored

fig. Path is warped usingobject > envelope

Export to SWF

The brushes can also be used for web design and perhaps exported to other applications such as Photoshop or Flash for use as a SWF flash movie. The brushes can also use blending modes and transparency in the latest versions of Illustrator ®.

1) Create brush stroke2) File > export (Flash format)

fig. Brush stroke from brushes pack 8 (mixed)

Brushes as symbols

The brushes can be further manipulated as Illustrator ® 10 / CS1 / CS2 / CS3/CS4 symbols or used in combo with envelopes. Or use the brushes as defined patterns.

The brushes can be converted to symbols by expanding the brushes, removing various elements such as the underlying brush line, and then adding the brush to symbols palette.

The symbols can then be used as a source for the symbol brush tool, native scruncher, re-size etc tools. The symbols can then also be used in various symbol plug-ins supplied by graphicxtras.com

1) Go to the brushes palette2) Select the brush3) Drag from the brushes palette to the document4) Drag the selected brush design to the symbol palette5) Set as graphic or movie6) Apply using symbol tool in toolbox

fig. Original brush

fig. The brush is saved as a symbol and applied using the symbol sprayer tool(spinner is also applied and the sizer tool to change the angle and size)

Export to Adobe ® Photoshop ®

Or save the brushes / patterns and export to Photoshop and use as brushes or custom shapes in Photoshop ® 6 or 7 CS CS2 CS3 CS4 or Photoshop ® Elements 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. The brushes can be saved as part of another path and then copied and pasted into Pho-toshop; or the brushes can be dragged from the brushes palette onto the document and then copied and pasted into Photoshop. You may wish to do additional tweaks to the brushes / paths before exporting them, such as removing extraneous points and group-ings.

by using the copy and paste into Photoshop, you could use the define brush command (via the edit menu) in Photoshop to save the Illustrator brush as a Photoshop brush.

fig. Brush stroke applied to path. Brush from the pack 8

Brushes and live ef-fects

Apply the brushes to a path and then apply live effects to the brushes such as gaussian blurs or mezzotints or even the 3D effects

fig. Original brush stroke

fig. Live effect such as a gaussian blur has been applied to the brushesvia the effect menu

Brushes and live trace

Use the brushes with traced paths.

Open image (or place) etc and then use live trace. Expand. Ungroup the image and remove any ‘white’ area. Set a path stroke and line weight and stroke color and then apply a brush (such as an artistic paintbrush)

Modify the settings and stroke size

fig. Original posedimage

fig. Traceapplied, expandedThe vector versionwas ungrouped and the whitespace of the face removedand then thestroke was setto 0.5 and thena brush applied

Brushes and appearance palette

Brushes can be applied to a path and via the appearance palette, additional strokes (and brushes) can be added

fig. Path with a single applied brushstroke fig. Path with two strokes added

via the appearance palette, both strokes including a brush

fig. A brush stroke with two strokes and two brushes

Brushes and recolor artwork

Apply brush stroke to path, click on recolor artwork icon to re-color artwork. Changing the color via the recolor artwork dialog (top bar) creates a copy of the current brush in the brushes palette

fi. Original brush applied to path

fig. Brush after recolor artwork used (new brush generated automatically)

Brushes and pattern brush

None of the brushes in the sets (so far) are pattern brushes but you can quickly convert a scatter to a pattern brush or artistic to a pattern. Drag the brush from the brush palette to the document and then back to the brush palette and select pattern option.

fig. Artistic brush beforeconversion to pattern brush

fig. As pattern brush

Brushes and patterns

Most brushes are probably not an ideal choice for a pattern (not seamless).

1) Select brush2) Drag from brush palette3) Expand 4) Ungroup and remove bounding box5) Edit > define pattern6) Apply to path

fig. Original brush

fig. Using the define patterncommand on the above brush and then applied to a circle

Brushes and calligraphic brushes

A brush can be applied to a brush again and again

1) Apply brush stroke using paint tool2) Object > expand appearance3) Calligraphic stroke applied to the path

fig. Original brush stroke

fig. Brush strokewith calligraphic stroke applied

Brushes and backgrounds

The brushes can be used to quick a quick background. Either the scatter brush (with a wide scatter / random scatter) or the artistic brush are great for backgrounds. You can always rapidly generate one or two basic designs and combine using pathfinder

fig. Single scatter brush applied to a single square. The scatter settings areset to random between -100% and100%

fig. Two applies of the scatter brush to create a quick distressed backgroundUses the ink brush from the graphicxtras.com ink brushes set

Brushes scripts

Brushes can be manipulated in many ways by scripts. A selection of scripts are included with the brushes packs from graphicxtras.com

3D Brushes

The brushes can be applied and live effects such as 3D extrude can be applied (effect menu > 3D > extrude)

fig. 3D effect applied to a brush stroke (live)

Brushes with pattern fills

Apply a brush stroke, object > expand appearance then pathfinder unite and then fill with a pattern via the swatches palette

fig. Original brush using object > expand appearanceand then unite via pathfinder

fig. The same brush filledwith a pattern from the swatches palette with an additional path added to give a drop shadow effect

Brushes examples from graphicxtras brushes packs

The following pages show a number of examples of brushes from a variety of brushes packs from graphicxtras.com. All the brushes packs include royalty-free brushes for com-mercial and personal use

fig. 3D brush from the brushes collection

fig. X brush from pack 12

fig. X brush strokefrom pack 12

fig. Dot brush from pack 4

fig. Warped brush from pack 3

fig. Warped brush frompack 3

fig. Bits brush from pack 2

fig. Heart brush from collection set

fig. Wavy brush from pack 1

fig. Wavy line brush from pack 1

fig. Weave brush from pack 6

fig. Doodle brush pack 7 from graphicxtras.com

fig. Doodle brush from pack 7

fig. Brush from pack 8

fig. Brush from pack 8

fig. Brush from pack 8

fig. Greek ornament brush from pack 9

fig. Greek ornament brush from pack 9

fig. Festive brush fromgraphicxtras.com brushes pack 10

fig. Festive brush from pack 10

fig. Angel brush from pack 11

fig. Christmas tree brush from pack 11

fig. X brush from pack 12

fig. Arrow brush from pack 13

fig. Wavy brushes from pack 14