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 Plugin Brushes - Effects and Settings
Painter's Plugin Brushes are brush modules that are generally for special effects. Some of them are very versatile, and some enable us to edit specific elements of image pixels in Painter in ways which are most often associated with Photoshop, such as modifying saturation or luminance.
Unfortunately, the Painter User Guide does not provide detailed description of the effects of these plugin brush modules. I have compiled the list of plugin brush modules below to supplement the User Guide. (The setting hints are based on my own experience only, so please allow for errors.)
Plugin Brushes are brush modules and can be used only as brushes. They are different from other plugins which are for processing images and can be accessed from the Effects menu when you add the plugin files to Painter's Plugin folder.
 Plugin Brush List
The following is the list of the plugin brush modules with their Plugin Number (the number used in the "pen-type" line in the brush xml file), the name of the module, its effect, and parameters important in controlling the brush (in some cases with an description of the effect in a very plain phrase).
Generally, plugin brushes have stronger effects when Opacity ("Strength" in Painter 8) setting is higher. With the modules which are controlled also by the Grain setting, I have given what parameter is controlled.
| 0. | Confusion Brush |
| | Breaks up the colors it touches into pixel particles and diffuses them in four diagonal directions.
Higher Opacity makes the diffusion more coarse, and sometimes dirty.
(Diffusion with random sized particles) |
| 1. | Scratch Remover Brush |
| | Diffuses and smoothes at the same time. Makes pixels which are notably different from the surrounding ones less visible.
(Diffusion without visible particles)
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| 2. | Hue Brush |
| | Makes the pixels it touches closer in Hue to the currently selected color. When Resat is 0, it uses the color of the pixel it touches at the start of the stroke in changing color.
(Makes the part of the image it touches uniform in hue.)
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| 3. | Hue Add Brush |
| | Shifts the hue of the pixels it touches in the order the hue changes on the color circle in the clockwise direction. When Resat is 0, it picks up the hue of the pixel it touches at the start of the stroke and changes the pixels touched by the stroke to that hue.
(Shifts hue in a certain order.)
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| 4. | Hue Sat Brush |
| | Changes the color of the pixels it touches based on the hue and saturation of the currently selected color. When Resat is 0, it uses the color of the pixel it touches at the start of the stroke in changing color.
(Makes the part of the image it touches uniform in hue and saturation.)
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| 5. | Sat Add Brush |
| | Changes the saturation of the color of the pixels it touches. Grain 50% is the middle point. When it is higher than 50%, saturation is increased, and when lower, it is reduced. (Best used with Expression setting for Grain set to None.)
(Increases or decreases saturation.)
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| 6. | Val Add Brush |
| | Changes the value of the color (brightness) of the pixels it touches. Opacity 50% is the middle point. When it is higher than 50%, value is increased, and when lower, it is reduced. (Best used with Expression setting for Opacity set to None.)
(Increases or decreases value without changing hue and saturation.)
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| 7. | Val Add Sat Sub Brush |
| | Increases the value of the color of the pixels it touches when Opacity is higher than 50%, and decreases it when it is lower than 50%. At the same time, it reduces the saturation of the pixels.
(Changes value and reduces saturation.)
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| 8. | Glow Brush |
| | Adds the currently selected color as an overlay and increases the value of the pixels.
(Neon effect with selected color.)
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| 9. | Graphic Print Brush |
| | Increases the contrast in value, increases saturation, and makes small details smoother.
(Makes the part of the image more vivid and flat. Melts details.)
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| 10. | Overlay Brush |
| | Increases the contrast in value, increases saturation, and makes small details stand out.
(Makes the part of the image more vivid and flat. Details are jagged.)
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| 11. | Add Grain Brush |
| | Adds paper texture to the image using the currently selected paper.
(Adds emboss based on paper texture.)
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| 12. | Blur Brush |
| | Blurs the pixels it touches in the way Photoshop's Blur Tool does.
(Soft focus.)
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| 13. | Comb Brush |
| | Adds small wrinkles to the image based on contrast in the direction of the stroke.
(Crepe effect.)
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| 14. | Relief Brush |
| | Adds small wrinkles to the image based on contrast with their shadow dropping on the bottom right direction.
(Relief effect with wrinkles.)
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| 15. | Sharpen Brush |
| | Sharpens the image where it touches. (Opposite of Blur Brush.)
(Sharpens image.)
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| 16. | Bulge Brush |
| | Adds bulged look to the image where it touches based on the brush dab shape.
(Glass mounds.)
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| 17. | Deep Well Brush |
| | Placing one dab at a time with a circular brush creates an effect of a glass sphere placed in front of the image. (Takes a part of the image, and places a smaller copy of it in the center.)
(Glass balls.)
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| 18. | Diffuse Motion Brush |
| | Diffuses the pixels it touches while also pulling them in the direction of the stroke.
(Directional diffusion.)
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| 19. | Diffuse Pull Brush |
| | Adds some diffusion while pulling the pixels along the stroke to create a smudging effect.
Smaller Space setting makes the particles smaller.
(Pastel finger blending.)
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| 20. | Horizontal Crease Brush |
| | Shrinks the image vertically along the center of the brushstroke to create a creased look.
For horizontal strokes.
(Creates horizontal troughs.)
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| 21. | Left Twirl Brush |
| | Twists the image where it touches anticlockwise.
Repeating clicks at the same point makes the twist tighter.
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| 22. | Liquid Brush |
| | Unlike other plugin brushes, this is a brush which actually applies paint, but with a special, very wet effect. Looks more "wet" than brushes with high Bleed settings. This is the plugin brush used in the Sargent Brush variant from Painter 5. It works only on the canvas.
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| 23. | Pinch Brush |
| | Creates an effect as if you are pinching on soft glass surface and lifting it at the brush footprint center. While "Bulge Brush" creates a rounded mound, this brush creates a pointed protrusion.
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| 24. | Right Twirl Brush |
| | Twists the image where it touches clockwise.
Repeating clicks at the same point makes the twist tighter.
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| 25. | Simple Diffuse Brush |
| | Diffuses the pixels it touches in a natural way.
Smaller Space setting makes the particles smaller.
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| 26. | Vertical Crease Brush |
| | Shrinks the image horizontally along the center of the brushstroke to create a creased look.
For vertical strokes.
(Creates vertical troughs.)
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Plugin Files
These Plugin Brush modules are in the plugin brush files installed in Painter's "Plugins" folder. They were added with each new version up to Painter 5. Below is the list of files with the modules each of them contains.
- extra.arp -- Confusion Brush, Scratch Remover Brush.
- hsv.arp -- Hue Brush, Hue Add Brush, Sat Add Brush, Hue Sat Brush, Val Add Brush, Val Add Sat Sub Brush.
- sfx.arp -- Glow Brush, Graphic Print Brush, Overlay Brush.
- texture.arp -- Add Grain Brush, Blur Brush, Comb Brush, Relief Brush, Sharpen Brush.
- warp.arp ― Bulge Brush, Deep Well Brush, Diffuse Motion Brush, Diffuse Pull Brush, Horizontal Crease Brush, Left Twirl Brush, Liquid Brush, Pinch Brush, Right Twirl Brush, Simple Diffuse Brush, Vertical Crease Brush.
(Last Modified: 2003/08/03)
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