Brush

Tool Location and Cursor Appearance

The Opacity Brush tool appears in Illustrator’s main toolbar (which must be in Advanced mode: View > Toolbars > Advanced).

Opacity Brush Tool Location

The Opacity Brush tool’s cursor is a crosshair. When the tool is not actively brushing, or when brush previews are disabled, it also displays a dark gray, dashed circle (or ellipse) indicating the size and shape of the brush:

Opacity Brush Tool Cursors

A minus sign symbol indicates that the brush is in “erasing” mode.

As the Opacity Brush tool has several keypresses which can add or change its functionality, we suggest installing the free Astute Graphics plugin Astute Buddy, which creates a panel that dynamically updates to inform you of the various keys which can be pressed in the tool’s current context.

While the Opacity Brush tool can be used without its panel, some functionality, such as adjusting the amount of noise, requires the panel to access.

To use the tool, simply brush over selected artwork to make it “fade out” in those areas. Opacity Brush automatically creates a raster opacity mask for each selected art object that is not part of the same group. The raster has a default resolution of 72ppi, but the value can be changed in the tool Preferences dialog (see Opacity Brush: Preferences).

If the artwork already has an opacity mask, the raster object will be added to it, at the bottom of the stacking order. If the existing mask was set to invert, this setting will be retained and the brush will appear work in an inverted manner.

Opacity Brush Example

The Opacity Brush tool’s preview can be changed in its preferences; by default, it is white and shows its size, hardness, and opacity faithfully, similar to how a Photoshop brush would draw. Due to technical limitations of Illustrator, this requires CPU preview to be enabled in order to display properly when brushing long distances.

If the Option/Alt key is held down before brushing, the tool will be set to “erasing” mode, whereby each brush stroke adds opacity to the artwork (up to a maximum of 100%), instead of removing it. Like other brush tools, the diameter of the brush can be changed at any time it is active by pressing the keys assigned in the native Keyboard Shortcuts dialog to “Decrease Diameter” and “Increase Diameter.” For English language installations, these default to the open square bracket and close square bracket keys ([ and ]).

Another way to change the brush diameter (and hardness) is to hold down Shift-Option/Alt and click-drag the mouse; this adjusts the diameter. After releasing Shift-Option/Alt (and with the mouse button still down), a second drag will adjust the hardness.

While brushing (i.e., with the mouse button down), several keypresses can be used:

• Shift: Constrains the brush motion to the nearest increment of 45° around the general constrain angle.

• Left/Right Arrow: Decreases or increases the brush diameter.

• 0–9: Sets the brush opacity. 1 sets the opacity to 10%, 2 to 20%, etc.

• D: Changes the drawing annotation color, cycling through red, blue, magenta, green, black, and white.

• E: Changes the erasing annotation color, cycling through red, blue, magenta, green, black, and white.

To reset, invert, or remove the opacity mask created by the Opacity Brush tool, use the Opacity Brush panel.

The menu item to show and hide the Opacity Brush panel can be found in the main menu under Window > Astute Graphics > Opacity Brush.

Opacity Brush Panel

1. Flyout menu

See Opacity Brush Panel: Flyout Menu.

2. Panel banner

The help button on the right opens the help documentation in the Astute Manager. If this does not automatically appear, please ensure your Astute Manager is running first.

Click on the other area of the color bar to activate the Opacity Brush tool. This is a quick method of locating the tool within the default Advanced toolbar or a custom toolbar.

3. Size Specification

The size (diameter) of the brush, from 1pt to 1000pt.

4. Hardness Specification

The hardness of the brush, from 0% to 100%.

5. Opacity Specification

The opacity of the brush, from 0% to 100%.

6. Noise Specification

The amount of noise in the brush, from 0 (no noise) to 100 (maximum noise).

7. Roundness

The roundness of the brush, from 10% (highly elliptical) to 100% (circular).

8. Angle

When the brush is not at 100% roundness, the angle of the major axis of its elliptical shape.

9. Size Control

Visible when the panel is expanded. When using a mouse as the input device, it should be set to Fixed; otherwise, enables the brush size to be controlled by either the pressure or wheel setting of a stylus-like device.

10. Opacity Control

Visible when the panel is expanded. When using a mouse as the input device, it should be set to Fixed; otherwise, enables the brush opacity to be controlled by either the pressure or wheel setting of a stylus-like device.

11. Roundness/Angle Control

Visible when the panel is expanded. When using a mouse as the input device, it should be set to Fixed; otherwise, enables the brush opacity to be controlled by either the tilt/bearing or tilt/rotation setting of a stylus-like device.

12. Reset Mask

Visible when the panel is expanded. The value input specifies the base opacity of the entire mask when it is reset (or first created, if the tool preference Base Opacity Applies to New Masks is enabled), with a default of 100%. The Reset Mask button resets the mask, removing all existing brush strokes that may have been made to it and filling it with the base opacity specified in the value input box.

13. Invert Mask

Visible when the panel is expanded; inverts the raster portion of the opacity mask.

Opacity Brush Panel Invert Mask

Tool Location and Cursor Appearance

The Texture Brush tool appears in Illustrator’s main toolbar (which must be in Advanced mode: View > Toolbars > Advanced), stacked the associated Texture tool. As with other stacked tools, click and hold on the top tool icon to display the tools stacked under it.

Texture Brush Tool Location

The Texture Brush tool’s cursor is a crosshair. When the tool is not actively brushing, or when brush previews are disabled, it also displays a dark gray circle (or ellipse) indicating the size and shape of the brush:

Texture Brush Tool Cursors

A minus sign symbol indicates that the brush is in “erasing” mode.

As the Texture Brush tool has several keypresses which can add or change its functionality, we suggest installing the free Astute Graphics plugin Astute Buddy, which creates a panel that dynamically updates to inform you of the various keys which can be pressed in the tool’s current context.

While the Texture Brush tool can be used without its panel, some functionality, such as adjusting the amount of noise, requires the panel to access.

As initially applied, a Texture live effect only has an overall opacity. However, you may want the texture to fade out in certain areas, perhaps to achieve a more three-dimensional look, or to make overlaid text more legible. While the Texture effect could be expanded and an opacity mask created manually, it is much easier to simply use the Texture Brush and “brush” the opacity changes directly onto the texture. Within the live effect, this adds an opacity mask, with a default resolution of 72ppi, but the value can be changed in the tool Preferences dialog (see Texture Brush: Preferences).

With at least one object with a Texture live effect selected, dragging the Texture Brush tool over visible parts of the texture reduces its opacity (if the Texture Brush opacity is set to 100%, the texture’s opacity will be reduced by 100%, i.e., completely removing it).

Texture Brush Example

The Texture Brush tool’s preview can be changed in its preferences; by default, it is red and shows its size, hardness, and opacity faithfully, similar to how a Photoshop brush would draw. Due to technical limitations of Illustrator, this requires CPU preview to be enabled in order to display properly when brushing long distances.

If the Option/Alt key is held down before brushing, the tool will be set to “erasing” mode, whereby each brush stroke adds opacity to the texture (up to a maximum of 100%), instead of removing it. Like other brush tools, the diameter of the brush can be changed at any time it is active by pressing the keys assigned in the native Keyboard Shortcuts dialog to “Decrease Diameter” and “Increase Diameter.” For English language installations, these default to the open square bracket and close square bracket keys ([ and ]).

Another way to change the brush diameter (and hardness) is to hold down Shift-Option/Alt and click-drag the mouse; this adjusts the diameter. After releasing Shift-Option/Alt (and with the mouse button still down), a second drag will adjust the hardness.

While brushing (i.e., with the mouse button down), several keypresses can be used:

• Shift: Constrains the brush motion to the nearest increment of 45° around the general constrain angle.

• Left/Right Arrow: Decreases or increases the brush diameter.

• 0–9: Sets the brush opacity. 1 sets the opacity to 10%, 2 to 20%, etc.

• D: Changes the drawing annotation color, cycling through red, blue, magenta, green, black, and white.

• E: Changes the erasing annotation color, cycling through red, blue, magenta, green, black, and white.

To reset, invert, or remove the opacity mask created by the Texture Brush tool, use the Texture Brush panel.

The menu item to show and hide the Texture Brush panel can be found in the main menu under Window > Astute Graphics > Texture Brush.

Texture Brush Panel

1. Flyout menu

See Texture Brush Panel: Flyout Menu.

2. Panel banner

The help button on the right opens the help documentation in the Astute Manager. If this does not automatically appear, please ensure your Astute Manager is running first.

Click on the other area of the color bar to activate the Texture Brush tool. This is a quick method of locating the tool within the default Advanced toolbar or a custom toolbar.

3. Size Specification

The size (diameter) of the brush, from 1pt to 1000pt.

4. Hardness Specification

The hardness of the brush, from 0% to 100%.

5. Opacity Specification

The opacity of the brush, from 0% to 100%.

6. Noise Specification

The amount of noise in the brush, from 0 (no noise) to 100 (maximum noise).

7. Roundness

The roundness of the brush, from 10% (highly elliptical) to 100% (circular).

8. Angle

When the brush is not at 100% roundness, the angle of the major axis of its elliptical shape.

9. Size Control

Visible when the panel is expanded. When using a mouse as the input device, it should be set to Fixed; otherwise, enables the brush size to be controlled by either the pressure or wheel setting of a stylus-like device.

10. Opacity Control

Visible when the panel is expanded. When using a mouse as the input device, it should be set to Fixed; otherwise, enables the brush opacity to be controlled by either the pressure or wheel setting of a stylus-like device.

11. Roundness/Angle Control

Visible when the panel is expanded. When using a mouse as the input device, it should be set to Fixed; otherwise, enables the brush opacity to be controlled by either the tilt/bearing or tilt/rotation setting of a stylus-like device.

12. Reset Mask

Visible when the panel is expanded. The value input specifies the base opacity of the entire mask when it is reset (or first created, if the tool preference Base Opacity Applies to New Masks is enabled), with a default of 100%. The Reset Mask button resets the mask, removing all existing brush strokes that may have been made to it and filling it with the base opacity specified in the value input box.

13. Invert Mask

Visible when the panel is expanded; inverts the texture opacity mask.

Texture Brush Panel Invert Mask

14. Target Texture

When multiple textures exist in the selected art object, or multiple objects are selected, the Target Texture menu controls which texture’s masks will be affected (each texture has its own independent opacity mask). By setting the popup menu to All Visible, all tool and panel operations (brushing, resetting, and inverting the mask) will be applied to the mask of every visible texture. Otherwise, these operations will be applied only to the specific texture chosen in the menu (if a single object is selected) or to the topmost visible textures (if multiple objects are selected).

After the Width Brush tool is selected, its size can be changed either in its preferences dialog (see Width Brush: Preferences) or by pressing the keys assigned to Decrease Diameter and Increase Diameter in the native Keyboard Shortcuts dialog (the left and right square bracket keys respectively, by default, for English language keyboards). Its hardness, ranging from 0% to 100%, can only be changed in the preferences dialog.

When at least one path with a variable width stroke (or stroke that can be converted to a variable width stroke) is selected, clicking on it with the brush or dragging the brush across it will widen or narrow the stroke(s). Annotations will dynamically update while the mouse button is down to show the current stroke width:

Width Brush Basic Example

The brush only makes one adjustment per drag; i.e. it does not flow continuously like a Photoshop airbrush. For example, if the adjustment were set to add the fixed amount of 3 pt of width to a stroke, then moving the cursor back and forth over a path will only add 3 pt at most, regardless of how many times the cursor passes over it. However, releasing the mouse button and making a new drag could add up to another 3 pt, and so on.

Width Brush Second Drag

Brush hardness affects the smoothness of the transition between the original stroke width and the adjusted stroke width, as only positions towards the center of the brush get maximum adjustment:

Width Brush Hardness Comparison

Before pressing the mouse button down to click or drag, there are two keypresses which can be used:

• Shift: All adjustments will be in the reverse direction. In other words, if the brush were set to add 1.7 mm to all stroke widths, then instead it would subtract 1.7 mm. If it were set to double stroke widths (e.g. make them 200% of their original width), then stroke widths would be instead halved (e.g. make them 50% of their original width).

• Option/Alt: Makes the tool act exactly like the Width Eraser tool, which visualizes the width markers on the path(s) and removes those that the tool is passed over (except those at the start and end of the path). Its diameter is taken from that last used in the actual Width Eraser tool, and cannot be changed.

While dragging with the tool, the X key can be pressed to toggle its annotations on and off. This allows you to see the original width of the stroke(s). Annotations are drawn in the same color as that used for the Width Gradient tool.