Paint effect brush access

Hi, I wonder if there is a possible way to access the path of a brush property using the After Effects SDK. My goal is to be able distinguish between the image itself and the parts where a brush/stroke has been applied.

Also one more question, is there a possible way to make a simple brush tool? or embed the paint plugin functionality inside my own custom plugin. I need a simple brush functionality on my plugin but I don't know if there is a possible way to embed the paint plugin inside mine.

Thanks!