Brush tool reverting [Basic] [Touch Calligraphy] [1pt]

Question

This is very frustrating! I've tried unchecking "New art has basic stroke". I've tried checking "Scale strokes and effects" in the transform menu as well as in general preferences. I've tried drawing the stroke then dragging the stroke to the graphic styles then selecting it before I start drawing. It doesn't matter if I use pencil or brush. Nothing is working for me! I default to the brush tool when free hand drawing, why I don't use the pencil tool, Idk but they both work in the same way imo. I'm just drawing paths and shapes. Whenever I draw, sometimes I have to go back and tweak the appearance with the anchors. To do that I need to switch to the pen or move tool. When I go back to the brush it defaults back to calligraphy point, basic, 1pt stroke. Currently I'm trying to use the basic brush with one of the variable width profiles. I can't even select "basic" brush before drawing. It's locked on touch calligraphy. I have to draw the stroke, select it with the selection tool, then change it. But as soon as I switch back to the brush tool and draw another stroke, BAM, right back to [Basic] [Touch Calligraphy] [1pt]. HELP!!! This is annoying @adobe!

tromboniator · Answer

A couple of fundamental concepts here: 1) The Brush Tool must always have a brush assigned to it. If none is assigned, Adobe Illustrator will assign one. 2) Despite the fact that it is a setting in the Brushes panel, Basic is not a brush, it is the absence of a brush: a plain stroke.

Now, just to confuse the issue, the Pencil Tool does not require a brush, but it appears that the Control panel or the Pencil Tool preferences contains a bug. Unless "Keep selected" is activated in the Pencil Tool prefs, after creating a new path with Basic selected the Control panel Brush Definition field will show the last activated brush without applying it. Any additional paths created will be Basic, with whatever stroke weight you have selected.

So, if you want no brush applied, use the Pencil Tool set to Basic, and ignore the Control Panel if it shows a brush, or activate "Keep selected". Brush Tool ALWAYS defaults to a brush.

Peter

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