Is There No Tapered Simple Paintbrush with a Live Preview???

[JohnLathrop@PlaidDesign]

Hello all!

My apologies for my newb-ness, but I am self-taught in Photoshop and know it pretty well, but Illustrator - which SEEMS like it should be simpler - is a confusion smorgasbord for some reason. The thing I want to do should - SHOULD - be the simplest thing in the world. Keep in mind I am using the PAINTBRUSH tool, not pen tool, and most of the time I use a Wacom and drawing tablet, although I could sometimes use a mouse. The Wacom should not factor into this, as all the pressure settings are correct and work fine. The thing I want to do is extremely simple in Manga Studio Ex and I can get it working in a matter of seconds there, whereas in Illustrator I have literally tried off and on for over a year and still have not figured it out, despite a ton of searches on the subject.

THIS IS ALL I WANT:

• A tapered paintbrush (meaning pointed on both ends and thick in the middle)
• To be able to see the actual line as I am drawing it (as opposed to those annoying blue dots)

If I can just get THOSE TWO THINGS, I would be happy. Now, I know it's almost utter insanity to expect anything more than this, but if we could then also add the following ...

• The ability to be able to vary the width of the line via pressure sensitivity using my Wacom (imagine that!)

... then I would be incredibly happy and grateful to whoever is kind enough to answer this, which, again, SHOULD be simple. I have no problem creating the brush if need be, as opposed to using an existing brush. Speaking of, another note is that when I recently tried to create a brush, I noticed that "Scatter Brush" and  "Art Brush" are both greyed out and I cannot use them. What up with that?

What's happening with the other brushes I have used - both existing and user-created - is I can either get a tapered line that I cannot see as I draw or a line I can see which is not tapered. Again, simplest thing in the world, right?

Thank you so much in advance!!!

[Monika Gause]

You can't get those two options together and that's that.

To get width profiles with your Wacom, take a look at the plugin Dynamic Sketch

To create art brshes or Scatter brushes, some artwrk needs to be selected.

[JohnLathrop@PlaidDesign]

Hi Monika,

Thank you for the reply! I know you didn't create AI, but this is possibly one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard if it's true (again, not directed at you, I'm just amazed at AI).

That said, follow up question: So which brushes CAN I use those width profiles for? You know, the drop-down at the top just to the right of the stroke weight that shows "Uniform" and then "Width Profile 1" (which is the one I want to use) down to Width Profile 6? These don't seem to work on any brushes I try.

I am able to vary the width of lines as I draw using pressure with my Wacom, but without the tapered/pointed ends on each line it's not very helpful.

Thanks again.

[Monika Gause]

Width profiles can be used with pattern brushes and art brushes.

[JohnLathrop@PlaidDesign]

So just the ones without live previews. Nice. As an artist, and I know this sounds crazy, but it I kind of helps to be able to see the actual line I'm drawing while I am drawing it, but I guess $240 a year isn't enough to be able to pull that off. Uggh. Adobe really needs to step it up. What I'm asking is the simplest thing ever.

Well, I assure you my sour attitude is not directed at you, Monika. Thanks for your help.

[Myra Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Like most programs, there are several different ways to get to a desired end result. If you want to draw a tapered line, you can draw a line and apply a width profile to it or use a brush.

I think what can be confusing is that some brushes don't use the width profile. There are multiple types of brushes (Calligraphic, Scatter, Art, Bristle, and Pattern). If you're selecting the Paintbrush with its defaults (Stroke:  1px, Width Profile:  Uniform, and Brush Definition:  3 pt. Round), you'll draw a 1 pt. curve. If you select it and change the Width Profile, you won't see any difference either--even if you increase the stroke to 10 px. Now change the Brush Definition to Basic. Now, you should see the tapered ends applied to your curve. You can adjust the amount of width after a line is drawn. Select the line with the Selection tool (V), and change to the Width tool (Shift + W). Now click anywhere on the line and drag to adjust the line width.

But you want to draw with this tapered effect, avoid the blue dots when drawing, and apply pressure with a Wacom tablet. You'll need to create a Calligraphic Brush. On the Brushes panel, click the New Brush button at the bottom, and create a Calligraphic Brush by clicking OK. In the Calligraphic Brush Options dialog that opens, look at the last attribute --Size. Make the brush whatever size you like, then change Fixed to Pressure. Adjust the variation to make the correlation between the pressure you apply and the change in the size. Look at the preview above the settings to see if it's how you'd like it set.

[JohnLathrop@PlaidDesign]

Hi Myra,

Thank you so much! Although it's not yet perfect, what you have advised is the closest yet I have gotten to what I want. Just a couple of follow-ups, if you don't mind:

1) I tried out exactly what you said to do in your 2nd paragraph and it worked; this is exactly how I would like my lines to look as I am drawing them. I suppose this is a solution if I don't care to see the actual tapering as I'm drawing (but I would much rather see it live). I have to ask why Adobe would make this extra step of having to apply the width profile to each line afterward as opposed to simply making it available while actually using the tool live?

2) I followed your advice in creating a Calligraphic brush, and it was very close to the result I want, but I do have to be careful and conscious to press extremely lightly at the beginning and end of each line in order for it to look truly tapered ... which is difficult and tedious. Since width profiles can only be applied to art brushes and pattern brushes (sidebar: why?), wouldn't I be able to create a new Art brush in the exact same way as you mentioned for the Calligraphic brush, but then also apply the tapered width profile to get what I'm looking for? Or no because it will give me the light blue dots?

Thanks again.

[rcraighead]

I use Width profiles on standard strokes all the time. Not sure if Monika's comment is correct in this case. Maybe I misunderstand.

It certainly depends on the type of work you do, or want to do. The pressure-sensitive Calligraphic route is the most direct. If you need to tweek the stoke after-the-fact though, it's not the best way to go. I use a standard tapered width profile then adjust the profile, in real-time using "Shift-W". This allows you to customize the profile on the stroke. Option/Alt dragging will edit one side at a time.

[JohnLathrop@PlaidDesign]

Interesting. What exact paintbrush are you using for this? Are you able to see the line as it is being drawn or do you just get the blue dots (this is my main issue)? I'm not much interested in tweaking lines after to create a tapered effect - I want it done in real-time while being able to see the line I'm drawing.

As for the Width Tool, I can't figure that one out at all, but I don't think that's what I want anyway.

[Monika Gause]

rcraighead schrieb:

I use Width profiles on standard strokes all the time. Not sure if Monika's comment is correct in this case. Maybe I misunderstand.

The question was if you can get a live preview of your brush stroke (which is only possible with calligraphy strokes) and tapered edges (which is only possible with width profiles) together. This is not the case.

Sure you can set up pressure for your calligraphy brushes, but it will be very difficult to always control your pressure in a way that all your strokes are tapered in the desired way.

[rcraighead]

Sorry, I was just referring to your statement

Width profiles can be used with pattern brushes and art brushes.

I interpreted it to mean they "cannot" be used on basic strokes.

[Monika Gause]

rcraighead schrieb:

Sorry, I was just referring to your statement

Width profiles can be used with pattern brushes and art brushes.

I interpreted it to mean they "cannot" be used on basic strokes.

The question was with which brushes they can be used. When people ask these kinds of specific question, I give specific answers.