FlipX of brush using script

[Lukas Kawalec]

Hi! This should be really simple, all I need to do is toggle flipX (in Brush Properties) using a script.

This was my attempt:

var desc = new ActionDescriptor();
desc.putBoolean(stringIDToTypeID('flipX'), true);
executeAction(desc);

It brings an error for line 3 saying a numeric value is required.

I tried some code from this link: https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/brush-kind-tools-spacing-is-always-25...

Which works, but switches to the Airbrush instead of the brush I currently have. Any help? 🙂

[pixxxelschubser]

Do you have experience with AM code programming?

No? Then you should definitely use the complete code from the linked topic!

Then it will work as desired.

//        Features(Diameter,Hardness,Angle,Roundness,Spacing,Flipy,Flipx) 

//setBrushFeatures(undefined,undefined,undefined,undefined,undefined,undefined,undefined); 

//setBrushFeatures(undefined,undefined,undefined,undefined,undefined,1,0);  //FlipY
setBrushFeatures(undefined,undefined,undefined,undefined,undefined,0,1);  //FlipX

//setBrushFeatures(13,0,0,100,25,0,0);       //Adobe Defaults 
//setBrushFeatures(13,0,0,100,25,true,true); //Diameter,Hardness,Angle,Roundness,Spacing,Flipy,Flipx 
//setBrushFeatures(13,0,0,100,25,1,0);       //Diameter,Hardness,Angle,Roundness,Spacing,Flipy,Flipx      
//setBrushFeatures(13,0,0,100,25,0);         //Diameter,Hardness,Angle,Roundness,Spacing,Flipy 
//setBrushFeatures(13,0,0,100,1);            //Diameter,Hardness,Angle,Roundness,Spacing 
//setBrushFeatures(13,0,0,50);               //Diameter,Hardness,Angle,Roundness 
//setBrushFeatures(13,0,45);                 //Diameter,Hardness,Angle 
//setBrushFeatures(13,50);                   //Diameter,Hardness 
//setBrushFeatures(25);                        //Diameter 

//==============================================================================================//

function setBrushFeatures (Diameter,Hardness,Angle,Roundness,Spacing,Flipy,Flipx) {  
    //A Brush tool must be the current tool
    if (!app.toolSupportsBrushes(app.currentTool)) selectBrush();  //CC 2014
    var ref = new ActionReference();  
    ref.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID("capp"), charIDToTypeID("Ordn"), charIDToTypeID("Trgt") );  
    var appDesc = executeActionGet(ref);  
    var toolDesc = appDesc.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('currentToolOptions'));  
    var brushDesc = toolDesc.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('brush'));  
    if (Diameter == undefined) Diameter = brushDesc.getDouble(stringIDToTypeID('diameter'));  
    if (Hardness == undefined) Hardness = brushDesc.getDouble(stringIDToTypeID('hardness'));  
    if (Angle == undefined ) Angle = brushDesc.getDouble(stringIDToTypeID('angle'));  
    if (Roundness  == undefined) Roundness = brushDesc.getDouble(stringIDToTypeID('roundness'));  
    if (Spacing == undefined) Spacing = brushDesc.getDouble(stringIDToTypeID('spacing'));  
    if (Flipy == undefined) Flipy = brushDesc.getBoolean(stringIDToTypeID('flipY'));  
    if (Flipx == undefined) Flipx = brushDesc.getBoolean(stringIDToTypeID('flipX')); 
    var desc = new ActionDescriptor();  
    var ref = new ActionReference();  
    ref.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID( "Brsh" ), charIDToTypeID( "Ordn" ), charIDToTypeID( "Trgt" ) );  
    desc.putReference( charIDToTypeID( "null" ), ref );  
    var desc1 = new ActionDescriptor();  
    desc1.putDouble(stringIDToTypeID('diameter'), Diameter);  
    desc1.putDouble(stringIDToTypeID('hardness'), Hardness);  
    desc1.putDouble(stringIDToTypeID('angle'), Angle);  
    desc1.putDouble(stringIDToTypeID('roundness'), Roundness);  
    desc1.putUnitDouble( stringIDToTypeID('spacing'), charIDToTypeID('#Prc'), Spacing);  
    desc1.putBoolean(stringIDToTypeID('flipY'), Flipy);  
    desc1.putBoolean(stringIDToTypeID('flipX'), Flipx);  
    desc.putObject( stringIDToTypeID('to'), charIDToTypeID( "Brsh" ), desc1 );  
    executeAction( charIDToTypeID( "setd" ), desc, DialogModes.NO );  
} 

function selectBrush() {
    //select brush scriptlistener code
    var idslct = charIDToTypeID( "slct" );
    var desc12 = new ActionDescriptor();
    var idnull = charIDToTypeID( "null" );
    var ref8 = new ActionReference();
    var idPbTl = charIDToTypeID( "PbTl" );
    ref8.putClass( idPbTl );
    desc12.putReference( idnull, ref8 );
    executeAction( idslct, desc12, DialogModes.NO );
}

[Lukas Kawalec]

This doesn't seem to work with brushes that have the hardness setting greyed out.

[pixxxelschubser]

This was not described in your original post.

Please say exactly what you have.

And please say exactly what you want.

(At the best with one or two additional screenshots)

[Lukas Kawalec]

I just want a script that flips X of any brush.

[pixxxelschubser]

In this case you can permanent "disable" --> comment out the two following lines:

if (Hardness == undefined) Hardness = brushDesc.getDouble(stringIDToTypeID('hardness'));    

and

desc1.putDouble(stringIDToTypeID('hardness'), Hardness);

[Lukas Kawalec]

I already tried that, it doesn't work. It just switches to the airbrush.

[pixxxelschubser]

Sorry, but the code seems to be a dead end. It always changes the tool.

I don't have the experience to recreate it and I don't have the time to adapt it to the tool currently in use.

Maybe someone else will find a suitable solution.

[jazz-y · Accepted solution]

var s2t = stringIDToTypeID;

(r = new ActionReference()).putProperty(s2t('property'), p = s2t('currentToolOptions'));
r.putEnumerated(s2t('application'), s2t('ordinal'), s2t('targetEnum'));
var tool = executeActionGet(r).getObjectValue(p);

if (tool.hasKey(s2t('brush'))) {
    var brush = tool.getObjectValue(s2t('brush'));

    brush.putBoolean(s2t('flipX'), true);
    tool.putObject(s2t('brush'), s2t('computedBrush'), brush);

    (r = new ActionReference()).putClass(s2t(currentTool));
    (d = new ActionDescriptor()).putReference(s2t("target"), r);
    d.putObject(s2t("to"), s2t("target"), tool);
    executeAction(s2t("set"), d, DialogModes.NO);
}

[pixxxelschubser]

Hi @jazz-y,

you are one of the few I have pinned my hopes on.

😉

Your code works for me. Let's wait and see if the OP gets back on that too.

[Lukas Kawalec]

Works perfectly, thank you very much. So much code to do such a simple thing, although I imagine some of it is to get around the brush not having hardness, I'm not sure. AM code is a funny thing 😛

[jazz-y]

In fact, this code is similar to what the @pixxxelschubser wrote above.

The difference is that I save all the current brush settings to a variable, change flipX property, and write the brush variable back to the tool settings. The code above tries to completely recreate the brush based on a hard-coded set of parameters, and accordingly if the active brush contains more parameters (for example, sampling data for mask-based artistic brushes) or less (as we found, the brush may not have a hardness parameter), then this leads to unexpected results.