P: Square Brush is hard to find

[Pete291]

How do I select a square brush for the brush tool in CS6?  Sorry if this is a simple question, but nothing has ever been simple for me in Photoshop.

[Trevor.Dennis]

I don't believe there is a square brush among the sets that ship with Photoshop, but there are plenty to download, and it is super easy to make one.

Just drag with the rectangular Marquee tool, fill with black on a new layer, and go Edit > Define brush preset

Browsing Photoshop Brushes on DeviantArt

[Pete291]

I found it and added the steps in my Photoshop Notes:

Selecting a square brush:  Choose brush tool, click the down arrow in the number box upper left corner of the screen, click on the gear symbol upper right of little box, select your brush style

[War Unicorn]

Not sure about CS6, but I know CC has square brushes by default under the set of presets. See grab with the options bar below:

I don't think hardness can be adjusted either so be aware of that.

[Trevor.Dennis]

OK, glad you found them.  Unfortunately I can't tell what the included brush sets are because I have close to a 100 sets in my drop down list, and that is after ruthlessly culling out sets I think I'll never use.  Which is why we see a lot of people asking for better brush management.

[SandraDCF]

Is this still true for the 2018 version of Photoshop CC? I looked but couldn't find them anywhere.

[War Unicorn]

In the Options menu for the Brushes panel, there should be an option to add the "Legacy Brushes" that were included in previous versions. See screenshot.

[SandraDCF]

So THAT'S where those square brushes were hiding. It worked - thank you!

[Trevor.Dennis]

Sandra, the new brush set up is so confusing regards the different brush sets / folders, that what I have done is remove every single set from CC2018, and start again with the legacy sets. 

One of the things that has caused a lot of trouble is that CC2018 can now store tool presets inside the brush presets panel.  So you are using the brush tool and like the look of the presets I have highlighted, and you suddenly find yourself with the Smudge tool or Mixer brush.  It took me longer than it should have to discover that simply holding down the Ctrl (Cmd) key when selecting one of those presets, will prevent it changing to another tool.

It is so easy to move presets between folders now, it makes sense to build yourself a favourites folder or two.

If you use a lot of brush sets, then something I have been doing for years now, is to rename the sets so they list in alphabetical order with meaningful names.  I don't know how it works with OSX, but with Windows, you have to make Hidden Items visible in the File Explorer view menu.

Windows

C:\Users\'Your User Name'\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 2018\Presets\Brushes\

Mac

Users/[user name]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CS6/Presets/Brushes

[louiseh63197982]

In the 2018 version its in the drop down at the top left - under Mode - select block

[koleyt98838082]

thank you!

[dv8Photography]

CC 2019 removed all the square brushes... so.. Much shorter brush menu.

I still need a square brush.

[War Unicorn]

See my post above (or link below); nothing's changed since then.

Re: How do I select a square brush for the brush tool in CS6? Sorry if this is a simple question, b...

The square brushes should be in the "Legacy Brushes" folder once you add it.

[Stephen Gard]

Thank you for your help. Just what I wanted to know.

SDG

[joeb5110]

Even an old post provides a solution. I was able to add the legacy brushes back. I was trying to brush on a mask along a straight edge, and wanted the square brush. Thanks for the tip.

[Corniger]

Same for 2021. Those are great for cleaning up poorly rasterized clean vector shapes. I don't get why they're "Legacy" and why I have to append a whole slew of unnecessary brushes, with even a "Legacy" Set within the Legacy set!

[Corniger]

Could smoe admin please mark THIS as the solution? Saves people 15 minutes of useless scouring.