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P: Square Brush is hard to find

Community Beginner ,
Mar 11, 2015 Mar 11, 2015

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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.

Bug Unresolved
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macOS , Windows

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16 Comments
Community Expert ,
Mar 11, 2015 Mar 11, 2015

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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

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Community Beginner ,
Mar 11, 2015 Mar 11, 2015

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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

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Community Expert ,
Mar 11, 2015 Mar 11, 2015

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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:

square-brush.jpg

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

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Community Expert ,
Mar 11, 2015 Mar 11, 2015

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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.

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Explorer ,
May 23, 2018 May 23, 2018

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

Photoshop brushes.png

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Community Expert ,
May 24, 2018 May 24, 2018

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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.

legacy.png

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Explorer ,
May 24, 2018 May 24, 2018

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

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Community Expert ,
May 24, 2018 May 24, 2018

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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

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New Here ,
Jul 09, 2018 Jul 09, 2018

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

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New Here ,
Nov 29, 2018 Nov 29, 2018

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thank you!

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 04, 2019 Jan 04, 2019

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

I still need a square brush.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 04, 2019 Jan 04, 2019

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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.

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Explorer ,
Feb 06, 2019 Feb 06, 2019

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

SDG

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 19, 2020 Nov 19, 2020

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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.

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Engaged ,
Sep 13, 2021 Sep 13, 2021

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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!

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Engaged ,
Sep 13, 2021 Sep 13, 2021

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LATEST

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

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