I was able to follow this chapter without a single issue from Blender 4.3. That is, after watching Paul's YT video on the key differences: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHu6X_N3qjU
I do, however, have one question: you shared some files that weren't .blends, but .asset.blend
Is there a trick to making the brushes that easy to share? For instance, in 4.3 we can install the GP Add-on you recommended, but we can't import the brushes. I did find the original file from installing it on 4.2, but if I append those brushes they are imported as materials, not brush assets. 🤔
Oooh .... watch this space, Nathi! Yes, it is very annoying. You cannot pack assets like brushes into a single .blend file. BUT Wayne and I might be cooking up a little script that may automate a few things.
See, Brushes exist in their own asset folder. Currently, my preferred method is to duplicate and modify ONE existing brush. When it is saved, a new folder is generated in your main assets folder, titled "Saved". In there, you will see a folder named "Brushes". And this is where your custom brushes will live.
Now, should you download a brush pack - for example, I have one here: https://cgcookie.com/downloads/paul-s-grease-pencil-3-0-brush-pack - you can unzip all those brushes into that folder, reboot Blender and they will be available in your Brush assets.
There are still bugs, however. When you create a catalogue, a new file is generated in your Assets folder to keep track.
However this can get messy, if you change your mind. Don't worry though! You can delete this file and start over (Nuclear Option) or edit the text file and remove or relabel Catalogs there.
Hmm. This might be a good topic to cover once new versions come out and Assets become a little more managable.
Ha! Interesting! So for now I'd have to recreate the brush settings, add the materials, and pin them like in your lessons. Got it.
That is indeed a little sad. The very little experience I have with brushes is from other apps and I was spoiled with a gigantic selection by Kyle Webster.
So I'm pumped to hear you and Wayne are cooking up a solution!! It's really right up your guys' alley!! Thank you
Sorry Paul... I might be missing something... I should open Blender 4.3, append the brushes from the file, then duplicate any brush to get all of them into the saved folder?
When I append an older file with brushes they all show on the blend file (in the outliner), but nowhere else. If I try to use the asset shelf, nothing there. They do show, however, as materials that I can assign to the Grease Pencil objects. 🤔
No Appending comes with its own bugs. Let's imagine you've opened 4.3 for the first time. You have no other brushes. Select an essential brush and duplicate it
Save it, and you should get a "Saved/Brushes" folder generated in your Assets folder.
If you have any custom brushes you've downloaded or created, you can literally drag-and-drop their brushname.asset.blend file into that folder - not in Blender, in your OS. Quite blender if it's open; restart, and those brushes should be available.
Hey, I am totally necroing this thread because I have a related question to tag onto what's already been discussed.
When I grabbed the Pepe School Land brush pack recently the readme instructed to put the brush blend file in ".../Blender Foundation/Blender(version)/(version)/datafiles/assets/brushes" and that worked swimmingly - the brushes showed right up in the brush shelf the next time I started Blender. Removing the brush blend file from the folder appears to tidily remove the brushes from Blender as well.
Aside from any organizational/backup issues arising from having brush library files separated from ones User Library are there any other issues using this method might cause? I'm looking for the pros and cons here because this is the first time I've seen brushes loaded this way and am cautious because "it's so easy why isn't everyone doing it"?
Uh, I'd be curious to test this out now with 5.0.
Right? I too sometimes feel like if it's too easy it's probably wrong, lol.
Curious to see the answer :)
In 5.x and I believe 4.5 you can go to outline change from view layer to blend file. Then expand brushes. Right click brush and mark as asset. Save that blend file into an asset library folder.
That's one of the normal ways I do it. But for importing a whole set being able to drop it into a folder and just having it work like it did with the Pepe set would be amazing for brush creators.
So far the only downside I am seeing is that suddenly one has brushes outside of the typical asset library(ies) folder(s) which means an extra step as far as organizing backups is concerned. At least for me. There's also the matter of organizing new brushes into the appropriate toolbar tabs which I've not tested yet with brushes dropped into the datafiles folder. I'm still wrapping my brain around that process already. :D
I will be discussing simple methods of saving brushes directly to your file (my current preferred way) as opposed to Assets. The pros of saving it to the file is that all the settings and changes that you make as you go are saved within the file. You can share this file and the brushes will be preserved. You can also filter them in any asset shelf like so:
While any metadata editing is greyed out, it is not necessary because all changes are saved within the file itself.
Currently this is my preferred "no fuss" way of working, but should you wish to create a brush pack, then saving the brush as an asset is how you do it. These files are self-contained .blend files - name.asset.blend - and you can edit these like other assets. Where you file these away is completely up to you, just know that a .cat file will be generated and updated wherever your library is created. Often when things go wrong, this file is not updated or is corrupted, and you can either go into the text file and manually edit (if you know what you are doing) or simply delete the files and get Blender to generate a new one.
Both methods are not entirely interchangable, but they have their uses. It is really cool that you can work in a simplified, no-fuss way, or be an asset afficionado and catalogue everything.
Yay! That is great information, Paul! I've been wrapping my head around how to have asset brushes show up in their own tabs on the tool shelf. Either I am over-thinking the process or it's oddly complex...or maybe both. I've got it to work but I wouldn't claim to be able to do it again without looking things up again. It's sure handy to have certain brushes on their own tab though!
If you duplicate a brush(at least in 5.x+) it will let you choose the name, library, and category. By default it will use the user library and the same category and name of the brush you duplicated. You can create new category thru this also. If you decide to change the category just click the dropdown arrow to the right of the tool icon under the tools/brush settings and click Edit metadata. click in catalog and select the category or you can type in a new one. Note: you set the subcategories by using forward slash.
The easier way is to go to the asset browser and change it to the library you have the brush set to and then just create categories and subcategories like normal and then drag and drop the brush into the category.
Yes, categories work best with brushes saved as assets, since the category is saved in the .cat file. So if you like to organize assets and know where things are, this is the way to go! I've generally found categories saved to the current file on a duplicated brush sometimes don't save. I should test to make 100% sure, but I think it has something to do with where the catalogue/category information gets stored.