PS Brush Advanced Parameter Explanation: Unlock Professional Painting Effects

The strength of PS brushes lies in their depth parameter control, which allows for diverse styles from realistic to abstract by adjusting options such as shape dynamics, dispersion, and color dynamics. This article will break down the core parameters of the brush settings panel and demonstrate professional level applications with case studies.

1、 Shape Dynamics: Simulating the 'Soul' of Natural Brushstrokes

Shape dynamics simulate the pressure and directionality in real painting by controlling the changes in brush size, angle, and roundness.

Size jitter:

Control: Select "Pen Pressure" (supported by the digital tablet) to change the brush diameter with pressure. For example, when drawing hair, set the "minimum diameter" to 20%, and the brush will become thinner when lightly pressed, simulating the flowing feeling of hair strands.

Case: In the "watercolor brush", setting the size jitter to 50%, combined with the "flow jitter" in the "transfer", can achieve a natural transition of paint dryness and wetness.

Angular jitter:

Control: When selecting "Direction", the brush angle automatically matches the tangent direction of the drawn path. For example, when creating a 'Leaf Brush', turn on 'Angle Shake' and set it to 'Direction' to rotate the leaves in the direction of the branch's growth.

Advanced technique: Select "Initial Direction" from the "Control" drop-down menu to fix the initial angle of the brush, suitable for drawing regular patterns (such as brick wall textures).

Roundness jitter:

Setting the roundness to 30% and enabling shaking can change the brush from an ellipse to a flat shape, simulating the side edge effect of a flat brush. For example, when drawing oil painting strokes, combining the "scatter" parameter can achieve drag and drop marks of paint on the canvas.

2、 Spreading: Creating randomness and spatial sense

Scattering parameters enhance the realism and dynamism of the image by controlling the distribution of strokes.

Two axis dispersion:

After enabling the "Two Axes" option, the brush is randomly distributed on both the X and Y axes. For example, when creating a "Starry Sky Brush", setting the scatter to 200% and using the "Quantity" parameter (set to 3) can allow the stars to naturally disperse on the canvas, avoiding mechanical arrangement.

Quantity and quantity fluctuation:

The 'quantity' controls the number of brush instances per stroke. For example, when drawing "raindrops", set the quantity to 5, so that each stroke produces 5 drops of rain, improving efficiency.

Add randomness to 'quantity jitter'. In the 'Snowflake Brush', set the quantity jitter to 40% to make the snowflakes uneven and closer to nature.

Control method:

When selecting 'fade away', the number of brush instances decreases with the drawing distance. For example, when drawing a "meteor trajectory", setting the "quantity" to 10 and the "fade in" to 50 pixels can achieve a gradient effect from dense to sparse.

3、 Color Dynamics: Bring Brushes to Life

Color dynamics simulate the color changes of real media by controlling the mixing of foreground/background colors.

Foreground/background jitter:

In the 'Watercolor Brush', set the foreground color to blue, the background color to cyan, and the 'foreground/background jitter' to 30%, so that the brush automatically blends the two colors when applied, simulating the penetration effect of watercolor.

Hue jitter:

Control the range of hue changes for brush colors. For example, when making an "Autumn Leaf Brush", set the hue jitter to 10% to allow the leaves to transition naturally between orange and red, avoiding monotony.

Purity and brightness jitter:

In the "Oil Painting Brush", set the purity jitter to 20% to change the color from bright to dark, simulating the thickness difference of oil painting pigments; Brightness jitter can control the contrast between light and dark, enhancing the sense of three dimensionality.

4、 Transmission: The 'magic' of simulating pigment thickness

Transmitting parameters simulates the accumulation and dilution effects of pigments by controlling changes in opacity and flow rate.

Opacity jitter:

In the "Chalk Brush", set the opacity jitter to 50% to create a semi transparent overlay effect when the brush is repeatedly applied, simulating the graininess of chalk.

Traffic jitter:

Control the variation of pigment 'outflow'. For example, when drawing "ink blending", setting the flow jitter to 30%, combined with the "wet edge" option, can achieve natural color diffusion from dark to light.

Spray gun mode:

When the spray gun mode is enabled and the mouse is held down, the brush will continue to accumulate colors. In the "Spray Paint Brush", combined with the "Size Shake" in "Shape Dynamics", the pressure change of the spray paint can be simulated to achieve the transition from fine dots to thick lines.

5、 Case Study: Creating a "Flame Brush"

Basic shape creation:

Create a new 800 × 800 pixel canvas, use the "Ellipse Tool" to draw an orange flame shape, copy multiple and adjust them to an irregular shape using the "Shape Tool" to simulate the jumping motion of the flame.

Define brush presets:

Select all flame layers, go to "Edit>Define Brush Presets", name and save.

Parameter optimization:

Shape dynamics: 80% shake in size (controlled as "pen pressure"), 30% shake in angle (controlled as "direction").

Spread: Spread 120%, quantity 3, quantity jitter 20%.

Color dynamics: foreground/background jitter of 20% (foreground color: orange, background color: yellow), hue jitter of 5%.

Transmission: Opacity jitter of 40%, traffic jitter of 30%.

Practical testing:

Create a new layer, use a flame brush to draw curves, and add an "external glow" effect (color: yellow, expanded by 10%, size 15 pixels) through the "Layer Style" to enhance the burning sensation of the flame.

Conclusion: The advanced parameters of PS brushes are the key to unlocking professional level effects. By deeply understanding the synergistic effects of shape dynamics, dispersion, color dynamics, and transmission, designers can simulate diverse stroke styles from natural to surreal. Whether it's commercial illustration, game artwork, or conceptual design, these techniques will make your work more expressive and competitive.