I have received a number of requests from different places to help folks with brush installation in Painter 12. I have a video for the subject in my class Painter 12, a New Beginning. I have decided to post that here to help folks with brush installation.
REVISED INFORMATION: Dated 2/28/2012
Painter 12.1 has changed the way brush management works significantly. This video recommends installing brushes in what I refer to as the Applications Area, which we had to do for Painter 12 and Painter 12 with SP-1. Now, I would recommend installing in the User Area. I have a new page, Brush Management for Painter 12.1 that is specific to the changes in 12.1. If you are not upgrading, then this page has the information that you need. I highly recommend that everyone upgade to Painter 12.1.
Back to the original material:
You will also learn about brush libraries and why you need them. One of the problems that is occurring has to do with a problem in the software. Normally, I would suggest loading brushes in the user area, but the software will ultimately think the brush category is empty. So, in this video, I am showing how to load in the application area. If this changes in a later patch, I’ll change the video. If you have questions, please let me know.
Enjoy,
Skip
Hi Skip,
I downloaded the brushes. I have a mac and I can see them under brushes in the application. I cannot seem to get them to load into the brushes. Do I need to do programming as you did? I do not know how to do that.
Help!
Joyce Davis
Hi Joyce,
No, you do not need to open painter the way I did from the c: prompt. When I did the video, the SP1 patch was not out and I was trying to tell painter how many cores it could use. I probably should do the video over again. Please ignore the way I opened Painter.
But, based on what you have said, I believe that you have loaded the brushes incorrectly, but I’m not sure. It is very helpful when asking a question that you give me more information than less. You tell me you can see the downloaded brushes under brushes in the application, which is good information, but best information would be to give me the whole path and not just pieces of it.
The path is Applications > Corel Painter 12 > Brushes and if I understand it correctly, you put the downloaded files here, right? If so, that isn’t correct. Painter would think that the Brush category folder would be a library and not a brush category folder.
Your path should look like this: Applications > Corel Painter 12 > Brushes > Cool Spring (that would be the library name) > Cool Spring folder with the companion jpg.
Now open Painter and go to the Brush Selector Bar and open the Brush Library Panel. Click on its Option Button and go to bush library. Look for Cool Spring in the list and select it.
The Cool Spring library will open and the Cool Spring category will show plus the variants.
Let me know if you get it working.
Skip
Hi Skip,
Thanks for your prompt reply. I followed your dialogue and the only library that shows and has continued to show is soft water.
I have taken a screen capture which would show you precisely my progression but I do not know how to get that to you.
Joyce Davis
Hi Joyce,
I sent you my email and we can finish our conversation through emails.
Thanks,
Skip
So ? could you solve the problem for Mac users ?
Hi,
In the video I discuss the paths to use for MACs, so I am unsure of your question. If you can tell me the specific problem you are having, I’ll see if I can give you an answer.
Thanks for visiting and posting a comment.
Skip
Hi Skip,
I just recently took the plunge and bought an iMac plus Painter 12 last month.
So, I’ve had a lot to digest during the past several weeks as I’ve been running on an old HP Widows for the past decade.
I didn’t think I was doing one of your brush sets any justice, so I deleted the folder that I created for them. I was mostly experimenting, so please don’t take it personally.
My path was HD>Applications>Corel Painter 12>Brushes.
The title that I gave for that new folder is still appearing in my Brush Library window. It does not appear anywhere on my iMac. I even did a thorough Finder search. As far as my iMac is concerned, it is deleted, gone. But apparently Painter 12 thinks otherwise. How can I delete this title from the brush library? It’s as if Painter does not recognize that iMac deleted the library folder.
The other thing I wanted to inquire about is that I had downloaded Nature Water .
I believe I did that first and then came over to visit your site. I had moved that brush folder category and jpg icon into Painter12. But would you believe….I actually have Nature Water appearing as a Library in my Brush Library window!
It isn’t there in my city of Brushes. If the whole downloaded folder was first moved over there, I may have noticed that it was labeled P12 and decided to just take the NatureWater folder and jpg icon and move it into the neighborhood of Painter 12 Brushes and delete the title folder P12 Nature Water from the main Brushes area. But Nature Water is located in Painter 12 Brush folder, so I don’t understand why there appears that title in the Brush Library. This doesn’t make any sense to me.
I don’t want to appear long winded, but I’m still interested in learning from you and Karen. I realize that I’ve missed the class that has just started, but maybe it’s just as well until I’m more confidant with what I’m doing here.
Sincerely,
Mary
Hi Mary,
Hi Mary,
How exciting to get a new computer. I know you will love it, but there is always that initial set up time that can be frustrating.
About your questions, I think the solution to them both is the same. If I am understanding you correctly, you deleted the library files or moved them from the brushes folder. That is good. But, Painter also writes an identical library in the user area and places any changes you make in the identical library. The new MAC OS has a different path, I think. Here is the path that I know works for the older OS.
User Folder > Library > Application Support > Corel > Corel Painter 12 > Default ( Workspace name if your are using a workspace other than the default)> Brushes >
You would follow this path and delete Nature Water and Splashing Water under the Brushes Folder.
Like I said, this may not be the path for your particular OS. If it isn’t, please let me know what OS you are using and I will try to find out what path you do use.
Hope this helps,
Skip
Thank you! I bought the OS Snow Leopard then downloaded my free upgrade of OS X Lion. I did not know to check out this path going to the Library. I was just going to Applications; not the Library route. So I did as you said.
I am the sole user so I went to my iMac HD>Library>Application Support>
There is no Corel or Painter 12 folder listed.
Now I am disturbed! How can I learn to make or move brush libraries? What would happen if I loaded those extra libraries that came with Painter 12 and I didn’t want them all in my Library Window? I would not be able to get rid of those titles even though I moved the libraries out of there.
Sincerely,
Mary
Hi Mary,
The problem is with your OS X Lion. For some reasons Apple decided to hide the files. Here are two articles that should help you.
http://www.karthikk.net/2011/07/how-to-access-user-library-folder-in-mac-os-x-lion/
http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/428277-unhide-library-folder-in-mac-os-x-107-lion/
If these two articles do not help, you will need to contact Apple support and ask them to help you.
Once you are able to get to the files, then you will be able to delete the user libraries of Cool Spring and Nature Water.
Hope this helps,
Skip
Skip, thanks for your informative videos. Once clarification is needed. It is not the drive letter for the OS but the drive letter where Painter was installed. For example, I have partitions and store most programs on my D: drive, so that is where the Brush library is located D:/Program files/Corel/Painter12/Brushes in my example.
Hi Ron,
You are absolutely correct. Thank you so much for taking the time to make that clarification. Gosh, I hope folks that partition their drive or drives will know the path is dependent upon where Painter is loaded. I don’t think I have ever discussed this issue before.
Thanks again for posting and helping out.
Skip
Hot dog! I went to the first link you gave me. After reading I took the challenge and here’s how it worked for me.
I typed in the word Terminal in my Search finder window. It opened up a page where I was then able to type: chflags nohidden ~/Library/
This will give you access to your Library folder. This is just the beginning.
Now, if I go through the HD>Library>Applications Support a Corel folder still does not exist; just as before! My Adobe folder has always existed there and I still couldn’t understand why I was not able to see a Corel folder. Then it dawned on me. I bought CS5 for Mac. So that was specifically written for Mac., but Painter is written to use for either Windows or Mac. So somewhere along the line this may need to be corrected in the future so Mac users don’t have this problem under the HD area. Or, Painter needs to run a line in so that the Administrator has access to the Corel folder in the HD area Library.
Ok now, here’s something else. I was not able to access through the All Files area as suggested in this link tutorial. But I was able to access my Library folder where everything opened up now through my User area marked Home with the little house on it. It is HERE where you are able then to access the Library with the Corel folder! Even though I am the Admin and sole user of this machine, I can only have access to this Corel file folder under the Home area Not the HD area.
I was able to then delete the 2 titles in my Brush Library.
Home (where I’m considered a user)> Library>Application Support>Corel>Painter 12>Default>Brushes.
I am a glutton for punishment and do want to redownload your brushes again, but not right now. This whole thing sorta wore me out. I still have Cool Spring and Happy Zen Raw 2 in my Documents area. The Happy Zen and Nature Water are loaded in my Painter 12 brush area and my Brush Library window is back the way it was when I first got Painter.
Sincerely,
Diane
By the way, my friends call me Diane
Hope I can be a friend and call you Dianne. Thanks for the feedback. Did you try the second link?
In your post you said,”It is HERE where you are able then to access the Library with the Corel folder! Even though I am the Admin and sole user of this machine, I can only have access to this Corel file folder under the Home area Not the HD area. ”
I’m no expert here but the above statement isn’t correct. There are two separate folders and two separate areas where the folders are kept.
Basically, when you make a change to a brush…say an Acrylic brush…Painter records the changes in the “Home” area, or what I call the user area. PC users have a similar issue, we have to go and unhide folders as well, but once done, then we can access the user area as easily as the Applications area. I suspect that if you look at the Adobe files in the “Home” area, they will be different from the ones in the Applications area. But, I don’t have a MAC and this is speculation on my part.
If you would like to follow up with this issue and tell it to the folks that count.
…go to http://painterfactory.com/. This is Corel Painter official site and you can ask questions and post defects and ask for enhancements…bunches of stuff. It is where I found the two links I provided. It is a great place to find out everything you wanted to know about Corel Painter.
Good luck with reinstalling the brushes.
Thanks for posting, Dianne…
skip
One more comment about brushes. When downloading a new brush, the folder and Icon are usually inside another folder. If you place the top container folder into the Brushes folder of Painter, it doesn’t recognize it. This has happened to me . Only the new Brush folder with its icon should be dragged and dropped into the Painter Brushes folder.
Hey Ron,
Now this time I take issue with what you are saying…at least if I understand what you are saying.
Brushes folder is the container for Libraries. Painter Brushes folder is a library. Libraries contain Brush Category folders and the companion jpg.
That means that if you drop your brush category folder and the icon into Painter Brushes, it will show up in Painter Brushes Library. However, if you drop a Library folder that contains the Category folder and icon under Brushes, then you will not see the brushes in Painter Brushes, but will see them in the newly created library. To see those brushes in Painter 12, you would open the brush library panel and open the option button or fly out menu and select brush libraries and pick the new library. Now you will be able to see the brushes.
I hope I understood what you said and this helps clear it up.
Thanks again for making comments,
Skip
Thank you very much for this tutorial… it really helped me a lot. I was searching for a tutorial on how to load brushes to Corel Painter 12 for ages, lol… thank god I found your blog… again – thank you soooo much!!!
Thanks for dropping by and I am glad the information is helpful. Be sure that you go to the later post and review the new information for loading brushes with Painter 12.1. It has changed significantly from my first video on brushes.
Thanks again for stopping by and posting a comment. I really appreciate it.
Skip
Thanks Skip,
After watching your video how to install brush lib. and the extra brushes that came with Painter 12, I was finally able to do it.
Rouben
Great…that is good news. Not everyone has had the same good fortune. Once we get use to the new way of loading brushes, we will love it.
Hello i was i’ve been having trouble creating a library on a mac.
All i want to do is take some of the brushes already in the painter 12 library and make my own with them. The problem is, i can’t find the companion jpegs for them
could you help me out? Thanks
Hi Omar,
The default Painter Library is located here:
Applications > Corel Painter 12 > Brushes > Painter 12 Brushes
You will find the companion jpgs under Painter 12 Brushes.
Are you planning on creating a brush category and add your custom brushes to it? If so, you can create your own companion jpgs for your custom brush category, which can be fun.
Skip
Hi Skip … I’ve been using painter 11 and i got 12 lately and i’m on a pc windows7 but the problem of brushes lagging is driving me crazy can u help in that? and thanks 4 all of your great collections of brushes and i’m waiting for new ones……
Thanks….
Mai.
Hi Mai,
Can you tell me about your computer? What type, processor, RAM, Video Card…that sort of thing.
Skip
hmmm yep sure I forgot to tell u it’s a lap top Dell Latitude E5500 Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
Installed memory: 3.0 GB
Windows 7 Professional
Mobile PC display Resolution: 1440×900
and i think i’t recommended for painter 12 a 1gb ram so there isn’t a problem but really i can’t draw with it a thing i can’t stand it so please help me ….:(
Mai….
Hi Mai,
The recommendation for Painter is the absolute bottom that the program will work. The brushes would lag a great deal, but the program still works. As hardware becomes faster and more powerful, so do the applications. Your Dell Latitude is also at the low end of computer power so slower brushes are expected. 3 GB of RAM is too little. And the processor is too slow. There are some settings that you can try, but I am pretty sure it will not help. You can go to Edit > Preferences > Performance and check your Multicore usage, Memory usage, and scratch drive. Yours will probably be set to 2 cores, 80% Memory, and the scratch drive is C. At that setting, Painter is using as much power that it can muster from your machine.
Can you add more memory to your lap top? If you can, that would help. But before you go to the trouble of trying to improve your current lap top, you may want to consider buying a new one.
If you want to buy a new one, I would suggest the following:
Processor…at least a fast Intel i7 with 8 cores RAM…at least 16 GB. If you can afford a second drive that you can set up as a scratch drive…that will help, too. Video Cards are not as critical, but I would try to get the best one you can.
The above is reasonable, but when I buy a new computer, I try to get the top of the line for processing, RAM, Video Card, etc. It means I have to have a fairly large budget, but the computer will last at least 5 years before I need a new one. A less powerful machine will need replacing every two years.
My lap top is 3 years old and needs to be replaced. It was a Dell gaming lap top, so you would think that it was pretty good. It was for about a year…LOL. It performed very well. Now it is as slow as molasses and it is a more powerful machine than you have. I have it souped up as much as I can…so my only solution will be to buy a new lap top. I don’t need it right now, but the next time I travel, I will have to update the lap top so I can still keep in touch, do tutorials and live meetings. I may have to cancel any travel plans…sigh…keeping computers updated is expensive.
Please, do not take all I have said as gospel. This is just my opinion. You can talk with Dell and tell them what you need and maybe they can help. I think there have been some comments at Painter Factory about suitable machine…but I may be wrong about that. The link to Painter Factory is in my blog roll. Do search for other opinions and then you can buy with an informed decision.
Good luck…it is no fun shopping for a new computer…well it is fun once you get over worrying about paying for it…LOL.
Thanks for dropping by and posting a question. I wish I could have answered it better for you.
Skip
Wow…. I can’t thank you enough first:thank you alot for wasting your precious time and answering my questions …second: well I will consider buying a new computer with the properties you have mentioned but until i buy it i will try to increase my lap top’s memory a little and focus on my traditional drawings or painter 11 or any other crazy software and any way I was going to buy a new computer in the next few months so thanks alot for giving a push and that’s what we expect from a great artist like you but excuse me after i solve the program can I feel free to ask more questions and bother you with my questions in digital art and painter?I have alot of questions and you helped me much more than any other one i asked about this software and thank you very much again:)
best regards
Mai….
Sure Mai, I will be glad to answer questions if I can. Cheers, Skip
thanks Skip I appreciate it…
Mai….
You are welcome Mai. I took a look at some of your drawings on Deviant Art…nicely done.
Skip
Wow thanks I’m glad you loved them but those are old ones,I’m going to put a new collection I hope you tell me what you think about it ..:)
Mai….
Cool…I’ll take a look. Skip
Hi, how do I install the Karen or Skip Painter brush category in Painter 12? I have windows XP 32 bit thanks
Hi, I think if you will watch the video called Brush Management in Painter 12.1, all your questions will be answered.
Let me know if you still have trouble.
Skip
Thank you very much
Hi Skip… just came across your site and I frustratingly try to deal with my new iMac and Painter. I’ve used Painter almost daily since 1994 starting at Painter 2.0. I would go to MacWorld each year and talk with the creator of Painter, Mark Zimmerman, and enjoyed watching it grow as a great application. But then Corel bought it and I’ve struggled since each time I upgraded. So here’s my problem: I use Painter X with Painter 6 brushes (simple water, Sargent brush/pallet knife being my main brushes) and have used Apple’s migration software each time I got a new computer. However, this time I want to avoid all the junk that has been accumulating over a decade and reinstall my applications from scratch with this new iMac that I just got. However, each time I try to load Painter X into Mountain Lion I get errors. So I am thinking that I may have to get Painter 12. However, it is critical that I be able to import my old Painter 6 brushes because I paint daily (justinen_dot_com) and I can’t start my painting ways all over again. Too old. Do you know if one can import Painter 6 brushes into 12? Thanks for your valuable time and knowledge. – Lars
Hi Lars,
First let me say that I am jealous that you have been using Painter for so long and have talked to Mark Zimmer. Did you know that he has a wonderful blog? You must check it out. The blog is called Relativistic Observer. I love the blog and visit when he posts, which is pretty frequently.
Your question is interesting. I don’t have Painter X installed, so I cannot test importing brushes that have been installed Painter X.
Why not download the Painter 12 free trial. Once you have done that, you can test if the brushes can be used in Painter 12. I do have a video that explains taking a zip file of the Brush Folder and companion jpg, and changing the zip extension to .brushcategory or .brushlibrary, which then allows you to double click the file and it will automatically install in Painter 12. I am pretty sure it will work, but because I cannot test it, I cannot be certain. I don’t think you could take the brushes out of Painter 6 and install them, but if you have them in Painter X, that should make them compatible with Painter 12.
Painter 12 comes with Extras, which include papers, patterns, weaves, brushes, etc. One of the brush categories is Painter 6 watercolor. I was able to install those into Painter 12. That is a good sign.
Do try the free trial. Once you download it, check back with me if you have trouble understanding how to load the files.
Do look at the video here: Brush Management, A Primer Then review Painter 12 Brush Extension video.
I hope this helps. Please feel free to contact me after you have your free trial.
Skip
Update: I think I found a way – I exported and imported my workspace into 12 and so far it looks like this will work. Although I am not sure how to access 12′s brushes, but that is OK.
Lars,
That is good news for sure. To find Painter 12 brushes, go to your brush selector, it will open the brush drawer. At the top right corner of the brush drawer is an option button that will open a list of options. Look down the list for Brush Library. Select Brush Library and you will see all of the brush libraries that you currently have installed. One of them should be Painter Brushes, which should open Painter 12 Brushes. If it doesn’t, I may want to see a screen shot.
Thanks,
Skip
Thanks for your reply, Skip! I actually did download the free trial right after I sent my first message and by importing the workspace I got most of what I need. So I bought the upgrade and I think everything is working well so far.
Yes, Mark was a great person to know. Thanks for the blog link – I will definitely check it out. From Painter 3 to Paint 6 I would go for his kickoffs at MacWorld or Seibold Seminars, both at the Mascone Center in SF each year, and I can tell you it was not unusual for him to get a standing ovation from those of us that crowded the 30 chairs at the Fractal Design exhibition when he gave his hourly “What’s New in Painter _”. I never saw that at any other exhibitor’s booth, with the exception of Indigo the year they exhibited the world’s first digital offset printer.
MacWorld and Seibold were like giant carnivals in those days. I was a traditional illustrator with a New York agent (Jerry Leff and Associates) but when I saw an article in Popular Photography about a program called Photoshop and a photo of red tulips with a watercolor filter run on it, I just knew it was time to explore the new digital frontier coming. So I researched platforms and decided on Apple (this was in 1993) and bought my first work station late that year (Quadra 950) which, with Wacom tablet, scanner, workstation, graphics card, Quark, PS 2.5, Painter 2.0, Syquest drives, etc, cost me $29,500. Kids today have no idea what they get for their money! Anyway, within weeks I was selling traditional looking art. One of the first jobs as a digital watercolor map of a new golf course for the Pebble Beach corporation. I was so green in Painter that I remember being horrified to discover the paper texture *after* sending off the watercolor file.
Anyway, each year I would bring some printed books (I had a staff of young artists that worked for Justinen Creative Group back then) and magazine examples of our work done in Painter. I think that really amazed Mark because, if I recall correctly, his original vision for Painter was the education market and when we would bring high end illustrations done in his program, he would share them with his colleagues and I could tell they were like “Wow, we didn’t see this coming!”
It was great fun. Mark would ask us each year what we wanted to see in the next version and, of course, we were very happy to tell him.
While technology continues to grow today, there was something really special about the pioneering revolution in desktop publishing in those days. The whole revolution was good for my wife and I (who is also a digital illustrator, having created more than 18,000 published color illustrations – kimjustinen.com) The excitement was palpable everywhere.
Over the years I’ve had the chance to teach Painter classes and workshops as an adjunct teacher in Washington State, Idaho, Tennessee, and a one week seminar in the Philippines. Out of our original business has grown GoodSalt.com, MemorialReflections.com, and jcg.com. When I was first sitting in bead with a bunch of computer magazines deciding what computer to buy in 1993, my wife was also sitting next to me reading baby books, expecting our first child. Next year Stephen heads to college! It’s been quite a journey!
…. well, looks like it’s late and I got into a stream of consciousness response. Thanks again for your time. I’ve bookmarked you as a good source of help. Thanks, Skip!
My Gosh Lars,
You have really been active in the early days of Painter. What a treat. I think you comment about the surprise from Mark…wow we didn’t see this coming…is normal for developers. They create incredible programs for us, but then we usually figure out how to use it to produce unexpected results…or unexpected by the developers. We love it…they love it…it is a win win for sure.
I identify with sitting in bed reading computer magazines. I started doing that in the early 80s. On of my favorite publications was in a newspaper format, which I believe was called Info News…hmmm…seems like it would have computer in the name, but that isn’t what I am remembering…LOL…no telling what I was reading. Anyway, I didn’t have a computer, but had read something about personal computers that were beginning to be produced. My first computer, was kind of fun…it was a Commodore 64, which I won by sending in Alpo dog food containers. My dog helped. But after reading mags for over a year, I got serious about a new computer. I opted for a Compaq 8086 or maybe it was an 8088. Not sure. Seems like the next was a compaq 80186…shoot I am forgetting. I loved Compaq back then…so I bought stock…that turned out to be pretty successful. I think that first Compaq was purchase in 1984 or 85. I started working with Corel Draw…even have Corel Draw 1.
Anyway…loved chatting with you and I do hope you get in touch with Mark…I don’t really know him, but I bet he would get a kick out of hearing from you.
Skip