Shared Brush Setting Concepts

The rest of the settings in each panel of the Brushes palette are based around three basic concepts:
Jitter, Minimum, and Control. It helps to have a basic understanding of what these concepts are before experimenting with the settings. Here is a brief summary of each:
- Jitter allows a specific brush option (such as size or opacity) to fluctuate across a brushstroke. The higher the setting, the more the option will vary.
- Minimum determines the range used to apply the Jitter setting.
- Control determines when to use the Jitter setting. When set to Off, the Jitter setting is applied all the time. The Fade setting causes the Jitter setting to “fade out” (or gradually disappear) in a particular number of brushstrokes. The remaining three Control settings (Pen Pressure, Pen Tilt, and Stylus Wheel) cause the Jitter setting to be controlled by input from a graphics tablet.

Shape Dynamics
The Shape Dynamics settings can change the shape of the chosen brush. They allow you to vary the settings chosen in the Brush Tip Shape section of the palette.

Scattering
Asmooth stroke is actually made up of paint daubs that are extremely condensed. The Scattering setting determines how varied the paint daubs are distributed. Higher values increase the scattering area, creating gaps in the stroke. Lower values result in denser strokes with less scattering. The Count setting determines the number of paint daubs applied within the spacing distance specified in the Brush Tip Shape section of the palette.

Texture
The Texture settings control the opacity of the brush based on the texture that is chosen from the Pattern Picker; click the pattern swatch at the top of the dialog to display the Picker. You must enable the Texture Each Tip setting in order to gain access to the Depth Jitter controls. The Mode menu determines the opacity blend between the brush and the texture. Different blend modes can affect the way the texture appears in the center or along the edges of the brushstroke.

Dual Brush
Dual Brush settings allow you to combine two brushes into one. Photoshop combines any brush that you choose from the Dual Brush panel with the brush that is currently selected in the Brush Tip Shape panel. Color is applied only where the two brush shapes overlap. Dual brushes are especially useful when trying to replicate wet natural media such as watercolor or sponge painting.

Color Dynamics
Color Dynamics allow you to vary the color that is applied to each brushstroke:
- Foreground/Background Jitter varies between the currently chosen foreground and background colors.
- Hue Jitter changes the color of the brush randomly.
- Saturation Jitter varies the vividness of the color(s) you are painting with.
- Brightness Jitter darkens the color randomly.
- Purity allows you to adjust the overall saturation of the color(s) you are painting with. Zero makes no change; negative values lower saturation; positive values increase saturation.

Other Dynamics
The Opacity and Flow Jitter settings located in the Other Dynamics panel allow you to vary the Options palette settings for the currently chosen painting tool. The Opacity setting controls the transparency amount—how much you can see through the brushstroke—and the Flow setting controls the speed at which you reach that opacity level. When enabled, the Opacity and Flow settings are applied to each brushstroke but never exceed the settings in the Options palette.

Clear Brush Controls
To return to the original brush settings (preset defaults or saved as defined settings), choose Clear Brush Controls from the Brushes palette menu. This removes any adjustments you’ve made to any brushes in all the currently loaded sets in the Brushes palette. This cannot be undone. Therefore, to avoid losing any of the adjustments you’ve made to the preexisting brushes, be sure to save them prior to clearing the controls. Note that the Clear Brush Controls command does not unlock any brush settings. To do that, you must choose Reset All Locked Settings from the Brushes palette menu.

Additional Brush Settings
The remaining brush settings do not change the controls that are displayed in the center of the palette when enabled. Unlike the settings above them in the list, these settings are simple on/off controls. Here’s a brief summary of what each one does:
- Noise adds noise (a series of small dots) to soft-edged brushstrokes. Noise is more noticeable when applied to softer-edged brushstrokes.
- Wet Edges causes the center of the brush to become partially opaque and applies more color toward the edges of the brushstrokes. The effect is more noticeable when applied to softeredged brushstrokes.
- Airbrush allows you to toggle the airbrush option in the Options palette on and off. When enabled, the airbrush is controlled by the Opacity and Flow settings, which are also specified in the Options palette. The Opacity setting controls the transparency amount (how much you can see through the brushstroke), and the Flow setting controls the speed at which you reach that opacity level. Lower Flow settings allow you to “build up” applied color with repeated strokes, just as you would with a real airbrush or a can of spray paint.
- Smoothing helps to even out your lines and curves as you paint. Enabling this option can be especially helpful when using a graphics tablet.
- Protect Texture maintains a consistent pattern when painting multiple textured strokes.