Replace brush function

[danield24899042]

I'm not sure if this issue has interfered with other's work flow but it's definitely impeded my own - I'm used to using recorded actions to replace my current brush set not append them (import brushes). This allows me to have more manageable sizes for each set as to limit my time hunting for whatever specific brush I may be looking for. With cc2018 it seems the function has been removed from the "gear icon" under the brushes pallette (also with the right click to bring up brushes which is the workflow I use). The thing is the imported actions Im using from cc2017 DO WORK- the functionality is there, it's just been moved.

Does anyone happen to know where this has been placed? The action panel reads the action as " set brushes of current application"

Also, tangentially related, why does import brushes load brushes into the brush pallette in a folder? This doesn't make sense to me- I've already organized my brushes into the folders I want photoshop, please don't assume I want you to add another layer of folders.

Thanks in advance!

[Trevor.Dennis · Accepted solution]

The new brush management is a nice idea, but still has some serious problems IMO. We used to be able to reset the brushes and chose whether to replace or append.  If you do that now, you get no warning or indication that you are about to clutter up your brush panel.  I'd like to be able to say that I got into the below state in order to demonstrate it to you, but that is actually an honest mess that I made for myself.  And I actually believed that I had a really good understanding of the old brush engine!

There is something wrong about the way CC2018 added your old brushes.  I have no idea where some of these ungrouped presets come from for instance.  With all the display options turned on, I have two pages of these ungrouped presets before I get to the first default group (Dry Media).

At least we can select and delete multiple groups or brush presets. I wonder what will happen this time when I restore? I have a terrible felling that those errant additional presets will reappear.  Fingers crossed.

Well it worked out OK, but I had to add the Legacy folder to get back the old brushes, which doubles up on some of the restored folders.  It's a mess.  On the plus side, I suppose it is easier top manage brushes now, and it always takes time to get used to new features, but it feels like a work in progress to me.

[acresofgreen]

Thank you for posting an image of the brush panel that looked exactly like mine. I had all the categories (Dry media brushes, Special effects brushes etc. etc.) listed multiple times and spent a lot of time deleting them manually. I have little understanding about how my brush panel got into this state, so I assume it will happen again and again.

I really miss the old functionality Replace or Append. I play around with commercial actions a lot, and the author always recommends to replace the loaded brushes with the brushes that came with the action. Not doing that might cause confusion if several loaded brushes have the same name. I don't know what the consequences of duplicate names will cause now that brushes are imported and added to a new group in the brushes panel. Maybe resetting the brush panel to its original state before importing the action brushes would help, but I ask myself what then would be the advantage of the new brush panel over the old panel?