adobe

The latest version of abrMate now allows you to convert any newer Photoshop CS brush set that can be opened by the software to a Photoshop 7.x compatible brush set in a new .abr file. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for Photoshop users that are not using the latest version of Photoshop and want to use brushes available online that were created using newer versions.

I've had some people request brushes compatible with Adobe Photoshop 7 and just wanted to see if there is a large amount of people still using it. I have a copy and can probably start making my brushes compatible with that version.

You can export as many brushes as you want to .png files in one step with abrMate. First, open all Adobe Photoshop .abr files you would like to convert to .png images by opening them one at a time or whole directories at once. Now click the button on the left titled 'Export All Open Brushes to .png's'.

Exporting Adobe Photoshop brushes to .png's in abrMate is very easy. First, you must have one or more brush sets open on your PC. Single-click the thumbnail of any brush to select it. You can now click the 'Export Selected Brush to .png' button to begin the exporting process:

abrMate is a freeware Windows application I wrote that has the ability to open Adobe Photoshop .abr brush preset files for previewing, organizing, or exporting brushes to .png's. I began writing abrMate because there didn't seem to be a full-featured free Windows application out there for opening and organizing brush files.

Texturemate is now at 2100 textures, which is great for only being around a couple months. I have started to add patterns as well for Adobe Photoshop and Gimp that I hope you enjoy!

Creating a brush to use as a background texture is very easy in Photoshop. There are just a few things you have to do to prepare any image so that it can be turned into a brush for use later. In this example, I'll turn a stock texture image into a brush. Note that I am using Photoshop CS5. Here is my original image:

Lately, creating brush sets in .abr format has been my favorite means to manage my brush collection. A single .abr file can contain multiple brushes, which makes it a lot easier to manage large amounts of them. Gimp 2.4 and higher can also read brushes from .abr files, so there are no longer any compatibility issues in maintaining brushes between Photoshop and Gimp. I feel that the .gbr brush format used by Gimp is dead, so I no longer bother with it.

The use of texture in web design is something that can be the difference between a site that really stands out or a bland looking one that will not garner as much attention. Grunge styles or wood grain are popular textures that if used effectively here and there, can look great. Textures can add dimension and depth to a site's appearance and have seemingly made a comeback in the last few years, although many great web designers claim to always have used them.

Taking a texture photograph of a brick wall and making it seamless in an editor such as Adobe Photoshop or Gimp can be performed fairly quickly with a few methods and tricks. In this example, I will use Gimp just because I've been using it more and more lately and have been becoming a fan of it. The steps in Photoshop are pretty much the same since nothing here is too complicated. The first thing we'll do is browse around and find a stock photo of a brick wall to use. Next, either using the rectangular region or free select tool, pick a nice portion of the texture we want to use.