Attach brushes to curves

You can manually attach brushes to existing CV or EP curves. This is a convenient way to convert existing NURBS curves into Paint Effects strokes.

Laying stroke paths using curves gives you better control over the paths of your strokes and it allows you to orient your strokes relative to the normals of a mesh or surface. This is useful when you want a stroke to wrap continuously around a 3D object or you want your strokes to deform with their target meshes or surfaces.

To attach a Paint Effects brush to curves

1. Do one of the following to specify the current brush settings:
   • Select the Paint Effects preset brush you want to apply to the curves.
   • Select an existing stroke in the scene and then in the Modeling menu set, select Generate > Get Settings from Selected Stroke.
2. (Optional) Modify the current brush attributes.

   Generate > Template Brush Settings or use the Ctrl+b (Linux and Windows) or Control+b (Mac OS X) hotkey combination. For information on the attributes, see Paint Effects Brush Settings.

3. Select the curve or curves to which you want to attach the brush stroke.
4. Select Generate > Curve Utilities > Attach Brush to Curves.

The current brush stroke is applied to the selected curves.

Related topics

• Draw NURBS curves
• Create a curve-on-surface

To attach a Paint Effects brush to curves on a polygon mesh or NURBS surface

1. Select the polygon mesh or NURBS surface to which you want to attach the curves.
2. In the main menu, select Modify > Make Live.
3. Draw the EP or CV curves to which you want to attach your brush on the mesh or surface.
4. Select Modify > Make Not Live.
5. Select the curves to which you want to attach your brush and Shift-select the mesh or surface to which you want to attach the curves.
   Tip: If the curves are difficult to select on a shaded mesh, click Wireframe on the Panel toolbar to change the display to a transparent wireframe.
6. Do one of the following to specify the current brush settings:
   • Select the Paint Effects preset brush you want to apply to the curves.
   • Select an existing stroke in the scene and then select Generate > Get Settings from Selected Stroke.
7. (Optional) Modify the current brush attributes.

   Generate > Template Brush Settings or use the Ctrl+b (Linux and Windows) or Control+b (Mac OS X) hotkey combination. For information on the attributes, see Paint Effects Brush Settings.

8. Select Generate > Curve Utilities > Attach Brush to Curves.

The selected Paint Effects brush attaches to the selected curves, and the curves attach to the nearest points on the mesh or surface. The Paint Effects brush strokes are automatically oriented relative to the normals of the mesh or surface, and they will deform with the mesh or surface.