Create new brush presets

You can create your own customized brush presets by saving the template brush settings.

To create a new brush preset

1. Do one of the following:
   • If you are basing the new brush on existing brush settings, select the brush on the Shelf or in the Content Browser.
   • If you are creating a brush from an existing stroke, select the stroke and select Generate > Get Settings from Selected Stroke.
   • If you are creating the brush from scratch, select Generate > Reset Template Brush.
2. Select Generate > Template Brush Settings and modify the brush attributes. For details, see Paint Effects Brush Settings.
3. When you are satisfied with your settings, select Generate > Save Brush Preset. The Save Brush Preset window opens.
4. In the Label box, type a name for the brush preset. If you save the brush to a shelf, this name appears only if the Icon Style is Icon/Text (Windows > Settings/Preferences > Shelf Editor. See Shelf Editor). If you save the brush to the Content Browser, this name appears below the icon for the preset.
5. In the Overlay Label box, type an overlay label for the brush preset. The overlay label appears as part of the brush icon on the shelf.
6. Select where you want to store the preset brush: To Shelf or To Content Browser.

   If you save the brush To Shelf, it’s stored in the currently selected shelf.

   If you save the brush To Content Browser, you must specify the Content Browser folder (which must be writable by you). You can drag brushes from the Content Browser to a Shelf.

   Tip: If you are the only one using the brushes, save the brush to a Shelf. If you want to share your brushes, or if the brushes have file textures, save the brush to the Content Browser.
7. If you selected to save the preset to Content Browser, type a brushes subdirectory location in the File Path box. For example, if you type mybrushes, Maya attempts to save the brush in the mybrushes subfolder (which must be writable) of the brushes folder in the Content Browser.
   Note: The Content Browser brushes folder is typically not writable. To save brushes to the Content Browser, create a writable folder in the brushes folder (see Content Browser) and specify this directory.
8. Create an icon to represent the brush, as follows:
   • In the Paint Effects Panel, paint an area on the canvas or in the scene with the brush. If you are in the scene, render the strokes (Stroke Refresh > Rendered, or click the Refresh button), if necessary.
   • In the Save Brush Preset window, click the Grab Icon button.
   • In the Paint Effects Panel, drag to select a painted area that represents the brush stroke. The selected area displays in the window. If you are not satisfied with the icon, click the Grab Icon button again and reselect the image until you are.
     Note: You can only grab icons in the Paint Effects panel.
9. Click Save Brush Preset to save the brush.
   Note: If you are rendering on multiple machines and your brushes use file textures, you must copy your /brushes and /brushImages directories to every machine you render on if they do not share the same disk.