The majority of brush and stamp sets in the Lilypad Store come in either .abr, or .png format, or both. In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to install and use .abr brushes. Yes .abr files can be imported into both Affinity Photo or Affinity Designer. Affinity Publisher doesn't have a brush tool, so only brushes given as .png files can be used in Publisher unless you have Photo/Designer installed too. (There is a tutorial on using png brushes here.) Affinity Designer. When using .abr brushes in Affinity Designer, you need to have the Designer Studio set to Pixel Persona. By default Designer opens in Designer Persona, which is vector based. Abr brushes are pixel based. The steps for using Pixel Persona in Affinty Designer are the same as when using Affinity Photo. a = Designer Persona - the default b = Pixel Persona - click on this to switch into pixel mode. In this tutorial I am using Affinity Photo. I am using the following products available in the Lilypad Store: Bittersweet Brushes by Lynn Grieveson Bittersweet Paper Pack by Lynn Grieveson Installing .abr brushes. Installing an abr brush is very easy. Simply select the abr file in your file manager (I'm using ACDSee, but this works in Windows Explorer and other file managers in the same way) then drag drop it into the Affinity Software space. Stamping with an abr Brush 1. Create a new pixel layer, any brushes you use will go in that layer. (Tip: use different layers for each time you use a brush, that will enable you to manipulate them easier) 2. In the brushes tab find, and select the brush set you want to use (I'm choosing the Bittersweet Brushes by Lynn Grieveson) 3. Choose a brush 4. Select the Brush Tool 5. Click on the page once to stamp with the brush. Using colours with the Brushes. Again working on a new pixel layer. Change the colour of your brush using the colour selector. Then stamp your brush. Cropping Papers to Brushes 1. Select the layer underneath your brush. 2. Place a background paper on your page. 3. In the layers panel click on the icon for the new paper and drag it to the right of the stamp's icon. Your stamped brush images can be resized, rotated, given special effects, and moved in the same way as any other element or paper on your page.
