How to Use Photoshop Brushes in Adobe After Effects
The Adobe Creativity Suite (CS) Master Collection comes with a number of image editing applications, including Photoshop and After Effects. While Photoshop is the more versatile of the two, there may be instances when you want to use After Effects for a specific reason. While you cannot use Photoshop brushes in After Effects as they are used in Photoshop, you can save a Photoshop brush as an image and then import that image into After Effects. This image, however, will not be an animated brush as it is in Photoshop, and will instead be a static image that only gives the semblance of a Photoshop brush.
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Instructions
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1
Double-click the "Photoshop" application icon to launch the application. Click the "File" menu and select the "New" option. Click the arrow to the right of the "Preset" heading and select the "Web" option from the drop-down menu. Check to make sure the "Transparent" option is selected next to the "Background Contents" heading and click the "OK" button to create the workspace.
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2
Click on the "Brush" tool icon to select the Brush tool. Click the arrow to the right of the "Brush" heading and select the brush that you want to send over to After Effects. Drag the "Size" slider to the right until the brush is between 900 and 1000 pixels in size.
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3
Click the color box and drag the color indicator into the upper-left corner. This should make the color white. Click the "OK" button.
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4
Click on the blank workspace once to stamp the image of the brush. Click the "Crop" tool icon and drag the crop area until it contains only the brush image. Double-click on the crop area to crop the image.
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5
Click the "File" menu and select the "Save As" option. Click the arrow to the right of the "Format" heading and select "PNG" from the drop-down menu. Type a name for the file in the space provided and click the "Save" button to save the brush image.
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6
Double-click the "After Effects" application icon to launch the application. Click the "File" menu, move your mouse cursor over the "Import" option and select the "File..." option. Locate the .PNG file you created in Step 5, highlight it and click the "Open" button.
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7
Click on the .PNG file listed in the After Effects window to view its details. Take note of the image's dimensions.
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8
Click the "Create a New Composition" icon. Type the image's width and height that you wrote down in Step 7 in the spaces provided. Click the arrow to the right of the "Pixel Aspect Ratio" heading and select the "Square Pixels" option from the drop-down menu. Click the "OK" button to create the composition.
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9
Drag the .PNG file onto the composition you created in Step 10. Click the "Effects" menu, move your mouse cursor over the "Color Correction" option and select the "Change Color" option. Adjust the brush image's color values until the brush is the desired color.
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10
Click the "Create a New Composition" button to create a new composition. Click the arrow to the right of the "Presets" heading and select any of the options labeled "Square Pixels." Drag the brush composition you finished in Step 9 onto this main composition and place it in the desired location.
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