Importing Photoshop `.abr` files¶

Photoshop brush sets ship as .abr archive files. The Designer imports them in one step, mapping Photoshop's brush concepts onto the Designer's six engines.

Import¶

File > Import > Brush File… and pick a .abr. Or drag-drop the file anywhere onto the canvas. A progress bar shows the import:

[1/24] Diluted Watercolor
[2/24] Diluted Wash
[3/24] Loose Strokes
…
[24/24] Wet Sponge

Each Photoshop brush becomes one .elybrush preset under Imported (.abr) in the Library.

How brushes map¶

Photoshop's brush format is much older than the Designer's engines. The importer makes pragmatic choices:

Photoshop concept	Maps to
Brush tip shape (round / oval / custom image)	Round Stamp (round / oval) or Pattern (custom image) engine
Scattering	Spacing + random dynamics on x / y offset
Shape dynamics	Dynamics curves on size, roundness, angle
Color dynamics	Dynamics curves on hue / sat / brightness
Wet edges	Wet Mix engine when both wet edges + dual brush are on
Texture	Texture engine + the captured texture
Dual brush	Single brush with the dual brush texture composited
Smoothing (CS6+)	smoothing parameter on the resulting brush

The mapping is best-effort but consistent. The Engines reference explains each engine's parameter ranges so you can hand-tune after import.

Photoshop versions¶

Tested with:

Version	Status
Photoshop CS5 - CC 2024	Full support
Photoshop CS3 - CS4	Partial: dual brush data ignored
Photoshop CS2 and earlier	Tip shapes import; dynamics are reset

For unsupported .abr versions, the importer surfaces a clear error and writes a partial Library entry with reset dynamics so the brush is still usable.

Custom tip images¶

Brushes that use a custom image as the tip (Photoshop's "Sample Brush") map to the Pattern engine. The tip image is extracted losslessly from the .abr and stored alongside the preset.

If the tip image is large (>512 px), the importer asks whether to downsample to 512 px. This trades fidelity for stroke performance; 512 px tips stamp at ~3000 stamps/sec, full-res at ~500 stamps/sec.

Where files land¶

The imported presets and any extracted tip images go under your user brushes directory. Each .elybrush carries a source: { kind: "abr", file: "name.abr" } field so you can find which set a brush came from.

Re-importing¶

To update from a newer version of a .abr, re-import it. The Designer offers three options when an existing preset matches by name:

Overwrite: replace the preset with the new import.
Keep both: add the new one with a "(2)" suffix.
Skip: leave the existing preset.

Per-preset choice is shown in a small modal. You can also bulk- apply: "Overwrite all" / "Keep both for all".

Imported presets are stored as regular .elybrush files in your user folder. To share them with a teammate (without re-bundling the original .abr), zip the relevant .elybrush files. They drop in on the recipient's side with no Photoshop install required.

What does not import¶

Photoshop's mixer brush wet/dry mixing is not ported: Wet Mix engine has its own wet model. Wet-edges Photoshop brushes map to Wet Mix with sensible defaults but are not pixel-perfect.
Photoshop legacy "noise" and "airbrush mode" toggles map to hardcoded Airbrush defaults.
Color presets attached to a brush import as the brush's default color but do not bring along Photoshop's swatch panel.

Importing Photoshop .abr files¶