If you double click on the brush, you'll also get a dialog box with some setting for that tool. The easiest thing I've found lately about changing brush size is to simply put the cursor on the canvas to see what size it is, then I just hit the left bracket [ key to make it smaller and the right bracket ] key to make it larger, and I can see the size as it changes. It will remain that size if I change tools, like to the clone tool. Don't know anything about the drop downs, sorry.

On 01/25/2016 04:32 PM, Jim Horrocks wrote:

Hello,i'm very new to this version of gimp, I've tried it in the past but I couldn't get what I wanted. I don't know how to change the size of the paint brushes or where to look. Can someone please help me? I also have found out on the filters drop down,maps-fractal effects,it appears not to be working anymore,is there anything you can tell me about this? Thank you for all your help.
James
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Hi Jim,

from he textual description of a youtube video I found out while having your same problem:

"GIMP has a very good at working with realistic paint brushes, but the default installation lacks a very useful shortcut. If you have worked with the Paint Brush or Pencil tool, you may have noticed that changing the size of the brush isn't easy. You have to fiddle around with the Size/Scale slider in the tool options on the left. This is a lot of guess work, because it doesn't show a preview size when you are dragging the slider. Have no fear, there is an easier way. Configure the mouse wheel to increase and decrease the brush size when you scroll up or down.

-Click "Edit"?"Preferences" -Under the "Input Devices" section, click "Input Controllers" -In the "Active Controllers" column, double-click "Main Mouse Wheel" -A new window to configure the controller will pop up. Make sure the second check box, "Enable this Controller" is checked, or else this won't work -Find the "Scroll Up" event, (it should be at the top). Double-click it or click "Edit" at the bottom. -Click on the "Tools" section and type "increase" in the search field -Scroll down and click on the action "Increase Brush Size". The name is "tools-paint-brush-size-increase&qu­ot;. (In some versions of GIMP it was "Increase Brush Scale") -Close the window, then edit the "Scroll Down" event -This time type "Decrease" in the search bar and locate the "Decrease Brush Size" action. (Name is "tools-paint-brush-size-decrease&qu­ot;) -Close the action window, input controller window and click OK in the "Preferences" window

Now you can simply scroll the mouse wheel to vary the brush size."

Hope it helps, To me, it works perfectly! ;)

Cheers,

Dott. David Berti
IT Consultant, Designer, Author
Information Architecture Specialist
Ainó, UX BookClub Perugia, Bembughi
Cell: (+39) 347-518-66-24
CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidberti
www.davidberti.it | www.davidberti.eu
www.aino-consulting.it | www.aino-consulting.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: jimrh2010@gmail.com
> Sent: Mon, 25 Jan 2016 16:32:04 -0600
> To: gimp-user-list@gnome.org
> Subject: [Gimp-user] changing the brush sizes
> 
> Hello,i'm very new to this version of gimp, I've tried it in the past but
> I
> couldn't get what I wanted. I don't know how to change the size of the
> paint brushes or where to look. Can someone please help me? I also have
> found out on the filters drop down,maps-fractal effects,it appears not to
> be working anymore,is there anything you can tell me about this? Thank
> you
> for all your help.
> James
> _______________________________________________
> gimp-user-list mailing list
> List address:    gimp-user-list@gnome.org
> List membership: https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user-list
> List archives:   https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-user-list

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On 01/26/2016 04:01 AM, David wrote:

Hi Jim,

from he textual description of a youtube video I found out while having your same problem:

"GIMP has a very good at working with realistic paint brushes, but the default installation lacks a very useful shortcut. If you have worked with the Paint Brush or Pencil tool, you may have noticed that changing the size of the brush isn't easy. You have to fiddle around with the Size/Scale slider in the tool options on the left. This is a lot of guess work, because it doesn't show a preview size when you are dragging the slider. Have no fear, there is an easier way. Configure the mouse wheel to increase and decrease the brush size when you scroll up or down.

-Click "Edit"?"Preferences" -Under the "Input Devices" section, click "Input Controllers" -In the "Active Controllers" column, double-click "Main Mouse Wheel" -A new window to configure the controller will pop up. Make sure the second check box, "Enable this Controller" is checked, or else this won't work -Find the "Scroll Up" event, (it should be at the top). Double-click it or click "Edit" at the bottom. -Click on the "Tools" section and type "increase" in the search field -Scroll down and click on the action "Increase Brush Size". The name is "tools-paint-brush-size-increase&qu­ot;. (In some versions of GIMP it was "Increase Brush Scale") -Close the window, then edit the "Scroll Down" event -This time type "Decrease" in the search bar and locate the "Decrease Brush Size" action. (Name is "tools-paint-brush-size-decrease&qu­ot;) -Close the action window, input controller window and click OK in the "Preferences" window

Now you can simply scroll the mouse wheel to vary the brush size."

Hope it helps, To me, it works perfectly! ;)

"Me too."

I believe this should be a default setting: It's massively useful, and most users simply won't be able to find and follow instructions like those given above. My own attempt to make a how-to consists of a brief explanation of the desired end result, and this picture:

http://pilobilus.net/img/mouse-scale-brush.jpg

I also set control + alt + scroll to dial brush hardness up and down. These tweaks have VASTLY accelerated my workflow.

:o)

Dave:

This works like a charm. Very clear instructions. Great post!

Rick

-----Original Message----- From: David
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2016 4:01 AM To: Jim Horrocks ; gimp-user-list@gnome.org Subject: Re: [Gimp-user] changing the brush sizes

Hi Jim,

from he textual description of a youtube video I found out while having your same problem:

"GIMP has a very good at working with realistic paint brushes, but the default installation lacks a very useful shortcut. If you have worked with the Paint Brush or Pencil tool, you may have noticed that changing the size of the brush isn't easy. You have to fiddle around with the Size/Scale slider in the tool options on the left. This is a lot of guess work, because it doesn't show a preview size when you are dragging the slider. Have no fear, there is an easier way. Configure the mouse wheel to increase and decrease the brush size when you scroll up or down.

-Click "Edit"?"Preferences" -Under the "Input Devices" section, click "Input Controllers" -In the "Active Controllers" column, double-click "Main Mouse Wheel" -A new window to configure the controller will pop up. Make sure the second check box, "Enable this Controller" is checked, or else this won't work -Find the "Scroll Up" event, (it should be at the top). Double-click it or click "Edit" at the bottom.
-Click on the "Tools" section and type "increase" in the search field -Scroll down and click on the action "Increase Brush Size". The name is "tools-paint-brush-size-increase&qu­ot;. (In some versions of GIMP it was "Increase Brush Scale")
-Close the window, then edit the "Scroll Down" event -This time type "Decrease" in the search bar and locate the "Decrease Brush Size" action. (Name is "tools-paint-brush-size-decrease&qu­ot;) -Close the action window, input controller window and click OK in the "Preferences" window

Now you can simply scroll the mouse wheel to vary the brush size."

Hope it helps, To me, it works perfectly! ;)

Cheers,

Dott. David Berti
IT Consultant, Designer, Author
Information Architecture Specialist
Ainó, UX BookClub Perugia, Bembughi
Cell: (+39) 347-518-66-24
CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidberti
www.davidberti.it | www.davidberti.eu
www.aino-consulting.it | www.aino-consulting.com

David,

I changed the "Scroll Up" event to "tools-paint-brush-size-increase-skip" because I found increasing the brush size was way too slow, only incrementing upwards at 1 unit at a time with one click of the wheel. Going to "tools-paint-brush-size-increase-skip" increases the brush size 10 units at a time per wheel click, which suits me. YMMV.

I left the reduce size ("Scroll Down") where it was. That way I can refine the brush size by going downwards at 1-unit/click.

Rick

I want to be able to edit my brushes and save them, using the appropriate dialog box, but no matter what I do, the size doesn't change. I can change the hardness, angle, aspect ratio, etc., but the size just won't change, whether using the bracket keys or the radius slider. I'm not using a mouse and I don't want to try using the track pad's scroll function to change the size of the brush because I use it to scroll. Any suggestions? Thanks,
Matthew

Hi Jim,

from he textual description of a youtube video I found out while having your same problem:

"GIMP has a very good at working with realistic paint brushes, but the default installation lacks a very useful shortcut. If you have worked with the Paint Brush or Pencil tool, you may have noticed that changing the size of the brush isn't easy. You have to fiddle around with the Size/Scale slider in the tool options on the left. This is a lot of guess work, because it doesn't show a preview size when you are dragging the slider. Have no fear, there is an easier way. Configure the mouse wheel to increase and decrease the brush size when you scroll up or down.

-Click "Edit"?"Preferences" -Under the "Input Devices" section, click "Input Controllers" -In the "Active Controllers" column, double-click "Main Mouse Wheel" -A new window to configure the controller will pop up. Make sure the second check box, "Enable this Controller" is checked, or else this won't work
-Find the "Scroll Up" event, (it should be at the top). Double-click it or click "Edit" at the bottom.
-Click on the "Tools" section and type "increase" in the search field -Scroll down and click on the action "Increase Brush Size". The name is "tools-paint-brush-size-increase&qu­ot;. (In some versions of GIMP it was "Increase Brush Scale")
-Close the window, then edit the "Scroll Down" event -This time type "Decrease" in the search bar and locate the "Decrease Brush Size" action. (Name is "tools-paint-brush-size-decrease&qu­ot;) -Close the action window, input controller window and click OK in the "Preferences" window

Now you can simply scroll the mouse wheel to vary the brush size."

Hope it helps, To me, it works perfectly! ;)

Cheers,

I'm not sure I'm understanding this correctly, but in current GIMPs the actual size of a brush is controlled through the Tool Options of the active painting tool - the size shown in the Brush Editor is merely the default size for said brush.

-- Stratadrake strata_ranger@hotmail.com
--------------------
Numbers may not lie, but neither do they tell the whole truth.

From: gimp-user-list  on behalf of mehjg 
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2016 12:33 PM
To: gimp-user-list@gnome.org
Cc: notifications@gimpusers.com
Subject: [Gimp-user] changing the brush sizes

I want to be able to edit my brushes and save them, using the appropriate dialog
box, but no matter what I do, the size doesn't change. I can change the
hardness, angle, aspect ratio, etc., but the size just won't change, whether
using the bracket keys or the radius slider. I'm not using a mouse and I don't
want to try using the track pad's scroll function to change the size of the
brush because I use it to scroll. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Matthew
>Hi Jim,
>
>from he textual description of a youtube video I found out while
>having your same problem:
>
>"GIMP has a very good at working with realistic paint brushes, but the
>default installation lacks a very useful shortcut. If you have worked
>with the Paint Brush or Pencil tool, you may have noticed that
>changing the size of the brush isn't easy. You have to fiddle around
>with the Size/Scale slider in the tool options on the left. This is a
>lot of guess work, because it doesn't show a preview size when you are
>dragging the slider. Have no fear, there is an easier way. Configure
>the mouse wheel to increase and decrease the brush size when you
>scroll up or down.
>
>-Click "Edit"?"Preferences"
>-Under the "Input Devices" section, click "Input Controllers"
>-In the "Active Controllers" column, double-click "Main Mouse Wheel"
>-A new window to configure the controller will pop up. Make sure the
>second check box, "Enable this Controller" is checked, or else this
>won't work
>-Find the "Scroll Up" event, (it should be at the top). Double-click
>it or click "Edit" at the bottom.
>-Click on the "Tools" section and type "increase" in the search field
>-Scroll down and click on the action "Increase Brush Size". The name
>is "tools-paint-brush-size-increase". (In some versions of GIMP
>it was "Increase Brush Scale")
>-Close the window, then edit the "Scroll Down" event
>-This time type "Decrease" in the search bar and locate the "Decrease
>Brush Size" action. (Name is "tools-paint-brush-size-decrease")
>-Close the action window, input controller window and click OK in the
>"Preferences" window
>
>Now you can simply scroll the mouse wheel to vary the brush size."
>
>Hope it helps,
>To me, it works perfectly! ;)
>
>Cheers,

--
mehjg (via www.gimpusers.com/forums)
Forums - gimpusers.com
www.gimpusers.com
Forums. While there are many different GIMP forums of there, our own forums provide an extended way to communicate because they are connected to the official GIMP ...

On 12/13/2016 02:33 PM, mehjg wrote:

I want to be able to edit my brushes and save them, using the appropriate dialog box, but no matter what I do, the size doesn't change. I can change the hardness, angle, aspect ratio, etc., but the size just won't change, whether using the bracket keys or the radius slider. I'm not using a mouse and I don't want to try using the track pad's scroll function to change the size of the brush because I use it to scroll. Any suggestions? Thanks,
Matthew

Hi Jim,

from he textual description of a youtube video I found out while having your same problem:

"GIMP has a very good at working with realistic paint brushes, but the default installation lacks a very useful shortcut. If you have worked with the Paint Brush or Pencil tool, you may have noticed that changing the size of the brush isn't easy. You have to fiddle around with the Size/Scale slider in the tool options on the left. This is a lot of guess work, because it doesn't show a preview size when you are dragging the slider. Have no fear, there is an easier way. Configure the mouse wheel to increase and decrease the brush size when you scroll up or down.

-Click "Edit"?"Preferences" -Under the "Input Devices" section, click "Input Controllers" -In the "Active Controllers" column, double-click "Main Mouse Wheel" -A new window to configure the controller will pop up. Make sure the second check box, "Enable this Controller" is checked, or else this won't work
-Find the "Scroll Up" event, (it should be at the top). Double-click it or click "Edit" at the bottom.
-Click on the "Tools" section and type "increase" in the search field -Scroll down and click on the action "Increase Brush Size". The name is "tools-paint-brush-size-increase&qu­ot;. (In some versions of GIMP it was "Increase Brush Scale")
-Close the window, then edit the "Scroll Down" event -This time type "Decrease" in the search bar and locate the "Decrease Brush Size" action. (Name is "tools-paint-brush-size-decrease&qu­ot;) -Close the action window, input controller window and click OK in the "Preferences" window

Now you can simply scroll the mouse wheel to vary the brush size."

Hope it helps, To me, it works perfectly! ;)

Cheers,

When I have a tool open like the paint brush, clone, or something similar, if my cursor is in the image, I simple tap the [ to make it smaller or the ] to make it larger. I do this all the time and I love it. I may try to above, might be even easier.

Judy Wilson

On 13/12/16 21:33, mehjg wrote:

I want to be able to edit my brushes and save them, using the appropriate dialog box, but no matter what I do, the size doesn't change. I can change the hardness, angle, aspect ratio, etc., but the size just won't change, whether using the bracket keys or the radius slider. I'm not using a mouse and I don't want to try using the track pad's scroll function to change the size of the brush because I use it to scroll. Any suggestions?

You can save the whole combo of brush size, opacity, fade, etc, by saving the Tool options for the Paintbrush (or the Pencil, Eraser, Smudge...).

You can also create a brush at a given size so you wouldn't restore a size but just the brush with the right size from the Brush palette.

On 12/13/2016 03:33 PM, mehjg wrote:

I want to be able to edit my brushes and save them, using the appropriate dialog box, but no matter what I do, the size doesn't change. I can change the hardness, angle, aspect ratio, etc., but the size just won't change, whether using the bracket keys or the radius slider. I'm not using a mouse and I don't want to try using the track pad's scroll function to change the size of the brush because I use it to scroll. Any suggestions? Thanks,
Matthew

I have a comprehensive (for me) solution to the Brush Size (and Hardness) Question.

First, note that there are two major classes of GIMP brush: GBR brush files are bitmaps, fixed in size and hardness. VBR brush files are vectors, with variable size and hardness that can be changed "on the fly" with keyboard + mouse commands while using the brushes.

Here's a set of VBR brushes I made; they cover over 90% of my own uses for brush tools in the GIMP; I named them to assure that they appear at the top of the list in the Brushes dialog:

http://pilobilus.net/xfer/Variable-Brushes.zip

Drop them into your /brushes folder, and viola.

Preview:

http://pilobilus.net/xfer/brushes.png

The oval ones are good for getting into tight spaces.

Now about that "change size and hardness on the fly" part:

Go to Edit > Preferences > Input Controllers and double click on Main Mouse Wheel to bring up the configuration dialog. Picture worth thousand words (or at least a hundred or so):

http://pilobilus.net/img/mouse-scale-brush.jpg

I also configure the GIMP to make the current brush "softer" or "harder" - that is, more or less fuzzy around the edge - in response to holding down Ctrl + Shift + Alt and scrolling the mouse wheel up and down. Controlling brush size and hardness with the mouse wheel is way more efficient than constantly switching between brushes. These settings can be found in the same menu as above.

These brushes and settings save enough stress and hassle in one editing project to way more than justify the time and effort it takes to configure them. Then you have them "forever" or at least as long as your present GIMP installation is in place.

:o)

Thanks, Steve. They probably don’t fit my work, but the insight to your setup is quite valuable. The brushes in GIMP are probably it’s most confusing aspect, especially to relative tyros, or those switching from APS.

Ross

On Dec 14, 2016, at 3:21 PM, Steve Kinney wrote:

On 12/13/2016 03:33 PM, mehjg wrote:

I want to be able to edit my brushes and save them, using the appropriate dialog box, but no matter what I do, the size doesn't change. I can change the hardness, angle, aspect ratio, etc., but the size just won't change, whether using the bracket keys or the radius slider. I'm not using a mouse and I don't want to try using the track pad's scroll function to change the size of the brush because I use it to scroll. Any suggestions? Thanks,
Matthew

I have a comprehensive (for me) solution to the Brush Size (and Hardness) Question.

First, note that there are two major classes of GIMP brush: GBR brush files are bitmaps, fixed in size and hardness. VBR brush files are vectors, with variable size and hardness that can be changed "on the fly" with keyboard + mouse commands while using the brushes.

Here's a set of VBR brushes I made; they cover over 90% of my own uses for brush tools in the GIMP; I named them to assure that they appear at the top of the list in the Brushes dialog:

http://pilobilus.net/xfer/Variable-Brushes.zip

Drop them into your /brushes folder, and viola.

Preview:

http://pilobilus.net/xfer/brushes.png

The oval ones are good for getting into tight spaces.

Now about that "change size and hardness on the fly" part:

Go to Edit > Preferences > Input Controllers and double click on Main Mouse Wheel to bring up the configuration dialog. Picture worth thousand words (or at least a hundred or so):

http://pilobilus.net/img/mouse-scale-brush.jpg

I also configure the GIMP to make the current brush "softer" or "harder" - that is, more or less fuzzy around the edge - in response to holding down Ctrl + Shift + Alt and scrolling the mouse wheel up and down. Controlling brush size and hardness with the mouse wheel is way more efficient than constantly switching between brushes. These settings can be found in the same menu as above.

These brushes and settings save enough stress and hassle in one editing project to way more than justify the time and effort it takes to configure them. Then you have them "forever" or at least as long as your present GIMP installation is in place.

:o)

_______________________________________________ gimp-user-list mailing list
List address: gimp-user-list@gnome.org List membership: https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user-list List archives: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-user-list

When I have a tool open like the paint brush, clone, or something similar, if my cursor is in the image, I simple tap the [ to make it smaller or the ] to make it larger. I do this all the time and I love it. I may try to above, might be even easier.

Judy Wilson

Unfortuantely, that doesn't work for me.

I have a comprehensive (for me) solution to the Brush Size (and Hardness) Question.

First, note that there are two major classes of GIMP brush: GBR brush files are bitmaps, fixed in size and hardness. VBR brush files are vectors, with variable size and hardness that can be changed "on the fly" with keyboard + mouse commands while using the brushes.

Here's a set of VBR brushes I made; they cover over 90% of my own uses for brush tools in the GIMP; I named them to assure that they appear at
the top of the list in the Brushes dialog:

http://pilobilus.net/xfer/Variable-Brushes.zip

Drop them into your /brushes folder, and viola.

Preview:

http://pilobilus.net/xfer/brushes.png

The oval ones are good for getting into tight spaces.

Now about that "change size and hardness on the fly" part:

Go to Edit > Preferences > Input Controllers and double click on Main Mouse Wheel to bring up the configuration dialog. Picture worth thousand
words (or at least a hundred or so):

http://pilobilus.net/img/mouse-scale-brush.jpg

I also configure the GIMP to make the current brush "softer" or "harder"
- that is, more or less fuzzy around the edge - in response to holding down Ctrl + Shift + Alt and scrolling the mouse wheel up and down. Controlling brush size and hardness with the mouse wheel is way more efficient than constantly switching between brushes. These settings can
be found in the same menu as above.

These brushes and settings save enough stress and hassle in one editing
project to way more than justify the time and effort it takes to configure them. Then you have them "forever" or at least as long as your present GIMP installation is in place.

:o)

Any ideas why on I can change hardness, angle, and aspect ratio, but not size? This happens on two different computers (Mac OS), and has been a problem for me for about a year; it used to work fine...

That's because, in GIMP, vector brushes (i.e. the Brush Editor) are "sizeless", i.e. scalable to whatever desired size you want for the tool you're using. So select a tool of interest (such as Paintbrush) and look in THAT toolbox instead -- right under the option to select which brush you want is a slider to specify the brush size.

I can provide a screenshot if you want one (but I'm not sure if the mailing list will accept it).

-- Stratadrake strata_ranger@hotmail.com
--------------------
Numbers may not lie, but neither do they tell the whole truth.

From: gimp-user-list  on behalf of mehjg 
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2016 6:04 PM
To: gimp-user-list@gnome.org
Cc: notifications@gimpusers.com
Subject: [Gimp-user] changing the brush sizes

Any ideas why on I can change hardness, angle, and aspect ratio, but not size?
This happens on two different computers  (Mac OS), and has been a problem for me
for about a year; it used to work fine...

--
mehjg (via www.gimpusers.com/forums)

I have a comprehensive (for me) solution to the Brush Size (and Hardness) Question.

First, note that there are two major classes of GIMP brush: GBR brush files are bitmaps, fixed in size and hardness. VBR brush files are vectors, with variable size and hardness that can be changed "on the fly" with keyboard + mouse commands while using the brushes.

Here's a set of VBR brushes I made; they cover over 90% of my own uses for brush tools in the GIMP; I named them to assure that they appear at
the top of the list in the Brushes dialog:

http://pilobilus.net/xfer/Variable-Brushes.zip

Drop them into your /brushes folder, and viola.

Preview:

http://pilobilus.net/xfer/brushes.png

The oval ones are good for getting into tight spaces.

Now about that "change size and hardness on the fly" part:

Go to Edit > Preferences > Input Controllers and double click on Main Mouse Wheel to bring up the configuration dialog. Picture worth thousand
words (or at least a hundred or so):

http://pilobilus.net/img/mouse-scale-brush.jpg

I also configure the GIMP to make the current brush "softer" or "harder"
- that is, more or less fuzzy around the edge - in response to holding down Ctrl + Shift + Alt and scrolling the mouse wheel up and down. Controlling brush size and hardness with the mouse wheel is way more efficient than constantly switching between brushes. These settings can
be found in the same menu as above.

These brushes and settings save enough stress and hassle in one editing
project to way more than justify the time and effort it takes to configure them. Then you have them "forever" or at least as long as your present GIMP installation is in place.

:o)

Thank you all for the thread, solved my problem, special thanks to Steve Kinney for pointing out I need to use vector brushes if I want to change hardness, and for supplying the brushes! My problem was I was trying to change the hardness of a non vector brush.

I want to thank you very much for the information. I've been agonizing over this for some time and your answer worked perfectly! Thanks again.

...The easiest thing I've found lately about changing brush size is to simply put the cursor on the canvas to see

what size it is, then I just hit the left bracket [ key to make it smaller and the right bracket ] key to make it larger, and I can see the size as it changes. It will remain that size if I change tools, like to the clone tool.

Hi there,

Thanks for these explanations. Sorry but in one of the latest Gimp version 2.10.12 there is no "Increase Brush Size" or "tools-paint-brush-size".

Please see pictures and please help!

thanks a lot

Happy new year (2020) !

Picture of Gimp Preferences here (sorry)