Converting Psp Brushes (.jbr) to Psp8 Format

Ok, you've found a tutorial you want to do that uses a custom brush......or just a brush you'd like to use, but it doesn't show in your Psp8 brush menu....now what?!

PSP8 brushes are much more versatile than brushes in other versions and therefore the file format is different.

If you check your C:\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 8\Brushes folder, you'll see that some of the files are named

     BrushTip_***.PspScript     

     ***.PspBrush.    

You can usually find that the *** pair up. This is only true for version 8 and above. All other Psp brushes are in .jbr format.

To use a .jbr brush, you need to import it, which will convert it to Psp8 format. I'm going to show you how I do it and hopefully it'll make sense and work for you :o)

When you first installed Psp8, the program created a folder named My PSP8 Files. It defaults to C:\Documents and Settings\your user name here\My Documents, but you do have the option to direct that folder to anywhere on your computer during the install.

If you have multiple hard drives, it's always best to create that folder on a separate drive. I've directed mine to my H drive so my path is H:\My PSP8 Files.

I've added many extra folders here, so don't be concerned if yours doesn't look exactly like mine.  Since you direct the program to the folders you want to use, you can add as many folders as you want and put anything you like in them.

1. Open Psp8. Click on File > Preferences > File Locations. Click on Brushes in the left side of the dialog box. It's very important to make sure you have the right File type highlighted.

Click on the image above to see a larger view.

• The right side of the dialog box will show you the two folders that PSP8 is currently using to look for brushes. It's also telling you that new brushes will be saved to the My PSP8 Files\Brushes folder.
  
  
• If you directed those folders to a separate hard drive, all your new brushes will be untouched and ready to use from your separate drive should you ever need to reformat or un- and re-install Psp!
  
  
• Ok ~ time to put something in it :o) Click Cancel on the File Locations window.

2. Find a brush you'd like to use. It's a good idea to create a folder to download your brushes to. I've named mine Brushes to Convert, to make it easier to find them.

• If it's a Psp8 brush (many are available now) just put all files in your My PSP8 Files\Brushes folder....they're ready to use!
  
  
• If it's a .jbr, you'll need to import it. You can get my .jbr brush at the top of this page to use for this tutorial.

3. With Psp8 open, click File > Import > Custom Brush.
   
   
4. Click Open and browse to the folder where you've stored the .jbr.
   
   
5. Highlight the brushes you wish to import and click Open.
   
   
6. Now highlight them in the left pane and click Add (or skip the highlighting and just click Add All >> if you wish to import all .jbr in that folder).

Your brush will now show in the right pane. Click OK and you've just imported your first brush! If you go to My PSP8 Files\Brushes, you should see: BrushTip_lv-deco-egg001.PspScript and lv-deco-egg001.PspBrush. Both these files make up the one brush.

7. Open a new image.
   
   
8. Choose your Paint Brush tool.
   
   
9. Click on the drop down arrow on your brush menu and look for your new brush.

• Now.....all that being said.....sometimes, even though you've done everything right, the brush still won't show. In this case you'll need to empty the Cache.
  
  
• There are two ways to do this.

1. Close PSP. Go through Windows Explorer and browse to:
   
   C:\Documents and Settings\your user name here\Application Data\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 8\Cache
   
   and delete all the files in the folder. DO NOT DELETE THE CACHE FOLDER, just the files inside.
   
   
   OR:
   
   
2. Go to File > Preferences > Reset Preferences and check Delete all cache files.
   
   Now when you close and reopen Psp, the cache folder is automatically emptied and rebuilt.
   
   Reopen Psp and look for your brush.

I hope this has helped :)