How to Make Paint Brushes New Again
How to employ Paint Symmetry in Photoshop CC 2019
Larn how to utilise the new Paint Symmetry feature in Photoshop CC 2019 to hands create fun, symmetrical artwork and designs!
Paint Symmetry in Photoshop allows y'all to paint multiple brush strokes at once to create mirrored, symmetrical designs and patterns. It works with the Brush Tool, the Pencil Tool and the Eraser Tool, and it also works with layer masks.
First added equally a technical preview in Photoshop CC 2018, Paint Symmetry is now an official part of Photoshop as of CC 2019. All of the more basic symmetry options from CC 2018, like Vertical, Horizontal and Diagonal, are included. Plus CC 2019 besides adds two new symmetry modes, Radial and Mandala, that let you create amazing, highly complex symmetrical artwork in seconds! Allow's meet how information technology works.
To follow along, you'll demand Photoshop CC. And if you're already a Creative Cloud subscriber, brand certain that your copy of Photoshop CC is up to date. Permit's get started!
How to paint with symmetry in Photoshop
We'll start by learning the basics of how to employ Paint Symmetry to create symmetrical artwork and designs. Once nosotros know the basics, I'll evidence you how to combine Paint Symmetry with layer masks for more creative effects!
Stride 1: Add a new bare layer
Start by adding a new bare layer to your document. This volition go on your castor strokes separate from everything else. To add a new layer, click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Clicking the New Layer icon.
Step two: Select the Brush Tool, Pencil Tool or Eraser Tool
Paint Symmetry works with the Brush Tool, the Pencil Tool and the Eraser Tool, all of which are found in the Toolbar. I'll select the Brush Tool:

Selecting the Brush Tool.
How to download over k more brushes in Photoshop
Step 3: Open the Paint Symmetry menu
With the Castor, Pencil or Eraser Tool selected, a Paint Symmetry icon (a little butterfly) appears in the Options Bar. Click the icon to open the Paint Symmetry menu:

Clicking the Pigment Symmetry (butterfly) icon.
Footstep 4: Cull a symmetry option
So in the menu, choose a symmetry selection from the list. In that location are ten dissimilar styles to choose from in CC 2019, including the new Radial and Mandala options at the bottom:

The Paint Symmetry options in Photoshop CC 2019.
The Paint Symmetry options in Photoshop CC 2019
Here'south a quick summary of how each of Photoshop's 10 Paint Symmetry options works:
- Vertical: Divides the canvas vertically and mirrors brush strokes from ane side onto the other side.
- Horizontal: Divides the canvas horizontally and mirrors brush strokes from the top onto the bottom, or from the bottom onto the top.
- Dual Centrality: Divides the canvas vertically and horizontally into 4 equal sections (top left, top right, lesser left, and bottom right). Painting in one section mirrors your brush strokes in the other 3.
- Diagonal: Divides the sheet diagonally and mirrors brush strokes from one side onto the other.
- Wavy: Similar to Vertical merely with a curved, wavy line instead of a straight line.
- Circle: Mirrors brush strokes painted inside a circle outside the circle, and vice versa.
- Spiral: Mirrors brush strokes painted along either side of a spiral path.
- Parallel Lines: Divides the canvas into three vertical sections using 2 parallel vertical lines. Brush strokes painted in the middle section are mirrored in the left and right sections.
- Radial: Divides the canvas into diagonal segments, or "slices". Brush strokes painted in 1 segment are mirrored in the others.
- Mandala: Similar to Radial, but mirrors the brush strokes within each segment every bit well, creating twice equally many brush strokes as Radial.
Nosotros won't go through every symmetry option hither since you can easily try them out on your own. Simply to show yous the basics of how they work, I'll choose a simple 1, like Dual Axis. Dual Centrality is a combination of the Vertical and Horizontal modes listed above information technology:

Selecting one of the 10 Paint Symmetry options.
The symmetry path
Choosing an option from the bill of fare adds a bluish symmetry path to the document. In this case, information technology's a Dual Axis symmetry path, dividing the canvas vertically and horizontally into 4 equal sections:

A symmetry path appears.
Step 5: Resize and take the path
Before you lot can paint with a symmetry path, Photoshop outset places a Transform box around the path so you can scale and resize information technology if needed. But notation that the path is for visual reference only. Symmetry paths always affect the entire canvas regardless of the path's actual size. Since painting outside the path purlieus has the aforementioned outcome equally painting inside information technology, at that place's actually null to exist gained by resizing symmetry paths. So in most cases, you won't need to resize it.
Nevertheless, if you lot do want to resize the path, simply drag any of the transform handles to scale the path proportionally. To scale the path from its center, press and concord Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) equally y'all drag a handle. You can also move the path to a different location in the document past clicking and dragging inside the Transform box:

Scaling the symmetry path by dragging a corner handle.
Related: Free Transform's new features and changes in CC 2019
To accept the path (even if you lot did not resize it) and go out out of the Transform command, click the checkmark in the Options Bar, or press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) on your keyboard:

Clicking the checkmark to commit the path.
Footstep 6: Paint in one of the sections to create symmetry
Then, with the symmetry path in place, just pigment inside one of the sections. Photoshop will automatically re-create and mirror your brush stroke in the other sections, creating a symmetrical design:

Painting a single brush stroke creates multiple, mirrored strokes.
The more than castor strokes y'all pigment, the more complex the design becomes. Even with limited painting skills, Photoshop makes it piece of cake to come up up with something interesting:

Painting more brush strokes adds to the symmetrical design.
How to hide the symmetry path
To view your artwork without the blueish symmetry path getting in the way, hibernate the path by clicking the Paint Symmetry icon (the butterfly) in the Options Bar and choosing Hibernate Symmetry:

Choosing Hide Symmetry from the Pigment Symmetry options.
Since the path is merely for visual reference, y'all tin keep painting and adding to the pattern even with the path hidden:

Hiding the path still lets you lot paint symmetrically.
How to bear witness the symmetry path
To show the path once more, click the butterfly icon in the Options Bar and choose Show Symmetry:

Choosing Show Symmetry from the Paint Symmetry options.
And now the path is once over again visible:

Is it art? Probably not, but information technology was certainly piece of cake.
Viewing the symmetry path in the Paths panel
Like regular paths in Photoshop, symmetry paths appear in the Paths panel. The path is named based on its symmetry mode (in this case, "Dual Axis Symmetry 1"). And the butterfly icon in the lower correct of the thumbnail tells us not merely that it's a symmetry path, but that it'due south currently active. You can have multiple symmetry paths in the same document (as nosotros'll see in a moment), but just one can exist agile at a time:

Symmetry paths can exist viewed and selected in the Paths panel.
The new Radial and Mandala symmetry options
New in Photoshop CC 2019 are two new Pigment Symmetry options, Radial and Mandala. Permit'due south run across how they piece of work.
How to use the Radial symmetry selection
The Radial symmetry mode divides the canvas into diagonal segments, or "slices" (think pizza slices). Painting in ane slice mirrors your brush strokes in the others.
Footstep one: Cull Radial from the Path Symmetry options
Click the butterfly icon in the Options Bar and choose Radial from the list:

Choosing Radial from the Paint Symmetry options.
Pace two: Set the number of segments
And so choose the number of path segments (slices) you need, from 2 to 12. I'll go with v:

Choosing the number of segments to divide the canvas into.
Stride 3: Paint in one of the segments
And then simply paint in ane of the segments. Photoshop will mirror your brush stroke in the other segments, creating a radial pattern:

Creating a radial symmetry blueprint.
How to use the Mandala symmetry pick
Similar Radial, the Mandala symmetry way also divides the canvass into diagonal segments. The departure between Radial and Mandala is that, along with mirroring your brush stroke in the other segments, Mandala also mirrors the stroke in the same segment. This adds twice every bit many brush strokes as Radial, allowing y'all to create highly circuitous symmetrical patterns with very little time and endeavour.
Step 1: Choose Mandala from the Path Symmetry options
Click the butterfly icon in the Options Bar and choose Mandala from the list:

Choosing Mandala from the Paint Symmetry options.
Footstep 2: Set the number of segments
Then, just similar with Radial, choose the number of path segments you need. While Radial lets you choose up to 12 segments, Mandala is limited to 10. I'll go with viii:

Choosing the number of segments.
Step 3: Pigment in i of the segments
And so, just like before, paint in one of the segments. Photoshop volition mirror your brush stroke in the aforementioned segment you paint in, and it will mirror both castor strokes in the other segments. This complex pattern took me only a couple of minutes:

Mandala is the most impressive (and fun) of Photoshop's Pigment Symmetry options.
How to disengage brush strokes when you make a error
Creating symmetrical designs in Photoshop is fun and easy, just can besides involve a lot of trial and mistake. If yous don't like the brush stroke you just painted, you tin can undo it from your keyboard by pressing Ctrl+Z (Win) / Command+Z (Mac). Continue pressing the shortcut to undo multiple brush strokes. To redo brush strokes, printing Shift+Ctrl+Z (Win) / Shift+Command+Z (Mac).
How to switch between symmetry paths
Photoshop lets us add together multiple symmetry paths to the same document, and each i you add appears in the Paths panel. The butterfly icon in the bottom correct of a thumbnail indicates the currently-active symmetry path. Only ane path can be active at a time. In this case, my Mandala path is active:

The butterfly icon shows the active path.
To switch to 1 of the other paths in the list, right-click (Win) / Control-click (Mac) on the path y'all demand:

Correct-clicking (Win) / Control-clicking (Mac) on the Radial symmetry path.
And so choose Brand Symmetry Path from the menu:

Choosing the "Make Symmetry Path" command.
This deactivates the previous path and activates the new one so you can pigment with it in the certificate:

The Radial Symmetry path is now active.
The Terminal Used Symmetry option
You can likewise switch from your electric current symmetry path to your previously-used path by clicking the butterfly icon in the Options Bar and choosing Final Used Symmetry:

The Radial Symmetry path is now agile.
How to plow Paint Symmetry off
To turn Paint Symmetry off and go along painting without the symmetry consequence, click the butterfly icon in the Options Bar and choose Symmetry Off:

Choosing "Symmetry Off" from the menu.
How to use Paint Symmetry with a layer mask
Now that we've learned the basics of how Paint Symmetry works, let'south look at how we can employ a symmetry path with a layer mask to create something even more interesting.
In this certificate, I have a radial gradient on the Background layer:

A radial spectrum gradient.
And if nosotros wait in the Layers panel, we see that I also have a solid black layer sitting in a higher place the gradient. I'll plough the acme layer on past clicking its visibility icon:

Turning the top layer on in the document.
And at present the certificate is filled with black, blocking the gradient from view:

The top layer is now hiding the slope.
Step 1: Add together a layer mask
With the top layer selected, I'll add together a layer mask by clicking the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Clicking the Add Layer Mask icon.
A layer mask thumbnail appears on the acme layer:

The layer mask thumbnail.
Step two: Select the Brush Tool
I'll select the Brush Tool from the Toolbar:

Selecting the Brush Tool.
Footstep 3: Set the Foreground color to black
And since I want to hide the top layer in the areas where the symmetry effect appears, I'll make certain my Foreground colour (the brush color) is set to black:

Setting the brush color to black.
Stride 4: Choose a Paint Symmetry selection
I'll choose Mandala from the Pigment Symmetry options in the Options Bar:

Choosing a symmetry option.
And Photoshop adds a Mandala symmetry path to the document. To take it, I'll press Enter (Win) / Render (Mac) on my keyboard:

The symmetry path is added to the document.
Step 5: Paint a symmetrical design on the layer mask
Then, to hide the electric current layer and reveal the layer below it, simply paint on the layer mask. Every bit the symmetry event expands, more and more of the layer below is revealed. In this case, the colors from my gradient are showing through the castor strokes:

Painting with a symmetry path on the layer mask to reveal the image below.
I'll continue painting to add more castor strokes to the Mandala event. And here is my final, colorful result:

The concluding Mandala design.
And at that place we have it! That's how to use Paint Symmetry in Photoshop CC 2019! Check out our Photoshop Basics department for more than tutorials! And don' forget, all of our tutorials are at present bachelor to download as PDFs!
Other Stuff
© 2022 Photoshop Essentials.com.
For inspiration, not duplication.
Site blueprint by Steve Patterson.
Photoshop is a trademark of Adobe Systems Inc.
Source: https://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/how-to-use-paint-symmetry-in-photoshop-cc-2019/
إرسال تعليق for "How to Make Paint Brushes New Again"