Photoshop brushes in After Effects

Posted on 09. May, 2008 by Jerzy Drozda Jr in Blog

I’ve recently figured out a workaround to a problem that was bugging AE users since the beginning of time – how do one import Photoshop brushes into AE? Is it even possible? The answer is simple. No. It didn’t bother me that much until I wanted to use one of my brushes in AE.

Good news is that I found a solution to this problem. Not very elegant so you don’t want to overuse it, but it works. As always it involves cheating, faking, tricking AE into doing something that it’s not designed to do, and of course some nasty expressions, but finally you end up with what you’ve always wanted – your own Photoshop brush in AE. If you’re even going to use it once I think it’s still worth the effort.

The solution has so many aspects that I could probably do a 2 hour video and still not cover everything in it. But don’t worry. I’ll do my best to keep it as short and simple as possible, and while following my rule that “if something is worth doing once than it is also worth building a tool to do it for you”, maybe I’ll even create some CustomEffect to simulate Photoshop brush engine. Wouldn’t that be cool?

I still need to work on this solution, figure out what to cover in the tutorial and what I can skip, what to include in the CE BrushEngine and what not to include. It is impossible and very unpractical to cover all the possibilities this technique gives, mostly because it would create a lot of confusion and simply because of the way AE works.

Anyway I hope I’ll figure this out soon so I could provide you with a brand new tutorial and a brand new CustomEffect as well that you will hopefully find useful.

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31 Responses to “Photoshop brushes in After Effects”

  1. Mark

    09. May, 2008

    WOW my Genius-M, Just WOW. U R A REAL GENIUS.

    Cheers, Mark

    Reply to this comment
  2. UmairVFX

    10. May, 2008

    Hey Georage this could being new revolution in AFTER EFFECTS World and AE user’s life….

    could we see its sample in term of visual references…???

    Regards,
    UmairVFX

    your BIG FAN ;)

    Reply to this comment
  3. Karim Dehbi

    10. May, 2008

    you’re crazy man doing all these stuff for free (though if it was paid I wouldn’t have acces to it im just a student)
    this is a great fresh idea :)
    I’m highly anticipating this :D

    Reply to this comment
  4. Janus

    27. May, 2008

    Sounds very exciting, I am curious to see how it works.

    Go Maltaannon, GO!

    Reply to this comment
  5. LifeType

    28. May, 2008

    maltannon doesnt get as much credit as he should ..i cant wait till i get an oppurtunity to hire you.. ima big smoker /drinker my self . so i think we would get along hahah thx again bro

    Reply to this comment
  6. Maltaannon

    28. May, 2008

    Hehehe! Well I’m not much of a drinker, but I would surely be nice to meet all of you guys one day. And if you’re looking for a chance to hire me, theres nothing stopping you. Call me on the hotline or drop me an email. Thanks again!

    Reply to this comment
  7. illd

    16. Aug, 2008

    Hey guys,

    right now, I need to have those PS-brushes in AE so badly…
    Any hints on how to do that?

    Reply to this comment
  8. Maltaannon

    16. Aug, 2008

    Why don’t you call me up on my hotline? I’ll explain it to you. Cheers.

    Reply to this comment
  9. createmo

    02. Nov, 2008

    Thank you for your website ;)
    I made on photoshop backgrounds for myspace,youtube and ect..
    my backgrounds:http://tinyurl.com/5assk2
    Hope you had a good day and thank you again!

    Reply to this comment
  10. Lisa Marie Coppoletta

    25. Dec, 2008

    how do we do this? pleeaassse

    Reply to this comment
  11. Maltaannon

    26. Dec, 2008

    Partial solution to this is in MILG5 training. Make sure to check it out. By doing that you support me and Motionworks helping us help you by providing new free content.

    Reply to this comment
  12. Lekan onilede

    21. Feb, 2009

    plssssssss, i cant find this tutorial,photoshop brushes in after effects can somebod direct me to the right place. I click but can’t see anything order than the written words above. somebody help i need this for an assignment.

    Reply to this comment
  13. ghasem

    15. Sep, 2009

    i think you were unable to that. this post is more than a year old
    ;-)

    Reply to this comment
  14. Jerzy Drozda Jr

    15. Sep, 2009

    It was just a concept. It still is. Maybe one day I’ll look into it and finally record the tutorial.

    Reply to this comment
  15. nkurence

    23. Sep, 2009

    A lotech solution would be to enable a screen recorder and draw your stuff in PS realtime — just do it in black and white and you’ll have some funky matte material in no time ;)

    Reply to this comment
  16. bisi

    11. Feb, 2010

    hello
    Its som new with your concept ? to how to do it ?
    thanks

    Reply to this comment
  17. ZEF

    19. May, 2010

    It is fantastic… U know wa? U’re a genius.
    It is great to hear things lik that.

    A huge BIGUP 4 u :)

    Reply to this comment
  18. common sence

    05. Jun, 2010

    just post the dam tutorial, why blog about it if you dont have nothing to show for it
    do you know how many people come to this link thinking you have a tutorial up?….just post it fuck!

    Reply to this comment
  19. Matias

    04. Jul, 2010

    It would be wonderfull, but… im still waiting, may 9 2008, 2 years, can you do it or you just fall into a stuck problem? it usually happend so dont get frustrated.
    If you did post your procedure and maybe someone can figure it out, always mentioning the source of the idea @maltaannon.com!!
    Txs and keep up the good work

    Reply to this comment
  20. Joel

    28. Oct, 2010

    I’m a little confused by the post. You just posted it to make fun of us all, right? Us all wanting free stuff, using a tool only once, a 2 hour tutorial, haha funny joke?

    OMIGoooD Plzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I ned this totrial noww! PLZ POST IT NOW!!

    Wouldn’t it be natural for After Effects to have its limitations, just like any program?

    Reply to this comment
  21. joanne

    12. Nov, 2010

    I am curious if you have this tutorial available yet,
    I REALLY, REALLY, need to be able to do this!
    Thanks, please let me know
    J

    Reply to this comment
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