Brushes

[karelowe]

Hi again. I was wondering if there was a way to print the brushes in a contact sheet so that you can see what they are. I have put all my brushes in a folder (ease of loading) but since you can't see what they are, I feel I don't use them like I should or could. I still do a contact sheet print of lots of things and would like to do the same with the brushes. The brushes box in Elements doesn't really look like what most of them really are. Thanks....

[troush]

There is something called the ABR Brush Viewer that I think can display brushes and do contact sheets like you want. I'm not sure that it is available for Vista, though.

-Trish

[dmrdm]

Well, I don't print any views because I have so many (and I'm always adding more!) it wouldn't go me any good, so I've never paid attention to which ones allow you to print or not. I try to be as paperless as possible.

I used to use the mentioned ABR viewer,then LinoTypeFont Explorer and now I am using a program I bought a couple of weeks ago (while it was on sale) called Preset Viewer (by Tumasoft). Preset Viewer allows me to not only view my brushes, but also my patterns, styles, shapes & swatches. I purchased it so I could see my presets (styles, patterns, shapes & swatches) because it's much easier viewing them then having to load them and see what they look like. I don't believe you and print with it though either.

Assume someone will chime in that might know of a program where you can print.

[mom2bandc]

I put all of my brushes in a folder and then into subfolders that indicated what types of brushes they were (ie. alphas, animals, borders, grunge, etc.) then in a .psd document I typed the name of the sub folder at the top and listed the brush name on the left with all of the included brushes stamped next to the name. It takes a long time but I too wasn't using my brushes like I thought I should. I also saved the psd file in the sub folder of the brushes so that I can add to it as I add brushes to that category.
It may not be the most efficient way to do it but it works for me!

[karelowe]

Thanks for all of the hints....I am using XP, not Vista so may check out some of the systems above. Where do you even go to find them? Google? A couple of them sound like possibilities, depending upon cost, etc....Thanks again. Karen

[karelowe]

Ijust went out on the Internet and found a site, Scrapbook Elements, that has a PDF tutorial with the sites for downloading, etc. It states that one can print from that program as well. It is a free download. Imagine I will try it over the next couple of days. Will let you know how it work. K

[karelowe]

Well, I have downloaded what it told me to, but PSE tells me it cannot open the file. It is a .rar file. Does anyone know what that means or why I can't open it? I downloaded abrviewer.sourceforge.net and theMicrosoft.NET Framework Version 1.1 which it said I needed....It still tells me it cannot open the file. I feel lost. Any input? Thanks. Karen

[Sharpli]

A .rar is a version of zipped files. You need a rar opener to uncompress it. I use a free program called UnzipThemAll which handles rar as well as zip files.

[dmrdm]

Another unzipper I have besides Unzip Them All is 7-ZIP (free of course).

[karelowe]

I have downloaded Unzipthemall. I put it on my desktop.....Now, my questions is: how do I get the ABR Viewer upzipped (which is also on my desktop? When I click on the ABR viewer, it goes to PSE 7 and Elements opens, but then it says can't open the file because it is the wrong kind. I am struggling with how to get it unzipped. Sometimes I feel smart and then there are times like these that I feel I don't have a clue....Maybe I have put these files in the wrong location. I really need color crayons on this one. Thanks. Karen

[troush]

Can you drag the ABR viewer file over to Unzipthemall?

-Trish

[Sharpli]

In XP, if you open Windows Explorer, click on the desktop, and then right click on your zipped file, it will give you an option to Extract All. I don't know if it's the same in Vista or not.

[karelowe]

Wow, what an afternon, but I got it and my brushes are printed on a thumbnail sheet. It took me quite a while to figure out the unzipthem all system since there aren't any instructions.....I did end up dragging my file to a download box (which I clicked on but didn't know what it meant) and it unzipped them before I knew what I was doing. Also took a little while to figure out the ABR Viewer, but I did get it accomplished. Wish there were a few more instructions to some of these computer things. Anyway, thanks much to all of you that helped me get through this. I do feel somewhat smarter now. Thanks again. Karen:)

[croppycatter]

let us know how you like that program. I looked at it but wanted to wait to see what you thought of it.

[dmrdm]

As you are using XP, just go to the start icon, right click on it, go to EXPLORE, find your file. When you find your file, right click on it, and choose, extract all and follow the extraction wizzard.

Since you are on XP, if you go to the Help and Support Center (start icon, HELP and Supoort) and type in ZIPPED FILES, you'll find mulitple topis, such as Open A Zipped Compressed Folder, Extract files from a zipped compressed folder, create a...., delete a....etc. This might be of value for you, since if you will be digital scrapbooking, everything you download almost will be compressed.

Personally, I don't save zipped files to my desktop, usually only have shortcuts and tiny small files that are of a temporary nature. I have a folder which I have named downloads where I place the files incase I need to come back to them at a later date.

When a feel like you "don't have a clue".... I just google if you need to find an answer. You'll find everything you need to know, plus a whole lot more. I also looked at a few of the sites that had unzipthemall....several of them include some good instructions on how to unzip and use it which might be of benefit to you.

Good luck.

[karelowe]

I know how to unzip files from our XP WINZIP, but the problem came about when I needed to unzip a .RAR file. WINZIP doesn't open those files. I chose UNZIPTHEMALL because it was free. WINRAR was good for 40 days I think, and then they wanted money....

So far, ABR Viewer is what I wanted. It shows all of my brushes (I didn't know I had so many) I was able to print off thumnails to a contact page. You can look at just sets, or everything. Probably the only thing I felt it was lacking was instructions on how to use it. I did (after the fact) see a few instructions on the PDF copy from Scrapbook-Elements) but they were so small, I didn't realize that is what they were at the time.

I still may google to see if I can find better instructions on how to use the UNZIPTHEM ALL system (you need to use the 'download' box). At least that is how I got it....They may be other ways to depending on your files. And better instructions for the ABR Viewer, in case it does more than I know at this point. Right now, I am very satisfied with this 'free' program. Let me know if you have any other questions. Karen

[dmrdm]

Great!! So glad you got everything to work okay. Oh yes, UNZIPTHEMALL is a great free program, have used it for years and also 7-ZIP. I remember the first time I bumped into a RAR a few years back, I didn't know what the heck it was until I googled it. Everyday is a learning experience.

Glad you found what you were looking for with ABR viewer and were able to print as you hoped to do!

Yes brushes (and fonts and styles and patterns :-) ) do add up. There are so many wonderful free ones out there, plus if you get into making your own the count goes even higher. Not including my installed ones, looks like I have 1,040 sets. LOVE EM!!!

Have fun scrapping!

[Sharpli]

Here's how I use UnzipThemAll.

When you click on the icon, you simply get the title screen. Click on that and you'll get a window showing files (similar to Windows Explorer). Find the folder where you have your files to unzip. Double click that folder and you'll see all of your zipped files in the bottom portion of the unzip window and they should be highlighted. If they aren't, highlight them all and click start. They'll unzip to the same folder.

When you're searching for your files, Documents and Settings is the location of My Doccuments, etc. In XP, that is. I don't know about Vista. I download files to a monthly folder, so I want to find my "2009 - 1" folder. When I have that highlighted, I right click and "set as startup directory" and that saves me hunting for my downloads.

Then I use Windows Explorer to check and arrange the unzipped files - and then delete the zipped ones.