Brushfactory › Fidelity report
How “feels the same” is measured
A converted brush is only useful if it behaves like the original. Brushfactory treats that as an engineering requirement with a test suite, not a marketing line. This page explains exactly how conversions are verified and where the honest limits are.
The method
- Ground truth from real apps. The regression suite runs against brushes exported by the actual applications — a commercial Photoshop charcoal .abr, a modern Procreate .brush archive, real Clip Studio .sut exports — not synthetic approximations. The inner structure of each format — Procreate's archive keys, Clip Studio's pressure-curve records, Photoshop's image encoding — is checked against those files.
- Every-format-to-every-format matrix. Automated tests convert through all 12 direction pairs and read each result back through the real codecs, checking that geometry, spacing, opacity, texture settings and pressure dynamics survive the trip.
- Visual drift checks. A cohesion harness renders the same test stroke from the source brush and every converted copy with one renderer, and flags any setting drifting more than 2% from the source.
- Honest reporting in the product. When a target app lacks a feature, the conversion result screen says exactly what was adjusted — per brush. Nothing is silently dropped.
What each format contributes and receives
| Format | Read (what's captured) | Write (what's produced) |
|---|---|---|
| Photoshop (.abr) | Tip imagery, texture/grain with its blend mode and depth, spacing, scatter, and the full pressure dynamics (size, opacity, flow) with their curves and minimum floors. | Dynamics are written as native Photoshop preset controls (size/opacity/flow jitter with pressure control and minimum sliders), and grain becomes a Photoshop texture with the closest blend mode — verified against real commercial .abr files, including hard-mix texture capture. |
| Procreate (.brush / .brushset) | Shape and grain images, stroke path settings (spacing, jitter), grain behaviour, and Apple Pencil pressure/tilt dynamics. | The output is a modern Procreate brush archive. Real Procreate brushes are rebuilt and re-read in an automated test suite, checking every setting survives the trip. Single brushes export as .brush, multi-brush files as .brushset. |
| Clip Studio Paint (.sut) | Brush-engine settings, pressure/tilt/speed response curves with their minimums, texture settings (scale, blend mode), and linked materials. | Tip and grain images are available as an optional extra download, in case you ever want to register them by hand (guide linked below). Grain textures larger than 1024×1024 are resampled to fit. |
| Krita (.kpp) | The full preset: tip image, texture with scale and strength, spacing, and pressure curves per parameter. | The tip is embedded directly in the preset and texture settings map onto Krita's 0–200% texture scale exactly. Brushes that mix colour map to Krita's Color Smudge engine behaviour where possible. |
Current support status & known limitations
The converter chips on the site link here. Status words below are deliberate — a global percentage would be wrong for almost every individual brush, because fidelity depends on which features a brush uses. This list is updated as fixes ship.
| Format | Status | Known gaps right now |
|---|---|---|
| Procreate .brush/.brushset | Full support | Settings with no direct Procreate control are left out and named per brush in the conversion notes. One cosmetic gap: Procreate's spacing slider can show a different percentage than the source app, while the stroke itself matches. |
| Photoshop .abr | Solid | Dual-brush setups are simplified to the primary tip; a small number of texture blend modes map to the nearest Photoshop equivalent rather than exactly. |
| Krita .kpp | Solid | Tilt and speed dynamics map partially — Krita expresses some curves differently than the source apps. |
| Clip Studio Paint .sut | Full support | Grain textures larger than 1024×1024 are resampled to fit, and colour-mixing behaviour is approximated for some brush types. |
After you drop a file into the converter, each format chip shows exactly which of that file's features would be adjusted — a per-brush preflight, not a guess.
Known limits — the honest part
Procreate → Clip Studio PaintProcreate wet-media behaviour has no direct Clip Studio equivalent; those brushes convert with their shape, grain and pressure response intact and the wetness left to CSP's own engine.
Clip Studio Paint → ProcreateClip Studio colour-mixing brushes convert with shape, grain and dynamics intact; Procreate's smudge/wet behaviour is set to the closest available response.
Photoshop → ProcreatePhotoshop dual-brush and some scatter-jitter combinations don't exist in Procreate; the converter keeps the primary tip and tells you exactly what was adjusted.
Procreate → PhotoshopProcreate grain write-back to .abr uses Photoshop's texture system; blend modes map to the nearest Photoshop equivalent and the notes list any substitution.
Clip Studio custom tip/grain images
Tips and grains are now embedded in the .sut itself and draw straight
away — no registration step. The download still includes spare PNG
copies of both (with a
guide) in case you
ever want to register them as materials by hand, for example to reuse a
grain as a paper texture in other tools. Grain textures are carried at
up to 1024×1024; larger ones are resampled to fit.
Procedural preview vs. real engine
Stroke previews on the site are approximate. The downloaded brush is
built at full quality with native settings and runs in your app's own
engine — always judge feel on a real canvas.
Every direction Brushfactory converts
Each pair has its own page with the settings that carry over in that direction.
| From \ To | Photoshop | Procreate | Clip Studio Paint | Krita |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photoshop | — | Photoshop → Procreate | Photoshop → Clip Studio Paint | Photoshop → Krita |
| Procreate | Procreate → Photoshop | — | Procreate → Clip Studio Paint | Procreate → Krita |
| Clip Studio Paint | Clip Studio Paint → Photoshop | Clip Studio Paint → Procreate | — | Clip Studio Paint → Krita |
| Krita | Krita → Photoshop | Krita → Procreate | Krita → Clip Studio Paint | — |