Brushfactory › Fidelity report
How conversion fidelity is measured
A converted brush must behave like the original. This page outlines how conversions are tested, verified, and where the format limits lie.
The method
- Verified against real apps. Tests are run against brushes exported directly from Photoshop, Procreate, and Clip Studio Paint. The internal structure of each format is verified against real files.
- Every format to every format matrix. Automated tests convert through all 25 direction pairs and read each result back through the real codecs. We check 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. It flags any setting drifting more than two percent from the source.
- Transparent conversion notes. If a target app lacks a specific feature, the result screen names anything that had to be adjusted. Every unsupported setting is explicitly named.
What each format contributes and receives
| Format | Read (what's captured) | Write (what's produced) |
|---|---|---|
| Photoshop (.abr) | Brush tips, grain with its blend mode and depth, spacing, scatter, and the full pressure dynamics with their curves and minimum floors. | Dynamics are written as native Photoshop controls. Grain becomes a Photoshop texture with the closest blend mode, verified against real commercial .abr files. |
| Procreate (.brush / .brushset) | Brush tips and grain, stroke path settings, grain behavior, and Apple Pencil pressure and tilt dynamics. | The output is a modern Procreate brush archive. Brushes are rebuilt and verified against Procreate's native engine. Single brushes export as .brush, and multi-brush files export as .brushset. |
| Clip Studio Paint (.sut) | Brush engine settings, pressure and tilt response curves with their minimums, texture settings, and linked materials. | Grain textures larger than 1024x1024 are resampled to fit. |
| Krita (.kpp) | The full preset. This includes the brush tip, texture with scale and strength, spacing, and pressure curves per parameter. | The brush tip embeds in the preset, and texture settings map onto Krita's 0 to 200 percent texture scale. Brushes that mix color map to Krita's Color Smudge engine behavior where possible. |
| GIMP (.gbr / .gih / .vbr) | Brush tips with their size and spacing from .gbr and .gih files (the first frame of an animated brush), plus the full parametric recipe of a .vbr file: radius, hardness, aspect ratio and angle. | Bitmap tips are written as native .gbr brushes at their intended size. Computed round and square tips become .vbr files so hardness, roundness, and angle stay adjustable. Pressure, tilt, and jitter dynamics travel as a matching Paint Dynamics preset written beside the brush. Grain has no equivalent in GIMP, and the result screen names anything that had to be adjusted. |
| MediBang (.png) | Nothing to read. MediBang has no brush file format. | MediBang has no brush file format. The download is the brush tip sized for MediBang's brush editor plus a settings sheet naming the values to enter: Width, Brush Spacing, Min Width. Pressure size carries as Min Width. Other pen dynamics and grain do not transfer, and the result screen names anything that had to be adjusted. |
Current support status & known limitations
Conversion fidelity depends on the specific features a brush uses. This list details current format support and is updated as improvements are released.
| 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 color-mixing behavior is approximated for some brush types. |
| GIMP .gbr/.gih/.vbr | Solid | Pen dynamics arrive as a separate Paint Dynamics preset (.gdyn) beside the brush, because that is where GIMP stores them: drop it into GIMP's dynamics folder and pick it under Tool Options. Grain has no equivalent in a GIMP brush. Animated .gih brushes carry their first frame only. |
| MediBang .png + settings | Tip + settings | MediBang has no brush file format, so the download is the tip image plus a settings sheet to enter in its brush editor. Pressure size carries as Min Width. Other pen dynamics and grain do not. |
When you convert a file, each format chip displays which of that file's features were adjusted.
Known format limitations
Procreate → Clip Studio PaintProcreate wet media behavior has no direct Clip Studio equivalent. Those brushes convert with their shape, grain, and pressure response intact. The wetness is left to Clip Studio's own engine.
Clip Studio Paint → ProcreateClip Studio color mixing brushes convert with shape, grain, and dynamics intact. Procreate's smudge and wet behavior is set to the closest available response.
Photoshop → ProcreatePhotoshop dual brushes and some scatter jitter combinations do not exist in Procreate. The converter keeps the primary tip, and the result screen names anything that had to be adjusted.
Procreate → PhotoshopProcreate grain writes back to .abr using Photoshop's texture system. Blend modes map to the nearest Photoshop equivalent, and the result screen names any substitution.
Clip Studio Paint texture limits
Grain textures are carried at up to 1024x1024 pixels, and larger ones are
resampled to fit.
Procedural preview vs. real engine
Stroke previews are approximate. Downloaded brushes run natively in your
target app's engine. Always test brushes on a real canvas.
Every direction Brushfactory converts
Each pair has its own page with the settings that carry over in that direction.