Due to additional features added to the Corel Painter brush engine, the associated brush xml files are not compatible with previous versions of Painter. However, it is possible to edit these files to make them compatible.
Note however that the Artists' Oils category for example, will still be unavailable to pre-Painter IX users. Therefore, please bear in mind that the edited files are not guaranteed to produce exactly the same brush characteristics when used with earlier versions.
The frame below highlights the xml file differences for the same variant created in Painter IX (on the left) and Painter 8 (on the right). The lines are shown left justified for display purposes. Below this table are step by step instructions for editing the original Painter IX file in order to re-establish compatibility with Painter 8. Please use the frame scrollbar to view the entire xml document.
Step by Step Procedure (P9>P8).
1. If you have downloaded a brush library, ensure that no cached 'c_' prefixed files exist in any of the brush category folders you wish to convert. At the same time, also delete superfluous files such as those with a '.nib' or '.stk' extension. Finally delete the CategoryData.xml file in each folder of variants to be converted.
With the exception of the CategoryData.xml file, all the above mentioned files can be deleted automatically using dddo's excellent utility (versions for Mac and PC) available from here (also works with Painter IX).
2. Open a Painter IX brush xml file to be converted in a suitable text editor (e.g NotePad for Windows or TextEdit for Mac).
3. With reference to the above example, edit the lines <!-- Painter 9 Brush Definition --> to read <!-- Painter 8 Brush Definition -->
4. Remove the line oil-profile="" ("SoftRound" in the above example).
5. Add a > symbol at the end of the line diffuse-accurate="" ("True" in this example).
6. Delete lines below diffuse-accurate="" commencing with the line delayed-diffuse="" ("True" in the above) and ending with the line oil-dirty-mode="" ("False" in this example).
7. Close up any blank lines and save the edited document.
Sandman's Note;
Painter IX saw the introduction of Rotation as an Expression option, in order to take advantage of Wacom's 6D Art Pen. For use with earlier versions of Painter, you will need to replace any occurrence of the word Rotation in the xml file with something like Tilt or Bearing. You can either search for this manually, or do a Find and Replace All in your text editor.
When editing, make sure that the text does not line wrap. Each string must remain on it's own line.