Converting a Painter 8 Brush File for use in Painter 7
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. Please bear in mind though, 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 8 (on the left) and Painter 7 (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 8 file in order to re-establish compatibility with Painter 7. Please use the frame scrollbar to view the entire xml document.
Step by Step Procedure (P8>P7).
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. Finally delete the CategoryData.xml file in each folder of variants to be converted.
The c_ prefixed files can be deleted automatically using dddo's excellent drag and drop utility (versions for Mac and PC) available from here (also works with Painter IX).
2. Open a Painter 8 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 8 Brush Definition --> to read <!-- Painter 7.0 Brush Definition --> and version-number="8" to version-number="7"
4. Add a new line, direction="0.0" after the line min-advance="" ("1.0" in this case).
5. Delete lines below volume-animator="" ("None" in this example) commencing with the line direction-angle="" ("0.0" in the above) and ending with the line direction-volume="" ("0.0" in this example).
6. Close up any blank lines and save the edited document.
Sandman's Note;
When editing, make sure that the text does not line wrap. Each string must remain on it's own line.