Addressing Painter Brush xml Errors

Have you ever downloaded some great looking custom brushes, only to find that when you try to load them, you are presented with a succession of error dialogues, something like this;

To arrive at this example, I had attempted to load a custom variant originally created in Painter IX, in Painter 8. The problem is that although generally, post Painter 6 variant xml files are forward compatible, they do not possess backward compatibility

In this tutorial, we shall see that it is possible, in most cases, to edit the xml files in order to re-establish compatibility with an earlier (post Painter 6) version.

The first step is to determine which version the variant xml file was created in before we load it in Painter, in order to give us a starting point. A brush variant file created in a Painter version later than the one you are using will require editing. If you have downloaded a complete library of brushes, then it is reasonably safe to assume that all custom variants within that library have been created in the same version. So, let's go ahead and open one of these xml files in a suitable text editor (say, NotePad for Windows or TextEdit for Mac);

The second line of the xml file tells us which Painter version it was created in (Painter 9 in this example).

In the above case, if the Painter version you are using is 9(IX) or 9.5, you should be safe to load, otherwise it's time to dust down your text editor.

At this stage, I'd also like to point out that there is no guarantee that the brush variant characteristics obtained in the original Painter version, will exactly match those in a different version. There is also a noticeable speed improvement with the Painter IX/9.5 brush engines. In the case of Painter IX's Artists' Oils for example, there is no "DigitalOilTool" dab-type available in earlier editions (check for this on line 9 of the xml file). Attempting to backward convert a Painter IX custom Artists' Oils variant would be a non-starter.

The majority of custom brush variants will readily convert however, so let's get started. I have compiled the following version specific tutorials for your convenience;

Conversion Tutorial P9>P8: to convert a Painter IX variant for use in Painter 8.

Conversion Tutorial P9>P7: to convert a Painter IX variant for use in Painter 7.

Conversion Tutorial P8>P7: to convert a Painter 8 variant for use in Painter 7.

Sandman's Note;

Don't be put off by the technical look of the xml files, at the end of the day, they are just a list of words and numbers. Editing is quick and simple, especially when you realise that the only alternative is to manually input each setting from palette screen-shots or recipe lists (a very laborious task which is still necessary for backward conversions to Painter 6; a non-xml brush library format).

Sorry to drag you kicking and screaming into the realms of geekdom, but a very quick way to determine which of your downloaded variants require conversion is to use a search utility such as SpeedSearch X (for Mac OSX). Below, I am demonstrating a Painter 7 user wishing to find all Painter 8 and Painter 9 brush xml file within a folder. I have used the regular expression Painter 8|Painter 9 in the search field, as can be seen in the screen-shot below. Selecting a relevant file in the results window, then clicking on the folder icon button, takes me directly to the variant file in the finder.

A Painter 8 user would uncheck the Regular Expression box and just type Painter 9 in the search field (note the misleading text to the right of the file button, reporting this to be a Painter 7 file). I suspect there must be similar search utilities for Windows users (if you know of one, please e-mail me and I'll include a link).