Once the brush is reduced to the minimum size, it will remain at that size for as long as you continue dragging out the stroke. If you don't want the brush size to fade out completely, you can use the Minimum Diameter option to set a limit for how small the brush can get.

Larger values make the individual stamps more obvious and result in a more ridged appearance. A smaller Spacing value will give you a smoother looking stroke. The default number of steps is 25:Ī smaller number of steps the brush size will fade out faster.įor best results when using Fade to control the size of the brush, you'll usually need to adjust the Spacing option as well to fine-tune the length and smoothness of the brush stroke. The Fade option gradually makes each new stamp smaller than the previous one until the brush is no longer visible.Įxactly how long it takes for the brush stroke to fade out completely is determined by the number of steps we set for it in the input box to the right of the Control option.

What Photoshop does is it 'stamps' a series of brush tips along the path of your brush as you drag it inside the document. If you recall from our Create Your Own Custom Photoshop Brushes tutorial, if we were painting on paper with a real brush, the brush would lay down a continuous coat of paint on the paper, but that's not how Photoshop works. Fade gradually reduces the size of the brush as you drag out a stroke.

In fact, it works exactly the same way whether you're using a pen tablet or not. The Fade option is the only choice we have for dynamically controlling the thickness of the brush that does not require a pen tablet.

Click on the drop-down list to view all the choices for controlling the size of the brush.

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