Anastasiy releases MagicSquire 6.0
Digital painting tools developer Anastasiy Safari has released MagicSquire 6.0, the latest version of his Photoshop brush organisation plugin.
The update adds a new transparent HUD, a new option to randomise brush settings for each paint stroke, the option to use preview .abr files before loading, and custom thumbnail images for brushes.
Create custom sub-palettes for your Photoshop brushes, with quick visual previews
First released in 2016, MagicSquire enables concept designers, illustrators and anyone else working with large numbers of custom Photoshop brushes to organise them in colour-coded sub-palettes.
The plugin automatically generates thumbnail images for each brush, with a wider choice of stroke types than Photoshop itself, helping to differentiate them visually.
It also works with custom shapes and tool presets, and includes a ‘Magic Eraser’ feature to turn any tool preset into a custom eraser brush.
Its users include some well-known concept artists, like Marc Simonetti and Craig Shoji.
New in MagicSquire 6.0: transparent HUD and Randomizer system
MagicSquire 6.0 introduces a new transparent HUD similar to that in colour picking tool MagicPicker.
Users can set the transparency of the panel to control how much of the image beneath is visible, and active background blur to create a frosted glass effect.
Other new features include Randomizer, which adds variety to digital paintings by randomising the brush or tool selected, and the settings for that brush.
Users choose a group of brush presets for MagicSquire to pick from, with the plugin choosing a new preset each time Randomizer is selected, or even with each new brush stroke.
Improvements to brush thumbnails and import of Photoshop .abr files
Workflow improvements include the option to upload custom thumbnail preview images for brushes and tools, rather than using the ones that MagicSquire generates, and larger tooltip previews for the thumbnails.
It is also now possible to preview brushes when importing files in Photoshop’s .abr format, and to choose which individual brushes to import via checkboxes.
Pricing and availability
MagicSquire 6.0 is available for Photoshop CS5 and above on Windows and macOS. It costs $19.
Read a full list of new features in Magic Squire 6.0 in the online changelog
Read a full list of features in MagicSquire on the product website