Support a Blob type of vector brush



  • I'm looking for a brush type that might be called Blob, and it essentially lets you draw creating a vector shape the same size as the area you paint in. You can change nib styles etc to configure the shape of the brush, but ultimately the purpose is to support live sketching ni vector shapes. Not outline strokes, and not Raster.

    Tools like DrawPlus X8 Freeform Paint Tool
    or
    Xara Design Pro+ Shape Painter Tool

    I don't like that DrawPlus is now out of support, and I don't like that Xara forces a Subscription pricing model so a competitive offering like that here would have me in a heartbeat.

    It'd need to be paired with the Eraser version of course but that's almost a given right??



  • @Bitten You can try the Path Brush Tool and also the Eraser tool which do essentially what you describe.

    You can change the size but (as far as I know) not the nib shape itself



  • @Bitten , @EricP

    you could change the Shape of the Path Brush Tool here
    see Picture

    0_1758121665378_pathbrush shape.png

    .
    .

    To create a user defined shape, just select the Shape you like
    and give it a "Shape" Role.
    Select your shape and go to > Menu > Object > Object Role > Shape. After this you
    could select this Shape in different Tools of VectorStyler also the one i shown above



  • @VectorStyler @Subpath thank you for the reminder about this! I'm not getting the same result you are. I created a triangle and gave it the tole of "shape". I selected it as my path brush shape and tried to use it. Often when clicking, nothing happened and when I did drag the cursor, it looked no different than a circle. Here is a video of this.
    Obviously it's working for @Subpath so maybe my settings are off?



  • @VectorStyler I noticed that it would sometimes work depending on what I was clicking overtop of. Then eventually I lost my custom shape path brush entirely and it went back to being a default circle.
    Link to new video showing this



  • Update: I tried this on my laptop running default settings and had the same issues.

    The shape only seemed to work when i was touching an existing shape. in my case here, the shape somehow changed mid-use and merged another star into itself....

    0_1758131671558_95ba5a1e-c881-4a69-b50c-22fcfe488376-CleanShot 2025-09-17 at 13.47.36.png



  • @Boldline

    its not your fault, got the same behaviour

    @VectorStyler

    it seems a bug
    a single Blob could only set with the
    default circle blob

    all blobs shape made via the "Shape" Role
    works only if paint with it and then single blobs can
    be set if there is a kind of overlapping. They dont work
    as single blobs

    0_1758136920305_blobs.png



  • Hey all thanks for the responses, I can't find anytool called a path brush tool in the ui of the version downloaded if it is in there, it's well hidden.

    I made a video to try help explain what exactly this freeform paint style tool can do

    https://youtu.be/6JAoFnc9-Zk?t=367

    The ability to erase parts of it as well is also as important as the painting.



  • @Bitten
    Hi,
    Like said above, what you need is the "Path Brush Tool". It's located on the left main tool bar, third icon from the top, then the last of the menu that opens to the right. It's pressure sensitive and seems to be what you want. You may check some other tools of this section.

    0_1758151429412_path brush tool.png



  • @VectorStyler

    I noticed two additional things:

    First:
    I miss a live preview when changing the size of the Path Brush tool.
    The brush tip size only changes after I've set a new size. This
    makes adjusting the size a bit unintuitive.

    Second:
    No matter which shape you select as the brush tip, the Path Brush
    tool always paints with a rounded tip. This makes changing the
    Brush tip somewhat useless.

    I also demonstrate both of these points in this video.