UPDATED: Brush Pilot Review and Giveaway – Winner Announced
Have you ever heard the expression, ‘You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone’? Or if you haven’t heard the phrase, have you at least heard the song? Well, today I discovered a new phrase that came to me in that same tone. Today I discovered I didn’t know what I was missing until I got it! If you had asked me yesterday, how could I live without an awesome Photoshop brush browser? I would have answered very simply ‘Because I have no need for whatever that is that you just mentioned there.’ Today, however, my answer would be quite different. My answer today would be, ‘Because I had never tried out Brush Pilot before!’
Brush Pilot is an amazing new application from Jay Hilgert over at Bittbox, that allows for simple brush management on your Mac! How simple? Let’s just say, Rob can do it, so that should be a strong indicator right there. I was really amazed at the simplicity of the program, but much more so at it’s virtual weightlessness. With everything that this compact little firecracker can do, I really expected a heavier strain on my system resources, or at least a moment or two of the spinning color wheel of death to cycle through while the app was in full-on run mode, but that never happened. Ever! (You may be more impressed by that statement if you only knew how bogged down I keep my MacBook, and how often it runs a bit sluggish with the multi-tasking…or singular tasking that I demand of it.)
The Specs
The program, as I already mentioned, is amazingly light weight, so you do not have to worry about what you have running in the background, this app will not disturb or slow your system. (you might slow down your workflow, simply because you will be playing with this app and exploring its usefulness for hours rather than focusing, but that’s half the fun of any new app…or am I doing that wrong?) Part of Brush Pilot not being a resource hog, means that it allows for lightning speed maneuvering through the app while it is in use.
More than just a brush browser, the program has contextual menu commands throughout for each of its designated functions, and keyboard shortcuts for even more ease of use. Upon starting the program, it scours through your entire machine, searching for all brush files that stored there, you do not even have to send it searching by location. (Not that you do not have that option as well, for any external drives you may be networked to, as in my case, you can simply point the program in the right place for finding other brushes you can access.) Once it gets down hunting down your brushes, it displays them all in the Finder. From there things get even more exciting.
By clicking on the individual brush files, be they 8bit or 16bit, you get a preview of each set opened up in a window where you can easily scan through the different brushes that are included. The previewer also allows you to quickly and easily adjust the size of the previews using a slider bar beneath it, with five different size options to choose from. So don’t worry about missing out on the details of the brush because of a minuscule preview image, Brush Pilot’s got you covered!
From the finder, you also have the options that really complete the package, in my humble opinion. From a right click on the brush, you can reveal the brushes location on your hard drive (for any of those misplaced downloads that got you just couldn’t track down), you can delete the brush altogether from your system, or you can simply click to have the brush installed straight away into Photoshop. And earlier when I mentioned the lightning speed, you may have thought I was exaggerating, but the installation of the brushes happens instantly without delay or any s.c.w.o.d. hesitation at all! So it was not me being all poetical or ‘hype’rsensitive. Get it? Hype…nevermind. In fact, the only downside I discovered at all to this process, was the inability to select multiple brushes to be installed or deleted at once. To me, that many pros to one con, makes Brush Pilot an overall smashing success!
The Giveaway
We are so excited to have the opportunity to share this awesome Mac application with one lucky reader of the blog. Unfortunately, this is strictly for Mac users, so if you have a Mac and would like the chance to get a free copy of Brush Pilot, then simply comment below to make it happen. I know there will only be one winner of the contest, but rest assured, the app is modestly priced at only $15.00 so if you do not win, it is still not that far out of reach.
And as I said, you may not think you need a brush browser, but if you are Photoshop’ing graphic designer, this little ditty is that rare gem that you won’t understand how you ever did without it after you run it for the first time!
So leave a comment below, and the winner will be announced on July 20th! Check back to see if it’s you!
An Added Word of Thanks!
If you like this post and the other great content from Fuel Your Creativity then make sure you thank Elegant Themes for all of their support. Elegant Themes is a site created by Nick Roach, dedicated to creating premium WordPress themes for the online community. With so many beautifully crafted themes for all site-types and tastes! Nick’s unwavering support of the creative online community is as inspiring as the designs he creates! Thank you, Nick.
Winner Announced
Lisa T
Rob is the talented author and graphic designer, celebrated podcaster and poet, who is now the co-editor and imaginative co-contributor of Fuel Your Creativity. With a background working through most areas of the arts, Rob works from a creative wellspring that shows no signs of running dry.
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Nice! I waste too much time trying to find the “perfect” brush to use for my project. This app will make finding the brush I want much much easier.
sounds good, I could use this!
Having this app would be super!
Need this… with hundreds of brushes having similar names, this is great thing…
Pick me!! please?
Lovely – these are great! Thanks for the opp to win :)
Count me in! I would love to try this out and maybe (if I like it) get copies for the whole office.
Sure count me in also—a chance to view my brushes would be a awesome gift!
I recall trying some other apps like this that weren’t that great. This one does seem nice though. Count me in.
Thanks, I’d love to win this!
I would love a copy!! Thanks jay for doing this!! Def a useful tool.
I have finally learned how to use and create brushes – so my brush library is growing. This tool seems to be the answer for anyone with lots of brushes. Thanks for recognizing those of us in the Mac community.
Wow! Fifteen bucks?! Steal.
This looks amazinig. It would simplify my design work so much.
No more digging through brushes! Yeah!
This is what we all have been waiting for!
This is something I been looking to buy, so winning it would be great. Thanks.
Outstanding app that could help my creativity immensely!
This looks fantastic. How generous. Thank you!
i’m a total brush junkie and i’ve been waiting for this app to come along for soooooo long! brilliant!
The world has needed this.
I’ll be chalking this up as school supplies if I don’t win here!
Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah,Blah…
Nobody wins this stuff. Don’t Beg — Buy.
This little app saves a ton of time digging for the right brush. A free copy would rock as well.
Why not? Let’s give this little app a try! =)
Useful AND affordable. Awesome!
I review this on GoMedia, but I thought I would share it with you here as well.
It’s hard to say what my favourite feature of Brush Pilot is, as it has a plethora of great features!
The fast preview and instant install are not only time savers, but life savers in my opinion. Finder integration is probably the coolest, as you can just double-click your brush to open it up with Brush Pilot.
Another great feature is the fact that it’s not bloated. It weighs in at just 782kb zipped. This is a must for us designers that have gigabytes and gigabytes of resources on our computers. I need all the space I can get for source files, save the bloated 50MB apps for PCs! :D
Thanks!
Would be awesome to have this programm…always having this problems finding back my brushes and install them in the correct way…no with brush pilot this would be total history!!
Need to have it!
I’ve always need an app like this!
Why didn’t adobe think of this? Seriously.
looks good!
This would be super awesome to have. I want it for my birthday.
Looks interesting, might just want to give it a try!
just what i was looking for!
This is such a good idea that I can imagine Adobe incorporating it as a function with future releases of Photoshop – let’s hope so.
However, I’m an impatient person ;-) so anything which can help me to streamline and speed up brush selection now is worth checking out.
This looks like a great and handy little utility, a nice speedy addition to Photoshop that Adobe should consider adding to photoshop or the CS suite. With all the brushes I’ve collected over time, I may now actually use them more often by having them so handily and readily available at your fingertips to both easily view and install.
This tool would definitely come in handy in my day-to-day graphic design work.
A cracking app’ it would definately help me brush up on my organising.
One stroke of the effeciency brush. Nice.
I would love a app like this
Could use this Tool As well…
I’d love to have it .. no more trying to figure out what brush is hiding behind that name ..
I hope I win this time ’cause my Photoshop brushes load so slow, >.<.
YAY i love contests like these they are great opportunities for us all.
I hope I’m lucky enough, I’ve heard about this being in development for a while from Jay.
I could use a copy!
Gr8 app! I want to win :)