Managing presets with the Libraries panel in Paint by Zaweba
One panel in Paint by Zaweba manages swatches, gradients, brushes, styles and more, and imports .grd, .pat, .acv, .alv and .asl presets from other apps.
Presets pile up quickly. After a few months of work you have gradients from one project, patterns from another, a brush set you downloaded, styles you made for a client and curves you use on every portrait. The Libraries panel in Paint by Zaweba gathers all of these into one place where you can browse, organise and move them.
It also reads several preset formats from other well-known image editors, so years of collected resources do not have to be left behind.
What the panel holds
The panel covers swatches, gradients, patterns, brushes, Layer Art styles, shapes, adjustment presets, contours and Quick Looks. For each, you can browse what you have, rename items so they make sense, delete the ones you never use, and import or export them.
Renaming is worth the effort. A gradient called gradient 14 is no help six months later; one called warm sunset or brand blue fade is.
Bringing presets in from other apps
Paint can import presets from other apps in several common formats. Gradients come in from .grd files and patterns from .pat files. Curves come in as .acv and levels as .alv. Layer styles come in from .asl files and arrive as Layer Art styles.
That makes switching less painful. If you have a folder of gradient and pattern packs, or a set of curves you used for a particular look, you can bring them in rather than rebuilding them by hand.
Exporting adjustments
Curves and levels can also be exported as .acv and .alv files. That is useful in two directions: you can share a grade with someone using another editor, and you can keep your own looks safe in files outside the app.
Organising a library that stays useful
Group by project or by purpose. A set of brushes for sketching, one for texture and one for retouching is easier to reach than one long list.
Clean out regularly. Imported packs often contain dozens of items you will never use. Delete them, or export the ones you want into a smaller set.
Back up by exporting. If you rely on a library, export it to a folder you back up. Reinstalling Windows or moving to a new computer then takes minutes rather than an afternoon of rebuilding.
How it fits with the rest of Paint
The Libraries panel is a manager, not an editor. You make gradients in the gradient editor, styles in Layer Art and brushes with the brush settings, then come here to keep them in order. Swatches have their own panel with extra import and export formats, and those swatches show up here too.
Quick Looks and adjustment presets are worth special mention. Once you have a grade you like, saving it as a preset and keeping it in the library means you can apply it across a set of photos for a consistent look, and combine it with actions and batches when the set is large.
Mistakes to avoid with presets
Imported styles and gradients from other apps may not match their originals exactly, since apps implement effects differently. Check an imported style on a test layer before using it on client work.
Deleting a preset that a document uses does not damage the document, but you will not be able to apply it to new work, so export before a big clean-up.
A tidy library is a quiet time saver. In Paint by Zaweba it takes a few minutes to set up and repays them on every project after.
