The Brush Strokes effect applies a rough painted look to an image. You can also use this effect to achieve a pointillist style by setting the length of the brush strokes to 0 and increasing the stroke density. Although you specify the direction of strokes, they’re scattered randomly by a small amount to give a more natural result. This effect alters the alpha channel, as well as the color channels; if you masked out a portion of the image, the brush strokes paint over the edges of the mask.

This effect works with 8-bpc color.

Original (left), and with effect applied (right)

Stroke Angle

The direction in which the strokes are made. The image is effectively shifted in this direction, potentially causing some clipping at the layer boundaries.

Brush Size

The size of the brush in pixels.

Stroke Length

The maximum length of each stroke, in pixels.

Stroke Density

Higher densities result in overlapping brush strokes.

Stroke Randomness

Creates nonuniform strokes. The more randomness, the more the strokes vary from the brush and stroke settings you’ve specified.

Paint Surface

Specifies where brush strokes are applied:

Paint On Original Image

Puts the strokes on top of the unmodified layer. This setting is the default.

Paint On Transparent

Causes only the strokes themselves to appear, leaving the layer transparent between the strokes.

Paint On White/Paint On Black

Applies strokes over a white or black background.

Blend With Original

The effect’s transparency. The result of the effect is blended with the original image, with the effect result composited on top. The higher you set this value, the less the effect affects the layer. For example, if you set this value to 100%, the effect has no visible result on the layer; if you set this value to 0%, the original image doesn’t show through.