Livebrush is an exciting and fun free drawing application that reacts to the way that you move the cursor. It can produce some wonderful effects that can be used as elements in pieces produced in other applications. Alternatively, with more experience it could be used to produce complete designs.
Livebrush Lite is free while there is also a paid for Pro version of Livebrush. The Pro version allows you to export as SVG, while Livebrush Lite can only export raster graphics, though it can be used in vector mode. You are also limited to a single canvas size in the free version, unlike Livebrush Pro.
Highlights of Livebrush Lite
Some of the key points of Livebrush Lite are:
- PC (Windows 2000 and later) and Mac versions (OS X 10.4.9 and later)
- Can fine tune designs in Vectors Draw Mode
- Over 100 preloaded styles and decorations
- Layer support with blending modes for combining layers creatively
- Import other files into Livebrush Lite (JPEG, GIF, PNG and SWF supported)
- Great for producing brushes for GIMP or Adobe Photoshop
- Fun to use
Why Use Livebrush Lite?
You could use Livebrush Lite to produce complete pieces of work, but where it may really shine is in producing graphic elements for export and use in other applications. It lends itself very well to producing a wide range of graphics that could be used as brushes in GIMP or Photoshop. You can start to produce usable results almost immediately, though watching the three minute video on the Livebrush site will prime you to dive in.
The free version of Livebrush does have some imposed limitations compared to the Pro version and one of these is a single canvas size. However it's large enough to be suitable for web designers to produce graphics for most purposes, though they won't be able to completely fill larger screens. Some exciting background effects could be produced very quickly.
Limitations of Livebrush Lite
The size limitation mentioned may be restrictive for users working in print, as will the lack of a vector export option. If you do need larger sizes, the Pro version is reported to export to SVG, though I have not tried the software myself. Exported SVG files could be re-sized in an application like Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator.
As it is, Livebrush Lite only allows you to export your work in PNG format, so if you need another raster format, you have to convert it in another application.
Livebrush requires Adobe Air to be installed in order to function, but this is automatically downloaded and installed, if it isn't already installed, as part of the Livebrush installation process.
System Requirements
For Windows users, the Livebrush site specifies Windows 2000 to Vista, but I've also installed it on Windows 7. On Mac, the requirements are listed as OS X 10.4.9 or later and OS X 10.5.1. There's no mention of Snow Leopard support, but as an Air application I would expect it operate in OS X 10.6 also.
The Livebrush website recommends a minimum of 1GB of RAM.
Support and Training
If you've got a little experience of some of the common graphics software applications, you could probably dive straight into Livebrush Lite and start creating. However the application has a Help menu that offers links to several resources.
The Livebrush Help takes you to the online documentation, so obviously you'll need an internet connection to use this. It covers all of the important points, including explaining the features of the user interface and the tools available.
The Help menu also has a link to the Forums and this can be a good place to look for information and to ask specific questions. While it isn't a huge community forum, the developer behind the software appears to be active and it is likely that as Livebrush becomes better known, this will become a more used resource.
Livebrush Lite can be downloaded for free from the Livebrush website.