GIMP: Convert ABR to PNG to GBR Brushes

With recent GIMP version 2.10, photoshop .abr-Brushes cannot be loaded within GIMP anymore. I found the following way to batch convert the photoshop brushes to PNGs and then to GIMPs native .gbr-brushes.

Step 1: Convert ABR to PNG using abrMate

For creating the PNGs there is already a tool available called abrMate. Download it and open an .abr-File and click “Export all open Brushes to PNG”.

https://www.google.com/search?q=abrMate&oq=abrMate&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1259j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Step 2: Python-Fu Script to convert PNG to GBR

The below code can be used in Python-Fu to convert all the PNGs in a folder into GIMP’s brush format “.gbr”.

1. Copy the below code, adjust the variables:
   • source_folder: Path of the input folder
   • dest_folder: Path of the output folder
2. Open Gimp and go to “Menubar >> Filters >> Python-Fu >> Console”.
3. Copy your adjusted code into the console and hit enter. The files should be converted accordingly.

from gimpfu import *
import os

def convert_png_to_gbr():
    source_folder = "C:\Temp\PNG"
    dest_folder = "C:\Temp\GIMPBrushes"
    for filename in os.listdir(source_folder): 
        print "Convert File: "+filename
        img = pdb.gimp_file_load(source_folder+"/"+filename,filename)
        pdb.file_gbr_save(img, img.layers[0], dest_folder +"/"+ filename+".gbr", filename, 100, filename)

convert_png_to_gbr()

Troubleshooting

• Some special characters like “äöü_-” and whitespace in the path can cause the script to fail.
• The script will fail when one of the folders doesn’t exist, create both before running the script.