Separate Brush/Eraser
Makes Krita treat the brush and eraser as if they’re separate tools. The brush and eraser keep track of presets, size, opacity, flow, etc separately. All added functions can be found under
Tools > Separate Brush and Eraser in the shortcuts menu.
Activate Eraser: Turns the eraser on for the current tool and switches over to the current eraser presetDeactivate Eraser: Turns the eraser off for the current tool and switches over to the current brush presetToggle Eraser: Toggles the eraser for the current tool without switching brush presets (default krita behavior)Switch to Brush: Switches to the freehand brush tool in brush mode and activates the current brush presetSwitch to Eraser: Switches to the freehand brush tool in erase mode and activates the current eraser preset
I’d suggest binding hotkeys to Switch to Brush / Switch to Eraser, they most closely mimic the behavior of other painting programs.
If you click the eraser in the top bar, the eraser will toggle on/off for the current tool without changing presets (ie. what Krita does by default). This is useful if you find yourself wanting to swap your current brush into erase mode in the normal Krita way.
If you switch from the brush tool to another tool the eraser will automatically be deactivated unless you’re holding shift (this allows you to use the Photoshop-compatible shift-click for straight line shortcut).
Download it here! https://github.com/ollyisonit/krita-separate-brush-eraser
If this implementation isn’t to your taste but you still want a separate eraser tool, check out the PET (Plugin as Eraser Tool) plugin. It provides similar functionality but focuses more on splitting brushes into separate brush/eraser categories.
https://krita-artists.org/t/proof-of-concept-plugin-as-eraser-tool-pet/48233
If you run into problems, I’d appreciate if you submitted them to the issues page on GitHub. It’s much easier for me to track things that way.
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Thank you for another plugin shared with the community!
Michelist
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I created an account to thank you for this, you’re a legend! this has been the only lasting issue I’ve had switching from Photoshop and i’ve been looking for this for years.
Edit, side note: Toggle eraser seems like it still saves a separate brush preset (unless I’m not understanding it right)
I’ve been using this plugin for a while and it’s been super useful, thank you for this plugin!
Works great! Thank you so much for taking your time to make this plugin!
One question, is it possible to change Shift shortcut to something else? It conflicts with shift-and-drag resizing that i use.
Thanks again!
upd: Tried switching line tool shortcut to something other than Shift+click, only to realize that it wasn’t there to begin with (it’s set to V+click). Not sure what else i could do 
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I love this plug-in, really helped me get a better experience coming from Photoshop! Thank you so much!
when I go to use the eraser mode toggle that is built in to krita, (where the brush you are currently using toggles to eraser) it will switch for a split second to eraser and then toggle back immediately, which is an issue i don’t encounter with your plugin disabled. i really love the idea of separate brushes, but my process makes use of toggling the eraser mode quickly while i paint.
Why would you use the plugin then if you don’t need the separate brush feature and prefer Krita’s default eraser mode?
pardon me if i fail to communicate this well, but when i am drawing, or inking, i prefer a separate eraser (usually a very opaque one) but when i am shading, painting or laying down color, i will just toggle the brushes eraser mode so that I don’t have to switch brushes (it’s also usually not necessary to be clean with it.) it speeds up my workflow and allows for very fast sketching and filling when using something like the alchemy/shape brushes.
So you prefer to use the eraser mode more frequently than the separate eraser brush preset feature but also like using both? Maybe you could have all of your frequently used brushes within one tag or use a plugin like Brush Tag Selector Plugin so switching your brush for eraser mode or separate eraser would take a negligible amount of time.
It is unfortunate that the plugin interferes with the default eraser mode shortcut, maybe the plugin could be modified so it doesn’t break default eraser mode shortcut or add a new shortcut altogether.
Fair points, I brought it up mostly in case it was a simple bug that could be fixed, or an issue people didn’t know about (i mean, not everyone works wrong like I do.) I have a solid setup in krita for mimicking the workflows I have in other software, the fact that krita doesn’t have separate shortcuts for brush and eraser does impede my workflow by a small percentage, which isn’t bad, but it is bothersome at times. (but to be honest other programs i use don’t have shortcuts for making the current brush an eraser, so i guess, it’s actually less of an issue.)
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Maybe just try the buttons offered in present Krita. I setup a kb shortcut to a ten brush spot for my favorite true eraser, then I just clicked the buttons at the bottom of the brush editor to be able to toggle my current brush into eraser mode.
then set my kb shortcut to toggle that mode. The reason for that awkward looking shortcut, that is the “)” on my portable keypad. The script was deleted from my resources a long time ago, but for some reason Krita keeps the remnants in my kb shortcuts. I had to go from W11 to Linux to get rid of the Kanvas Buddy stuff.
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usefull plugin! but ive ran into a weird issue. when switching through the keyninds (b & e)
Switch to Brush/ switch to eraser
for some reason the separate tool sizes get can change
lets say i gave my B-brush tool and i set the size to 10 and then i have the eraser at 100 NOW when i switch between brush and eraser sometimes the erase will have the brush tools size (10) and sometimes the brush tool will go from 10 to 100 cuz i switched to the eraser…
Not sure if I understand this correctly but I have a similar problem with weird brush sizes. Basically, it cycles between 2 brushes ( the eraser and the brush ) but 3 brush sizes. But it only does that when the brush and the eraser use the same brush preset.
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I, too, made an account to thank you. You’re a lifesaver!
