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Belichtungsquartier
Participating Frequently
November 4, 2021

P: Brush Outline/Circle disappearing when working with masks

  • November 4, 2021
  • 194 replies
  • 22301 views

There is already a discussion in the community "Brush Outline/Circle disappearing intermittently (NOT CAPS LOCK) ". But since I have figured out in detail how to reproduce the behavior and when it becomes present, I want to report the issue officialy that Adobe hopefully will fix this in one of the next upcoming patch releases.

 

OS Environment:

  • Win 10 Pro 64bit 21H1
  • Adobe Ps 23.0.2

 

The issue is only present in combination when using Masks on a layer!

  1. Create a new document (white, black or transparent layer)
  2. Add a Mask to the layer
  3. Select the layer OR the mask (independent on what you want to paint)
  4. Select the brush tool
  5. Try to start moving the mouse quickliy and pressing the left mouse button nearly at the same time and keep the mouse button pressed
  6. Try to repeat until the you get locked in the issue and the brush circle disappears and the mouse arrow becomes visible

 

When working with a mouse as input device, the chance to facing this issue is probably rare because this kind of operation, moving the mouse and clicking the button nearly at the same time is kindly unnatural.

But it looks different when using a pen tablet as input device, because now it becomes a more natural operation when hover the pen toward the tablet surface and then drop down onto the surface to start painting.

 

Kind regards

194 replies

Participating Frequently
August 18, 2025

For some reason, my previous post on this issue got deleted. Apparently the flickering cursor bug has been fixed in the latest versions, but I am posting my solution again for those folks who have to use older versions due to other bugs.

 

In my case, I've noticed that the flickering cursor bug is related to the layer preview thumbnails in the Layers Panel. If the Thumbnail Contents is set to Layer Bounds, the Thumbnail Size is not set to None, and Layers Panel is closed or hidden (via pressing Tab), the bug appears immediately. The bug disappears in two cases: when I set the Thumbnail Contents to Entire Document, or when I set the Thumbnail Size to None.

 

Hope this helps.

Jqqerry
Inspiring
August 6, 2025

@jeromea13244388  long time no see. and nope.

I'm just keeping the original version because I'm tired of one update causing another part of the bug, waiting months (or years) for the bug and updating it to the fixed version...

I've reported quite a few (crithful) bugs in the past few years on the forum, but it's been an unprompted wait and I'm not reporting anymore. I'm going to use my old one...

jeromea13244388
Inspiring
August 4, 2025

@Jqqerry The 26.9 update seems to correct a lot of bugs related to the photoshop brush... Have you been able to download it ?

Participating Frequently
June 6, 2025

In my case the flickering cursor appears in two cases:

1. If the Layers Panel is closed or hidden (if the workspace is maximized pressing Tab).

2. If the Layers Panel is visible, but the thumbnail options are set to None and Layer Bounds.

Flickering disappears immediately after I do one of the following:

1. The thumbnail option can remain at None, but Thumbnail Contents is set to Entire Document (Layer Palette can be hidden in this case too).
2. The Thumbnail Contents option is set either to Layer or Document, but the Thumbnail Size is set to one of the three actual preview options, not None (in this case the Layers Panel should remain open and visible).


Chad Rolfs
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
February 5, 2025

Hey y'all.  It has been very hard to repro this internally here at Adobe. There are so many variables. We did implement a lot of mouseUp/Stylus tracking fixes over the past number of releases so it sounds like there's been some success.  Just recently we had a customer provide us with an excellent video with exact steps required to repro a related cursor flicker issue and we were able to fix it, which will be in the next release. If you have further specific steps or video talking through and illustrating the issue (with the current release), please share.  Thanks!

jeromea13244388
Inspiring
February 3, 2025

@JqqerryActually I think I don't encounter this bug anymore (I'm on version 26.1.0).
The only slightly related problem I got is when i do fast strokes or points and the software seems to miss some strokes at one point, like it doesn't have enough time to calculate the next stroke (so the points appear a bit runny).

Jqqerry
Inspiring
January 31, 2025

@jeromea13244388  

I tried using the settings you suggested, but I don't notice much of a change.

Also, it doesn’t seem related to the bug that occurs when using the window arrow. The issue still happens, although it occurs less frequently now.

jeromea13244388
Inspiring
January 31, 2025

@Jqqerry : Well, I think I haven't witnessed it, yeah, but again it had a tendency to not appear quite often with the latest versions... Try it and see if it does something. Anyway it helps with other problems (sliders lagging for example) so disabling that is a real plus.

Jqqerry
Inspiring
January 31, 2025

@jeromea13244388  Hello! It's been a while. Happy New Year.
If you apply the options you changed, does the issue of the brush turning into a Windows arrow no longer occur at all?

jeromea13244388
Inspiring
January 30, 2025

Actually I begin to think that this has something to do with that :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Gty6Ckgw0
(anyway, after I disabled this, the pen/cursor is working way smoother in photoshop)