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Miron0226
Miron0226
Participant
February 10, 2026
Open for Voting

Smooth continuous zoom (Scrubby Zoom / Z + drag) inside Liquify should match main canvas behavior

  • February 10, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 6 views

In Photoshop’s main document view I use Z + left mouse drag (Scrubby Zoom) for fast, smooth, continuous zooming while retouching.

However, inside Filter → Liquify, zooming with the same workflow is not smooth: it updates in jumps/steps, feels laggy, and is significantly slower and less comfortable.

 

Please make zooming inside Liquify use the same continuous “scrubby zoom” behavior as the main canvas (including tablet pen mapped to LMB), so the zoom speed and smoothness are consistent across Photoshop.

 

Steps to reproduce

 

  1. Open any image in Photoshop.

  2. Hold Z and drag with Left Mouse Button → zoom is smooth and continuous.

  3. Go to Filter → Liquify.

  4. Hold Z and drag with Left Mouse Button → zoom changes in noticeable steps/jumps.

 

Expected result

Liquify supports the same smooth continuous zoom (Scrubby Zoom) as the main Photoshop canvas: fast, fluid, precise zooming.

 

Actual result

Liquify zoom is stepped/jittery and slow; not smooth like the main canvas.

 

Why this matters

Liquify is used for precise local edits where frequent zooming in/out is essential. Inconsistent zoom behavior interrupts workflow, especially with Wacom tablet setups where pen button is mapped to LMB.

 

Workarounds tried

 

  • Trackpad pinch / keyboard shortcuts are slower for this workflow and don’t replace continuous scrubby zoom.

 

System info

 

  • Photoshop: 27.3.1 (20260130.r.4) arm64

  • macOS: 26.2.0

  • Hardware: Apple M2 Max, 32 GB RAM

  • GPU: Apple M2 Max, GPU accessible RAM 26,800 MB

  • Input device: Wacom tablet (pen button mapped to Left Mouse Button)
     

      1 reply

      Jimmy Flame
      Community Expert
      Jimmy FlameCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 12, 2026

      Yeah, this is pretty normal for Liquify right now insofar as I can tell. It doesn’t use the same GPU‑accelerated zoom engine as the main canvas, so the zoom comes through in chunky steps instead of that smooth Scrubby Zoom feel. If your main canvas zoom is buttery but Liquify still jumps even after toggling the ‘Use Graphics Processor’ setting—then it’s not your hardware acting up. It’s just how Liquify handles rendering at the moment, which is why matching the main canvas behavior would be a great improvement. I get it, your comp specs are solid, but it never hurts to at least check the GPU setup in Photoshop Preferences and maybe pulling the RAM down (or boosting it up), save, then putting it back to what you need. But yeah, def rule out GPU usage in PS. 

      - Jimmy Flame
      Miron0226
      Miron0226Author
      Participant
      February 12, 2026

      Yes, I agree that scaling in Liquify uses a different algorithm, apparently. But why wouldn't the development team make scaling just as smooth? Everything works great on the main canvas. But in Liquify, it's annoying, uncomfortable, and slows things down. 

      The settings don't help, and I think there's enough memory. And with the MacBook Pro Max M2 graphics processor, I think it's more than enough.

       

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