Participant

Question

Brush tool will only paint in some areas and not others

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
January 16, 2017
4 replies
8714 views

I'm currently working in Photoshop CC, doing a fairly basic digital painting, using no special filters, effects, just straight painting. The problem I am having however, is that my brush will only paint in certain areas but not others. It is not as though I have an area selected by accident though (no selections have been made), its behaving almost as if my one layer is made up of many layers. It'll draw over some parts, but on other it doesn't touch at all. For example it will define edges of old brush strokes instead of painting over them. I'm mainly having trouble when I try to work at an opacity lower than 100% for the tool, not the layer. This even happens if I draw on a new layer that is above the old layer. I have absolutely no idea what could be causing this, as I have restarted photoshop, restarted my computer, reset all tools, and even tried using a new file in case the old one had been corrupted. Please, if anyone has any idea what is happening or how I can fix it, I would be forever grateful.

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Bethany.CHNOMarketing

Participant

If you have found the answer to this problem I would love to know what it is... I am having this exact same issue currently. I am running a updated Adobe Photoshop 2021, 22.3.0 version on a 2020 Macbook Air and have come across this same issue. I would love to know if you figured out what the answer to this is.

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

lydias92425895 wrote:
For example it will define edges of old brush strokes instead of painting over them.

That has the ring of an active selection with a touch of feathering, but you say there no selections in play. Barbara's suggestion of locked transparency would fit that as well.

lydias92425895 wrote:
This even happens if I draw on a new layer that is above the old layer.

That rules out locked transparency, but not an active selection.

lydias92425895 wrote:
I have absolutely no idea what could be causing this, as I have restarted Photoshop, restarted my computer, reset all tools,

Resetting All tools tells you that there are no odd settings in the Options bar.

lydias92425895 wrote:
and even tried using a new file in case the old one had been corrupted.

And that rules out everything else. It sounds like time to reset Preferences.

We could try and think of a few alternatives like:

Are you using a tablet, and have you tried painting with the mouse to rule it out? If you were using a Chinese Wacom knock off I'd frankly be surprised if you were tell us everything was working properly! So if yest to the tablet, what is it and what driver version?
Is Photoshop CC fully up to date? Can you correlate this issue with another event like updating Photoshop, operating system, third party plug-in?
Speaking of plug-ins, try starting Photoshop while holding down the Shift key to force Photoshop to ignore third party plug-ins and extensions.
What operating system are you using?
What hardware? Is it a Surface Pro, Cintiq Companion, something other than a plain vanilla Wiondows or Mac desktop or laptop.

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lydias92425895Author

Participant

Trevor.Dennis wrote:
lydias92425895 wrote:
For example it will define edges of old brush strokes instead of painting over them.
That has the ring of an active selection with a touch of feathering, but you say there no selections in play. Barbara's suggestion of locked transparency would fit that as well.
lydias92425895 wrote:
This even happens if I draw on a new layer that is above the old layer.
That rules out locked transparency, but not an active selection.
lydias92425895 wrote:
I have absolutely no idea what could be causing this, as I have restarted Photoshop, restarted my computer, reset all tools,
Resetting All tools tells you that there are no odd settings in the Options bar.
lydias92425895 wrote:
and even tried using a new file in case the old one had been corrupted.
And that rules out everything else. It sounds like time to reset Preferences.
We could try and think of a few alternatives like:
Are you using a tablet, and have you tried painting with the mouse to rule it out? If you were using a Chinese Wacom knock off I'd frankly be surprised if you were tell us everything was working properly! So if yest to the tablet, what is it and what driver version?
Is Photoshop CC fully up to date? Can you correlate this issue with another event like updating Photoshop, operating system, third party plug-in?
Speaking of plug-ins, try starting Photoshop while holding down the Shift key to force Photoshop to ignore third party plug-ins and extensions.
What operating system are you using?
What hardware? Is it a Surface Pro, Cintiq Companion, something other than a plain vanilla Wiondows or Mac desktop or laptop.

L

lydias92425895Author

Participant

To your question about my tablet, I tried using a mouse and had the same problem. I'm currently using a wacom bamboo create, but I have been using it consistently for about 5-6 years now without any significant problems. The drivers are fully up to date as well.

After having posted this I thought about CC being the problem, so I updated. That same file, as well as all files that had been open around the same time (different parts of the same project), seem to all still have the problem regardless of the update.

I don't have any third party plug-ins to the best of my knowledge.

My operating system is still a bit out of date, as I am still using yosemite. I kind of doubt this is the problem as I have had no other problems in photoshop or any of my other CC applications, but it could be a possibility.

My hardware is a 2013 Macbook Pro, nothing complex here.

I may try resetting preferences at some point. However, I did find that after updating CC, while those files still had an issue, if I created a new photoshop file that the problem was not present. Even if I copy and pasted a single layer from the old file over, it still seems to be working ok. This makes me think there must be some form of minor corruption in those old files? Honestly, I don't have a lot of experience with corrupted files (so thankful for that), except with Maya, so I don't even know if that makes sense. I may also try opening the files on my school's computers (college student) to see if they are still present. Since they clear the computers every night, the preferences are always reset to default.

The problem was still very strange as it started to allow painting in area at some times and not at others, only parts of a stroke showing up, sometimes with significant delay. Of course if someone has had this problem happen to them before and knows why or has a solution, I'd still appreciate the information should this happen again.

barbara_a7746676

Community Expert

Does the layer you are painting on with the brush have any transparent areas, and does the layer have transparency locked?

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lydias92425895Author

Participant

While I don't think this is the problem in my case, I do appreciate you pointing that out, as that wasn't something I had thought to check and will be more aware of now for future reference. Thank you!

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

What mode is the bush in the Options Bar? Behind, for instance, could do what you are describing?

Layer mode is also a possibility, but I'd have thought you'd have discovered that as you tried different layers, as new layers would be set to normal.

If this does not fix it, can you paste a screen shot of your entire workspace with the brush selected, and showing the layers panel showing

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