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donbarrum
Inspiring
July 12, 2025
Question

Disable alt+brush change opactiy

  • July 12, 2025
  • 4 replies
  • 370 views

Please adobe!! I know this has been asked many times before over multiple years. But can you pleeease let us disable the ability to change opacity using alt+stylus ? as a digital painter it's a constant nuisance, thwat when I change brush sizes the opacity keeps changing unless I pay attention to it. There has been so many times I think I paint with 100% opacity but it has been turned down to 97-98%  and I have to go back and change stuff. Its a small feature to ask for but it would make the life of every artist painting in Photoshop a lot easier!

4 replies

donbarrum
donbarrumAuthor
Inspiring
July 12, 2025

Thanks, changing the vertical for brush softness didn't change anything, it still does opacity change. But still, both are a problem to painters. Let's say you are a comic artist or doing line art. You want to use sharp hard round brushes with various sizes but you don't want them to suddenly go soft, and you definately never want them to become 95-98% of opacity. They need to stay hard with 100% opacity constantly while painting, but still you would want to use the alt + drag pen to change size because it is an efficient way to work. . I just hope adobe could do this, so many has asked for it, for multiple years, and I assume it's a tiny feature to add.  

FreeTime
Known Participant
September 2, 2025

Have you found a solution? I've tried everything I can, but I've been suffering from this problem for years now

Jeff Arola
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 12, 2025

In the meantime, does it help if you go to Edit>Preferences>Tools (Windows) or Photoshop 2025>Settings>Tools (Mac)

and check VaryRound Brush Hardness based on HUD vertical movement, so instead of the opacilty changing it would be hardness, which only applies to the default round brushes?

donbarrum
donbarrumAuthor
Inspiring
July 12, 2025

This is with a tablet, using the pen. Because you hold in alt and left right is brush size and up down is opacity. You can see a plethora of people over the years that have asked for an option to disable the opacity. With a mouse it is of course not a problem..., which is why I stated it's with a stylus/pen 😉

AxelMatt
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 12, 2025

How do you change the size of the brush? I use the default Alt + right mouse key and move the mouse left or right to change the brush size. I don't have any problems with a changed opacity after changeing the size.

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My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 5 - Topaz Photo
VisionaryVinti
Participant
July 12, 2025
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
1. Using Bracket Keys:

- Select the Brush tool (or any tool that uses brushes, like the Eraser).

- Press the left bracket key ( [ ) to make the brush smaller.
- Press the right bracket key ( ] ) to make the brush larger.
- The changes are immediate and visible on the canvas, according to a
YouTube tutorial.

2. Using Brush Settings Panel:

- With the Brush tool selected, click the Brush Preset Picker in the
Options bar at the top of the screen.
- In the Brush Settings panel, you'll find a "Size" slider. Adjust this
slider to change the brush size.
- You can also modify the brush's hardness, spacing, and other settings
in this panel.

3. Right-Click Method:

- Select the Brush tool.
- Right-click on your canvas to open the Brush Preset Picker.
- Adjust the "Size" slider to change the brush size.

4. Windows-Specific Shortcut (Alt + Right Mouse Button):

- On Windows, you can hold down the Alt key and then right-click and
drag on the canvas.
- Dragging left or right will change the brush size, while dragging up
or down will change the brush's hardness, notes Newborn Posing.

5. Mac-Specific Shortcut (Control + Option + Click and Drag):

- On Mac, you can hold down the Control and Option keys, and then click
and drag on the canvas.
- Dragging left or right will change the brush size
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