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Anonymous
February 16, 2013
Answered

Photoshop CS6: soft brush suddenly looks pixelated instead of smooth

  • February 16, 2013
  • 12 replies
  • 88924 views

I've never had this problem before. I'm using the standard soft round brush to blend colors, which has always given a smooth effect, but now it suddenly looks all pixelated. The brush strokes also appears in rings instead of a smooth gradient. It looks as if the picture has been sharpened too much or saved in bad quality. I've already tried things like changing the brush settings, deleting photoshop preferences, increasing the RAM assigned to photoshop, but nothing works. Does anyone know what caused this? It's driving me insane! I get the same problem in an older version (Photoshop CS), so perhaps it's not photoshop itself?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer neilj58437623

Just to add to this in case anyone else encounters the same problem.

I had banding that almost appeared vector like in photoshop cc 2017 when using any brush much like the problems encountered in this thread.  Luckily I have a dual monitor setup with a 27" LG IPS and a 24" Dell IPS.  What I did was drag the file from photoshop from my main LG into the Dell and noticed that the gradients all appeared perfect.  That led me to believe that it wasn't the video card or photoshop necessarily causing the issue.

It turns out that the monitor profile is what caused the banding.  I calibrated the monitor using a calibrator which created a monitor color profile. I loaded this in windows 10.  Now the important part.  In photoshop under edit > color settings you have to choose that same color profile used in the monitor. When both are the same profile the gradients all magically worked again.  Hope this helps

12 replies

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neilj58437623Correct answer
Participant
June 20, 2017

Just to add to this in case anyone else encounters the same problem.

I had banding that almost appeared vector like in photoshop cc 2017 when using any brush much like the problems encountered in this thread.  Luckily I have a dual monitor setup with a 27" LG IPS and a 24" Dell IPS.  What I did was drag the file from photoshop from my main LG into the Dell and noticed that the gradients all appeared perfect.  That led me to believe that it wasn't the video card or photoshop necessarily causing the issue.

It turns out that the monitor profile is what caused the banding.  I calibrated the monitor using a calibrator which created a monitor color profile. I loaded this in windows 10.  Now the important part.  In photoshop under edit > color settings you have to choose that same color profile used in the monitor. When both are the same profile the gradients all magically worked again.  Hope this helps

    Trevor.Dennis
    Community Expert
    Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 20, 2017

    neilj58437623  wrote

    [snip]

    It turns out that the monitor profile is what caused the banding.  I calibrated the monitor using a calibrator which created a monitor color profile. I loaded this in windows 10.  Now the important part.  In photoshop under edit > color settings you have to choose that same color profile used in the monitor. When both are the same profile the gradients all magically worked again.  Hope this helps

    Neil, this thread is years old and has veered of the original topic, but your point is valid and useful, so I am going to mark your answer as Correct to help folk going forward.  We see this time and again, and it invariably comes down to the monitor.

    One other point, Michael said (back in October 2016) that Dissolve is the default painting mode.  I'm guessing he meant meant Brush Blend Mode, but but that simply isn't correct.  Resetting All Tools (and Preferences if you absolutely have to) sets all blend modes back to Normal.  Enough said.

    A
    AlanU11
    Participant
    March 1, 2017

    Hi, I saw this: Photoshop Banding and How to fix it - Behind the Shutter

    And it helped me a lot!

    SakuraLeon
    SakuraLeon
    Participant
    June 11, 2016

    Hi,

    I have had an issue like this before.

    Have you tried changing the painting mode to 'normal' instead of 'dissolve'? Sometimes it seems to change with out you noticing.

      M
      michaelh83396005
      Participant
      October 6, 2016

      SakuraLeon you have solved my problem :-) It was the painting mode.

      I have had the same problem, Pixelation when using a Soft Brush on a Layer Mask. It is only since the CC 2015.5 or 2015.5.1 update.

      It looks like the Painting Mode is set to Dissolve by default, whereas it used to be set on Normal.

      Thanks Sakura :-)

      .Kelk
      .Kelk
      Participant
      October 13, 2015

      I am having the same issue! Just started today, with the brushes I am using I have never had this issue. I have tried resetting my prefs, I have tried resetting my tool presets. It's just not flying, and it's quite unfortunate as this is a project for my class which is due Monday. I have a shot of my project, we are focusing on the green. In the top left to right, and right bottom corner are BEFORE the issue started. I am pulling from the same palettes, using the SAME brush. The bottom left green spikes are where the banding occurred. Did use a shade of teal over the green, to show that. It's usually much smoother and blends far better than what we see. That's with the opacity turned down aswell. If you need better pictures, let me know.

      A
      arthustiak
      Participant
      October 1, 2015

      I think that this is something to do with the brush. If the Soft brush is sized as 12px and you use it for 200px painting, then there might be an issue. So I suggest people to test Photoshop's other brushes if any other brush fails to produce smooth colors/gradients.

      D
      DESIDEV
      Participant
      August 26, 2015

      I also found it to be an issue with the power of my laptop running and extra monitor + the HD22 drawing tablet.

      On my desktop no issue. Try an upgrade. Or disconnect one of your screens.

      Grusmao
      Grusmao
      Participant
      June 16, 2015

      I'm having the same problem here. I already tried to hold alt+ctrl+shift and startup the photoshop.

      Some one already know how to fix this problem?

      D
      DESIDEV
      Participant
      June 6, 2015

      Had the same issue reset preferences hold alt ctrl shift on startup. Sure you've worked it out by now though.

      Trevor.Dennis
      Community Expert
      Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 6, 2015

      eBusinessConsultants wrote:  (Exactly a year ago today)

      Had the same issue reset preferences hold alt ctrl shift on startup.   Sure you've worked it out by now though.

      P
      PatP.
      Participant
      September 29, 2014

      I was just found the solution to my pixelation problem. I had the brush set to Dissolve in the blend mode.

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        Allan M
        Participant
        December 13, 2015

        Give this person a medal! You saved my life. For some reason I didnt notice the brush setting and was freaking out! Tried everything except that! Thanks!

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        beagler9
        Participant
        March 21, 2014

        Hi Caroline, I'm a little late, I know.  I'm sure you've already found a solution, but just incase..

        I recently had this problem bc I'd accidentally switched to pencil mode.  Hitting shift+b a couple times until the standard brush icon appeared in my tool bar seemed to fix things.

          M
          Mahmood Zidan
          Inspiring
          November 15, 2014

          You're never late, you've saved my life, thanks!

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