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August 26, 2023
Question

Very Strange Behaviour - Cintiq & Ps

  • August 26, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 311 views

Ok, first off, I don't think this is a Photoshop bug, but I'm really not sure where to even start with this. 

I'm working off a Cintiq 24 Pro (2016) and in Photoshop 24.7 (full specs below). I use the aRGB colour space and profile the display monthly with a Spyder X Pro. What I'm seeing when working on a digital painting (not processing photographs now, but it may happen there too), particularly one with saturated colours, is the unit flashing briefly (about a second in length) and irregularly (but frequently) between aRGB and sRGB. This is seen in the colours/image on the screen, not the menu system. I can typically trigger it to happen by dragging my stylus/cursor over the Panels windows (docked on the right side per usual). Over areas of a lot of blue, the blue will turn a decidedly pink or magenta colour (not fully, but it's obvious) then back to the original blue colour. In the reds, the bright reds will go much duller, then return to normal. If I drag Ps off to my BenQ display (sRGB only, HD) then back on to the Cintiq, the flashing stops and it seems to stay stable in aRGB (and you thought you had seen it all!). I'm not sure if it will start up again (flashing) in time, but I believe it does if I shut down Ps and restart it on the Cintiq again). 

 

My Specs:

Photoshop 24.7 (not Beta), aRGB colour space (happens in ProPhoto as well, but not in sRGB, obviously)

Cintiq 24 Pro (2016 model) USB c Connection* (* happens with HDMI connection as well)

Apple Studio, Ventura 13.5 M1 Chip, 32 GB RAM

BenQ Display GW2283 attached (primary display)

1 TB HD with about 850 MB free

Wacom Driver 6.4.3-2 (one new update available)

 

What I've done to troubleshoot:

- Replaced USB c cable with HDMI (both Wacom supplied cables)

- Removed Wacom Drivers (manually) and reinstalled

- Run Ps on the BenQ but it's sRGB only anyway, so all you will see is sRGB

- Tried various other USB c ports on the Studio

- Switched the image colour space to sRGB in Ps then back again

- Have looked at the same images on the Cintiq in Illustrator, Bridge and Preview (I believe Preview will only display sRGB anyway, so that might not be a valid test) - the behaviour is not exhibited in those programs - only in Photoshop

 

Of Note:

- How I determined it was switching to sRGB mode is that when I drag Ps onto the BenQ (an sRGB display only), the colours look identical to when the image flashes on the Cintiq, except of course on the BenQ they are stable in this condition.

- I'm not exactly sure when this started but my gut feeling is that it started back in the Spring but has gotten worse since.

- I first noticed it on very saturated paintings (usually with a lot of red and/or blue, which is strange to me since sRGB and aRGB envelopes are quite close together at these points), however, I'm not certain this is really a criteria. It may just be less noticeable at other points in the spectrum

 

I'm hoping someone here might have an idea or two as to where to look or go with this. As I say, I'm not sure if this is a Photoshop thing or a Wacom thing (as in the Cintiq starting to fail - not an impossibility). I can't submit this as a bug because I'm really not sure it is, but my reason for posting here is in hopes that someone may have an idea as to what I might do next (other than scrapping the Cintiq, hopefully 🥴). Ok, thanks very much for any ideas. Much appreciated. Frankly, I won't be surprised if no one has any ideas because this has to be one of the weirder issues I've encountered in 20 years of using Ps, and that's fair. Thanks anyway.

 

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2 replies

August 29, 2023

Ok, ignore the last post I made with the severe magenta cast (the one with the 2 screen shots). This was the first time I was using the Object Selection Tool and it caught me off guard with the mask that it makes when selecting an object. In fact, this is not part of the issue I was seeing (see original post here) and is normal behaviour. Sorry for the confusion (and even sorrier I still haven't taken up drinking - at least then there would be an excuse 🥺😁).

August 29, 2023

Removed by author. This was normal behaviour. See post below. Thanks.