"Paint Fills" Mode Not Working Properly

[AnScathMarcach]

The "Paint Fills" brush mode is supposed to paint ONLY on top of already filled objects, right? And that's exactly what I want to do, I want to change the color of a certain part of my drawing by painting over it without messing up the already defined shape. But when I use the Paint Fills mode, it seems to operate exactly the same as the "Paint Normal" Mode. The only way I can get the result I want is by putting the brush in the "Paint Selection" mode and select the colored line I want to paint over.

Before:

Paint Normal Mode:

Paint Fills Mode:

Paint Selection Mode (the result I wanted and thought Paint Fills was supposed to accomplish):

I am using Windows 10 Home, 64-bit and Adobe Animate CC 16.2.0.24.

[robdillon]

From the options showing in your Tools palette, it looks like you're using a tablet. If you disconnect the tablet and try the Paint Inside brush mode with a mouse, does that work correctly? If that's the case then you may need to update the driver for your tablet.

[AnScathMarcach]

With the mouse and the tablet unplugged it still does not work correctly.

[robdillon]

I'm using an iMac with an Intuos 4 tablet and a Macbook Pro and both work correctly using the same version of Animate as you have installed. If this is a new installation, you may want to reset your Preferences: FAQ: How do I reset Flash professional to default configurations and preferences?

[AnScathMarcach]

I followed the instructions to reset preferences, but I'm not sure if I did it right. I held down Shift+Ctrl+Alt and opened Animate, it brought up a "Do you want this program to make changes to your computer" dialogue. I clicked Yes.

I tried the Paint Fills option again, with the mouse, and it's still acting the same as the Paint Normal mode.

Since I wasn't sure if it worked or not, I tried again with the alternative way, pushing Shift+Ctrl+Alt immediately after opening Animate, and nothing seemed to happen.

I tested the Paint Fills mode again, and still had the same result.

I never did see a prompt to reset preferences.

[robdillon]

If you didn't see the  prompt then your Preferences file was not reset. Try it again.

[AnScathMarcach]

Nothing I do seems to be working.

I am using two monitors, maybe the prompt was bumped offscreen? That happens with a lot of things and causes problems.

[robdillon]

I don't use Windows so I can't help you with that. Here's some additional information on Preference files: Re-create preferences

You should be able to go in and manually remove the file.

[AnScathMarcach]

Okay, I successfully removed the files, and it looks like everything has been reset. But still no luck on the Paint Fills mode.

[robdillon · Accepted solution]

OK, I just re-read your first message. I mistakenly thought that you were having a problem with Paint Inside. Paint Fills will paint on a filled area of a object and any blank space on the stage, as you show. So to get the effect that you want to see, use Paint Inside. Here's an article on the different paint modes: Using Paint Brush Modes | Creating Graphics in Adobe Flash CS4 | InformIT

[Colin Holgate]

I did some tests with Windows 10, and only one monitor. The first time I tried control-alt-shift I got the same dialog you saw, where Windows asked if the Adobe program was allowed to make changes. Like you I clicked Yes, and the preferences were so much reset that it showed me the Trial startup screen. I was able to use the Register option to make work again.

Further attempts to hold control-alt-shift didn't have any effect. No Windows dialog appeared, and preferences seemed not to be affected.

The preferences are in these locations:

C:\Users\colin\AppData\Local\Adobe\

C:\Users\colin\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\

'AppData' is a hidden folder, the easiest way to get into it is to type the path in Windows Explorer. Of course, change the 'colin' part to be your own user name.

Once you are in those two folders you can delete the two Animate folders, they will get recreated when you next open Animate. If you have another version of Animate you want to keep as is, and not reset its preferences, go into the Animate folder and only delete the 2017 folder, if there is one.

Doing it that way did successfully reset my preferences, so maybe you will have success too.