P: Bridge to Camera Raw 16.3 Masking Brush tool's work is not retained.

[geedee6]

If you make or modify any mask using the Brush tool, then you leave ACR and then open it again, the brush tool's work is not retained. Other masking tools like gradients and person selection seem ok on their own, however if you try to modify ANY mask with the Brush, it disregards the mods made with the brush when saving and relaunching ACR.

e.g., use the Masking brush tool to brighten a face; close ACR. Return to ACR to make other adjustments, and realize the face you masked and it's brighter settings are not there, so you have to repeat your work and immediately export it in order to keep the results. However, any return to ACR requires starting over...

This was with Canon .CR3 files, but it also failed with a .NEF used for testing purposes.

I've tested on 2 mac computers with the same results. On my older mac, I tested before I updated from ACR 16.2.1 to 16.3 and the other mac was already on 16.3 when I noticed the problem.

(Newer) M1 MBPro Mac's Adobe apps are current:

ACR 16.3

MacOS 13.6.6

Bridge 14.1

PS 25.9.0

(Older) Late 2013 MBPro has:

ACR 16.2.1 initially (and working correctly), and then I specifically updated ACR to 16.3 (brush masking tool fails) to prove my theory.

MacOS 11.7.10

Bridge 13.0.5

P 25.4

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

I have tested with CR3 and DNG, using the Camera Raw Plugin, and I am not able to reproduce this issue. 

Are you using the Camera Raw Plugin or Camera Raw as a filter?

[tikastor]

I can confirm this issue. Everyone at work is experiencing this issue in some form. We're all using latest Bridge 14.1 and ACR 16.3 versions, on MacOS and Windows. We open ACR through Bridge to edit our work. Not sure exactly how it happens. Sometimes it saves the brushes, sometimes it won't. I've personnally noticed brushes with Density below 100% are most likely to get erased after saving. Others at work have lost all masks, even the gradient ones. DNG, NEF, CR3, all problematic.

Hope this get fixed soon, we're downgrading for now!

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

@geedee6 

Are you also opening CR from Bridge as is @tikastor ?

[peterg2036972]

I am experiencing this issue as well.  Updated ACR a few days ago now this!  I am opening Camera Raw through Bridge to edit RAW files as is typical in my work flow.

I just downgraded Bridge but seems like the issue is in ACR.  Going to try downgrading ACR next but options from the below page are limited.  Seems you can only downgrade from ACR 16.3 to 14.5. What happened to version 15?

https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-in-installer.html

So I just downgraded ACR and now I can save my brush masks adjustments.  Seems like the issue in ACR 16.3 may be related to the new AI mask feature.  When I opened my file in ACR 14.5 it said all AI masks had to be updated and after clicking OK I had access to my first mask.  I don't recall having used AI mask though in the first place.

[dencon]

I've read similar posts regarding this issue (from 2023), but no apparent solution. 

I've been loving the masking tool in Camera Raw (CR) until recently.

Sequence of events: from Bridge to CR, lately when I "open as object" to Photoshop (PS). then go back & forth from CR to PS to make a masking addition or change, some completely disappear., especially the most recent.  My workaround at that point is to cancel CR and continue with masking in PS. 

My attempts to resolve: I've saved the image, closed everything, updated NVidia Driver, updated windows, Photoshop 2024 (try beta, no change), Camera Raw, etc. and when I go back to work on the same image, it's the same issue. This is not a one-off. It has been happening with other images. Very strange. Any solutions here? 

NVIDIA GForce RTX 3036

Processor 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700K, 3600 Mhz, 12 Core(s), 20 Logical Processor(s)

32 gigs RAM

Windows 11 Pro

Need any other info?

thanks, Dennis

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

To those on this thread who are using a Bridge > Camera Raw workflow could you please provide step-by-step instructions for repeating the failure?

1.

2.

3.

4.

[peterg2036972]

I tried opening directly from Photoshop but the issue continues.  It doesn’t seem to be Bridge related.  it is ACR itself.  Only by downgrading to ACR 14.5 am I able to use masking normally without my adjustments disappearing.

[paolobrignone]

got same problem in windows 11 x64 machine. 

1  open raw image from richt click->camera raw

2 du stuff ...AND MASKS

3 close camera raw

4 im bridge preview i see alla changes except masks

5 re open the same raw images, but the masks are not been saved and they are missing.

6 same stuff appens if i open in/from photoshop, masks disappears.

it semms that the plugin doesn't save/create .acr files. if i open a raw edited with a previus version of acr i can see and edit masks, but with new images it dows't work as told.

i'asked for a ACR dwngrade but the operator sent me a ARM 64 version and no a x64 version of 16.0. 

my work is stopped and i'm terrible late.

Help

[ANA37642422r19v]

I am having this exact same problem. Any solution yet?

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Thank you for the step-by-step instructions, @paolobrignone . 

Unfortunately, I am unable to replicate this on Mac or Windows. 
The Preview in Bridge updates and reopening the file has all the edits intact. 

[tikastor]

Yes, I'll list you some steps for clarity.
1. Open Bridge
2. Go to a folder with your photos
3. Select multiple photos to edit
4. Right click > "Open in Camera Raw..."
5. Add multiple masks to each photo using different tools, like gradient and brushes. From my personal testing, brushes I've worked the most with are most likely to be erased. Try different Density, try adding and erasing multiple times, try the Add and Substract functions for each layers.
6. Click "Done"
Expected results: All masks are saved
Actual results: Some masks are not saved

[tikastor]

And you don't need to reopen them, you should be able to see the missing masks in the preview thumbnails.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

@tikastor  I've tried your steps and the thumbnails update as soon as I close Camera Raw and the images retain their edits when reopening. 

I've tried Mac (14.5) and Win 10. I've tried single and multiple images selects. I've tried single masks and multiple masks per image. 

I am still not able to reproduce. 

[tikastor]

Alright, I just reproduced it again, let me update the steps. It's a lot simpler to reproduce.
1. Open Bridge
2. Go to a folder with your photos
3. Select a single photo to edit
4. Right click > "Open in Camera Raw..."
5. Add a single mask with a brush. Vary the Density of the brush so that you have some areas at 100 and others down to 0
6. Click "Done"
Expected results: The brush of the mask is saved
Actual results: The mask is still there, but the brush is missing

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

@tikastor  I was able to reproduce with the last set of instructions - Thank you. I will log a ticket for the Camera Raw team to investigate

[Erik Bloodaxe]

In Step 5 I find it unnecessary to vary the density of the brush to replicate this issue. No mask is saved at all whatever I do with the brush tool.

Other masking tools seem to work fine or at least I have not noticed any which do not.

This is using Windows 11.

[tikastor]

@Erik Bloodaxe With further testing, only a mask using a 100 Density brush will be saved, anything under 100 won't be saved.

[Erik Bloodaxe]

In my case 100% density brush masks fail to save too.

[saraceno_media]

Thank you for investigating. I just downloaed and tried the Beta version of Bridge with the same results: no brushs are saved. Similar workflow as mentioned above. This started occurring about 7 days ago for me.

MacBook Pro, 2019

Processor: 2.4 Ghz 8-Core i9

OS: Sonoma 14.4.1

Graphics: AMD Radeon Pro 5500M

8GB

Intel UHD Graphics 630

15.36 MB

Memory: 64GB 2667 Mhz DDR4

[dangiordan]

Confirming same issues as reported by others:

1- Open DNG in Bridge

2- Select Mask tool, choose Brush as option, paint mask and make modifications

3- Apply linear gradient mask, subtract parts of gradient mask with transparent brush

4- Apply corrections in the main Edit mode 

5- Select Done

6- View image in Bridge, all edits update in the Bridge preview except the stand-alone brush masks and the brush subtractions from the linear gradient. The linear gradient itself is saved. but none of the brush mods

If I create brush mask and open the file in PS the mask is applied, BUT the brush mask is not saved to the DNG

Im running Mac OS 14.5, Bridge v14.1.0.257, Camera Raw v16.3.0.1866.

Thanks,

: D

[alexanderschmidt]

I came across this problem recently and it drove me nuts. So good to see, I'm not alone with this. It seems to happen pretty randomly and I cannot reproduce the issue by following mentioned steps. However, it's happening more often, when having 5+ masks and when complex masks are involved (f.i. ai masks, intersected masks) .

I'm on Mac OS 12.7.5, Bridge v14.1.0.257, Camera Raw v16.3.0.1866

I see, that there is an update for ACR 16.3.1. Is this fixing anything or just adding camera models? I'm asking, as I'm really cautious with updates now. Every darn second or third update my workflow is broken, because there is a bug or the performance is beyond feeble.

[tikastor]

The latest version 16.3.1 of ACR fixed this issue for me.
Thanks Adobe Team!

[alexanderschmidt]

I have worked for a couple of hours with Version 16.3.1 without losing masks so far. Seems to be fixed.

Now, it would be cool to get back the brush and repair tool performance from past versions. It lags as hell. But that's another (neverending) story.