P: brush cursors not working on 2011 Mac/MacBook Air (OS X 10.7.x Lion)

[TheRemnant]

I'm running CS5 version 12.0.4 on a 2011 MacBook Air and the brushes do not work when resized between approx 300 - 650 in size. I don't know if this is a bug but the issue occurs in Lightroom as well. Please advise when an update will be issued to fix this. The software is pretty much useless to me with this issue affecting it.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hello everyone! I have a problem with the Brush tool. Sometimes after I use Control + Option + Mouse Drag to adjust the size and hardness of a brush, the brush circle in the canvas would disappear. The cursor doesn't disappear but if I left click the mouse, The strokes always appear in the wrong place (It doesn't appear under the cursor) . It's Photoshop CS5.1 is running on Mac OS X 10.7.2. Much thanks!!

[p_m23026672]

Thanks for the workaround!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Im on Lion OSX 10.7.2 MacBook Pro Early 2011 model

Im sorry if this is of no help at all, but some tinkering around i have found that the cursor jumps down and right when the brush is in between sizes 24.2 and 43.3 (inclusive).
Ofdd i know, but it works. change it to a size not in that range and it works fine.

[HlynurIS]

I have the same problem with lightroom on my Macbook Pro 13"

It seams like the more panes you hide and the more towards "fullscreen" you go, the more of the adjustment brush range goes bad.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I thought I would try Pixelmator and see if the brushes problem was there. It isn't. This clearly shows that this huge problem is not just an Apple graphics driver problem as Adobe would like you to believe.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

No, it shows that Pixelmator is drawing their cursors in a slightly different way.

This problem affects multiple applications that don't share code (just particular, necessary API calls), and only on certain GPUs. The problem is in the driver software, which can only be fixed by Apple.

[HlynurIS]

I'm running a 13" macbook pro
In lightroom 3.5 for mac, the propper cursor disappears when i use the adjustment brush. If i hide the left (navigator) pane it reappears. When i say it disappears I mean it changes into the regular mouse icon and the changes it makes, all happen a little down to the left from the mouse icon.

I have seen similar posts about the macbook air but nothing about the pro

Lightroom version: 3.5 [775451]
Version: 10.7 [2]
Application architecture: x64
Physical processor count: 4
Processor speed: 2.3 GHz
Built-in memory: 4096.0 MB
Real memory available to Lightroom: 4096.0 MB
Real memory used by Lightroom: 1247.7 MB (30.4%)
Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 3482.9 MB
Memory cache size: 814.8 MB
Displays: 1) 1280x800

[HlynurIS]

My problem was merged into this one, it is exactly the same as the others, but i seem to be the only one using a Macbook Pro in here... Just to see if this is the correct queue for me?

[p_m23026672]

No worries Hlynur--I have a MacBook Pro with the same issue. It is apparently a problem between the new Mac OS and Photoshop and Lightroom.

I hope they fix it soon!!!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

As noted several times above, this is a bug in the MacOS video card drivers.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Abandon Your hope. The problem is at least 3 months old and we had OsX updates since then. Nothing has changed.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

A question to the Adobe guys in here... As Maciej highlights, Apple aren't giving this issue much of a priority. Are you looking at a work-around in the way that you draw cursors that will get us back on the road?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

We have looked, and talked to the Apple engineers about cursor drawing. The only "work around" would require rewriting half of Apple's graphics stack.

Apple needs to fix their bugs.
Of course, they seem to give higher priority to bugs that customers report.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Thanks for the response Chris.

I've already raised the bug with Apple via the customer report system (http://www.apple.com/feedback/) but I've no idea how much weight they give to that - we certainly don't get any feedback. Not a registered developer so I haven't put anything into that system (though there's a thought...).

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

There is something wrong with the adjustment brush. The mouse doesn't change into the circle and when I click on the photo it doesn't show up in the place I click, if it even shows up at all...I can't move it, click it, or use it.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I'm using a Macbook Pro and I'm having this problem. You are not alone.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I have a Macbook Pro 13" Mac OS X Version 10.7.2

[Lito T-F]

What a nightmare! Thanks to Chris Cox, the Adobe employee, for hanging in there with patient replies. The only light at the end of the tunnel that I can see comes from folks who say that with a second monitor attached, the bush cursors start working again. When I get home to my studio I have a second monitor and will immediately try to see if this works. But of course, the reason one gets a lightweight laptop like the MacBook Air is to take it on trips and work while away from home and studio. Given the time this problem has been around, it seems like buying my MacBook Air is one of the worst computer purchases i have ever made.
Here is one more wrinkle on the problem, for someone like Chris Cox, to think about. Yesterday, I uninstalled Photoshop CS5 from my MacBook Air, and then installed a brand new copy. Voila! everything worked for almost 24 hours, and then, this afternoon, the brush cursor problem was back. So that was not the answer. But perhaps someone can figure out why things worked correctly for almost a day before the problems reoccurred. By the way, they never went away in my up-to-date copy of Lightroom. I have bookmarked this page in the hopes that some news will appear here... It seems to me that Apple is not going to take this problem seriously until some really important users, or large firms, really bug them. Lowly end users, be they graphic designers or publishers like me, tend to feel their voices are not heard.
Thanks to all. Lito Tejada-Flores, Western Eye Press

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Rafael- Your observation that the brush problem disappeared after a fresh reinstall is very interesting and does not suggest that a fix will require "rewriting half of Apple's graphics stack". This problem will be solved when BOTH offending companies take responsibility for the problem and work out a fix. And frankly I don't care if it's a massive kludge just so long as we can start again to use Photoshop on some of the new Mac laptops.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

We've done our research that indicated it has to be an Apple bug, and Apple agrees that this has to be their bug. We can't even find a reasonable work around (yes, we tried).

Yes, we'd love to see a fix, but Adobe cannot fix bugs in Apple's video card drivers.

No, I have no idea why it worked for a time and then broke - but I don't know the details of the bug in Apple's driver code.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

If we wanted to bring this to Apple's attention, where would we post the complaint?? If someone could please post the link that would be great.

[J453]

As Dave states in the official response, they're aware of the issue. We'll let folks know when it's been addressed.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I've been having a problem with LR and PS using brush sizes, meaning, lets say in LR I'm using the adj brush and start resizing the brush, it will turn to an arrow when it gets above 12.4 but goes back to a circle when it gets to 24.4. Also when it's an arrow if you try to use it will work but the actual adj will be below the arrow. This is also happening in PS the same way. I do have a Wacom Intros 4 wireless, I thought it was it at first but it does it with the mouse too. I haven't reinstalled both programs, but do you think it's really both programs or a setting?

[David Dobish]

We are still actively working with Apple on this issue. I am sorry that I cannot offer any more on this issue than that. We and Apple are well aware of the problem and are working on a solution. When we can share more, like timing we will be sure to do that here.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I've just started using photoshop v12.1 CS5 extended, and I'm getting a strange bug where the brush resize commands, '[' and ']' work for either really large brush sizes or really small brush sizes, but in between, it merely moves the brush point over, which results in an odd jump. The brush does not paint where the cursor is, but jumps in a downward right diagonal once the brush is clicked.