New mask tool slows down speed with too many steps to make a simple dodge/burn-- workaround?

[wha234]

Is there any way to bypass the new mask tool to bring back the basic functionality of the brush and gradient tools? As a photographer who needs speed with editing, it is now too many steps just to quickly dodge/burn an area. Apprecaitely the masking options, but to take away easily accessing these tools is a step backward in speed. The whole point of Lightroom is to be able to edit quickly- Photoshop is for the more advanced stuff. The masking panel that pops up is irritating is frustrating in terms of workflow. As I try to edit I am now slowed down having to take extra steps just to do an adjustment that was quick before. Would love to bypass this-- access the tools without the mask layer and still have the mask layer option if need be. Anyone have ideas? This has been so frustrating and I will likely go back to LR10 for the time being becasue it is costing me so much time. 

[SeanMcCormack]

There won't be any going back to a LRC10 style local adjustments. 

It requires two clicks for a dodge layer, and two clicks for a burn layer. Click Mask and select Brush for the first, then Create New Mask and select Brush for the second. 10 would've been click brush and then click new, but you'd still need to edit the settings. So it's not exactly a huge jump. The masking panel is far better than the pins system before, where you didn't know which pin did what. You can dock it to the panel or move it around. 

What are you doing that is making so many extra steps? 

[wha234]

Thanks for your response! Before, I would just click the brush tool and my previous adjustments were already there and I'd apply as needed since my exposures are generally pretty on, a general setting worked well for most of my images so I didn't need to adjust the settings very much. Wasn't worried about the pins. I could just create more adjustments if needed. In photoshop, I find the masks/layers certainly helpful, but for Lightroom it is for editing a lot more volume (been using since it first came out).  

I also use editing buttons so I had a way to quickly jump to the brush tool and had no issues using it on another section because of the editing button to quickly jump. I figured out how to jump to it just now (had to assign the K key to my button), but everything is much slower with this masking panel and I'm on a brand new Mac with 128gb of ram. I need speed with editing. I get how the layers can be really cool, but it feels like you guys are trying to turn Lightroom into Photoshop and that is costing speed and a bit of frustration with the ease of use as more and more panels and options exist. Any extra click or scroll is time lost when editing a lot of images.  I also use the radial filters a lot and now the copy and paste is kinda wonky if I use the brush option first, I have to change the selections of which mask to copy because the masks are numbered based on the order in which you make them? 

[Earth Oliver]

Make sure you change the Reset Sliders Automatically setting if you want to keep the previous settings.

And unfortunately, Classic is no longer being designed with volume processing in mind. More than likely, Adobe has metrics that indicate these users are too small of a percentage to consider when implementing new features and workflows. Even though we spend more time using the application every day/week/month than all other users, the number of us is smaller, so we're less of a priority. It's incredibly frustrating.

[Bob Somrak]

Use a shortcut.  

[wha234]

Thanks. I did that on my editing buttons software which helps, but still finding this very frustrating and more time consuming. My Mask panel also keeps defaulting to the same spot despite me moving it to a better spot and the pins-- despite saying always show- don't show up so I have to keep clicking over to the mask panel to access the pin. Not sure how else to remedy this. I know it seems petty, but with volume editing all of the extra moves or distance the mouse has to move adds up and slows everything down. 

[GoldingD]

Also, om masking panel, at bottom, that pesky auto reset sliders button, turn off.

[SeanMcCormack]

This is a really good call @GoldingD. It's probably one of the more annoying defaults. In some ways it mirrors how previous versions would go back to how the sliders were when you created the last adjustment, rather than the settings you created. Another annoying behaviour. 

[GoldingD]

P.S. a very good vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Fld8eEHsE

[wayneheim]

I agree!! I use multiple radial adjustments in many of my edits. I usually can just click and drag out a new one. Now there are so many more steps to do the same thing and adjusting the radial area and feather is quite a bit slower. Working with 100mp images and there is a lag where before there was no lag. Yes I know you can use the short cut but that means using 2 hands for what you could do with one before. Working on a laptop you don't always have 2 hands at the ready for shortcuts. I like the added features but editing thousands of images from a shoot will take much longer now. Sure would be nice to have access to both. Brobably going to have to go back to old version for the bulk of editing. 

Wayne

[wha234]

Agree. I have a shortcut, but it is still more cumbersome. My imac is brand new, 128gb of ram and there is a slight lag still with this tool. It feels as though they are trying to make this like Photoshop, but at the expense of ease and speed. As a professional photographer, I find this move frustrating without an option to easily access how it was before. I have colleagues who upgraded and immediately went back to an old version out of frustration. 

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Make sure you give this feature request a vote: 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/p-masking-reduce-number-of-clicks-kbscs-to-pe... 

[rsemic]

I agree completely.  I do real estate photography which by virtue of residential interiors, a fair bit of brush and radial gradiants are required.  The new Masking Panel seems to be an Adobe come Apple "Just do anything to make a change in the product weather it is usefull or not" kind of thing.  Very slow and cumbersom, especially when you want to erase part of the mask.  Totally useless change in the program.

[jrsforums]

I find the new masking great (ok maybe a little fine tuning necessary).  I think performance may depend on your base hardware.  I have a fairly fast cpu and fast (nvidia 1080 GPU), which may be the reason (maybe an Adobe person can comment on GPU effect on masking performance).

as far as multiple keystrokes, there are many more than shown above.  If you can't remember them all (as I can't), I highly recommend a Stream Deck XL.

[jrsforums]

I should have also included a recommendation for Loupedeck Live or (better) CT.  A bit pricey, but well worth it and contains more function than Stream Deck.  Actually, I use both.