Brush stroke offset Photoshop Beta/2025 Mac Sonoma/Logitech MX Master 3s

[phonoline]

Hi there,

I have had an issue with PS and my Logitech mouse (MX Master 3s, Bluetooth) and before that with another Logitech mouse (cable) and the PS brushes. When I set up the brush I need and start drawing, it is not only very slow but not precise at all at the edge. It is at least a couple of pixels offset and I can't really be precise in my work anymore. I have used PS for ages, I know what I am doing, but this I can't explain.

Does anyone else experiences this?

I use a MacBookPro mid 2024 with Sonoma 14.6.1 and 32GB RAM, more than 200GB space left, the newest PS versions, the Logitech drivers are up-to-date.

Thanks for ANY help here!

Alex

[Trevor.Dennis]

Do you have another mouse you can try?

What zoom ratio are you working at? 

Do you have the cursor set to show cross hairs in Preferences, and is that how you are accessing the offset?

Do you see this with the pencil tool? As in, could it be to do with the brush preset's anti aliasing? 

Do you notice it more with particular presets? i.e. very small presets?

What is the document size in pixels?  What size are the Photoshop Temp files in the root directory of the scratch drive?

Do you have any other pointing devices installed, other than the track pad? i.e. graphics tablet.

What do you see if you stroke a path with the same preset?  Is that dead on ?

Are you seeing poor performance with other tools that use the mouse? i.e. Clone tool

I have the same mouse that I use on a Windows 11 system, but I also have a MacBook Pro M2 Pro, but I have Sequoia installed.  Is it worth my trying the mouse on my MacBook?  It definitely has no lag with the brush tool.  In fact the display is noticably faster than my Windows 11 system, but does not run filters etc. as quickly.

[phonoline]

Do you have another mouse you can try? No, unfortunately not

What zoom ratio are you working at? Right now I am at 200%

Do you have the cursor set to show cross hairs in Preferences, and is that how you are accessing the offset? No, just a regular cursor. I am on a Mac, I have no idea how to change the cursor style. 🙂

Do you see this with the pencil tool? As in, could it be to do with the brush preset's anti aliasing? I see this with the pencil, too, yes. The diameter of the actual drawing is significantly smaller than the diameter of the circle of the brush shows. I can't screenshot this as the circle vanishes as soon as I click the command key. Anti-aliasing is set at 2%. I did that just now and realized that the brush is now faster to work with. So, that problem is solved. But not the difference in the diameter of the brush and the actual diameter drawn.

Do you notice it more with particular presets? i.e. very small presets? I don't understand - can you show screenshots of what you mean?

What is the document size in pixels?  The document itself has more than 5000px in length.

What size are the Photoshop Temp files in the root directory of the scratch drive? I have no idea.

Do you have any other pointing devices installed, other than the track pad? i.e. graphics tablet. No, not that I know of. The trackpad of the MacBook Pro is probably on but I am working with a closed MacBook Pro, an Eizo CG279X and extra keyboard and mouse.

What do you see if you stroke a path with the same preset?  Is that dead on ? I don't think so. It looks like it when you go back to 50% zoom ratio but at 200% you can see the difference in diameter.

Are you seeing poor performance with other tools that use the mouse? i.e. Clone tool Yes, same thing.

I have the same mouse that I use on a Windows 11 system, but I also have a MacBook Pro M2 Pro, but I have Sequoia installed.  Is it worth my trying the mouse on my MacBook?  It definitely has no lag with the brush tool.  In fact the display is noticably faster than my Windows 11 system, but does not run filters etc. as quickly. I have a MacBook Pro M2 Pro as well but with Sonoma. I am not sure if I want to change that right now as I am not sure if some apps (I still use Suitcase Fusion) will still work.

The time lack does not seem to be the issue anymore, I set the anti-aliasing down to 2% and now it's fine. But the difference in the diameter is stunning. And I have no idea where this comes from.

[Trevor.Dennis]

I like to work with a full size brush cursor with cross hairs showing.  This makes it easier to precisely place the brush stroke.  This is especially useful when using Shift to connect a brush stroke.  You can access Preferences with Cmd K

The diameter of the actual drawing is significantly smaller than the diameter of the circle of the brush shows.

By @phonoline

It sounds like you might prefer to use a different cursor as per the screen shot above.

Do you notice it more with particular presets? i.e. very small presets? I don't understand - can you show screenshots of what you mean?

By @phonoline

Remembering that I have different cursor to you, the screen shot below shows

a) A single pixel fully hard brush stroke with its cursor to the right.

b) A large fully hard brush and cursor.  You can see that the cursor matches the brush stroke.

c) A fully soft brush.  Note that the cursor now has a sort of disolve look to it.

d) An irregular preset and its cursor.  The cross hair is not so useful in this situation, but the brush stroke exactly matched the cursor.

OK, I have read the rest of your answer again.  I thought we were talking about an offset where the stroke was in a different position to the cursor, but I think you are just talking about the size.  That is easily fixed by chosing the cursor from Preferences that best suites your style.

I hope that helps.