P: Brush Outline/Circle disappearing when working with masks

Report · Dec 04, 2021

There is already a discussion in the community "Brush Outline/Circle disappearing intermittently (NOT CAPS LOCK) ". But since I have figured out in detail how to reproduce the behavior and when it becomes present, I want to report the issue officialy that Adobe hopefully will fix this in one of the next upcoming patch releases.

OS Environment:

Win 10 Pro 64bit 21H1
Adobe Ps 23.0.2

The issue is only present in combination when using Masks on a layer!

Create a new document (white, black or transparent layer)
Add a Mask to the layer
Select the layer OR the mask (independent on what you want to paint)
Select the brush tool
Try to start moving the mouse quickliy and pressing the left mouse button nearly at the same time and keep the mouse button pressed
Try to repeat until the you get locked in the issue and the brush circle disappears and the mouse arrow becomes visible

When working with a mouse as input device, the chance to facing this issue is probably rare because this kind of operation, moving the mouse and clicking the button nearly at the same time is kindly unnatural.

But it looks different when using a pen tablet as input device, because now it becomes a more natural operation when hover the pen toward the tablet surface and then drop down onto the surface to start painting.

Kind regards

Report · Feb 25, 2023

@Jqqerry: Yeah, minutes in 23.5.4, i notice a bug i didn't have in 24.0... For some reason sometimes while drawing the brush stop tracing strokes for 10 seconds or so without reason. Go figure. Got to go back to 24.0 I guess.
It's still puzzling how we have to choose between bugs regarding the MOST FONDAMENTAL parts of an art software. I guess it's less important than whatever deepfake filter Adobe wants to push this month.

Report · Feb 25, 2023

@Jqqerry Remember that you can install several versions, and, on a Mac, open them concurrently...

Report · Feb 25, 2023

@PECourtejoie Oh My main device is Window OS. (Mac is only tethering when take photoshoot preview for client)
I have installed all photoshop for each year from 2014cc to the present. So I leave the version I need or I'm satisfied with.(Or A version worth using at the risk of any bugs reasonably)

haha...

@jeromea13244388 That's too bad. You use a lot of brushes, so you must be working in painting or drawing. I'm sure the cursor is a lot of course.

Report · Feb 25, 2023

@Jqqerry: Indeed I work in illustration for kids magazine mostly, and a bit of comics so I need to be able to draw in the software. It's Adobe's luck that I never managed to master CSP actually or i'd have jumped ship already 😄

Report · Feb 25, 2023

@jeromea13244388 I'm also a retoucher, a commercial person who uses a lot of brushes (cursors). I also wrote on the Photoshop Beta Forum a few days ago, but I wrote a post calling for optimization so that people who use Photoshop as a real job can be excluded from the inconvenience. (Or you can disable any option yourself to speed it up, or more reliably)...
The introduction of Adobe Sensei to Photoshop (and other Adobe programs) has made it convenient, which can also be a good starting point for first-time newbies (general people, hobbies), but it's always a pity that if you're one in 100 Photoshop experiences, the other 99 won't stay right. Honestly, I'd like to use an older version. For example, 2015.5 or CS6.
However, in order for Photoshop's HIDPI scaling to be applied properly, you have to use at least 2018 version, and you have to determine which bugs have been fixed, and which bugs from that version are acceptable to use...
It's true that every update is expected and awaited, but it's also true that it's hard for someone in a daily Photoshop profession to go through the process. =(

Report · Feb 27, 2023

I upgraded to version 24.0 and it was fine for two days. The arrow never appeared. It started showing up today. I don't know what to do anymore.

5 years of using photoshop and there were no problems and now this problem. I do not know if there are any alternatives to this program, but I will probably wait another month, if the problem is not solved, I change the software to another.

Report · Feb 28, 2023

I don't know if this is helpful, but today I noticed that the arrow disappears when I'm painting and I have the layer preview panel open. When I close the panel, the arrow while painting reappears. If that was the solution, it could work like this. I will watch it.

Report · Feb 28, 2023

@Przemek27842062wc9o Very Interesting! It's not easy to test it because I always keep the layer window open, but it's a good discovery.
It could be related.

Report · Mar 07, 2023

@Przemek27842062wc9o by "layer preview panel", do you mean the Navigator panel or simply the Layers panel? There is no "layer preview panel" listed in the app.

Report · Mar 07, 2023

Layers panel, where you can move the layer thumbnails from top to bottom. I've been painting for a few days now with the layers panel open and the white arrow not showing up, so I think this is a solution for me. As soon as I close the panel, the arrow appears, always.

The open panel doesn't bother me because I usually paint pictures with a lot of layers and thanks to that I can switch them quickly.

Report · Mar 07, 2023

@Chad Rolfs What he says is like a layer panel. A layer panel that lets you add and manage Layer Mask and Adjustment Layer.
But I can't deactivate and test it because I always use a layer panel. =(

Report · Mar 11, 2023

Window10, Window11 (I Have 2 PC)

MY photoshop Version is 24.2(2023)

As I wrote in the title, the round shape of the brush disappears and turns into a white arrow. And it comes back when I stop painting the brush. (It's not just a BRUSH, also cloneSTAMP)

It's very uncomfortable. Please Fix..

Report · Mar 11, 2023

Is what you're going through similar to this?

https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshop/comments/thvjkd/brush_keeps_turning_into_mouse_cursor_when_i/

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-bugs/p-brush-outline-circle-disappearing-when-wor...

If this is correct, most users will experience that bug since 24.1 (same with me). The temporary workaround is to roll back to 24.0.
However, some users are also experiencing the bug in 24.0 (even the Reddit link I attached was uploaded a year ago).
So you'll have to find the right version for you.

Report · Mar 15, 2023

This bug persists in 24.2.1. Window10

As I wrote before, the solution that "at least for me" didn't cause this bug 100% was to install 24.0.
Some users had to install 2022.

I hope it will be fixed in the next version 24.3.

Report · Mar 23, 2023

Ah is this an old bug? First of all, I don't have this problem in 24.0. All other versions of 2023 (including 24.3) get this arrow bug. It's very uncomfortable. Does anyone know when this is fixed?

Report · Mar 25, 2023

@Ku290263886mpa For me the bug is here already in 24.0 but much less present, yet it's tedious when trying to draw fast strokes. Also it does seem to depend on zoom levels (?).
Not sure if it's related to what @Przemek27842062wc9o said but I notice that the layers+history menus tend to flicker when the file/canvas slides under them while drawing. Weird.

To be honest there are all kinds of weird bugs (weird because they concern basic tools) : drawing lagging when you rotate canvas, move tool not working when you try to move selections on too short distances with the mouse (you have to use your keyboard's arrow keys), transformation tool not working properly when you type ctrl+h (hiding the transformation controls)... It seems so random, I don't know how to keep track of the bugs, I hope they'll get solve in the April update.

Report · Mar 25, 2023

Seems like I'll need to roll back to 24.0 to get rid of this pervasive bug. Really annoying and kills my momentum when it shows up.

Report · Mar 25, 2023

I'm worried that this has been merged into an existing thread.
Cursor issues with current 24.0 and later versions have nothing to do with layer masks...
In fact, using a brush or clone stamp on a blank layer or on a regular layer without a layer mask often causes this problem.
So I hope this issue will be fixed soon, but I think the fix will be delayed because it was merged into a thread, not the same topic.

Report · Apr 18, 2023

@jeromea13244388 Hi. Is 24.4 released in your country by any chance?
We need to check if this has been fixed in 24.4.

Report · Apr 18, 2023

@Jqqerry: No, there's still only 24.3 available. I think the versions are available for everyone at the same time.

Report · Apr 18, 2023

@jeromea13244388 I'm still waiting, too. (I still see only 24.3 as well.) If this isn't fixed this season, it's probably a lot behind the priorities... I'm worried. I'm still at 24.0.

Report · Apr 20, 2023

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/fixed-issues.html

Oh no... It was excluded from this update.
If you're a user who rarely uses a brush or clone stamp, you might want to update it to 24.4.1, but if you don't, you still have no choice but to keep the PS2022 version 24.0 or earlier.
It's very unfortunate.

Also, I don't know why this is merged into this thread. This bug has nothing to do with the mask.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/cursor-disappears-when-use-brush-or-c...

And I don't know why I moved the bug post to the Discussions tab.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-bugs/cursor-issue-in-photoshop/idc-p/13700977#M80...

And there are people who are experiencing this bug in Mac OS as well as Windows OS.

Retoucher and Painter will not be able to use the latest version, at least if this bug is not resolved.

Report · Apr 21, 2023

@Jqqerry @PECourtejoie So I updated to 24.4.1 and 1-the bug of the brush flickering to mouse arrow is STILL HERE and 2-there's even a new absolutely annoying bug : the drop shadow behind the canvas gets darker EVERY TIME you draw a stroke. So it's like you have a flickering shadow behind your image when you're drawing. What the heck ? This bug doesn't seem to happen right away, you have to click on a layer on the layers panel first (?).
The funniest thing ? I don't even have "drop shadow" enabled on the screen modes in Preferences>Interface (never had -first time I see shadows behind my canvas).

COULD YOU PLEASE FIX (ALL OF) THIS ????

Report · Apr 21, 2023

@jeromea13244388 Yes. I didn't find a shadow bug. In fact, I installed 24.4.1 and tested the brush a few times (it took less than 20 seconds) and I boldly rolled back to 24.0 after checking that the bug was still not fixed.
As updates are released, there are more reasons to use/want to use the latest version as several major/minor bugs are fixed, but if I'm a user who doesn't use Brush and CloenStamp at all... The latest versions of my work are not available at all. All my team members also rolled back.

Report · Apr 21, 2023

The shadow bug appears and disappears. It seems very inconsistent and you have to click on a new layer in the layers menu for it to show, apparently, so maybe you didn't stick long enough for it to show. Anyway it sill doesn't explain why I had a drop shadow behind the canvas in the first place when it's disabled in the preferences.