P: Color Picker ignores current layer inside group with clipping mask

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

For this issue, the color picker has to be set to "Current & Below", or "Current & Below, No Adjustments."

The problem is if you try and color pick your current layer inside a group that has any kind of layer clipped to it, it will ignore your current layer and only pick underneath it. In some areas, it sometimes picks the proper color, but typically it just ignores the current layer. 

The only way to resolve this is to unclip the layer from the group, turning it off doesn't help. This has been verified as a bug in CC 2015.5 and CC 2017, all versions, by both me and a colleague on separate machines, both PC. I haven't tested any other CC versions, but it is NOT an issue in CS6.

Interestingly, on lower resolution files, it sometimes goes away, but it's persistent on higher res files. Also, in SOME documents, changing the sample to 3x3 rather than point, it will pick up the proper color in more areas, but is still glitchy. I wonder if the cache levels on the document might have something to do with it. Also, I removed any plugins and preferences from Photoshop to verify it was not an outside issue. 

Provided here is a link to my test file, but it can be recreated easily. 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25549920/ColorPickerTest.psd


Does anyone have experience with this, is there any kind of fix? I work within groups of this nature all the time, and it's very much a problem. 

Thanks for any help!


RackMultipart201705259720611tv-791451dc-1099-42eb-80b7-4877f8487956-518272322.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25549920/ColorPickerError.jpg

[Earth Oliver]

Yes, there are all sorts of bugs around when you've got a layer clipped to a group.

This is another one of those features which was implemented and then never finished.

[TheArtex]

I was getting annoyed enough by this issue having encountering it so many times before. I narrowed it down exactly as you did finding clipping a layer to a group was the cause, something I like to to with adjustment layers. I'm Using CC 2017.

No actual solutions other than waiting for a bug fix... You might create a blank layer at the top of your group so you can select the above layer to pick the color you need. Not very convenient if you're frequently picking colors though.  

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

This is a known problem going on for years and it's really weird that adobe hasn't yet touched it. 
Basically, using the color picker on ''current and below'' mode while selecting clipping layers inside a group just doesn't do his job and starts ignoring some of the layers or just selecting colors that aren't there, like pure white or black. Has anyone found a workaround for this?

[J453]

Hmm. I'm not able to repro with 20.0.6.



Let me know if I have something set up wrong, or if you have a file you want me to use.

[TheArtex]

it's been so long since I really noticed the issue that I almost thought
it was fixed, and maybe it has been to some extent, but I managed to reproduce it in 20.0.6.

Clipping a layer to a group with multiple layers is the first step, to break the color picking behavior set the blending mode of any of the groups child layers to a mode other than normal. Now the current layer will always be ignored by the color picker and depending on the order of the layer with a blending mode set I've found different color picking behaviors.

Here's a repro file showing the grouped and ungrouped behavior. https://www.dropbox.com/s/0hkgrfoebeld1p0/colorpickerbug.psd?dl=0

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Here. To reproduce the bug i need: a group with a clipping layer on top set into any blending mode. I'm also on 20.0.6

[Earth Oliver]

Yes, i can 100% reproduce. The error occurs when clipping a layer to a group. Layers which are underneath and within the group will sample colors above or below the selected layer depending on the visibility of the surrounding layers. 

Jeff, i also noticed an additional rendering bug when trying to repro this issue. I'll make a report for the new one...

[J453]

OK. Got it. 

[J453]

Thanks