P: Some brush presets only work with certain tools (eraser, brush, clone, etc)

Report · Nov 08, 2017

It's crazy, i want to choose a brushes with my brush tool, and everytime i do so, photoshop switch my tool and select my erase tool or my close stamp tool. Drive me crazy, can't work!
Can someone help me with this one please?

M.

Report · Nov 09, 2017

Have you reset your Prefs? How are you switching tools? With the toolbar or shortcut?

Report · Dec 11, 2017

The brush preset is probably configured to "Include Tool Settings" (a new option in the New Brush dialog which allows you to capture all the settings int the Options Bar as part of the preset). Ensure "Show Additional Preset Info" is on in the flyout menu at the top right of the Brushes panel and you should see the icon of the associated tool shown along with the brush preset. If you want a tool-agnostic brush preset, then uncheck "Include Tool Settings" when creating the preset.

Report · Jan 22, 2018

Hi Mathieu!

I am happy to announce that this issue should be resolved in the release of Photoshop that just went live, 19.1. Please open your Creative Cloud desktop app, update Photoshop and give us feedback.

Thank you,
Hannah

Adobe Blog: Selections Improvements, Advanced Support for Windows High-Density Monitors and More

What's new: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/whats-new.html
What's fixed: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/fixed-issues.html

Instructions for updating: https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/update-app.html

Report · Feb 01, 2018

its still happend for the issue plsssssssss!!!!

Report · Feb 05, 2018

If you have brush presets which are tied to a specific tool, but want to apply them to a different tool, select the tool you want to apply them to then click on the preset while holding down the Cmd+Opt keys (Mac) or Ctrl+Alt keys (Win). This only works on the new 19.1 update.

If you don't want the brush presets associated with specific tools, then uncheck the "Include Tool Settings" checkbox when creating them as previously mentioned.

Report · Mar 22, 2018

I have this problem as well, even after the updates. It's both extremely annoying and a pernicious time suck. The. Worst. "Feature". EVER!!!!!

Report · May 01, 2018

As of today, I am having this issue (PS 19.1.3), nothing seems to resolve it; I have reset PS prefs, reset tools. If I use the clone tool, then switch to brush, choose a new brush, as soon as I do that, it switches back to the clone tool. Right now, it is only the brush tool that is an issue, but the brush tool is completely unusable. VERY frustrating since I have a LOT of work to do and no way to do it. PLEASE fix this issue!

Report · May 01, 2018

How are you switching to a new brush? If you're using the Brush panel, there's a good chance you're selecting a cloner, since they've recently added the option to include tool settings with brushes.
The little icon in the upper right indicates which tool is being applied to the brush...

RackMultipart201805021200625tr-5a404b56-be9b-460b-b658-7a5f07a5df8b-426498176.png

Report · May 02, 2018

OH my gosh!! You are absolutely correct! I didn't know this and didn't notice that the "tool tip" with the brush DOES say (clone stamp tool). As soon as I changed to the General Brush folder and chose a soft round from there, it worked fine. Thank you SO much, I could totally hug you. Thanks....now I have work to do!

Report · Jul 28, 2018

I also now see the little icon but how do you change which tool is being applied?

Report · Jul 28, 2018

Select the tool, then Cmd-Opt (or Ctrl-Alt) + click on the brush you want and it will stick to your tool. It overrides the brush's tool setting.

Report · Jul 28, 2018

Thank you!

Report · Sep 26, 2018

Changes in the way the brush tools work. Now you can't use all the brushes with all the tools. Most brushes only work with certain tools (eraser, brush, clone, etc). Whose bright idea was that? A big step back in functionality!!!!! Raise the price and screw up the tools. Way to go Adobe. A least train your tech support reps to recognize the issue and not waste an hour of my time. Why in the world would you make this change????

Report · Sep 26, 2018

I suggest you read the other comments from an earlier period. You can use brushes with all the tools. If you select a tool that you want to use with a particular brush tip, simply hold down Cmd-Option or Ctrl-Alt when you click on it. Now your eraser or clone stamp uses that brush tip.

I suggest you turn on Show Additional Preset Info in the Brushes panel flyout menu. That will help you identify if you're selecting a brush tip that has other tool settings from the tool you're holding. If no tool was saved with the brush tip, you can use it with any tool. If you see another tool, then use the kbsc to switch the tip to your current tool.

Report · Sep 27, 2018

I tried the suggestion in the top paragraph and that does work. Thank you much! I'm not quite sure what the second paragraph suggests and haven't tried it. It would have been nice if Adobe tech support knew or found out the info in the top paragraph in the hour I was on the phone with them.

Report · Sep 27, 2018

When you turn on Additional Preset Info, you'll see an icon of the tool that the preset was saved with right next to the brush stroke (or dab or name, if that's what you have chosen in the menu to show). If it shows the Mixer Brush icon and you're holding an eraser, you'll instantly know that if you click on that brush tip, your tool will switch to the Mixer Brush. That's very convenient if you want to use it "as designed." You don't have to select the "right" tool first.

It's very inconvenient if you want to use it with the Eraser. So with that info showing, you know right away, before you select the tip, to hold down the Cmd-Option while clicking on the brush tip. You won't find yourself clicking, then saying drat and having to go back to the tools panel to reselect the Eraser.

And I totally agree with you. It would be nice if customer support really knew the software they're helping you with. As a user, I might think that should have been an easy one to help you with, but it takes a lot of time and effort to learn all the ins and outs of working with Photoshop, and that level of expertise is probably not going to be found in a call center all that often. Here we users can help with what we know, but none of us is expected to be able to answer just any question that comes our way. Unfortunately, they are.

What could help us all, users, call center folk, everyone, would be a properly indexed online Help site. Unfortunately, online Help rarely does help because it only offers interesting chapter titles for searching. It looks great—aesthetically pretty decently designed, but I age quickly trying to use it. Without Google to help me find what I'm looking for, I probably never would.

Report · Sep 30, 2018

Thanks much. At least I know why Adobe made the change (though I disagree with it). However, I tried to use the eraser tool for the first time after FINALLY being able to select the brush I wanted, and the tool does not work properly or least like it used to. It resizes itself and then does not erase where aimed. WTF! Incidentally, I'm trying to use the splatter brush tip. This was a very handy brush to use with the eraser to define a hairline when knocking out a background from a head shot. And yes, I use the define and mask tool and that is helpful, but is not the be all and end all for this type of task. I still have to go in and manually adjust to make hair look it's best. It is very tedious when using a single point brush and it looks like that is what I now must do since Adobe has made Photoshop less functional with this change.

Report · Sep 30, 2018

> and the tool does not work properly or least like it used to. It resizes itself and then does not erase where aimed. WTF! Incidentally, I'm trying to use the splatter brush tip. >

I'm not sure what's going on. I rarely use any of Adobe's brushes apart from Kyle's and the basic round brushes, but there is no setting for the brush that I can find that would offset the Spatter brush from where you directed it. It's not dynamic by default, certainly.

As for resizing itself, it's the size of the brush I selected, and once I resize the Eraser to the size I want, it stays there until I resize it again. You're placing the original tool's settings on your new tool, but after that, they're completely separate and you can adjust all the settings while keeping only the tip. If you want, you can save it as a New Preset—with size settings and/or with tool settings (your Eraser) just how you like it if there's a setup for the Eraser that you always prefer to use.

I loaded it and used it as both a brush and as an eraser. It hit the mark each time. I tried it at very small sizes, such as you are likely to use for a mask. I was even able at pixel view to quite easily follow a single pixel line with the tool. Still nothing went wrong. Are you really using the Spatter brush as a one pixel brush?

Is it possible you need to reset the Eraser before you start a session to clear out any changes that might have been introduced?

If you see nothing unexpected in either the Brush Settings panel or the Options bar, and resetting the tool doesn't help at all, nor does creating and saving as a New Preset your own Eraser with this tip, would it be possible for you to make a short screen capture video demonstrating how the eraser doesn't line up with where you expect it to be? Someone here might spot something.

It sounds like there might be corruption somewhere if there aren't any settings to make this happen.

Report · Oct 01, 2018

After another 2 hours with Adobe support, I found out that Adobe randomly sends out a Beta versions of proposed changes to random heavy users, without their knowledge or agreement. Lucky me, I got the beta which included the tool changes I have described. This is an intentional change by Adobe, which even their tech support reps (mostly) are not aware of and try to fix. Jeez! At least the tech support reps got paid for the 4 hours I have spent on this problem. I am self employed and for me this is just wasted time and money. I can see the usefulness of this tool change for some users (not me). However, this should be an option, not a switch of purpose and use.

And if Adobe is going to give me a beta version to test, it should be with my knowledge, agreement, and explanation of changes!

Report · Oct 01, 2018

You are kidding! I've never heard of that. That sounds perfectly awful if there's any truth to it. Yes, definitely it should be an opt-in program if they want your no-doubt valuable input. But the notion that anyone would think "Hmmmm, this person uses this tool a lot, so s/he must really need it. Let's fool him/her and see how s/he likes it. . . " Changing the tools you depend upon is tricky at best when it's out in the open. This sounds SO wrong for so many reasons, so wrong I'm even feeling skeptical about it.

I really want someone official from Adobe to comment on this. I don't trust Support. It's outsourced, for one. And no matter how pleasant they've been, the few encounters I have had haven't encouraged me to trust them to know what they're doing.

Goodness. For all of us, that's an entirely frightening prospect.

Report · Oct 02, 2018

Well, that's what the fellow told me. He said only 10% of Photoshop users worldwide received that update, that it was a beta version and that they were waiting to receive feedback before sending it to the other 90% of Photoshop users. In the end I figured it had to have been an update from Adobe because the tool works the same on my desktop computer running Windows 7 and my laptop running Windows 10. After telling him that he told me about me being given the beta version.

Report · Oct 02, 2018

Oh I believe you. I'm just finding it difficult to believe that Adobe would mess with someone's professional life so cavalierly. 10% of users worldwide is a heck of a lot of users, too. With no permission granted? They do ask permission (or used to?) to collect anonymous data from you so they can "see" what features in the program you use—something like that. I remember seeing that request a couple of times and I said sure, go ahead. I'm sure lots of other people decided no, that's too intrusive. But they weren't changing anything in the app itself.

They also have technology previews in Preferences, if you haven't looked at yours recently. And everyone gets those options. And I've never seen anything that would change the behavior of brushes there, though I may have forgotten something. But by now, it would have been incorporated fully, since I see only one Technology preview, and that's for upscaling.

So if they asked for that permission to collect anonymous data, and have a technology preview preferences section, how could they possibly not ask to give you a feature that changed the behavior from the one everyone, including you, paid for? I mean heck, they kill off features or change them between versions without asking, but those are advertised.<G>

I'd sure like a response from Adobe on this.

Report · Oct 02, 2018

Yes, I would too. There is no way I have found to contact Adobe directly with this issue.

Report · Oct 02, 2018

I'm really confused here... how did you receive the beta? I'm thinking the person who you were speaking with doesn't have a clue what they were talking about.

Adobe doesn't ever randomly seed beta tests out to users who haven't signed a strict NDA...

Or maybe you've downloaded a pirated cracked copy from somewhere?

Report · Oct 02, 2018

I download from the creative cloud ap. Tool works properly in Photoshop 2017 (which the support rep had me download. Not in my version of the current CC.l Not on my desktop with Windows 7 or my laptop with windows 10. Cristen Gillespie (previous pos)t is not having the issue. How about you?

To my knowledge, I was not offered nor have I chosen to participate in a beta test. This support rep who told me this was much more knowledgeable than the previous 3 (in my view) and that's what he said after checking which version of CC I was running.

Having this tool behave the way it does on two different computers with two different operating systems kind of rules out the normal glitches.

P: Some brush presets only work with certain tools (eraser, brush, clone, etc)

2 Correct answers