Brush cursor flickers to arrow when painting on mask or with Layer Bounds

[Alex_arctica_forever]

Issue Summary:
When painting with the Brush Tool on a layer mask, the brush cursor (round or custom tip) briefly flashes into the default system arrow at the start of each stroke. The flicker lasts only milliseconds, but is consistent and distracting — especially during precise work.

This issue does not occur when painting on a regular pixel layer.

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Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a new document in Photoshop.

2. Add a layer and apply a layer mask.

3. Select the Brush Tool and start painting on the mask.

4. Observe that at the start of each new stroke, the cursor flickers into the arrow pointer briefly.

A short screen recording is attached — the flicker is clearly visible.

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Expected Result:
The brush cursor should remain consistent without flickering or changing form.

Actual Result:
At the beginning of every new brush stroke on a layer mask, the cursor momentarily changes into the system arrow before switching back.

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Tested With:

• Photoshop version: 26.8.1

• OS: Windows 11

• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3090 Ti (Driver version: 576.02)

• Input: XP-Pen tablet

• Display scaling: 150% (2560×1600 monitor)

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Additional Note:
This issue also appears when “Layer Bounds” is enabled in the Layers panel (instead of “Entire Document”). Switching back to “Entire Document” display reduces or eliminates the flicker. This does not happen when painting on regular pixel layers.

[S_Gans]

Hi. Perhaps the resolution in this discussion will help: https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/why-is-my-cursor-flickering-when-i-pa...

[Alex_arctica_forever]

Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve actually seen that thread before, but that option —
“Deactivate Native Canvas Drawing” — no longer exists in the current versions of Photoshop.

I’m on 26.8.1, and Adobe seems to have removed that toggle quite a while ago (possibly around the 25.x series).
The new canvas system is now fully integrated, so this specific workaround isn’t available anymore.

The cursor flicker issue still happens even under the updated rendering pipeline — likely a different internal cause at this point.

[Alex_arctica_forever]

Just to add a note from my assistant a GPT-based. Here's the analysis he offered after reviewing the cursor issue:

“This does not appear to be a hardware- or driver-level issue — the behavior is consistently reproducible across different input devices (pen and mouse) and GPU configurations. That rules out input latency or acceleration mismatches.

Technically, it's likely a legacy quirk in cursor state handling. There may be a race condition between the cursor manager and canvas input logic during the initial mousedown event, especially when painting on a layer mask with 'Layer Bounds' view enabled.

It seems a fallback cursor override is triggered — possibly a remnant from older UI-layer interaction logic or mask-specific event capture.

The issue vanishes when switching to 'Entire Document' mode or painting directly on a regular layer — suggesting the bug is isolated to the mask + bounds pipeline.

For triage: checking the cursor state logs and hover logic at stroke initialization may reveal the cause. It's subtle, but for artists, this kind of flicker breaks muscle memory and visual rhythm — not just cosmetic, but precision-affecting.”

I thought this was worth sharing — in case it helps identify the root cause more precisely.