Help! Photoshop CS6 hangs when using brush, clone, healing brush tools etc on Mac

[BarneyHamilton]

I am having a big problem when using the new CS6 on my Mac (os x 10.7.4). When switching to a new tool, like a brush, or clone stamp, or healing brush etc, Photoshop hangs for about 20 seconds before resuming. It's not 3rd party plug-ins, because I get the same behaviour when I run using the shift key and third party plug-ins are disabled. It doesn't happen every time, but it happens frequently. I've heard that others have had similar problems... are there any solutions - is it a known bug?

[Norm Johnstone]

Hello,

I can verify that I have engaged in a remote session with Adobe, although it was rather short...probably about 10 minutes and of course the problem did not happen in that session.

I am also very disappointed with Adobe not being able to come up with a fix for this problem, and I'm sure it's more widespread than they are letting on. I was always a very happy Adobe customer/user and for over a year now, I have been very down on Adobe, and have not been as inspired to work on images like I used to.

In Toronto a month or so ago, I went to a Kelby Training seminar on Photoshop, and the instructor's computer exhibited the problem 4-5 times throughout the day in front of apx. 1500-2000 experienced photoshop users--so it does indeed look like the problem is everywhere--probably many people not reporting it or subscribing to threads like this one.

Adobe--please fix this issue!!

Norm

[Was DYP]

As I have posted before this is a timing issue. If you work really fast and with large images you're going to notice this pretty often. If you take a few seconds and wait after you switch tools you'll rarely see it.

[sean_b99]

As I have posted before this is a timing issue. If you work really fast and with large images you're going to notice this pretty often. If you take a few seconds and wait after you switch tools you'll rarely see it.

The problem with your solution Was DYP is that we are being creative at the time - if we need to monitor our right brain's creativity with our left brain's analytics perhaps we would be better off going back to pen and paper. I don't know if I work really fast, I just work at the speed I work at. And if it's this simple then surely Adobe could put in a test case in their code for this and do a timeout after a second or two to check if their code has gone to never-never land? Maybe then they could also send some data home detailing the conditions that triggered the issue and solve this once and for all? My workaround is to wave the pen in the air when it happens and this seems for me (touch wood) to solve it, although for others this is not the solution. I have also found tabbing between apps to solve it. Although any of these kludges are destructive to my workflow and I would far rather not have to deal with this issue.

[Was DYP]

Whoa here, I did not say this was a solution.

I was only trying to point out why some might not be seeing this.

[sean_b99]

Whoa here, I did not say this was a solution.

I was only trying to point out why some might not be seeing this.

Sorry Was DYP, I misunderstood your post.

[BarneyHamilton]

Chris

Something isn't quite adding up. There's seven pages here of people expressing frustration - spread out over a long time now - and essentially Adobe are saying they've never once seen the problem themselves.

Really?

I find it hard to believe that a dedicated effort to investigate can't at least create a replication of the problem.

It's not that I am doubting you - it's simply that it's extraordinary how difficult the problem is to identify by Adobe, and yet how consistent and prevalent it is for (at least this group of) many users.

If the problem isn't going to be solved - what's the solution for users that have it? We've all paid a lot of money for CS6 (or some are paying ongoing for CC) and we have a piece of software that isn't working for us. Is this money just down the drain?

Obviously we can start posting on DPReview, Photography.net, Creative Cow, etc etc to see if other users have found a solution - but it would be great if Adobe's own site could be the source of an answer.

[Fried_Egg_Sandwich]

Update please Adobe!

[niestudio]

2) Same - we've gone, problem doesn't show.

This is not true, your colleague came to my house and I reproduced the issue at least half a dozen times in CS6 and CC.

[Was DYP]

Hmm! Going to have to come up with a new excuse now.

[Chris Cox]

No excuse, just a lack of communication -- Adam has seen the problem and had another engineer investigating while I was busy and then on vacation.  And we still haven't been able to reliably reproduce the problem ourselves.

[Guest]

Is there any debug mode that could be use to find the problem? Or any log that could help you? it seems to go round in circles for a long time!

[Chris Cox]

No, there is no debug mode or log for things like this.

Something is sending events to the wrong place - and now that we have some additional information, we're trying to see if we can track down possible causes.

[The_Jonathan_Urban]

One workaround I have discovered with the Wacom tablet is to leave the Apple mouse plugged into a spare usb port.  When Photoshop hangs click the Apple mouse button which will release the hang then undo your last action and you can go about your business without having to click around the desktop, in and out of Photoshop, or waiting around for it to unfreeze by itself.

[Guest]

I'm working in InDesign, when Alt+Tab to go into indesign, then I open the file again the freezing stop. But that is not a solution.

[Fried_Egg_Sandwich]

Working in CS6 today and decided to try using the mouse instead of the tablet - the hanging still happens just using the mouse to brush a layer mask.

[Guest]

The problem on my side always happen when I begin to work on a file. Then it don't happen till the end.

[niestudio]

The Jonathan Urban wrote:

One workaround I have discovered with the Wacom tablet is to leave the Apple mouse plugged into a spare usb port.  When Photoshop hangs click the Apple mouse button which will release the hang then undo your last action and you can go about your business without having to click around the desktop, in and out of Photoshop, or waiting around for it to unfreeze by itself.

Wow, this is fantastic. Sure beats the triple cmd+tab to the desktop that I was using

[Was DYP]

Good one Jonathan. Thanks for sharing. Gets me right out of the freeze too.

[Meta_A]

Has an answerto this problem already been found? I have been experiencing this for quite some time now ( half a year at least.) and Between this and the white/blank menu issue  Im am growing incredibly frustrated with this product.

[Was DYP]

13.0.6 has been released. Any fix for the hang problem?

[Fried_Egg_Sandwich]

Still waiting for an answer please Adobe. This bug was first reported in May 2012. When will we get a fix?

[Noel Carboni]

What's stopping you from trying it and telling everyone else?

-Noel

[Was DYP]

Not sure if this is helpful or not but I get this delay/freeze when using the lasso tool but only after I have been using a brush tool like clone stamp or healing brush. If I have not been using either one of these the I never get the freeze when using the lasso tool.

[Fried_Egg_Sandwich]

Same behaviour here as per Jonathan's screengrab. CPU slammed at 100% when the brush tool is selected.

Also had the hang when selecting the Polygonal Lassoo tool for the first time ever today.

[TheAliKA]

Same Problem:

Very Annoying

osX: Macerics

Wacom Intuos4 and the New(er) "Intous"