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Layer Mask Suddenly Not Working

Community Beginner ,
Oct 25, 2012 Oct 25, 2012

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Hello!

I have been using PS 6 for several months now, with no problems; I totally love it!  I tend to do a lot of heavily composited photos, so I use layer masks a lot.  All of a sudden this afternoon, they aren't working.  I am 100% sure I am selecting the mask itself and not the layer (paint colors change to only black and white with the slider).  My opacity and flow are both at 100.  I am using just a standardsoft-edged paint brush.  I paint on back, and nothing changes. 

What's weird is if I invert the layer mask and paint white on, that will show up.  But if I switch over to black again, it won't make anything disappear.

I'm so perplexed by this; I've never had an issue like this before!

Thank you for your help!

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Beginner , Oct 25, 2012 Oct 25, 2012

This is SO weird.   I was setting things up to do a screen capture for you and it just as suddenly started working again.  I didn't change a thing, haven't closed or opened it; nothing.  So I have absolutely no idea.  But I'm going to just go with it as long as it decides to work

Thank you for your help!

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Guru ,
Oct 25, 2012 Oct 25, 2012

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Hi Sarah,

Do you see the black appear on the layer mask in the Layer Panel?

Have you checked that your brush mode is set to Normal?

normaaaaal.jpg

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 25, 2012 Oct 25, 2012

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The brush is set to normal, yes.  And if I paint black onto the white mask, the black does not show up in the layer panel.  But if I invert the mask and paint white on, the white WILL show up.

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Guru ,
Oct 25, 2012 Oct 25, 2012

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Sarah,

Well, that is odd.

The brush is loaded with black. The brush Mode is Normal. And Opacity and Flow are set to 100%.

And it is a regular, standard brush?

Can you post a screen grab showing Document, Tool Option bar, and Layer Panel? (like what I posted?)

thanks.

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 25, 2012 Oct 25, 2012

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This is SO weird.   I was setting things up to do a screen capture for you and it just as suddenly started working again.  I didn't change a thing, haven't closed or opened it; nothing.  So I have absolutely no idea.  But I'm going to just go with it as long as it decides to work

Thank you for your help!

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Guru ,
Oct 25, 2012 Oct 25, 2012

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The Photoshop gods work in mysterious ways. Glad you got things back to normal again.

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 08, 2017 Apr 08, 2017

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i have the same problem 😕 can you please help me? i don't know what to do. i'm using photoshop cs6 64bit

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 08, 2017 Apr 08, 2017

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why you didn't screen shoooot omg

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New Here ,
Dec 09, 2015 Dec 09, 2015

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Thank you very much! It worked for me!

R. Watanabe

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New Here ,
Dec 28, 2016 Dec 28, 2016

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Thank you SO MUCH! Thought I was going crazy!

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New Here ,
Feb 19, 2020 Feb 19, 2020

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CAN someone share the screenshot please? I am having the same issue

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 08, 2017 Apr 08, 2017

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sir can you help me? i can provide screen shots

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New Here ,
Jul 28, 2017 Jul 28, 2017

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I Checked every thing but when i turn off photoshop cc and restart my mac  .. the brush starts working ...

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New Here ,
Sep 05, 2022 Sep 05, 2022

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This helped me after 10 years. Thanks a lot

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New Here ,
Sep 19, 2015 Sep 19, 2015

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I realize this was posted back in 2012 however I as well am using PS 6 and I am having this same exact issue. When I use the black paint tool for the selected layer mask nothing shows up. Even when I try and paint like normal with the paint brush on the actual layer nothing shows up. The white brush does act like the black brush should, however if you go over the area you just marked it erases it.

Little extra info:

I am working on Cinemographs and specifically been working with keyboard shortcuts like Shift + Option + Command + E to make a stamp layer of a video layer. At first this worked as well along with the Layer mask. However after my second video edit this command no longer worked, and would give me a ding every time I pressed it. Then at that point the layer mask also would not work.

I am using a mac.

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Community Expert ,
Sep 19, 2015 Sep 19, 2015

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Justin, if were were able to do this in the past, and not now, you might want to reset your preferences, as something might have become corrupted. Also make sure you're using the brush tool and not the eraser tool, and that your brush blend mode is set to normal.

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New Here ,
Dec 10, 2017 Dec 10, 2017

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ISSUE RESOLVED! Well, for me...

I just had this same issue and figured it out. The mask color somehow got messed up.

Right click on the layer mask and click "Mask Options..."

This will open up the Layer Mask Display Options menu. The color should be WHITE and opacity 50%. (Or maybe 100%? I don't see a difference between the two.) If it is not white, bingo, that's your problem. Double-click on the color to change it to white.

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New Here ,
Apr 29, 2020 Apr 29, 2020

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This worked for me too. I thought I was crazy and couldn't find an answer anywhere! Thank you!!!

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New Here ,
Jun 01, 2021 Jun 01, 2021

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WOW! This happened to my CC(2021) recently when downloading updates. My masks weren't working in the sense I couldn't fully "black out" the image, there was always still a trace of what I was trying to remove. Just checked the mask options and it got reset to red for some reason.

 

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Valorous Hero ,
Jun 01, 2021 Jun 01, 2021

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It has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with it. The mask is displayed in this color if you turn on its visibility in the "Channels" panel.

What is your specific problem? What is the density and feather of the mask? And also fore(back)ground colors? 

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New Here ,
Dec 04, 2022 Dec 04, 2022

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5 years later, this solved my problem. Thank you.

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 30, 2020 Jul 30, 2020

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I realize I'm replying to a very old thread, but this happened to me this morning using the latest version of Photoshop CC.  I wonder if this was related:  I brought two photos into PS from LR using the Open As Layers in Photoshop feature.  With black selected, nothing worked on the mask.  So, I closed the file, and brought the two images in separately, then pasted one in as a layer onto the other.  The mask then worked fine.

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New Here ,
Aug 22, 2020 Aug 22, 2020

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Hi!

I just have my same problem solved on Ps 2020. I don't know why but by default, my photoshop set my brush mode to Exclusion (Located on the top tool bar). Just scroll up and change it to Normal and everything works great from there. Hope that helps!

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New Here ,
Sep 16, 2020 Sep 16, 2020

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I ended up on this thread because I was having the same issue but my brush was set to multiply after I checked it several times confirming that it was set to normal. Absolutely wild bug but I'm glad I stumbled on to this thread and found out others were having this problem with 2020. 🙂

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New Here ,
May 12, 2021 May 12, 2021

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Problem Solved!

 

I have solved problem by following these steps :

(1) go to desktop

(2) right click and click personlize

(3) go to themes

(4) pointer to none

 

 

 

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