Skip to main content
A
Anonymous
February 16, 2013
Answered

Photoshop CS6: soft brush suddenly looks pixelated instead of smooth

  • February 16, 2013
  • 12 replies
  • 89006 views

I've never had this problem before. I'm using the standard soft round brush to blend colors, which has always given a smooth effect, but now it suddenly looks all pixelated. The brush strokes also appears in rings instead of a smooth gradient. It looks as if the picture has been sharpened too much or saved in bad quality. I've already tried things like changing the brush settings, deleting photoshop preferences, increasing the RAM assigned to photoshop, but nothing works. Does anyone know what caused this? It's driving me insane! I get the same problem in an older version (Photoshop CS), so perhaps it's not photoshop itself?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer neilj58437623

Just to add to this in case anyone else encounters the same problem.

I had banding that almost appeared vector like in photoshop cc 2017 when using any brush much like the problems encountered in this thread.  Luckily I have a dual monitor setup with a 27" LG IPS and a 24" Dell IPS.  What I did was drag the file from photoshop from my main LG into the Dell and noticed that the gradients all appeared perfect.  That led me to believe that it wasn't the video card or photoshop necessarily causing the issue.

It turns out that the monitor profile is what caused the banding.  I calibrated the monitor using a calibrator which created a monitor color profile. I loaded this in windows 10.  Now the important part.  In photoshop under edit > color settings you have to choose that same color profile used in the monitor. When both are the same profile the gradients all magically worked again.  Hope this helps

12 replies

Show previous replies
A
a_squired_taste
Participant
October 30, 2013

The answer is simple. Reset photoshop completely. This worked for me.  I was having problems with my soft brushes having hard edges. I reseted photoshop by this command:

Windows - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT immediately after you double-click the PS icon.

Macintosh - CMD-SHIFT-OPTION immediately after you double-click the PS icon.

hit ok, photoshop will reset, and you'll find the brushes work properly again. boom. You'll most likely loose your custom brushes, but if you saved them as a .abr somewhere you can load them up again.

Noel Carboni
Noel Carboni
Legend
February 16, 2013

Sounds like a problem with your display settings on your system, or possibly a problem with your monitor.

Does it show in a screen grab?

If so, please post a screen grab here so others can see exactly what you're seeing.

Please also describe your system (hardware, OS, etc.).

-Noel

A
Anonymous
February 16, 2013

Thank you for the reply!

Here's a screenshot of the pixelated brush:

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y520/Kitsuru/ss_zpsbf2397a1.jpg

And these are my system specifics:

Windows 7, service pack 1

Intel(R) Core (TM) i7-3610QM CPU @ 2.30 GHz

RAM 8,00 GB
Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
NVIDIA GeForce 610M

M
Mindi_Bones
Participant
November 6, 2013

This is a frustrating thread.

Some folks put up images that look perfectly fine and say, "see?".  They're probably seeing problems with their monitor setup.

Others don't seem to have taken the time to read the thread, since they don't mention whether they are painting into 8 bits/channel documents or 16 bits/channel.  Beyond bit depths, no one is talking about color profiles.

-Noel


Yes, this is a frustrating thread.  It is particularly frustrating that the same solution is offered no matter how many times it is confirmed to not work.  It is also frustrating that the PS expert in the thread assumes that the folks asking for help are completely clueless.  It must be your monitor is silly.  Unless you just got a new one, more would be wrong in your video world than just your soft brushes if this were a monitor problem.  Some of these people are professionals, and yet, you continue to tell folks that must be it.  Images that are perfectly fine... Why would anyone take the time to post something if the image was fine?  Why would you doubt that they are experiencing a problem when they report that they are?

I am experiencing the problem with both 8 and 16 bits.  I have attempted changing the color profile to a number of things that does not resolve the problem.  StevieMonster, I have attempted your solution, but it was after the application was running.  I'm going to try before it boots up and see if that makes a difference.  Thank you for your kind reply.

Something is going on with soft brushes.  It is all over the internet.  All kinds of people, and no one with an answer.  It would sure be nice for Adobe to look into this, instead of blaming the user for being incompetent.

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices