Smudge Tool

[Bryce22113951ke28]

Hi guys, I'm brand new to photoshop, and I'm trying to do this online class to learn how to do digital painting but my smudge tool is not working, Does anyone have any tips? I really need this to work, thank you!

[c.pfaffenbichler]

»Does anyone have any tips?«

When you post a question about some particular Tool/operation not working as expected post screenshots with the pertinent Panels (Toolbar, Layers, Options Bar, …) visible. 

We don’t see your screen, so we don’t know the Tools’s settings, which Layers are selected, etc. 

[Bryce22113951ke28]

You're right I forgot, here's the screen recording. Hopefully you can help me. Please?

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Thank you, but Layers Panel is not visible. 

Are you trying to smudge on a blank Layer? 

The »Sample All Layers« would need to be checked in the Options Bar. 

[Bryce22113951ke28]

What is the Layers Panel? Could you show me how to check those off?

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Window > Layers 

[Bryce22113951ke28]

My Sample all layers box is off.

[Bryce22113951ke28]

Ok so now I see my smudge tool is working, but there's a lot of lag on my laptop, do you know how I can fix it?

[melissapiccone]

I'm assuming you got it working by turning on sample all layers. What are you laptop specs? How much RAM do you have? The smudge tool is processor intensive and will be slow if you don't have enough power. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Please post the requested screenshot; so far we still don’t know on which Layer you are Smudging. 

As for performance @melissapiccone  already posed relevant questions.  

[Trevor.Dennis]

It's not going to do much at 17%.  I like to use at least 50%

The preset makes a difference as well.  Right click inside the document window to see what preset you are using.

The smudge tool uses a lot of system resources and it looks like you are using quite large brush.  Depending on what hardwear you are using, you might be seeing some lag.  In fact you might be seeing a LOT of lag.