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frtioz420
Participant
June 25, 2010
Question

CS5 Smudge Tool no longer smudges, have reset prefs

  • June 25, 2010
  • 7 replies
  • 26097 views

Hi!

I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure why the smudge tool in cs5 no longer behaves like a smudge tool when trying to smudge from a transparent area if the layer into the image part of the layer..

I have deleted my tool preset and the whole adobe preferences file, i also am sure i don't have fingerpainting on or anything like that..and nothing seems to work!

the smudge tool acts correctly when smudging from within the boundaries of the pixel area, but if i try to smudge a layer that has any transparency around it, and i wish to smudge into the pixelated areas from outside the boundaries of the image (starting from transparency into the image) it just doesn't work anymore..

(say i use the pen tool to cut off the arm of a person and make a new layer using the selection, so now i just have the free floating arm with transparency all around it..if i  smudge from within the image outward to the transparent area, it works fine, but if i try to reverse that, and smudge from the transparent area into the image, it just does nothing!

CS4 smudge tool still works fine, as does every other function in cs5..except for this!

Can anyone help me?

it would be much appreciated!

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    7 replies

    1
    1Mollybird
    Known Participant
    April 6, 2020

    Just want to add that my smudge tool in Photoshop 2019 is not working. When I try to use it -- it wants to paint with black or white or any other color when I do not have fingerpaint selected!

    D
    darkinshadows
    Participant
    November 2, 2011

    I'm pretty late to this also.  I came across this forum when I encountered the same problem and did a google search.

    Eventually I realised I had accidently set the mode to 'satuation'.  Changing it back to 'normal' fixed the issue.

    K
    kristicorbett
    Participating Frequently
    October 22, 2011

    A year late, but I think I can help here.

    Check your brush settings for the smudge tool.  Is Shape Dynamics set to pen pressure?  Are you using a pen tablet?  Look under Transfer option.  Is the Strength Jitter set to pen pressure?  Change the Minimun/Max settings under this option and see if that takes care of your issue.  This option will change the degree of the smudge as well as the length.

    C
    chronosrewind
    Participant
    October 25, 2010

    I know exactly what you are talking about because I am experiencing it also with CS5.  Oddly enough, this issue seems to affect my vertical strokes more than my horizontal strokes.

    After searching around for a solution, I came across a comment mentioning the color mode.  Switching from RGB 8-bit to 32-bit seems to have solved the problem, however I do not know why, nor do I know if this is an actual solution to the problem.  Also now my colors seem to be "off" (my images seem to be a lighter shade when working in 32-bit mode)

    If anyone else could offer some clarity on this issue it would be greatly appreciated.

    PECourtejoie
    Community Expert
    PECourtejoieCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 25, 2010

    What version are you using? 64bits or 32bits? Tried with other brushes? Did you check the options after finger painting? Are you using a wacom tablet?

    C
    chronosrewind
    Participant
    October 25, 2010

    64-bit version of Photoshop CS5.  For what it's worth, the original poster came from CS4 to CS5 and noticed this issue, while I am coming from Photoshop 7 to CS5.  I have tried with multiple brushes, all on default settings with finger-painting disabled.  And I am using a mouse, not a tablet.

    A
    Anonymous
    June 26, 2010

    Hello, I just read the rest of your post. I think you have an active selection. If you press ctrl H you can toggle your marching ants.

    A
    Anonymous
    June 25, 2010

    I tried this in CS5 and it worked fine. The only way it didn't work was when the "Sample All Layers" was checked.

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    frtioz420Author
    Participant
    June 25, 2010

    thanks for responding, after my last post i uninstalled cs5 and reinstalled it...unfortunately the problem still occurs, here are the screen shots from cs5-

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    in cs5, i made a simple layer for example, i indicated where i will start smudging into the object

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    as you can see, when i smudge across the object, it smears only the pixels from within and then outward, it seems not to affect the outside perimeter of the object

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    another example, smudging into the object form 4 points around it

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    the circled areas should be affected my the smudge

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    this is taken in cs4 with the same file to illustrate what i should be seeing

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    well i'm stumped, i usually am the one who tries to help people with this sort of stuff, but i really cannot figure out why this is happening!

    thanks for any more ideas, i use this feature alot, so having it not work is driving me crazy!

    A
    Anonymous
    June 26, 2010

    That is so odd. It doesn't happen to me. Good luck!

    A
    Anonymous
    June 25, 2010

    I don't really get your question. Are you trying to smudge transparant pixels

    F
    frtioz420Author
    Participant
    June 25, 2010

    sorry, but i don't know how to explain it better than i did...

    say you have a background layer picture of a forest, then you use the lasso tool to outline a tree, then i make the path into a selection, and copy and paste the tree selection onto a new layer, ok?

    so, then i delete the background layer forest picture, leaving me with just a layer with the cut-out tree.

    transparency is obviously all around the tree layer, right?

    so now i want to use the smudge tool to smudge into the tree, starting outside the tree itself (int he transparent area around the tree)

    usually, when you smudge into an object fromt he transparent area around the objecy, it pushes through the border of the pixels, but i cannot seem to make it do so..

    to better illustrate my point, please reference these hastily made screencaps..

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    here is an example, like what i said above, a simple forest:

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    then i select a tree and copy and paste it into it's own layer

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    then i delete the background layer, so there is only the object with transparancy all around it

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    here you can see smudging from within the object to the transparancy surrounding the object..this works just fine in cs5, BUT...

    here is the final example, this is what i want to do in cs5, but it won't do it!

    I start the smudge in the open transparent area around the object, and try to smudge into/through it..

    as you can see it works just fine in cs4

    i hope this is more clear than my description..

    so, can anyone help me out here?

    A
    Anonymous
    June 25, 2010

    Maybe your layer transparency is locked.

    Is there some kind of little lock symbol on your layer in the layers panel?

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