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Photoshop brush cursor is still nearly impossible to see...

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alu71

In-House Editor
Joined
Jul 24, 2021
Messages
5
Location
West Coast, Canada
Lightroom Experience
Advanced
Lightroom Version
Classic
Lightroom Version Number
Ps 23.3.2
Operating System
  1. macOS 12 Monterey
Ever since switching to Adobe Creative Cloud apps, I've gone nearly blind searching for the Ps brush cursor on my canvases. This is not a new issue and has been discussed on random forums, but there doesn't seem to be a solution and I find that fairly odd. There are no known preference settings for the cursor, unless you want to use the crosshair, which is even harder to see... what are Adobe's beta-testers seeing that I'm not?

If anyone has the same issue with Ps and has any advice on modifying the cursor to a visible state, I'd be more than grateful for your input.
Hopefully, my vision will hold out until then...

Thx.
 
I usually just touch the Spacebar, so the cursor changes to a Hand - then I can see where the Brush is.
 
MacOS also has a setting where the cursor temporarily increases in size if you shake it. That works everywhere, not just in these two Adobe apps.
 
MacOS also has a setting where the cursor temporarily increases in size if you shake it. That works everywhere, not just in these two Adobe apps.
That's exactly what I do to find the cursor. Even after finding it, unless your image is just the right shade and tone... good luck seeing the confinement circle on your work.

There's only work-arounds to see the cursor, like shaking the mouse, or using the hand cursor, or squinting your eyelids while pressing on the lower part of both eyeballs with your index fingers. A painter gets to see the tip of their brush on their canvas - why should Ps be any different?
 
That's exactly what I do to find the cursor. Even after finding it, unless your image is just the right shade and tone... good luck seeing the confinement circle on your work.

There's only work-arounds to see the cursor, like shaking the mouse, or using the hand cursor, or squinting your eyelids while pressing on the lower part of both eyeballs with your index fingers. A painter gets to see the tip of their brush on their canvas - why should Ps be any different?
We are not Adobe, so all we can do is offer work arounds. If you want to complain, complain with Adobe.
 
There are no known preference settings for the cursor, unless you want to use the crosshair, which is even harder to see...A painter gets to see the tip of their brush on their canvas - why should Ps be any different?
I might be stating the obvious here because the options shown below are not new, but do you mean the other brush cursor preference options don’t help, like the Standard brush cursor (the first one) that looks like the painter brush tip you used as an example?

Photoshop-preferences-brush-cursors.gif


My understanding of the problem (not sure how accurate this is) is that it’s sort of a compositing issue with Adobe custom tool cursors so the cursor may be harder to see depending on the specific GPU, so playing around with the GPU settings in Preferences > Performance might also help.
 
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We are not Adobe, so all we can do is offer work arounds. If you want to complain, complain with Adobe.
Did I say something that would indicate that I thought this site is Adobe? And what's the point to a software specific forum, other than to ask questions, voice opinions, and to garner information and solutions?

Even the slightest research on the topic will demonstrate an issue that has been around for years... regardless of the fact that myself and many other users have complained, from day one.

... but thanks for your opinion.
 
I might be stating the obvious here because the options shown below are not new, but do you mean the other brush cursor preference options don’t help, like the Standard brush cursor (the first one) that looks like the painter brush tip you used as an example?

View attachment 18759

My understanding of the problem (not sure how accurate this is) is that it’s sort of a compositing issue with Adobe custom tool cursors so the cursor may be harder to see depending on the specific GPU, so playing around with the GPU settings in Preferences > Performance might also help.
Yes... you can play around with the settings, but nothing addresses the line thickness and visibility of the brush tool's cursor. It's an odd bug to leave undressed for so long. Thanks for the input, though.
 
It's an annoying problem for sure, especially when trying to teach a Zoom class and you're sharing your PS screen. I usually hit H for the hand, glad to know the spacebar also does it.

What would solve the issue is a colored cursor. On a Mac under Accessibility, one can change the color and size of the cursor. I've made mine a large magenta arrow. This works in PS on the toolbar and the top menu items. But anything on the image itself goes back to the PS tool cursor you've set in Preferences.
 
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