I’m not sure if it was just me, but for the last few releases of Photoshop CC I have had enormous problems with constantly losing the Brush cursor on the screen, it has wasted me so much time and caused much frustration.
The good news is, in the latest version Photoshop CC 2023 Version 24.1 (December 2022) it seems to have been fixed.
Adobe have added a new preference setting in the Preferences / Cursors screen called Brush Tip Outline (see Figure 1).
Fig 1 - Brush Tip Outline
The possible settings are Thin, Normal, Bold and Extra Bold. When I updated to this version it seemed the default setting was Bold. Both the Bold and Extra Bold settings do a great job of enhancing the visibility of the brush cursor.
Changes to this setting will be reflected immediately you hit OK, you don’t need to restart Photoshop.
It's worth repeating the meaning of some of the other settings here that were mentioned in one of my earlier articles.
There are four different brush cursors to choose from;
Standard – the small brush icon that is shown in the toolbar (not particularly useful in my opinion).
Precise – only shows a crosshair in the centre of the brush (useful for precise placement of the brush, eg when lettering or tracing lines).
Normal Brush Tip – shows the actual size and shape of the brush, but it’s size only represents pixels that are at least 50% opacity. So, if you’re using a soft brush, some area outside of the preview will be affected by your brush strokes.
Full Size Brush Tip – shows the actual size and shape of the brush, with the size representing the entire brush, so if using a soft brush the outer edges of the preview areas may only be slightly affected by your brush strokes.
Precise – only shows a crosshair in the centre of the brush (useful for precise placement of the brush, eg when lettering or tracing lines).
Normal Brush Tip – shows the actual size and shape of the brush, but it’s size only represents pixels that are at least 50% opacity. So, if you’re using a soft brush, some area outside of the preview will be affected by your brush strokes.
Full Size Brush Tip – shows the actual size and shape of the brush, with the size representing the entire brush, so if using a soft brush the outer edges of the preview areas may only be slightly affected by your brush strokes.
You can use the [Caps Lock] key to switch between Precise and Normal/Full Size (or vice versa) temporarily if required. Depression of the [Caps Lock] key is a common cause of people wondering why their brush preview has disappeared!
If you’d like to always see a smaller crosshair in the centre of your brush preview, check the Show Crosshair in Brush Tip check box.
This is a very welcome update for me, that will save me much frustration. I hope it does for you too.
This article was first published in the February 2023 issue of Artists Down Under magazine.