Photoshop's Default Tool/Brush/Cursor Color

I'm doing B&W retouching in PS CS. The default tool/cursor color is

gray. Combine that color with a small tool/brush size & I can't see

the damn thing at times (old bloody eyes don't help either).<P>I've

searched high and low for a setting to change that gray color to one

that stands out -- say hot pink -- can't find it though.<P>Can anyone

point me in the correct direction.<{P>tkx

I think it can't be done. But, you can reset your brush portrayal to "standard" instead of "brush size". The latter is the default, but is a pain to see.

 

With "standard" brush portrayal, you'll see little icons representing the tools, instead of brush diameter. As long as I'm using my usual diameters, I find these a lot easier on the eyes, visible in against any tone, and easier to aim. I'll switch to brush diameter portrayal only for really large diameters.

 

The dialogue box is in pulldown:

 

Edit|Preferences|Display and Cursors

 

Or:

 

<ctrl> k, then <ctrl> 3

Caps Lock switches cursor easily and quickly

Temporarily create a curves adjustment layer to shift the tones you are working on away from a mid-tone and then dispose of the layer after that. You will not be working on the colors you wanted to work on, but at least you can see what you are doing. I know your frustration with the mystical disappearing cursor. I have sadly never seen a good solution to this problem.

I sympathize with your concerns. This has irritated me for sometime now and either cursor is a pain. My best answer to date has been to tap the spacebar which changes the cursor to the hand tool (while pressed) which allows me to relocate the cursor by flashing it at me when necessary. Not the ideal solution to be sure, but the best I've managed to come up with.

Thanks all for your replies. I find it inconceivable that Adobe has not addressed this problem (the 2 gigs of RAM limit problem too).<P>I find it even more inconceivable that some plugin manufacturer hasn't picked up on this and gone to market with a $400 plugin that allows us "freedom of cursor choice"!<P>Actually I shouldn't be that way as there are some really good low priced / free plugins available. My favorite? It's gotta be Adobe Photoshop Interface Improver 2.5 . I don't run P/S without it.

Jim, did you try my suggestion to switch cursor display to "standard"? I found this quite satisfactory, so just curious.

Mendel -- agree that your suggestion enables me to see the (I wanta' say DAMN but I'll control myself) cursor. The problem is I no longer can tell how big the brush / action is -- thats bad too! (DAMN).<P>Thanks for your help though...appreciate it...jim

Jim, try Caps Lock! It's dead simple! Push it when you're lost, push it again when you've found it.

Chris, are you on a Mac? On my windows system, using cap lock (to convert to precise mode?) produces a cross-hair that is just as obscure in certain tones. Off topic, this cap lock switch used to drive me crazy when I would use it inadvertantly, not knowing it's purpose.

 

I posted on Adobe forum re hard to see brush diameter, a year or so back, and learned things are a bit different on Mac, re cursor display. Adobe says it's hands are tied, it's all Microsoft's fault, something like that.

 

Jim, I agree you sacrifice feedback re brush diameter. I'm almost always using history brush, occasionally healing brush, very rarely, the clone stamp. I use a small 10~15 diameter for all usually. Less if I zoom in beyond usual 100%.

 

I'm very used to those brush diameters, and how they behave. Also, I can see dymamically if I've got it all, as I stroke. I will switch to brush dia., once in a blue moon, if I have some monster blem to deal with, and need to use Much larger diameter. I've gone through about 1600 heavily trashed images (spending an insane amount of time) using standard portrayal, and got used to it quite quickly. One advantage, much easier (even then precise imho) to zap exactly where you want, than with brush diameter.

<p>How bout trying the opacity... just press the 'desired opacity value' on the numeric keypad directly to change opacity.<br /><br />P.S. I use 40 - 50% opacity when using the lasso tool and the pen tool. :D</p>