How to Fix the Nik Brush Tool Bug with Photoshop Actions
If you use the Nik Collection within Photoshop, I’m sure you will have seen the Tools Panel. This is found at the bottom of the Selective Tool and aims to help you make selective changes. Unfortunately, a problem seems to have crept in with the Brush Tool. Now when you try to use these tools, a message is displayed twice advising you are using the tools. This is then repeated each time you complete a brush stroke, making the tools unusable.
The idea behind the Brush or Paint tool is that it makes it easier for you to work with masks. You apply your adjustments as usual but use the Brush button rather than the OK button to complete your edits and return to Photoshop. This creates a new layer and then adds a layer mask filled with black, hiding the layer. At the same time, the brush tool in Photoshop is activated and set to paint with white paint. You can now paint on the layer mask to reveal areas of the layer. This has been a useful feature for many years and now frustratingly, it’s unusable.
In this video, I show you how you can work around the problem of the Brush Tool message in the Nik Selective Tool using Actions. By recording Photoshop Actions, you can replicate the features of the Tools section of the Selective Tool. I show the two main actions in the video but don’t let this stop you from creating others.
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[crp]
Hi, I can still use the brush tools with no error message in my old versions of CS 5 AND CS 6 with no issues. Its only when I try and use them in PS CC 2018 that the message appears.
Thanks for the additional information, that’s helpful to know. I recently uninstalled CS5 to free up space so couldn’t try it. Are you sure you have the latest version of the Nik Collection installed on CS5 and CS6?
Im not sure which versions I have on both CS5,CS6, and CC PS 2018. Would there be any way of taking off the versions that ‘work’ and transfer them onto CC PS 2018?
No, I don’t think there is. I also wouldn’t try experimenting in case something goes wrong. Better to keep things as they are.
thanks for the tip to get the brush working with Viveza- worked once I realised it is necessary to hold done Function Key as well as Shift & F2. However, when I move on to either use Viveza again or Color Efex, I find that the original Viveza edit it still there for the whole image and the only way to be able to further edit the painted layer is too flatten the image first. Suggestions?
This sounds to me as it your image isn’t being merged into a composite before being opened in the next Nik tool. Check the Settings for the Selective Tool. You should see a button in the bottom left of the Selective Tool window. When the Settings window displays be sure the “Apply filters to” option is set to “Image Composite”. I suspect its not currently in your set up.
Thanks so much for these two simple actions I was about to give up using Nik, it was driving me to distraction.
Lyn, please don’t give up. These are great tools and especially when they are free. Also be sure to check out my You Tube channel where I post most of my videos. I just posted one about Control Points literally 30 seconds ago.