Hi guys,

Does anyone else encounter this issue in PS CC?

Sometimes when using the healing brush, it creates a type of artifacting / pixelated texture when it shouldn't. I sample from similar neighboring areas (not areas of different texture), and my brush's source is set to Sampled (not Texture). I have experimented with varying brush hardness as well as pressure sensitivity (for brush size) both on and off, and the problem still exists. I have checked the brush panel for any sort of option that may affect it, but there aren't many variables in there for the healing brush. I usually use this tool on a blank layer set to sample from layers Current & Below.

I have posted a zoomed in sample below. The green circle is the original texture while the areas in red are what occurs from the healing.

It might be that you have "Aligned sample" turned on. It's in the top bar settings.

It is turned on. But I constantly re-sample with each stroke of the brush before I heal so this shouldn't matter.

try the stamp tool and fade it (ctrl+shift+f) to get the desired result, the healing tool get's muddy in any case except if you use it on the low layer of frequency separation

Strange indeed. I tried to duplicate the problem, thinking the brush or its layer was in some mode other than normal. But I can't make it repeat the problem.

Only suggestion is to reset the healing brush tool?

It may not be the case for you, but I find that when this happens for me, most often it's because my system is low on memory and/or my scratch disk is basically almost full and system is struggling to keep up with PS requirements to run smoothly. If that is the case, you can try these options:

- Clearing up some space on your HD by deleting unneeded files (check download folder)
- Quit some other apps like Chrome (that browser just drinks up memory)
- If you have multiple PS files open at once, you can try saving and closing some to free-up memory for your current document
- use another HD with more free space as your scratch disk

I started noticing it around CS2 or CS3, where it hadn't been an issue earlier, and it still happens in CC.

For me, it seems to only happen when:
* working on a  layer that started off blank
* where there is some cloned or healing content
* the cloned or healed sections aren't 100% opaque (including feathered edges)

When I heal and run into this, I make a new blank layer and work on it. Yes, this means I may have a dozen intermediate healing layers, but when I'm done, I merge them together.

In my case, it's likely not disk space; the scratch drive has 1TB available. Or RAM, as I'm usually working on fairly small files and have 24 MB RAM. And it's happened on other, similarly well-equipped machines.

Thanks for the reply guys.

Sadly, I don't think any of these are the solution for me. I have an SSD dedicated just to my Photoshop with more than enough RAM. I have also noticed that healing in areas with a feathered edge (where there may have been some clone stamp work done) causes this too. And I too usually just create a new layer for that. But this is occurring on an empty layer so its not that.

How do I reset just a specific tool?