Adjustment layer crop

[Hezer]

I had a strange issue where using a crop tool, where one adjustment layer was cropped differently compared to other layers. That caused glitches in the image.

It happens only on the specific layer, which in this case is a B/W Adjustment layer. If I recreate that layer, the problem will not happen. So, there must be something internally different on this layer, but I can't find anything that I could do to fix the layer apart from recreating it.

Here's some examples of what happens. I was testing B/W adjustment layer and trying to match it to desaturated filter. And as I was cropping the excess in preparation to export the images, this happened. First I thought it was only some kind of graphical rendering issue, but after reloading and seeing the same result, it was looking like a bug.

I've attached the afphoto file, where this happens. There's also snapshots of before and after cropping.

CropProblem.afphoto

[NotMyFault]

Nice find!

The (inherent) mask of the B&W adjustments layer is not fully white. This is not easy to spot, but clearly visible if you toggle between the 2 top layers, and focus on the "Pixel Alpha" symbol in channels panel. When you use channels panel to inspect alpha channel only (and create a greyscale layer), you can see that the mask is actually not fully white, but a bit smaller (1646x933) than the other layers / document size (1719x1040).

The point that lets me assume there is actually a bug:

1. when you use "layer isolation" (solo mode on iPad), the mask is shown as fully white, which is actually wrong (when used in a larger canvas so that pixel outside the mask effectively become black).
2. only the crop tool extends the "too small" size of the layer mask
3. and the layer mask gets extended with black (1792x1024) and then white again (to 1829 x 1040).

Would be interesting if you can remember how created the layers (new or copied from another document), and if you used resize or crop during the edit (before the issue occurs).

 

PS: another way to show the issue is to "select from layer" when the B&W adj is active.

 

 

Edited June 17, 2021 by NotMyFault

[Chris B]

Thanks, I have logged this to be looked at.

[Hezer]

 Sorry, I don't remember the previous steps or events that lead to this, and I was too baffled by this happening and spent way too much time trying to understand what was different on that layer, that I forgot what could have caused it. 😅

The only thing I can think of is that maybe I used the move tool on the adjustment layer by accident when trying to move the squares.

On 6/17/2021 at 11:30 PM, NotMyFault said:

Nice find!

The (inherent) mask of the B&W adjustments layer is not fully white. This is not easy to spot, but clearly visible if you toggle between the 2 top layers, and focus on the "Pixel Alpha" symbol in channels panel. When you use channels panel to inspect alpha channel only (and create a greyscale layer), you can see that the mask is actually not fully white, but a bit smaller (1646x933) than the other layers / document size (1719x1040).

Also interesting, that it's not fully white, wish I knew what happened.

I was also testing more things on that document, and simply duplicating the layer makes the duplicate have the problem, but not the original. And it's also reflected on the "mask" icon of the layer with some black "bars". Very weird.

[MEB]

Hi @Hezer,
Select the adjustment/mask with the black "bars", go to the Channels panel, right-click the Black & White Adjustment Alpha channel and select Fill to fix this (fill the built-in adjustment's mask with white).

[Hezer]

15 minutes ago, MEB said:

Hi @Hezer,
Select the adjustment/mask with the black "bars", go to the Channels panel, right-click the Black & White Adjustment Alpha channel and select Fill to fix this (fill the built-in adjustment's mask with white).

Thanks, that works on the duplicated layer or after making the crop. 

It doesn't have any effect on the Alpha channel of the original layer, before creating the duplicate or cropping image (or any other action that would make the problem visible). But I can see the black bars on that original layer in Channels -> Black & White Adjustment Alpha.

This anyways works as a fix, if I run into this problem again. (Duplicate layer -> fill the alpha channel)

[MEB]

Hi @Hezer,
Sorry, I didn't check the original file you posted. To fix the original layer, go to menu Document > Unclip Canvas, then proceed as I said earlier: select the adjustment/mask with the black "bars", go to the Channels panel, right-click the Black & White Adjustment Alpha channel and select Fill to fix this. The original adjustment layer should be "fixed" and you should be able to crop it without these issues.