If you have changed this setting and forgot to set it back to normal, it’s easy to think that the clone stamp tool is broken.
Like a layer blending mode, the clone stamp blending mode changes how your cloning adjustments blend into your image. If they aren’t, adjust them accordingly to make your clone stamp adjustment be fully visible. With the clone stamp tool active ( S), go to the upper settings bar and make sure the opacity and flow options are at 100%. If you don’t have either of these settings adjusted correctly, your clone adjustments will be hardly visible or totally transparent!
Similar to the brush tool in Photoshop, there are opacity and flow settings for the clone stamp tool. This will change your brush tip and fix any issues you may have had if you had a custom clone stamp brush in use. However, the clone adjustments are just being painted in a way you weren’t expecting.įor the best results and general-purpose use, using a soft round brush preset works best for the Clone Stamp Tool.įirst, access the Clone Stamp Tool by pressing S, then go to the upper settings bar and click on the brush preset options.Īt the top of the brush preset panel, look for the preset that says “soft round brush,” then click on it to select it. If you had a brush tip chosen with a large amount of spacing, it would appear like the clone stamp tool isn’t working. If you have been experimenting with new brush settings, it’s possible to select a brush tip that won’t work for clone stamp adjustments. Now when you sample and make your clone stamp adjustments, you will be sampling the image directly. Now those white boxes will move to the layer thumbnail and off of the layer mask. To fix this, click on your image layer thumbnail. This means when that layer is selected, you will be sampling the masking values rather than the actual image. You can tell that the layer mask is selected by the white boxes surrounding it. This is a possible issue when you are adding clone adjustments directly to your image layer. If you do, you’ll end up with some weird results. Just as you need to ensure the correct layer is sampled, you also need to ensure that you aren’t sampling the layer mask. If your Clone Stamp Tool suddenly stops working, this setting is usually the culprit. You will find yourself constantly changing this setting depending on your needs with the tool. If, for example, you have a new transparent layer above an image layer, you will want this sample setting set to “Current And Below.” This way, you can paint on your new layer while sampling the image layer directly beneath it.
Check Your Sample SettingsĪnother very common reason for this tool not to work is the incorrect sample settings. To solve this, I’ll click on the layer I want to clone, then press Alt/Option to sample, and now the Clone Stamp Tool works again! 2. If you were trying to paint on a new layer to work non-destructively, then you’ll want to select that layer instead.Īs you can see, my background layer is currently selected, meaning that I will only be painting white with the clone adjustments since that’s what is sampled. If I want to make a clone adjustment to the shape on the left, I need to make sure that the layer is selected in the layer panel. If you have the incorrect layer chosen in the Layers Panel, your adjustments may be hidden or sampling the wrong thing.įor example, I have two images inside of a shape on their respective layers. The most common reason why the Clone Stamp stops working is simply that the wrong layer is selected.
#GIMP CLONE STAMP TOOL NOT WORKING HOW TO#
This way, you don’t lose any tool presets you might have created for clone stamping! How To Solve Common Clone Stamp Tool Problems In Photoshop 1. I’ll share the resetting process more in-depth later in this post, but let’s talk about some more basic solutions to your Clone Stamp problems before we get there. Next, click on the gear icon on the right of this panel, then select “Reset Tool.” Now the Clone Stamp Tool is restored to its default settings. To reset the Clone Stamp Tool, press S to activate the tool, then click on the Clone Stamp icon in the upper setting bar to reveal the tool presets. However, if you feel like you have tried everything, here’s how to reset this tool quickly. Usually, with the help of a few basic settings, you can get the clone stamp tool back to working order in seconds. If the clone stamp tool in Photoshop has suddenly stopped working, there are a few common reasons why.