Re: [Gimp-developer] Selection and paintbrush tool: is this a bug?

[Bruce <speakwithbruce gmail com>]

Ignore the double post (both have the same content)--I got an error message when I sent the first message and wasn't sure if it was sent, so I sent it again.

On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 1:45 PM, Bruce <speakwithbruce gmail com> wrote:

I think I may have found an issue with the selection tool. I wanted to run it by you guys before bug reporting it. 

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I was editing a portrait of someone. 

The layer I was editing had a layer mask, and below it was another layer (both were visible). I used the free select tool to make a selection, then used the quick mask feature to edit the selection.

Issue #1

Then I clicked "show mask" and inverted the selection so it's selected the person (not the background). I could use the paintbrush tool just fine and it wouldn't go outside the selection. 

But if I inverted the selection (so the background is selected) and then used the paintbrush on the mask layer, it affected both the selection and outside the selection. (See screenshot 3 - http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/2387/screenshot3em.png ) What was strange was also that my brush opacity was 100%, I think, and while any strokes in the background were 100%, when I moved into the part of the image that showed the person (that wasn't selected at the time)... well, look at screenshot 3. :)

Issue #2

I also noticed strange things were happening at the edge of my selection when I had the person selected, such that if I was masking through to the layer underneath with the paintbrush tool, it appeared to go outside my selection, but only a little bit. I used a quick mask to make the selection using a soft brush, but if I turn the quick mask on, it doensn't show. See screenshot these screenshots:

1 - http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5592/screenshot1ai.png

2 - http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/6899/screenshot2bdy.png

Issue #3

Then, strangely, when I tested out painting on the actual layer (not the mask), if the background was selected I could paint on that just fine and it didn't go beyond the selection, but if I inverted the selection so the person was selected, if I painted on the person, it wouldn't show up on the layer, but in the layers dialogue it did show the paint (I was using a large brush, so I could notice it easily). No screenshot of this; just imaging that if you have a person selected and the background not selected and you paint on the person within the layer, the brush paint doesn't show on the layer, but does show in the layers dialogue. 

I also tried this with the blurr tool, and it did the same thing. I.e. I could select the background and paint on that and it'd paint in the background but not on the person, but if I selected the person, it wouldn't show anywhere on the layer, but would indeed show on the little layer preview in the layer dialogue.

* * * 

Perhaps I'm not doing something right (I'm new to Gimp; I don't understand selections as much as I understand other things), but this feels like it's functioning strangely and inconsistantly.