What's up with the Burn/Dodge tools?

[crvinn]

So, I'm trying to do a little burning on an image and I noticed something weird about the Burn/Dodge brush.

What's up with the jagged edges around the brush!? The affected area isn't even within the radius of the brush.

In this image the brush is at 100% hardness with a radius of 500.

In this image the brush is 0% hardness with a radius of 500. By the way, shouldn't a brush at 0% hardness be a even gradient from center to edge? What's up with the dark spot in the center??

[JoeB]

Your profile information says that you are using Corel's Video Studio and Paintshop Pro, but not the version of Paintshop Pro you are using. Could you please update your profile to indicate the Paintshop Pro version you are using.

Also, could you please post a screenshot of your workspace when using that tool so that we can see the actual settings you are using, and a detailed description of how you are applying the tool. It's not easy for us to guess about that stuff I'm afraid.

[crvinn]

Your profile information says that you are using Corel's Video Studio and Paintshop Pro, but not the version of Paintshop Pro you are using. Could you please update your profile to indicate the Paintshop Pro version you are using.

Also, could you please post a screenshot of your workspace when using that tool so that we can see the actual settings you are using, and a detailed description of how you are applying the tool. It's not easy for us to guess about that stuff I'm afraid.

I'm using Paintshop Pro 2018.

I'm using the burn/dodge tool just at would in a darkroom to selectively increase or decrease exposure in areas . . . at least that's what I'm trying to do . . .

I'm attaching a screenshot with the tool settings and another example of what the tool looks like in use, designated by the red box.

[hartpaul]

What I did: PSP 2018 version 20.2.0.1 Windows 10 Version 1607
1. Prepared an 800 x 800 pixel canvas and selected approx 1/3 and filled with a color approximating a highlight. Repeated with another third and flood filled with a mid tone and then the bottom third with a shadow tone.
2. Selected the Dodge brush and with brush size 140, hardness 20, Step10, Density Thickness and Rotation at Defaults and Opacity at 10.
3. Applied the brush with 4 clicks in the same place with Limit = None in the top left highlight area then the left mid tone area and then the left shadow area (top to bottom)
4.Selected Limit =Shadow and then 4 clicks in each of the areas for second left column.
5. Selected Limit = Midtones and repeated in 3rd column
6. Selected Limit = Highlights and repeated in 4th column.

As can be seen with Limit = none we get a circular darkening , but uneven so that there is a bullseye pattern.
With other limits chosen there is an area outside the circular section which also gets darkened as if there is no limit to the edge of the brush.
Considering that the brush is normally applied over an area using brush strokes I repeated the exercise but dragging the brush diagonally 4 times. ( I also had to use a smaller brush of about 50 pixels)

Here we can see that in the highlight region the Brush with Limit = Highlight had the greatest effect, but there is still a halo effect over areas that the brush did not touch.
Likewise in the Shadow area, the Brush with Limit = Shadow had the greatest effect but again the halo effect is evident even in the Limit = None area.
In comparison I show the first one but done in PSP X2

So it seems that there may be a bug in the way the brush is applied with a Limit set in at least PSP 2018. Still have to test other versions to see when it started.
EDIT After some more tests X2-X4 are all OK, X5-X7 with Limit None you get a slightly darker circle and a surrounding very dark circle ie a Dark halo effect. The Limits set still give a circle which is normal.
X8-2018 No Dark Halo with Limit = None but with any other limit selected you get a darkened square as if the brush has no limit. So seems to be a bug if can be repeated by a number of others.