Photoshop CS5 CS6 on Mojave

[Robert Watcher]

Last week I upgraded my MacBook Air to Apple’s latest OS Mojave. It’s a beautiful interface for sure - and I really had no issues with the Upgrade process.

On the weekend, I photographed a group of people and opened a few of the different images, as layers in Photoshop - so I could change our a few of the heads for a perfect portrait. All went well, until I went to apply the Brush tool to my Mask. It was very slow. With each swipe the brush would dissappear and the circle of dots indicating that the application is busy, would display for a couple of seconds before settling down and showing my brush tool again.

I completed the job, but realized there must be some incompatibility with Mojave and my older non-subscription based copy of Photoshop CS6. This morning it was time to do a Google Search and see what I could come up with.

Actually there were many issues reported where PS CS5 wasn’t working at all. But someone came across a solution that got their Photoshop back up and running. In Mac System Preferences, click Security & Privacy. Then in the left panel, select Accessibility along with the Privacy tab. In their cases, Photoshop CS5 was listed there - Unchecked - under Allow the Apps Below to Control Your Computer. They Checked Photoshop, and we’re happy to find that their copy of Photoshop now worked. There is no explanation of why, that I can find.

And so I went into System and Preferences > Security & Privacy > Accessibility —- and sure enough Photoshop CS6 was sitting in the list Unchecked. I Unlocked the lock and Checked Photoshop CS6, opened some layers in PS, added a mask and started painting on the mask —- and the Brish worked properly without hesitation.

I’m sure there will be some here who have upgraded to Mojave, and who have chosen not to use Adobe’s subscription model. If after the OS Update, you are having issues with PS, you may want to give this method a try.

PHOTOSHOP CS6 with Layers and Layer Mask for blending

Painting on the Layer Mask, the Brush disappeared and Busy (circle of dots) for a couple of seconds before being able to resume

Fix PS issue in System and Preferences > Security & Privacy > Accessibility - add Check beside PS



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[Jerome Marot]

Thank you for the post. This is noted for my mojave upgrade.

This being said, the next OS X upgrade is likely to break CS6 completely. I hate both Apple and Adobe for it.

 

[Asher Kelman]

It may be the 32 BIT to 64 BIT changeover. I don’t think Media Pro works under Mojave, so I haven’t upgraded!

I depend on Media Peo for my catalogs. Phase One wants to push us to Capture One 12 and tax us with new upgrade charges!! (But they do have excellent luminous masks, I must admit).

Can someone test Media Pro with Mojave? One can download it from Phase One, as soon as you dig through their menus and find their store of “Vibtage” non supported downloads!

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

It may be the 32 BIT to 64 BIT changeover. I don’t think Media Pro works under Mojave, so I haven’t upgraded!

I depend on Media Peo for my catalogs. Phase One wants to push us to Capture One 12 and tax us with new upgrade charges!! (But they do have excellent luminous masks, I must admit).

Can someone test Media Pro with Mojave? One can download it from Phase One, as soon as you dig through their menus and find their store of “Vibtage” non supported downloads!

Asher

I don’t think it is the 32 bit 64 bit issue. In fact I believe CS6 is 64 bit and CS5 gave the option of either 32bit or 64bit.

When I installed High Sierra last year, I remember hearing about compatability because High Sierra converted the boot volume’s file system to the new APFS file system. A couple things like saving appeared to take longer once I upgraded - but PS continued to run as it did when I just upgraded to Mojave. One program that would not work after I upgraded to High Sierra, was my older version of Final Cut Pro.

Anyway, I’m just glad I got PS to work smoothly the way it should. My Lightroom version - which I purchased just months before Adobe stopped supporting anything but their monthly subscription model —- continues to work fine with the latest macOS upgrades.


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[Robert Watcher]

It looks like Mojave does technically support 32 bit apps - although it is stated to be the last version that will do so before fading out 32 bit support.

Here is link talking about compatibility issues. https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac-software/apps-work-macos-mojave-3678735/

It could be that this fix I have described, will work with Media Pro as well. An option also is to keep running an older version of MacOS alongside the new version so that you can switch operating systems when necessary. Probably best to try this method first before upgrading —- get an external disk, install the previous macOS, and use it just for Media Pro, if that is a possibility.

https://www.imore.com/how-make-bootable-installer-drive-downgrade


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Also I found this statement - “Adobe software older than the Creative Cloud (CC) versions are not officially supported on macOS 10.13 High Sierra. That doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t work; it just means that if those old versions have any new issues related to macOS 10.13 High Sierra, there won’t be any updates to address them (in other words, the only version with the High Sierra fixes will be the current version).” this probably answers why I noticed a slow down in certain functions like saving files - when I upgraded to High Sierra.


https://blog.conradchavez.com/2017/09/25/macos-10-13-high-sierra-will-adobe-software-work/


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[Asher Kelman]

Robert,

Thanks for your insights. But tell me, why should we use Mohave in the first place?

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

Robert,

Thanks for your insights. But tell me, why should we use Mohave in the first place?

Asher

Obviously we don’t have to. I just always prefer to keep up to date as possible with operating systems and benefit from security features, better integration with my other devices, improvements and extra features - especially when they are free. Firmware updates for cameras are important to me for the same reasons. If I have to pay though, it takes much longer to extract money from my wallet.


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[Jerome Marot]

Thanks for your insights. But tell me, why should we use Mohave in the first place?

There is no hurry, but eventually safety patches will stop to be issued for older versions of OS X.

 

[Jerome Marot]

I don’t think it is the 32 bit 64 bit issue.

As far as I understood, PS depends on openGL libraries. Apple deprecated these in Mojave in favour of the new graphics library, called Metal. Metal allows better usage of modern graphic processors.

Mojave still supports openGL or PS would not work at all, but support is not perfect.

But whether Apple will convince developers to drop openGL remains to be seen.

 

[Asher Kelman]

As far as I understood, PS depends on openGL libraries. Apple deprecated these in Mojave in favour of the new graphics library, called Metal. Metal allows better usage of modern graphic processors.

Mojave still supports openGL or PS would not work at all, but support is not perfect.

But whether Apple will convince developers to drop openGL remains to be seen.

Jerome,

Based on this knowledge, is there any way that Windows could be offering a better platform for PS for now?

Asher