this could possibly one of the duh moments where i'm doing something simply wrong but all of my PS actions that require me to go in and paint on layer masks are not working. For example, since we are are all talking about TRA- pro retouch. I play the action as usual go in and select "pro retouch" and get my brush and start painting but nothing happens. I've been using them for a while, then today it..didn't work. I tried deleting them and reloading, but I'm convince I just clicked some kind of weird setting or something....

Hmm... peculiar. I don't use pro retouch at all but I'm thinking the layer mask might not be selected? I know, stupid answer but it's worth a try. Make sure the little black box is showing up around the square icon for the layer mask... if it isnt, just click on the layer mask icon before painting on it.

No idea about pro retouch. But are you using the correct color? White or black - depending on how the action is set? What is your brush opacity set at? And is it set to normal? if you accidently have the brush opacity too low or set off the normal blending mode - that could be your problem.

Jodi

oh lord. I had the colors on black/white instead of white/black. just a simple click was all. wow...

oooh yeah... there's that too... lol. it's all good, it happens to the best of us. you know "X" swaps those colors around... great key command to know