Ok, I searched the forum, and I want to add one other aspect to the Browser slowdown other than what I found.
If I open a file 50 M or greater, and have the Browser open also, then attempt to work on the file or even move the screen shot, everything slows down, big time, up to 5 minutes, while for some godforsaken reason the HD is doing some task. And, if I should be so unfortunate as to have 2 large files open as well as the Browser, well, forget it! If I could access the Browser X box and quit the browser, I would be reasonably satisfied. And, like the other slowdowns, escape and sometimes even Task Manager doesn’t do the job. TM waits until PS finished, then shuts down!
On smaller files, if the browser is open the tool icons don’t work. I can have the crop tool selected, and whatever icon came before, that is what I see. Also, moving off the image to the tool bar or anywhere no change to the icon results. As soon as I close the Browser, (sometimes merely minimizing it) everything behaves correctly.
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The most likely cause is that your browser is building a cache. You can usually see when this is happening by looking at the bottom left side of the Browser window. If it has completed updating the previews it will simply state the number of images in the folder. If it is processing the folder previews it will display a message such "Generating ………." or "Getting …………"
If the folder has very large image files and you haven’t set the Browser to ignore them then it will take forever trying to generate a preview. You might want to check the Browser prefs: From the Browsers Edit menu select preferences. Set the "Do not process files larger than XXX to 200MB (the default) or smaller. Also make sure that "Allow Background Processing" isn’t checked.
No, it’s definitely something else. I re partitioned to get my huge picture file away from the boot partition, thinking that would help. Nope!
I have my "Do not process…." set to 1G, as that is the max size for many images in the construction phase. Lots of Layers at 16 bit(!):-(
If I remember to Alt>Click on a file, then the Browser disappears and all is well. Or I can exit after selecting the file. I don’t like to do that as sometimes I want to select several versions of an image under construction and compare notes, especially if I haven’t worked it recently.
PS has been up scaled to be able to handle these types of files. I think the Browser is way behind the curve. IMHO, that is!
I have my "Do not process…." set to 1G, as that is the max size for many images in the construction phase. Lots of Layers at 16 bit(!)
If you have "Do not process…." set to 1GB and "High Quality Previews" is checked then it will take ages for the preview thumbnail to be generated. By way of example it took 2.5 minutes for one 1.02GB image on my dual G4 with 2GB ram. Therefore you can expect that many complex 1GB images will take HOURS! If you have a need to see see a full size preview thumbnail for these images then I would recommend that you uncheck "High Quality Previews". This will significantly reduce the time to generate the preview thumbnails.
Ian, this problem persists even if I have them all generated, unless generating them is a re-occurring process, which I don’t believe it is.
I’ll look into shutting down or minimizing the thumbnails and see what happens.
I have never had an image take hours, even with complex filters. The greatest time I have experienced is in the order of 10 min or so. And, I am running a single processor at 850 MHz, 1G RAM.
OK, I ran a test. I set the max size back to 200M and unchecked all the Options in the Browser dialog box. Then I opened multiple files, leaving the Browser open including one that is 1.4G with layers. The system behaved much better. While it was obvious the HD was doing something, I could move the images around in the editing window with little hang-up. (Stuttering when moving)
I notice this: With the Browser open, the info tray gives the number of objects in that folder, in this case, 314. When I actually open a file, that info now states it is generating previews. Aha! So, I gradually reinstalled my default settings, including the 1G max size to preview, and now, it still is behaving correctly, ie no hangups. Huh! So, I conclude, tentatively, that there is some hooky things happening in the software interfaces, something that cleared but didn’t re-establish when I went back to my settings.
The only problem that didn’t disappear was the icons not changing when invoking a tool, nor the arrow showing up when I move off image.
I think I am going to clear the cache and rerun it overnight tonight.
I’m glad you established the source of the problem and rebuilding the cache is probably a good idea. I’ve also noticed that with very large images in a folder that FB can sit doing nothing until you actually highlight an image and then it decides that it needs to build the HQ preview. I shouldn’t do this, but it does (occasionally).
For what it’s worth High Quality previews for large image files will always be something that will cause you a problem. To be honest I just don’t see the point in placing that burden on your system since every time you reopen FB after saving a NEW image it will need to create a HQ preview thumbnail for it. If the image is relatively small (less than 200MB) then you won’t have a problem, but 1GB means you’re into migraine territory. I’ll likely p–s off the engineers for saying so, but why do you think they gave us the ability to set a limit on the size of images.
why do you think they gave us the ability to set a limit on the size of images.
For the same reason they gave us the ability to allocate a RAM percentage to Photoshop: to start endless arguments among users, forum hosts and the occasional Adobe engineer (cough>>chris cox<<cough) about what the optimal setting should be. 🙂
I will disable HQ preview and see how I like it.The vast majority of images are well under 1G, especially after flattening and convert to 8 bit. But there are enough I keep unflattened and 16 bit until I am really sure. I have had to second guess more than once. (How many times have you opened a file you thought was the cat’s meow only to go "Yikes! Did I do this?)
Deciding that the HQ preview needs to be made after opening a file is exactly what goes on. What file is it building? It shouldn’t do this?
