PS 7.0 and Memory - DPChallenge Forums

Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF

04/22/2006 04:42:32 AM · #1

OK, so I'm doing some photos by hand, a lot of them, this afternoon and I've noticed that when I edit a photo, then close the pic, the memory in Photoshop doesn't get flushed.

When I use the clipboard to do something with layers, I notice that in the edit menu, I am able to PURGE the clipboard. Photoshop went right back down to 10MB used.

EDIT: This appeared to have only occured the one time. I don't really understand this, but it doesn't do that anymore. I'm still sitting at 260MB.

I currently have PS running, but I don't have anything open and it's using 227MB (the max it is allowed).

Is this OK? Is it advisable to change anything? Is it just allocated and not doing anything?

I have 512MB of RAM, of which my computer uses a fair bit in general operations. Something like 220MB (Thanks to Microsoft and Acer for not including a proper version of Windows that can be customized properly).

On another semi-related note, Whenever I do Canvas Size for my borders, the default is in inches. I would like the default to be pixels.

I couldn't find this in preferences.

Pardon my being a PS dum dum. I am learning as I go.

Message edited by author 2006-04-22 05:00:15.

faidoi

Pentax K10D

04/22/2006 04:59:38 AM · #2

Edit>Preferences>Units and Rulers> Set Pixel

Edit>Preferences>Memory & Image Cache>Increase the Maximum

Close PS7 and the settings will reset when you reopen PS7

faidoi

Pentax K10D

Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF

04/22/2006 05:02:04 AM · #3

Adding RAM will really help with editing, especially if you have many multiple layers.

Nikon NIKKOR AF-S DX VR 55-200 f4-5.6 G IF-ED

04/22/2006 05:07:13 AM · #4

Thank you. I spent all my money on my 30D. I have lenses to buy.

I really don't find a major slowdown when using 250MB for most of the stuff I do. Most stuff takes 1-2 seconds or less. It chugs now and again on the odd thing here and there, but otherwise it's ok.

The Units and Rulers I had already done, but forgot to hit OK. Stupid mistake. Going back and rechecking it found my problem. Excellent! 12 seconds saved per picture! :)

I find it runs a bit better when I'm only giving it 220-250MB (I gave it 220MB and it uses 260MB (?), possibly because it isn't using swap as much.

I was considering going to 1GB of RAM, but this OS seems to be soooo piggy when it comes to RAM. I will wait until I upgrade again in a couple of years maybe. Or if I can find the time to rework my OS.

rayz1

Nikon D300

04/22/2006 07:23:10 AM · #5

What Os are you using???? if Xp, try increasing your virtual memory too,
go Control Panel/system/advanced/virtual mem.
Also there are available several programs designed to free up ram memory when it is not released

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

04/22/2006 12:09:48 PM · #6

Yeah, it's WinXP Tablet edition. There seems to be around an extra 80MB of RAM allocated to Tablet stuff over a non-tablet factory WinXP install (my sister uses nearly an identical laptop without tablet and her computer uses 120-140MB of RAM out of 512).

I like the Tablet functionality, but I am absolutely incensed that they continually hold the technology back by restricting the hardware when compared to mainstream computers. Having said that, There is no reason it shouldn't be able to handle a fairly decent load. It's not exactly a slow machine by the specs.

I find that the machine slows down when it starts using the virtual memory, so I try to avoid it as much as possible. If I can tell photoshop to be more frugal with it's RAM, I would rather do that.

I've got a non-official copy of windows that I use for testing people's computers and helping clean viruses that puts WinXP with almost all the same functionality on a computer with a cold boot footprint of 67MB-84MB (depending on the machine). The machines that I have built with that OS FLLLLLYYYY. I can't use that on my computer though because a: it's a non-legal copy, so I wouldn't want to run my computer full-time with it, and b: it's missing some tablet stuff.

I could probably modify it, but....

Anyhow, since I changed the RAM to 225MB or so, things seem to be running a lot better. Some things have slowed down but other things have sped up... A liveable tradeoff.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

04/22/2006 12:14:58 PM · #7

Photoshop has always assigned its own "scratch disk" allocations, so increasing system "virtual memory" should really have no effect.

What might help is getting another hard disk (or partitioning the current one) to assign PS a large scratch disk space which is unused by the OS or other programs, and is empty of data files. This could be an external disk -- you'll just have to assign it in PS and maybe restart.

Message edited by author 2006-04-22 12:15:23.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

04/22/2006 12:24:05 PM · #8

Thanks gen, it's a good idea, but my external disk is currently out on loan to the guy who is lending my his EOS 1n and 85mm 1.8...

I'm content with speed as it is. I was just concerned that it wasn't flushing the memory from one file to the next. The performance got worse and worse as I went from picture to picture, so I was guessing (and to some degree I still think this might be so) that PS is storing information as it is used that stays active from pic to pic.

From a cold start it only takes like 6 seconds to load PS 7.0 and I have a number of useful things I can do in those 6 seconds. I can practice counting my fingers, I can practice uhhhh... counting on my fingers backwards... Well anyways, I don't experience significant slow-down on anything except for some of the more bizarre filters.

If I get a bigger computer at a future date, I will probably look into getting CS2. For now, my next upgrade will probably be in pumping the HD up to a 100GB and toying with my OS install.

Telehubbie

Canon EOS-40D

04/22/2006 01:43:48 PM · #9

Just as a side-note, if you close PS and then restart it (making sure to save everything first), it will dump anything utilizing the memory or scratch disks and re-allocate the new space.

I still haven't figured out how to make the default in pixels as opposed to inches in canvas size, but I've recorded some actions for my common borders and just run those when I need to.

rayz1

Nikon D300

Nikon NIKKOR AF-S DX VR 55-200 f4-5.6 G IF-ED

04/23/2006 06:07:39 AM · #10

If you go to CS2 you will definitely need more ram, I am running CS2 on my new machine with 2 gig of ram, it now flys along and that is compared to my old machine which had 1gig of ram
CS2 takes all the ram you can throw at it.!!!

yanko

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Carl Zeiss 50mm ZE f/1.4 Planar T for Canon

04/23/2006 06:19:25 AM · #11

Originally posted by rayz1:

And you can never have too much disk space.