I was going along applying filter-sketch-photocopy to a series of images and saving them to a temporary file when the feature seemed to stop working for any other image. I tried adjusting the detail and darkness settings, but all I get is a white screen. Some of the other sketch options appear to work, but others provide the same result.
I'm unable to determine whether it's a program glitch or that I somehow changed something by accident.
I would appreciate any advise on how to resolve this situation. Thanks.
Posted by John Mumaw on January 28, 2009 at 11:54 PM
It's possible that you're low on memory.
How much RAM do you have onboard?
Have you assigned a scratch disk for temporary memory via Edit->Preferences->Performance?
Does that technique work for awhile after you exit PS and then restart the program?
I've had problems in several versions of PS where some feature simply stopped working. It was usually after I had worked on MANY images during one session. I either had to restart PS or restart the whole computer (a Mac), I have forgotten which. Afterwards, all was well. I figured I ran out of some resources that was eating memory in some way and not giving it back after each image was worked on. This used to be a problem with programs a LONG time ago that were not programmed properly. Not something to expect with PS on a Mac, but there it is!
John, I took a look at edit-preferences-memory and image cache. It indicates I have 463MB of RAM and 50% maximum used by Photoshop with a cache level of 4. I tried increasing both levels with no effect. I also looked at plug-ins and scratch disks. The first scratch disk is startup with the C drive as the second. I tried adding both the additional plug in and second scratch disk to the D drive with no effect. I changed them back, closes PS3 and opened it again then got the message below:
"You currently have Adobe Photoshop's primary scratch and Windows'
primary paging file on the same volume, which can result in reduced
performance. It is recommended that you set Adobe Photoshop's primary
Scratch volume to be on a different volume, preferably on a different physical drive."
This message never came up until I changed settings then returned them to their original values.
My computer was a decent multimedia model when purchased years ago and I've never had memory problems before. I've got 152GB available on the C drive and 114GB on the D drive. I'm not too computer savvy, but aren't the images in my documents on the hard drives and not using RAM until I open them? If all other programs are closed, what else would be using up the RAM? Also, why would only some of the sketch features be effected and not all?
Posted by Robert Fisher on January 29, 2009 at 8:59 AM
You're running short on RAM, as John mentioned. 1GB is about a minimum and 2GB is better (more is better yet).
Some of those filters are very resource intensive so a lot of RAM or a large portion of unused disk space is necessary.
You're right that documents aren't loaded into RAM or the scratch disk until they're opened but PS doesn't release all the resources when you close a file. I've got PS open now, no photos currently open and there's a PS temp file (for the scratch file) on my hard drive that's over 2GB in size.
The message you're getting is telling you that you should have your PS scratch disk on a different drive from Windows. Since you've got 2 hard drives, that's easy. In Preferences>Performance, you can change that.
If you haven't done it in a while, defragment your hard drives (do it regularly too) which will help make the performance of the scratch disk better. The more contiguous disk space it has to work with, the better.
As far as what else could be using RAM; lots of things. Windows uses a fair amount on its own. There will be other things running in the background as well that use resources. Look down in the bottom right corner of your screen at the system tray. Any icons showing there are programs that are running and using memory. If you want to see a full list of programs that launch when you boot your computer go to Start>Run, type msconfig in the field, click OK and go to the Startup tab. All the items that are checkmarked are launching when you boot the computer and are using resources.
Posted by John Mumaw on January 29, 2009 at 9:38 AM
A simple technique for now when you have that problem would be to purge PS of any excess temporarily held data in the memory by Edit->Purge->Undo Clipboard, Histories or All. This should allow you to continue for awhile.
Bob's advice re: scratch disks is sound. Your scratch disk should also be on a different drive than where PS is installed.
The best thing short of buying a new computer is to install as much RAM as allowable in your current setup. It's easy to do and relatively inexpensive.
Well I upgraded to 2GB RAM with no results. Edit-preferences-memory and image cache indicates that 1777MB is available and 50% maximum 888MB is used by Photoshop.
Any other suggestions?
Posted by John Mumaw on January 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
Hmmmm....baffling.
Resetting your preferences is a long shot, but it's worth a try.
As quickly as you can when starting PS (don't wait for the splash screen),
press and hold the Alt Shift and Ctrl keys.
A dialogue window will appear asking to confirm that you want to delete the current settings.
Choose 'Yes' and see if that doesn't help.
The one problem with this is that there are quite a few settings, so it's a good idea to make a note of any that you have changed from the default values before you do this (Edit->Preferences).
Thanks John. Strangely enough that last suggestion worked. Not only has the problem stopped, but now the whole system runs a bit faster with the extra RAM. It seems like a rather silly method for a program as detailed as Photoshop. One would think resetting to factory default would just be an option under edit.
Posted by John Mumaw on January 30, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Glad to hear that worked!
It's a jack-of-all trades fix that you may need in the future.
Discussion
9 repliesI'm unable to determine whether it's a program glitch or that I somehow changed something by accident.
I would appreciate any advise on how to resolve this situation. Thanks.
How much RAM do you have onboard?
Have you assigned a scratch disk for temporary memory via Edit->Preferences->Performance?
Does that technique work for awhile after you exit PS and then restart the program?
Troup
"You currently have Adobe Photoshop's primary scratch and Windows'
primary paging file on the same volume, which can result in reduced
performance. It is recommended that you set Adobe Photoshop's primary
Scratch volume to be on a different volume, preferably on a different physical drive."
This message never came up until I changed settings then returned them to their original values.
My computer was a decent multimedia model when purchased years ago and I've never had memory problems before. I've got 152GB available on the C drive and 114GB on the D drive. I'm not too computer savvy, but aren't the images in my documents on the hard drives and not using RAM until I open them? If all other programs are closed, what else would be using up the RAM? Also, why would only some of the sketch features be effected and not all?
Some of those filters are very resource intensive so a lot of RAM or a large portion of unused disk space is necessary.
You're right that documents aren't loaded into RAM or the scratch disk until they're opened but PS doesn't release all the resources when you close a file. I've got PS open now, no photos currently open and there's a PS temp file (for the scratch file) on my hard drive that's over 2GB in size.
The message you're getting is telling you that you should have your PS scratch disk on a different drive from Windows. Since you've got 2 hard drives, that's easy. In Preferences>Performance, you can change that.
If you haven't done it in a while, defragment your hard drives (do it regularly too) which will help make the performance of the scratch disk better. The more contiguous disk space it has to work with, the better.
As far as what else could be using RAM; lots of things. Windows uses a fair amount on its own. There will be other things running in the background as well that use resources. Look down in the bottom right corner of your screen at the system tray. Any icons showing there are programs that are running and using memory. If you want to see a full list of programs that launch when you boot your computer go to Start>Run, type msconfig in the field, click OK and go to the Startup tab. All the items that are checkmarked are launching when you boot the computer and are using resources.
Bob's advice re: scratch disks is sound. Your scratch disk should also be on a different drive than where PS is installed.
The best thing short of buying a new computer is to install as much RAM as allowable in your current setup. It's easy to do and relatively inexpensive.
Any other suggestions?
Resetting your preferences is a long shot, but it's worth a try.
As quickly as you can when starting PS (don't wait for the splash screen),
press and hold the Alt Shift and Ctrl keys.
A dialogue window will appear asking to confirm that you want to delete the current settings.
Choose 'Yes' and see if that doesn't help.
The one problem with this is that there are quite a few settings, so it's a good idea to make a note of any that you have changed from the default values before you do this (Edit->Preferences).
It's a jack-of-all trades fix that you may need in the future.