Absurdly huge files

[Ken Lee]

So if everyone else is getting scans this large and no one else is having an issue, maybe it's my laptop. Or software incompatibilities or something.

Everyone else isn't getting scans that size. People do have issues with large files.

Photoshop makes it possible to work with very large files even if you don't have a lot of RAM: you might find this article helpful: Turbocharge Your Photoshop. It's written by Tim Parkin, one of our forum members (who has his own forum too).

[bob carnie]

I have always been disappointed with the brush size limitation in PS with files sizes 500mb and larger, I like using a very large brush for edge burning applications and never able to get the size large enough which gives me a somewhat blotchy burn if I am not really careful.

[Greg Miller]

So if everyone else is getting scans this large and no one else is having an issue, maybe it's my laptop. Or software incompatibilities or something.

A good rule of thumb is to have Ram => file size x 10/ So if you commonly work with 1GB files, you should have 10GB RAM. I have 16GB of RAM and rarely have problems with very large files.

[Greg Miller]

I have always been disappointed with the brush size limitation in PS with files sizes 500mb and larger, I like using a very large brush for edge burning applications and never able to get the size large enough which gives me a somewhat blotchy burn if I am not really careful.

It's a pain, but you could duplicate your file, downsize it, do your brush work (with a brush size that you like) on a layer mask, up-size back to the original size, then copy your layer mask back the the original file (you can save it as an alpha channel and then load the alpha channel in the original file). That doesn't work well with image pixels, but interpolating layer masks is pretty free of problems.

[Dilznik]

Interesting. I use Aperture and Perfect Photo Suite 8. I have no issues in Aperture unless the files are over 500mb. All my issues are in Perfect Photo. I wonder if the effects changes are building a new layer in the same resolution each time.

My MBP is maxed out with the 8gb =( I was thinking of trying an SSD in case it was the swap files/ virtual memory that was killing me.

[bob carnie]

Thanks Greg- I may have to see if a action could be created that does this quickly on the fly so to speak so I can do all the brush work at one time and then move back up.
this makes quite a bit of sense, I think WCImaging had something like this on their site, and the link provided by Ken seems to be somewhat the same.

I wonder why there is a limitation on the brush size... Adobe fix it please, we are seeing larger files all the time, I just purchased a nice Creo Eversmart and I can get some pretty large files.

It's a pain, but you could duplicate your file, downsize it, do your brush work (with a brush size that you like) on a layer mask, up-size back to the original size, then copy your layer mask back the the original file (you can save it as an alpha channel and then load the alpha channel in the original file). That doesn't work well with image pixels, but interpolating layer masks is pretty free of problems.

[Greg Miller]

Thanks Greg- I may have to see if a action could be created that does this quickly on the fly so to speak so I can do all the brush work at one time and then move back up.
this makes quite a bit of sense, I think WCImaging had something like this on their site, and the link provided by Ken seems to be somewhat the same.

I wonder why there is a limitation on the brush size... Adobe fix it please, we are seeing larger files all the time, I just purchased a nice Creo Eversmart and I can get some pretty large files.

Another option that is easier, but not as intuitive, is to (temporarily) duplicate the background layer, change the duplicate layer to a Smart Object, Free Transform and size it down, create a layer mask on the smart opbejct and do your painting, free transform and size the smart object back to the original size (the layer mask gets re-sized along with the pixels), drag the layer mask to the adjustment layer that actually needs the mask, delete the duplicate layer.

[bob carnie]

Is there any loss of quality? I can see setting up actions on both sides of the painting, should be pretty quick.. thanks dude

Another option that is easier, but not as intuitive, is to (temporarily) duplicate the background layer, change the duplicate layer to a Smart Object, Free Transform and size it down, create a layer mask on the smart opbejct and do your painting, free transform and size the smart object back to the original size (the layer mask gets re-sized along with the pixels), drag the layer mask to the adjustment layer that actually needs the mask, delete the duplicate layer.

[Greg Miller]

Is there any loss of quality? I can see setting up actions on both sides of the painting, should be pretty quick.. thanks dude

The Smart Object preserves all original pixels, so you can repeatedly re-size the Smart Object layer all day long and never create any interpolation when you go back to the original size. But you are throwing away the pixel layer and only using the mask at the end, so the resizing of the ask is no different than the first option that I mentioned.

[Greg Miller]

I wonder why there is a limitation on the brush size... Adobe fix it please, we are seeing larger files all the time, I just purchased a nice Creo Eversmart and I can get some pretty large files.

Just curious what version of PS you are using and what your max brush size is. I'm using CS6 and have a max brush size of 5,000 pixels. That means I could have a 20,000 x 20,000 pixel image and have the brush cover 1/4 of the image.