CS2: corrupted TIFFs with layers

[Mike Arst]

A strange thing has begun happening in Photoshop CS2 (running under Win XP SP2), something I've never seen before.

In Lightroom 1.3 I convert a Canon 5D file to 8-bit TIFF format (no compression). Then opening the TIFF file in CS2, I draw a marquee, fill it with white, deselect the marquee, and add type over the top of the white "bar" I've just created -- a simple task that needs doing with all files that are part of the current job. I select Save As to save the file with these changes to a new name -- TIFF format -- keeping layers intact. Then the fun starts...

Normally when you save-as with layers, Photoshop warns that this will increase the file size. But starting with yesterday's session in PSCS2, the warning stopped appearing. (I have never checked the box that would cause PS to suppress the warning.)

Normally a save-as operation to TIFF format produces a dialog box containing selections for (among other things) type of compression. Starting yesterday the dialog box stopped appearing. Instead, Photoshop starts saving the file right away. And another oddity: instead of taking its usual 5 to 10 seconds, PS is now taking 20 to 30 seconds to do the save.

And the final blow: the resulting TIFF file is always corrupt. It can't be viewed or worked with in any other program -- Qimage, Irfanview, FastStone Viewer, you name it. It appears either as a random pattern of garbled colors, or as -- of all the strange things -- a black and white version of itself, very small and tiled about 20 times within the image area. Weird...

Any file derived from it will also be corrupt. (For instance, if after the initial save I flatten layers and save again as TIFF using yet another name. That time I do see the dialog box containing the choice of TIFF compression -- I always select 'none' -- and the resulting file is also unusable.)

I'm baffled. Two days ago the same procedure was producing files that were not corrupt (and the CS2 dialog allowing a choice of TIFF compression did appear any time files with layers were saved). If anyone Out There has a suggestion about what might be happening and how to fix it, I would greatly appreciate the advice.

[Mike Arst]

I should mention that an alternative procedure produces a non-corrupt file -- but it amounts to working backwards with these files and is the wrong thing to do.

Start the same way: convert 5D file out of Lightroom 1.3 to 8-bit TIFF; open in PS CS2. Add the type layer as mentioned in the previous message. Immediately flatten layers and 'save as,' selecting TIFF format (and a new filename).

In that case the dialog box containing TIFF compression settings does appear (I always select 'None') and the resulting TIFF file is not corrupt.

If I want the type layer back I can always undo the change and then 'save as' again with layers preserved. But that really is working backwards -- the version with the layers should be the original from which 'flattened' versions of the file are derived.

In any case as soon as the layers are restored, the next 'save as' with layers preserved again produces a corrupt TIFF file. It's really strange and I hope someone in the forum has heard of such a problem and knows how to solve it...

[Mike Arst]

One discovery (and I just realized: this is all new since the last time I accepted an automatic update of PS CS 2 -- sounds as if something got broken that didn't need fixing, as it were):

If the file with layers is first saved in .PSD format, then flattened and saved again without layers as a new TIFF file, the resulting file is usable in the other programs.

But in the TIFF Options dialog, Photoshop has begun randomly defaulting to "Zip compression" or "per channel" pixel order -- and sometimes both. Keeping either setting results in a TIFF file that isn't viewable in other programs. I have never used Zip compression or per-channel pixel order and I don't know why PS is making this decision on its own.

If anyone has a suggestion on how to prevent PS from selecting compression and 'per channel' as defaults, I'd appreciate the advice.

[gardnerdw]

One discovery (and I just realized: this is all new since the last time I accepted an automatic update of PS CS 2 -- sounds as if something got broken that didn't need fixing, as it were):

If the file with layers is first saved in .PSD format, then flattened and saved again without layers as a new TIFF file, the resulting file is usable in the other programs.

But in the TIFF Options dialog, Photoshop has begun randomly defaulting to "Zip compression" or "per channel" pixel order -- and sometimes both. Keeping either setting results in a TIFF file that isn't viewable in other programs. I have never used Zip compression or per-channel pixel order and I don't know why PS is making this decision on its own.

If anyone has a suggestion on how to prevent PS from selecting compression and 'per channel' as defaults, I'd appreciate the advice.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159565\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I have had the same problem with CS3. I think the problem is introduced by Lightroom, not PS.  By the way, the files a viewable in photo mechanic but not Qimage or Capture NX
Does anyone have any suggestions.  If you have not tried opening the TIFF files out side LR and PS, you may have not noticed the problem.
I am using XP SP2
Thanks

[gardnerdw]

I have had the same problem with CS3. I think the problem is introduced by Lightroom, not PS.  By the way, the files a viewable in photo mechanic but not Qimage or Capture NX
Does anyone have any suggestions.  If you have not tried opening the TIFF files out side LR and PS, you may have not noticed the problem.
I am using XP SP2
Thanks
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Apparently others have not been having this problem.  
I have found a solution for my problems and it relates to CS3 which saves TIF files in Per Channel pixel order which many programs cannot read.  If you use save as and select Interleave before the save, it is fine in Qimage and I suspect other programs as well.  Interestingly, if you choose save as again on the same photo and now select Per Channel pixel order, it gives you a warning about computability!
I do not know if this will help the original poster in PS2.
The post on Qimage support board is
[a href=\"http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/qimage/message/45312]http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/qimage/message/45312[/url]

I hope this will help those who use some non adobe programs along with light room and CS3
David Gardner

[Panopeeper]

Have you checked out Adobe's own forums? You might find the problem and the solution already.

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bc2cf0a/

If you don't find anything, and you upload such a corrupted, non-compressed file (or use yousendit), I take a look at the file structure to see, what the error might be. This would not be a solution of the problem, but it might make easier to search for or report the problem.

[Mike Arst]

I have had the same problem with CS3. I think the problem is introduced by Lightroom, not PS.

That's how it seems to me. My q&d solution, to save in PSD format first, works and there doesn't seem to be a 'down-side' to it.

[rdonson]

That's how it seems to me. My q&d solution, to save in PSD format first, works and there doesn't seem to be a 'down-side' to it.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=164745\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I have the problem with the latest versions of CS3 and LR as well.  LR will export a TIFF OK unless I choose compression.  CS3 just seems to determine on its own whether or not to present the dialog box on how to save a TIFF.  Once saved in an incompatible format there's no correcting the problem unless you do a "save as" and use a new filename.

If I export from LR without compression and open in CS3 as part of the export dialog and then save in CS3 it always saves it in an incompatible TIFF format and CS3 doesn't present the TIFF options dialog.

The irritating part of this behavior is that Adobe has been recommending that we use TIFF instead of PSD since the beta of LR.  I wish they'd get this resolved.