Speeding up LR previews and the Develop module

[scott morrish]

Hi everyone,

I have been through a relatively thorough re-configuration of my Mac Pro, specifically looking for optimal LR3 performance with large Raw files (@60-80MB). The computer is a 2.93 quad core Mac Pro with 16GB RAM. To date this has involved installing 2 Raided SSDs (Raid 0) for the OS and applications, and four 2TB drives (Raid 0) - which are partitioned to give a fast 'scratch' volume outside a big 'data' volume. I have also made a fresh (leaner) installation of the OS and all applications.

So, I have the application (LR3) on the Boot, the LR catalogue and all of my Raw files on the Raided (0) Data drive, the LR Cache on the fast (Raid 0) scratch drive, and i am still waiting an age for 1:1 previews to build at just 5 per minute. Worse still (bearing in mind that previews only have to be built once) - switching from one image to the next in Develop module, still takes quite a while (6-7 seconds per image), so editing large numbers of images, zooming in to check critical focus etc, becomes a really slow chore.

The specific reason for posting is to find out if there is something specific that can be done to:
[1] speed up building 1:1 previews?
[2] Speed up file handling when moving between images in the Develop module?
or [3] if i am unrealistic in expecting LR3 to work faster?

And finally...
[4] are the preview files deleted when raw images are deleted from within lightroom?
[5] and if i started the process by simply generating 'standard' previews on import, and then later generate 1:1 previews after i have deleted all unwanted files, will the newer 1:1 preview replace the initial standard preview?

As data accumulates... i am getting more interested in keeping everything as lean (and fast) as it can be...

Thanks for any help,
Scott

[Sheldon N]

Rendering 1:1 previews is a CPU bound activity, not much you can do to speed that up. LR is not super efficient at using multiple cores, so a fair bit of your CPU power is wasted during the rendering of 1:1 previews. One thing you can do to speed up the process is to break the rendering into multiple concurrent operations. In other words, if you have 100 RAW files to render 1:1 previews on, break that into three or four segments running at the same time rather than running one single job of 100 total files. The increased number of "jobs" will force the CPU to use more of the multiple core processing power.   However, I just have the computer render 1:1 previews on import and let it take whatever time it's going to take.

Rendering those 1:1 previews in advance will speed up browsing in the Loupe view.

The develop tab uses a different "preview" file than the Loupe view. It actually renders the file to a degree so you can see what the actual editing results are going to be. If you want to speed up browsing in the Develop tab, you can increase the size of the Adobe Camera Raw cache. This will save some of the preliminary rendering work in a cache format, so as you make changes and revisit files they will load faster in the Develop tab.

However, the faster solution is to do your edit/browsing/focus checking in the Loupe view (E key shortcut) rather than in the develop tab. If you've already rendered 1:1 previews then it should move along briskly. You can control how long the 1:1 previews are saved by looking in the LR preferences. Personally I render everything with a 1:1 preview and have them set to keep around for 30 days.

[scott morrish]

Thanks Sheldon.

The Loupe view makes quite a difference: switching between images only takes 1-1.5 seconds instead of 6-7 seconds in the develop module: Dont know how i'd missed that feature... but thanks for throwing light on this for me.

I'd not bothered with trying to force the CPU to do more as even running the standard import via LR3 cycles the CPU between 100% and 800% for every image... so i had assumed there was nothing to gain by trying to get the CPU to do more. Maybe i have just reached the limit of what this CPU can do? I'll give it a try and see what happens.

Thanks,
Scott

[Sheldon N]

Check this link out for greater detail on the whole issue of CPU efficiency in Lightroom.

http://macperformanceguide.com/Optimizing-Lightroom.html

[scott morrish]

Very helpful thanks.

Still left wondering about a few things i haven't found information about:

[1] When starting with new disks... does the block size (option in disc utility) make any difference to stability / performance for the different uses LR3 makes of the hard disks (meaning reading / writing to the catalogue, the previews, the cache, virtual memory etc)?

And... [2] are the requirements the same in this regard for normal raided drives as with raided SSD?

Or... does it not matter at all?

Hope i have explained my question clearly enough... this is largely unchartered territory for me...
Thanks
Scott