Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Problem printing large file Photoshop  (Read 13145 times)

jschone

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 86
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« on: December 19, 2005, 06:16:09 pm »

Hi,

Today I wanted to print a 100x150 cm 300 dpi (could also have been 240 dpi) file on an epson 9800.
The file was still in 16 bit mode so the file size was about 600mb. The file was a .jpeg from a D2x.
After I pressed the print button, photoshop started processing for 2-3 minutes. Then I received a program error and Photoshop CS2 seemed frozen.

I have the following setup:

-PowerMac Quad
-4.5 gb memory
-250 gb harddisk
-Creative Suite Premium 2
-Epson 9800 (connected with usb 2.0 cable 3 metres to Mac)

The free disk space is about 175 gb. I did not receive my second disk for the Quad yet, so this is the only disk internal plus a Lacie 250 gb external. I have just migrated to Creative Suite 2 from Creative Suite 1 and I did not create any specific preferences yet. The memory allocation for Photoshop is the standard 70%.
The Lacie is not in the list of available scratch disks somehow.

Could someone give me some directions about optimizing my setup and/or help me solve this problem?

Kind Regards,

Jochem
« Last Edit: December 19, 2005, 06:20:18 pm by jschone »
Logged

jdemott

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 432
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2005, 07:09:57 pm »

There may be someone here who can help with your question (not me since I don't use Mac), but you might also want to try directing your question to the Mac Photoshop forum on Adobe's website.
Logged
John DeMott

francois

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13758
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« Reply #2 on: December 20, 2005, 03:36:47 am »

Quote
Hi,
Today I wanted to print a 100x150 cm 300 dpi (could also have been 240 dpi) file on an epson 9800.
The file was still in 16 bit mode so the file size was about 600mb. The file was a .jpeg from a D2x.
After I pressed the print button, photoshop started processing for 2-3 minutes. Then I received a program error and Photoshop CS2 seemed frozen.
.......

Could someone give me some directions about optimizing my setup and/or help me solve this problem?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=53923\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Jochem,
Two things would help us, first one is to know what the error message said and second one would be to know if Photoshop was really frozen or if it was busy doing processing.

I can't help you on the first question but for the second one (PS frozen or working) you can take the following steps:

1. Open the terminal application (in the Utilities folder)
2. Before starting to print in Photoshop, in the terminal window type this command: top -u
    Press on Return or Enter key.
3. This will give you a list of the running processes, sorted by the amount of cpu usage
4. Start to print in Photoshop and  watch the terminal window, look for the Photoshop process (likely to be at the top of the list).
5. When Photoshop seems frozen, what does the terminal window say? Is Photoshop running at the top of list (look at the attached pic)?

After this test you can safely close the terminal window (it will ask if you want to terminate the running process, click on the Terminate button).
« Last Edit: December 20, 2005, 03:42:53 am by francois »
Logged
Francois

jschone

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 86
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2005, 05:59:15 pm »

Hi,

I checked the terminal window. Photoshop is on top of the list. It uses about 1.1 gb on average during the process that I am trying to print.  There is a something like 2 gb inactive memory and free memory is about 50 mb on average (!), which seems very low.

Yesterday I managed to print the 600 mb file. Today, I tried again but received the same error: "Could not print "abc.jp" because of a program error.

The maximum memory I can allocate for Photoshop is 3.0 gb if I go into Photoshop preferences. My system has 4.5 gb. I have tried allocating memory from 70%-100% (of 3.0 gb) but problem persists in all cases.

I have no idea what is going on here.  

Jochem
Logged

Jonathan Wienke

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5829
    • http://visual-vacations.com/
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2005, 10:23:30 am »

The problem is simple: Photoshop will allow you to edit images much larger than it is capable of printing successfully. Allocating additional memory to Photoshop only makes the problem worse, because the Photoshop print spool task only seems to use memory NOT allocated to Photoshop. I strongly recommend buying QImage and learning to use it; it will at least quadruple the size of images you'll be able to successfully print. There's a thread about QImage elsewhere in the printer forum.
« Last Edit: December 22, 2005, 10:25:07 am by Jonathan Wienke »
Logged

francois

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13758
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2005, 11:23:33 am »

Quote
Hi,

I checked the terminal window. Photoshop is on top of the list. It uses about 1.1 gb on average during the process that I am trying to print.  There is a something like 2 gb inactive memory and free memory is about 50 mb on average (!), which seems very low.

Yesterday I managed to print the 600 mb file. Today, I tried again but received the same error: "Could not print "abc.jp" because of a program error.

The maximum memory I can allocate for Photoshop is 3.0 gb if I go into Photoshop preferences. My system has 4.5 gb. I have tried allocating memory from 70%-100% (of 3.0 gb) but problem persists in all cases.

I have no idea what is going on here.  

Jochem
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Well, allocating 70% to 100% of your memory to Photoshop is bad thing. Free memory should not cause any problem, the system will take care of it thru paging. Obviouly, Photoshop is not frozen, it's busy doing his business. The error message is not helpful at all  :-(
What I would do is check the Console.app logs when you try to print to see if there's any message from the print system or Photoshop. I would also try to repair disk permissions with the Disk Utility application (Utility folder) and also try to see if your disk needs repair using the same application. Last thing you could download Print Setup Repair application ([a href=\"http://fixamac.net/software/downloads/index.html]http://fixamac.net/software/downloads/index.html[/url]). You'll be able to use it for a few days in the fully functional demo mode. Try to perform checks&repairs.
« Last Edit: December 22, 2005, 11:27:19 am by francois »
Logged
Francois

francois

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13758
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2005, 11:26:09 am »

Quote
The problem is simple: Photoshop will allow you to edit images much larger than it is capable of printing successfully. Allocating additional memory to Photoshop only makes the problem worse, because the Photoshop print spool task only seems to use memory NOT allocated to Photoshop. I strongly recommend buying QImage and learning to use it; it will at least quadruple the size of images you'll be able to successfully print. There's a thread about QImage elsewhere in the printer forum.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=54133\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Jochem is using a Mac so QImage is out of question - unless he uses VirtualPC. But you're right, allocating that much memory to Photoshop is probably making the problem more acute.
Logged
Francois

jschone

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 86
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2005, 12:27:15 pm »

Hi,

First of all,I would like to thank you all for the suggestions. I checked the console.app and there is the following messages logged, 16 successive times:

Attempt to release a printing object without first doing a retain

Furthermore, I also checked the disk utility. Thas passed without errors.

I will try to lower the Photoshop memory allocation, to see what happens.

Jochem
Logged

francois

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13758
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2005, 12:49:38 pm »

Quote
Hi,

First of all,I would like to thank you all for the suggestions. I checked the console.app and there is the following messages logged, 16 successive times:

Attempt to release a printing object without first doing a retain

Furthermore, I also checked the disk utility. Thas passed without errors.

I will try to lower the Photoshop memory allocation, to see what happens.

Jochem
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=54145\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
The error is clearly a programming bug. The release/retain message is memory related, although it does not imply that available memory is low (or that you don't have enough memory). Lowering Photoshop memory percentage may help. I would download the Print Repair Utility application to see if it finds any wrong things.
Keep us posted and good luck!
Logged
Francois

neoprinter

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 21
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« Reply #9 on: December 26, 2005, 01:08:26 am »

Jochem, try converting your file to 8 bit.  Your 16 bit file is a waste anyway, as all printers are 8 bit, and different printers react differently if you try to give them a 16 bit file.  An Epson 9600 will simply toss out the color, and print an image b&w!  The Epson 2200 driver, however, successfully converts the 16 bit file  to 8 bit, and I know some naive amateurs who swear they're printing in 16 bit.  Why are you working in 16 bit anyway?
Logged

Jonathan Wienke

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5829
    • http://visual-vacations.com/
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« Reply #10 on: December 26, 2005, 01:36:39 am »

Quote
Jochem, try converting your file to 8 bit.  Your 16 bit file is a waste anyway, as all printers are 8 bit, and different printers react differently if you try to give them a 16 bit file.  An Epson 9600 will simply toss out the color, and print an image b&w!  The Epson 2200 driver, however, successfully converts the 16 bit file  to 8 bit, and I know some naive amateurs who swear they're printing in 16 bit.  Why are you working in 16 bit anyway?
Your user name is oddly appropriate, given the misinformation in nearly every statement in your post.

First of all, a 7600/9600 has no trouble printing color from a 16-bit image file. I just sold my 7600, but have printed thousands of square feet of color images from 16-bit files. Others here have done the same. With the default Epson driver, the printer data is indeed downsampled to 8-bit before being sent to the printer, but since this happens after the color space conversion from the editing space to the printer profile, one still derives a benefit from a 16-bot source file over an 8-bit. Every possible 8-bit printer output value can be used when the source is 16-bit, but when converting from 8-bit to 8-bit, this is not the case.

There are some rather compelling advantages to editiing in 16-bit mode as much as possible prior to printing. One can do much more aggressive level, curve, and other adjustments to an image before banding or posterization will become evident in the image. For a practical example, see 16-Bit Vs. 8-Bit Workflow and download the TIFF version of the test image, and run the action on the image in 8-bit mode and 16-bit mode if you doubt the results shown. That you even ask the question is an exhibit of considerable naiveté on your part.
Logged

jschone

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 86
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« Reply #11 on: December 27, 2005, 03:01:33 pm »

Hi,

I would like to thank everyone for their answers. I have "solved" the problem by bringing down the memory allocation in Photoshop CS2 to 50%.  It does not seem to slow down my workflow, so I am ok with this solution for the moment.

I did some research on the Epson wide format usergroup. It is a known problem. Maybe a new driver will solve it. Otherwise, a RIP will certainly help in these situations.

Jochem
Logged

efillink

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 15
Problem printing large file Photoshop
« Reply #12 on: May 12, 2006, 04:06:34 am »

Quote
Hi,

I would like to thank everyone for their answers. I have "solved" the problem by bringing down the memory allocation in Photoshop CS2 to 50%.  It does not seem to slow down my workflow, so I am ok with this solution for the moment.

I did some research on the Epson wide format usergroup. It is a known problem. Maybe a new driver will solve it. Otherwise, a RIP will certainly help in these situations.

Jochem
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=54436\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Jochem,

One more thing that has nothing to do with PS.  The Windows OS has an page file adjustment that you want to increase when you have a large amount of memory.  I wonder if this is the same with Mac.  I no longer own a Mac so I cannot check for you.  The page file allows the memory to be swapped to the hard drive.  This will give you free memory space.  There are dedicated RAM for the OS and RAM allocated to the programs.  OS 10 is based on UNIX and you probably could benifit by increasing the swap file with UNIX.  My limited knowledge of the UNIX OS will not help you.  But find out from someone from Apple how you should increase the swap file and try it.  This could improve the printer performance a great deal.

Ronnie

www.efillink.com
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up