Image size control

[JohnC1]

I recently upgraded to 4 Gigs of Ram on my Windows XP system running PSP 6.
I was sure I would be able to work with larger images,10-12k pixels instead of 8 or 9k but I can't seem to do so. Is there an inherent max image size in PSP or is there some way to reset a variable somewhere to let me work with bigger images? Thanks for any assistance.

[soenda]

I think you should definitely be able to work with 10-12 K sized images. Even before my upgrade to 1 G of RAM, I was able to work with much larger ones. When I was experimenting with blending layers using PSP 9, it wasn't unusual for a single file to go over 30 K.

However, I did have to be careful that I had plenty of free room on my hard drive. Also, I changed preference settings to lower the number of "Undo" changes that would be held on each photo as I worked. I saved often and exited files before they accumulated to many changes. It was as though I had to keep the clutter down.

Also, I am very careful not to have other space hog applications open when I am working in PSP. Any application that requires a lot of buffer space got in my way. For example, I used to like to play solitaire while I waited for batch processing to finish. BAD idea. My particular solitaire game reserved all kinds of space whether I needed it or not. I was actually slowing everything down.
Something like playing music from your system might do the same sort of thing.

So: You shouldn't be having the trouble you're having.
Suggestion: While it could be something else causing your problem, there may be PSP preference settings you can adjust that would help.
Also: Limit other applications while you're working.

I hope that's helpful.

[JohnC1]

I can work with 10,000 by 10,000 pixel images but there are things I cannot do...distort it, rotate it, etc. Working with an image size of 400 500 megs should be no problem when you have 4 gigs of RAM....that's where my confusion lies.
I always work with all other programs off when I work in PSP. Thanks for the reply. Nice website, BTW.

[handrawn]

couple of small points - I have only used psp9 - and not for a month or two - its not on my current config

can you assign scratch disk working area in psp? - in photoshop etc you can - so it is not 'clogging up' your c: drive - worth checking if it needs defragging too.
photoshop would sure not be happy on my machine if it were asked to organise files of 500mb/600MB, which I also use, if the working area was on my C:drive and not on a seperate hard drive.

are you using 32bit or 64bit XP - I'm sure there is a limit to the memory 32bit XP will see, and 4GB is above this.

[ss-kalm]

............I'm sure there is a limit to the memory 32bit XP will see, and 4GB is above this.

I think you're right Steve, I believe that the 32bit version is limited to 3GB.

[JohnC1]

Thanks for responding...I ran into trouble today at around the 310-320 MB level. Assuming I am using 32 bit XP (not sure) how could I run into problems with even 3 gigs of RAM? I can't even safely crop an image at that level...I am using this to improve large aerial photographs to provide realistic ground textures for Microsoft's Flight sim. Sorry to sound like Johnny one note.....

[handrawn]

how could you run into problems? well in several ways:

have you checked out the points made so far?

soenda was careful to stress that at this level you need to be using your computer for this task only, unless you have a really powerful machine - not just memory is important here, also processor, hard drive speed and free capacity...to name a few

you do also need to check if anti virus programs, indexing programs etc are running in the background and hogging resource.

and of course check that you are not carrying any virus/malware /spyware that is slowing your machine down