Need help with sloooooow program

[Frani_54]

I decided I would go ahead and use the digital pages in the original 300dpi (3600 pix) size for one of my projects. What should have taken me 30 minute to an hour at the most, took 5 hrs to do. My program (PSP XI) was totally bogged down, it took forever to add drop shadows, well every function was slooooow.....in between stuff while it was working I watched my favorite programs on TV...how sad!

Anyway my question is should I be formatting the pages differently, in the past I changed it to 200 dpi and am hardly ever slow.

Needless to say it was very frustrating.

Any suggestions would be must helpful...

Oh yeah my computer has 145GB drive and 100GB Free....for those computer literate people ( which I'm not) that would need that information.

Thanks
Fran

[Kryss Bourque]

I have some of the same problems in PSPX....I know that the more that you have running in the background...chat programs like Hello, and any other programs will slow it down...anything at all that will eat up memory. Also the amount of shortcuts that you have on your desktop and the amount of documents that you have in your documents folder can really use up a lot of memory as well....
I always empty the recycle bin, clear cookies and all before I even start PSP. I also have an external HD, so all of my pictures and documents are there and only programs are on my original HD. Also, I do not use the browser in PSP anymore, it seemed to take a lot of memeory as well.
Hope this helps

[webmaster]

How much RAM do you have, Fran? you should have at least 1G if not 1.5 or 2G of RAM for PSP (any version) to work without driving you insane.

[Frani_54]

Sheeeesh, you're asking the wrong person for that kind of info...computer workings are alien to me...give me a program to work with and I'll figure it out no problem....;>)

Okay I went to my computer and this is what it has....

1.99 GHz and 896 MB of Ram

Looks like enough space to me?????

Also Kryss suggested not having any other programs running, tried that last night and had only PSP running....still no change in speed. Although I do use the browser maybe I shouldn't if I'm working on a layout....

Thanks in advance for any info and suggestions....

P.S. One of the things I'm asking for is one of those external hard drive thingies....I plan on putting all my pictures and kits on it...maybe that will speed things up for PSP?????

[Sandersmr]

Fran - I'm still converting everything to 200 dpi to create my layouts. PSP just seems to crater when I forget. But shhhhh - don't tell the designers.

[Frani_54]

LOL Maggie, me too....it's just tooooooo slow if I don't do that. Glad I'm not the only one with that problem!

Fran

[webmaster]

Okay I went to my computer and this is what it has....

1.99 GHz and 896 MB of Ram

P.S. One of the things I'm asking for is one of those external hard drive thingies....I plan on putting all my pictures and kits on it...maybe that will speed things up for PSP?????RAM, RAM, RAM. You need more ram. It's like horsepower. Have you seen Consumer Reports on the cars with the best mileage? They also show up in the spreadsheet of "Slowest Cars from 0-60." The cars with more horsepower go faster quicker. It's the same with our computers: the ones with more RAM go faster quicker. You can get a gig of RAM pretty cheap now at Best Buy, and they'll instruct you on how to install it.

How many fonts do you have on your hard drive? Moving those to your EHD may help with speed issues too, but getting more RAM will do the trick!

[Sandersmr]

With a laptop, it's a little more difficult to install RAM. I need to take mine in and get another gig. With the dual processors, it needs more RAM anyway. In the meantime, I scrap at 200 dpi.

[Whisper Pink]

I am really entriqued by this ... as to how to change it to 200 dpi...this is one of the reason I don't purchase 300 dpi is because it no longer enjoyable when I am working with a piece that size...I love the kits here, but it just isn't enjoyable to scrap with the size. I also have a laptop so adding more RAM I believe is out of the question for me...I have an external...and that doesn't speed it up any, and I too am so blonde when it comes to puter lingo. (Oh yeah, I have also used my DBF puter which is brand spanking new and it didn't run any faster and he has like alot of everything). It is just very frustrating. I have never posted about it because I didn't want to bring a negative out...but since this thread is here...I would love to know what I would need to do to make you kits work within my program also. It was mention resizing to 200 dpi...do you resize each and every piece in each kit??? Do you keep the original kit intact and make a separate file for the 200 dpi size...that seems like alot of work and alot of space on the puter or EHD. I would so like to enjoy working with your kits here, so any tips would be so appreciated!!!

PS ... Sorry I really don't want to be a pain!!!

[showme]

Do a web search for a PSP script that would resize the files. I wrote an action in PS to resize 300dpi to 200dpi and that's the first thing I do with a new kit. Two different professional printers have told me that it would be very difficult to tell the difference between 300dpi and 200dpi, and I've sampled several examples myself and can't tell the difference. It also makes a HUGE difference in the zip documents if they are created in 200dpi.

[Donna]

Hmmm.............

I was concerned that the 300 size would bog my puter down. But it really hasn't happened for me. I try to keep as few of my psd files on this computer--
but I still have lots of kits on it.

Have you tried a defrag lately?

I had that trouble with my laptop- I was able to install another RAM card and upgrade the one in there. There is a place where it tells the total RAM that your laptop can support.

I just use plain Jane- PSE 2.0 ( I'm just a little bit behind!)

I haven't had to resize at all- which really shocked me.

Hmmm just realized-- that since I'm using Panda software for my antivirus/spyware -- my computer has had minimal problems- compared to when I used Norton and other more popular ones. I get very little spyware -- although I do use Ad-aware and Spybot to find whatever might get thru- (VERY LITTLE) I bought my Panda off the web--and it was less than $20

Let us know if anything helps!

Donna

[Nzingha]

I know that sometimes changing the memory usage in PS can make a difference. Not to mention getting rid of alot of junk on my puter. I dunno if you can do this with your program or not.

[Frani_54]

Defragged, dejunked, did everything I could do....guess I'll be purchasing more Ram,

For Whisper Pink....What I do is resize each kit page as I use it....Mary what is the program you are talking about....will it do the whole kit at one time?

Fran

[Whisper Pink]

Yes I have the same question as Fran...will it do the whole file and the other question would be do you resize before you open the zip file??? that doesn't make much sense to me, so I am unsure what you mean by that, can you explain it a bit more, I guess I am being extremely blonde!!!

I also have defrag...ran all my spybot, etc...rebooted and have even tried it on a brand new puter with hardly anything on it, that has tons of everything on it, and still took way too long.

Fran when you resize each piece do you save in a different file or do you just save the original work as a resized piece???

Sorry for so many questions, but I would really like to understand the easiest and best way to do this!!!

Chris
aka Whisper Pink

[Frani_54]

When I resize I don't save the original, like Mary says, I really don't see a visual difference in the quality that prints out....

[Whisper Pink]

thanks I will give this a try and also watch this thread for additional comments!!!

[Sandersmr]

What I do is I use each paper/element, I resize it and don't save it, so my original stays 300 ppi - someday I may get that extra RAM. I open the paper/element, then go to the Resize dialog box (under Image I think in PSP - I'm doing this from my work computer and don't have the program in front of me). Then I change the ppi to 200 and resize to 67% (since 200 ppi is 2/3 as dense as 300 ppi) to keep the physical size the same. I then copy the paper/element into my layout without saving the changes.

[Frani_54]

good idea, Maggie, I'll have to do that from now on....

[Birgit Kerr]

But shhhhh - don't tell the designers.
No need to shhhh ... this designer is having the same problem and I HAVE to design in 12x12 @300 dpi. It's the industry standard and I have wondered before what kind of wonder machine of a computer the people had that set this standard!!
Needless to say it's a SLOW process for me sometimes. I have as much RAM as my motherboard will take, so that's not the problem, I also tweaked the allocation - so it is only marginally a computer problem. It does seem to be worse for me in PSP than PS CS2 though.
I generally scrap in 8x8 @ 200 dpi these days though (I scrap in PSP almost exclusively) .... it gives me and the computer a little break! I do the same as Maggie. Resize, use it in the LO, but I don't save the changes, so I retain the original size and resolution.

[webmaster]

Another way to speed up PSP is to change the default on the Undo Preferences. File>General File Preferences>Undo. Change the mbs or the number of undos that PSP will do. The default number of undos is 250, which slows you down on larger files.

[Whisper Pink]

Do a web search for a PSP script that would resize the files. I wrote an action in PS to resize 300dpi to 200dpi and that's the first thing I do with a new kit. Two different professional printers have told me that it would be very difficult to tell the difference between 300dpi and 200dpi, and I've sampled several examples myself and can't tell the difference. It also makes a HUGE difference in the zip documents if they are created in 200dpi.


Mary...
What type of Script would I be searching for...as I said I am a total blonde when it comes to puter lingo...I have been trying to resize my kits and it just takes way too long.

Arrrrrrrrrrgghhhhhhhhh...puters...you can't live with them ... you can't live without them!!!!

What about the templates...the templates are showing up as 8x8 at 118 dpi...but when I try to copy and paste into my file that I want to build...they are much bigger than the 12 x 12 at 200 dpi that I scrap at...

I am just dang frustrated!!!!

[Sandersmr]

check that's not 118 pixels/cm instead of pixels per inch. 118 pixels/cm = 300 ppi.

[Whisper Pink]

check that's not 118 pixels/cm instead of pixels per inch. 118 pixels/cm = 300 ppi.

Well...what ever it was I lost that template...cause I don't know what I resized it to...and the whole template is messed up now...cause I accidentally saved it...and now I am just in tears and afraid to do anything to any of the kits for fear I will loose them too!!!

:confused: :( :confused:

[Sandersmr]

Christine - contact Debb Cozzi via PM, maybe she can help you get the particular template replaced.

I'm very careful about using the Save button, but what you can do is as soon as you unzip the kit, copy it to CD/DVD or another folder on your hard drive (although I would recommend an external hard drive so you don't fill up your computer hard drive). That way if something happens to your kit while you are using it, you have a backup copy that you can then COPY (not move) back into your working directory.

[Kryss Bourque]

you also could have too many PSP temp files saved....go to
my computer>C: drive>documents and settings>your documents folder>localsettings>temp>corel paint shop pro x temp files
you can delete anything that does not have a blue title...

PSP automatically saves what you are working on and this is where they end up!
you can't view the files here, but if you open that folder through PSP you can view them and see what they are! That may help a little bit. I clear it out about once a week!

[Sandersmr]

Kryss - thanks for the information - I didn't know that tidbit.

Now, if I could just solve my blend mode problem!

[Frani_54]

Thanks, I didn't know that either....

[Donna]

Me thinks you all need to switch to PSE!!!!

WOW I didn't know all the troubles I wasn't having!

I just cleared out a bunch of psd files yesterday.........( to my external hard drive)

It's like house cleaning.........a never ending project-

I hope you gals are finding some solutions!!!

[Sandersmr]

Donna - I tried PSE, didn't like it. PSP had more functionality on some stuff. So I gave up speed for functionality.

[Frani_54]

Same here, downloaded the trial version and liked PSP so much better....although it's frustrating to see so many PSE tutorials out there and not as many PSP. I am learning to adapt the instructions though....

[Donna]

Hmnmm..........looks like I don't know what I'm missing with PSP-

Ahhh.........I'm sure there are some solutions out there- keep asking!

See you later today!

[Whisper Pink]

YIPPPEEE!!!! I am just doing the "Happy Dance" here!!! I finally got a LO done that I didn't pull my hair out, didn't ruin a kit or template and got it done in less than 3 hours, which is great for me...even if I did use a template!!! I was able to resize and everything without the hazzles I have been having...I am really hoping this isn't a fluke!!! hopefully you will be seeing a bit more of me :D ....

Did I mention just how happy I am about this!!!! oh and here is a link to my LO with the June Members kit:

Madison (http://www.digitalscrapbookartisanguild.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3573&ppuser=164)

[Debb Cozzi]

Well...what ever it was I lost that template...cause I don't know what I resized it to...and the whole template is messed up now...cause I accidentally saved it...and now I am just in tears and afraid to do anything to any of the kits for fear I will loose them too!!!

:confused: :( :confused:

Hi Sweetie, I'm just now catching up on this thread. Was the template a Guild one or from one of the designers? If so I would be happy to get you a replacement. Just let me know what it was.