How to handle images from 1gig - 2gig in size

[dan1el]

such a big picture to be opened needs a 64-bit OS I would judge...

if you could find some sort of dos command tool to reduce the size or re-compress it to a better format might help you here and now.

whats the details of the pic ? format, resolution etc.
Or mail the client back and ask for another format or sth. 1-2 GB in one picture file seems either bad choice of image format or super fine print for a gigantic-enormous poster

[DavidStokes]

Well these files would be used for posters, and Pioneer are really detailed with the images.

I checked the file and it's a TIF and the size of the 2 gig one is 41472 x 12978 !!!


I've not even tried to open these in photoshop and i dont think it would even open ?... should i try it?,, This PC is not built to handle graphics of this size it's only a 1 GIG ram and 3.2 processor! nothing special lol.

Is there a program that will resize the image without opening it?

[dan1el]

well... let's see...
1) get more RAM, at least 2GB more, they can't be expensive atm.
2) ask for a good quality format that isn't TIFF, PNG perhaps ? JPEG2000 ? that should reduce the size.

Do try open in photoshop, but with only 1 Gig I'm pretty sure it'll crash.

41472 x 12978 is big, but doesn't have to be _that_ big, a little compression wouldn't hurt.

those were all for right-now solutions, on long term get a new computer, with a 64-bit OS and at least 4 GB of RAM. if it's a good customer, they will be back.

[imashination]

Ask them for smaller images?

[biliousfrog]

There's little point getting a 64bit OS, Photoshop is 32bit and doesn't really benefit from the 64bit OS unless you're running several apps at once.

You should definitiely get more RAM, XP and Photoshop will use that 1gb before you even click on a menu. 3gb is highly recommended, any more will be wasted on a 32bit OS. That'll give you 2gb within Photoshop to play with.

Get a fast HD or two dedicated as scratch disks. You can actually use fast USB pen drives but don't expect them to last long...they're dirt cheap now anyway. In case you don't know, Adobe products can use dedicated HD's as scratch disks when they run out of memory. If you haven't got one set up it will use the system drive and slow down the whole computer.

The image size isn't that big...certainly shouldn't have a file size like that unless it is uncompressed. Get them to save it with LZW compression, the size will come down to under 300mb. There's no good reason NOT to save with LZW for still images, the quality doesn't suffer at all.

Long-term, you should get a better PC. Even a cheap laptop is going to be better spec'd than what you have. There's a sure way to piss off clients...take on work then let them down because you've been spending their money on cars and golf weekends rather than investing in equipment. It also reduces productivity and eventually morale with employees.

[Srek]

There's little point getting a 64bit OS, Photoshop is 32bit and doesn't really benefit from the 64bit OS unless you're running several apps at once.

Windows 64 bit would give PS 32 bit 4 GB to work with instead of 1.5 - 2.8. With files of that size this can make all the difference in the world.
Of course this only makes sense if at least 4GB (better 8 GB) of physical RAM are installed.
Cheers
Björn

[DavidStokes]

Thanks guys ;)




There's a sure way to piss off clients...take on work then let them down because you've been spending their money on cars and golf weekends rather than investing in equipment. It also reduces productivity and eventually morale with employees.
As i said above we are not a Multi media/graphics company it's just something I've been given to do because I something about graphics and print, The client this time is our company not someone elses . . . But i understand your point.

Thanks.

[Szos]

I really don't see the problem here.

Open the file up and scale it down to like 50% or 25% of it's original size and then use that MUCH smaller file to do whatever you were planning on doing with it originally. Yea, your PC i gonna choke on it a little and it will most definitely hit the scratch-disk due to lack of RAM, but you should be able to get it down to a file size that works with the equipment you have.

We handle gigabyte+ Photoshop files all the time and we definitely don't have the fastest PCs out there. Also the file they sent you is obscene... even printed at 300DPI, you could print it out to 11 FEET x 3.5 FEET... and you would NEVER need even remotely that high of a resolution if you were printing it that big. 100 DPI would be more than sufficient for a poster that size, which means that you could essentially print that file out to nearly 35 FEET x 11 FEET without major image quality issues.

[BOXXlabs]

Hi Guys,

Photoshop CS4 will (finally) have 64-bit memory extensions when it ships. This is supposed to be in the October/November timeframe...

This will mean, ostensibly, that very large image files can be opened & manipulated in Photoshop without disk caching to your "scratch drive" or using virtual memory.

This should make working with huge files tolerable as long as you have Win64 (sorry OSX) and CS4 Photoshop along with plenty of RAM.

This is going to make a few people I know very very happy.

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