Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
to handle iles and tools, especially large iles and memory-intensive
Photoshop features, such as some of the ilter and 3D tools. When your
system is out of RAM allocated for Photoshop, it starts to use the assigned
space on the hard disk as memory.
Photoshop requires 2 GB of hard disk space, but it appreciates more space
for better performance and the ability to handle larger iles. Therefore, the
selected hard disk or disk volume that Photoshop will rely on as virtual
memory should have plenty of space.
Because the memory is used to save your current work in Photoshop, it
should be fast and able to handle Photoshop processes. This guideline
applies to the scratch disk as well, so the scratch disk you rely on as virtual
memory should be fast, well-defragged, and separate from the primary
operating system disk or volume that is used for the operating system's
virtual memory and paging. External hard disks and network hard disks are
not recommended, because they will not be as fast as virtual memory.
Photoshop allows you to specify the volume that will be used as a scratch
disk, with a total maximum space of 64 exabytes (1 exabyte equals 64 billion
gigabytes). In the Performance dialog box, choose which volume to use as
the scratch disk and arrange the volumes in order of your preferred usage
sequence.
In the Scratch Disk preferences section, Photoshop lists the volumes that can
be used as scratch disks. Check the box next to the volume that you would
like to use as a scratch disk. You can change the order of the scratch disks by
moving the selected Scratch Disk up and down in the list.
Note: Adobe Photoshop
creates a temporary ile
on the scratch disk to
save the current
operations and history
steps of the current ile
or iles.
“Out of RAM” Errors
Because we are going to work with tools that consume a lot of operating
system resources, especially virtual memory, you should know about an
error message that may occur when you try to use a tool or a ilter when
its memory requirements exceed the available memory limit. Memory is
consumed by other operations, tools, and ilters that you use while working
in your project, and at some point you may run out of free memory to
execute the next process.
The solution to solve this problem is to free up some memory by closing
the unwanted iles and clear your history or limit the saved history steps.
One of the most helpful things to do in order to free up Photoshop
memory and therefore speed up your work is to purge the clipboard, undo
list, and histories. Selecting Edit
>
Purge clears the various steps that
Photoshop saves in memory, such as clipboard items, undo and history
steps; this frees memory, which speeds up your work and gives you
the ability to work with additional tools and ilters—especially the
memory-consuming tools.
