What is making PSP X4 suddenly so slow?

[kelda]

I am working on a project that is 12" x 12" and 300 dpi, which is pretty standard for my projects (sometimes I do 8.5 x 11, too). When I upgraded to X4 it was so much faster than X3. After the service pack 1 update, it started slowing down. Not terrible, but not as nice as it was. Last night I started working with text on my project. It started lagging so much that what normally would take 5 minutes to type took 45 minutes. There was a pause of at least 30 seconds between letter. When I realized what was happening, it was too late to stop-- PSP needed to catch up before I could do anything like save the project and close the program. Not only was it not working in real time, it was working in a different time zone!

Started to finish it up this morning and it took 5 minutes to type January. This is page one of a 20 page project that needs to be finished by Feb. 13th. At this rate, I'm not making my deadline. It's almost enough to make me switch to the competition, despite a long love affair with PSP.

Is it the file size that bogs down to the year 1999? Is there something I can do to speed it up? Am I doing something wrong? Our internet connection has been slower lately, so could that have an effect (my hubby's idea)? Should I remove the last patch? HELP!!!

[LeviFiction]

Your internet connection should have no effect on the speed. Though if the internet itself isn't actually slow but a certain aspect of your computer is then that might be something.

I have noticed that type slows way down when you do extensive typing (lots of vectors is lots of constant math PSP has to do in order to redraw) or if you're using a patterned fill. If you're filling the type with a pattern instead of a solid color that could really impact the result. In which case temporarily switch to just a regular colored fill while typing and switch it back to a pattern after you're ready to make the changes final.

Have you been noticing a general slowness with the computer or only with PSP? Or only in situations where things are graphics intensive?

[kelda]

Thanks for the reply! My computer runs beautifully in every other way, even with other things that are graphics heavy. I keep all my graphics on flash drives (cause I have over 20 gigs of them) and my computer doesn't struggle to propagate previews or search through them- including the 12 x 12 300 dpi ones. It's all pretty much instant. Also, I'm using a color fill with no stroke. I don't apply any layer effects or text effects until I've finished the actual text.

Could it be that I'm doing the text in a vector group? I used to create a new vector layer for each text section in X3, but X4 wants to group all the vectors together, so I finally just went with it. (I found it to be total PITA to have to force a completely new vector layer in X4, separate from the others without turning the first vector layer into a raster layer or finding a raster layer to select that isn't going to put the new vector layer behind something. Even when I create a new vector layer, X4 seems to ignore it in favor of the group. That's can be annoying when you have lots of layers.). Maybe this is the problem-- it's doing the math for the whole group instead of the individual vector I'm working on...? If that's the case, is there an easier way to keep X4 from lumping all vectors together that doesn't involve swearing a lot? Is there a preference setting for this?

The more I think about the vector group, the more it make sense. I tested the theory by creating a new vector layer, not part of the group. It's back to a normal, real time rendering. I think the vector group is the problem! If there isn't a setting to force a new vector layer for each text block, I guess I'll have live with the extra step of selecting a raster later before adding a new text block.

[df]

Can you make the steps for creating the extra vector layer into a script?
Can you make the steps for starting to type out the text, complete with the extra layers steps, into a script?
If so you can bind that script to an icon and place it towards the top of PSP (or elsewhere as well) and keep going.

[kelda]

A script would be the perfect solution, huh? LOL Thanks! I will work on that, especially since this project is text heavy.

[df]

A script would be the perfect solution, huh? LOL Thanks! I will work on that, especially since this project is text heavy.

You could try it. Think about the steps that you have to take. Open an image (or start a new one). Get the Script Toolbar active if you can't see it (View> Toolbars> Script), click the Record button (red ball), do your basic steps, click Save Script Recording (floppy disk with small red ball), name it, save it. A script is best with global edits. Some steps aren't a good match. But creating a new Vector layer should be a piece of cake.

Once you have the script made, here's the steps to bind it to an icon:
Once your script is created and named click View> Customize.
Click the Scripts tab.
In the drop down menu find your script.
In the list of icons find one and click it that you like.
Click Bind.
-----------------
Now you should see the bound script in the window bellow, click and drag that out of the window and onto PSP where ever you want to put it. Close the Customize window and start enjoying.

[teknisyan]

If you suddenly experience slowness on your PSP X4, you may want to perform any of the following.

- Restart the computer, to free up system resources.
- Reset workspace
You can do that by pressing and holding down the SHIFT key then double-click on the PSP icon then when you received the message "DO YOU WAN TO RESTORE PAINTSHOP Pro TO ITS DEFAULT STATE?" just click OK.

- And the last resort is to reinstall the program and see if the cause of the problem is when you install SP1, if that's the case, I would appreciate it if you tell the result of the reinstallation.

[kelda]

Dan-- thanks for all the good script info. When I get to the text part, I'll follow your instructions! I've meaning to start making scripts for the actions I repeat regularly, but you've really giving me the info and motivation I need to feel confident about it. I have a feeling I won't be the only who finds this good info. I love me some PSP community!!!

Abriel Corel NA-- I did go ahead and close PSP, cleaned out my temp files, and did a disk clean up. (I do this regularly anyway) I didn't know I could reset the workspace... that will be helpful in the future when I mess up the workspace.

I actually have not had any further problems since I created text on a new vector. But when I found a mistake in the original vector group text, I went to edit it. The slowness returned. The issue seems to be the text in a vector group. You can see how much text I used:



The 3 paragraphs are on one vector group. The text in the heart is one a separate vector layer done after the paragraphs-- and I had zero issues with speed creating it.

[LeviFiction]

To be clear, a vector group or a vector layer?

A single vector layer can contain multiple single vector objects. A vector group is its own object, it can also contain multiple single vector objects but is itself contained in a vector layer. PSPX4 should not be creating a vector group it should only be adding each vector as a new object in the current vector layer.