Using very large file images in 4.5

[david93950]

I create art that I upload to Redbubble.com, they have new duvet covers that require an image 13,500 x 11,462 and I was hoping the new upgrade would allow me to create the duvet images but Artrage 4.5 cannot handle an image this large, without issues. Does anyone know another program that can handle this size ? preferably a program that is reasonable in cost. I do love Artrage and hate to ditch it.

[MattRage]

What's happening when you try to work with the image? The 64-bit version of 4.5 can create images larger than that when I try it here (it does take a while to allocate that much RAM though!) and once it has been created I can paint with a 500% oil brush basically in realtime. There is a slight pause at the end of long strokes because a lot of data has to be transferred to the undo system but it does appear usable.

If you let us know what you are seeing and what your machine specs are, and confirm that you're using the 64 bit version we should be able to help, I'm happily painting away on a 15k x 15k image here so 13k x 11k should be fine.

[Gms9810]

Krita will do it in 8 or 16 bit. I opened one just now. At the risk of being tarred and feathered, it's a drawing/ painting program too. It's very good and free. You can get it here: https://krita.org/ BUT, to save myself from assassination, I just opened a drawing of the dimensions you mentioned at 300 ppi and it worked fine. I tried a few tools with no problem. Blending was slower, but that always takes more horsepower. Having said this, I hope I don't get a contract on my life for mentioning Krita. Whoops, I said it again.

[david93950]

What's happening when you try to work with the image? The 64-bit version of 4.5 can create images larger than that when I try it here (it does take a while to allocate that much RAM though!) and once it has been created I can paint with a 500% oil brush basically in realtime. There is a slight pause at the end of long strokes because a lot of data has to be transferred to the undo system but it does appear usable.

If you let us know what you are seeing and what your machine specs are, and confirm that you're using the 64 bit version we should be able to help, I'm happily painting away on a 15k x 15k image here so 13k x 11k should be fine.

\\

I have windows 8 with 64 bit ...using the 13k x 11k is okay if I am just drawing or painting but when I try to copy and paste layered images that's when it all goes to hell... it stalls out or freezes up ... I am trying to create duvet covers with multi-layered repeating images like wall paper, etc, the only way I can make it work is to create smaller frames first and then build it up ... like an image 3000 x 3000 then insert that image to a 6000 x 6000 and finally do the 13k x 11k and hold my breath that is doesn't freeze or stall ... then I have to wait for the " Artrage is busy" forever .... very frustrating .. there is no way I can start with the 13k x 11k and copy and paste images directly into it and keep repeating it until I have the final design... that seems to be limited

[Gms9810]

I almost always use sizes bigger than that at 300 or 600 ppi. It never gives me a problem.

[markw]

It sounds to me as if your computer is struggling to find enough system resources, i.e. memory. And is having to do a lot of writing/reading to the hard drive to make up.
Perhaps try a complete shutdown of your computer and restart. Then go strait into AR and see how it handles.

I see on RedBubble's site they recommend duvet covers be 125dpi and max dimensions to be 13,500 x 11,462 pixels.

After launching AR4.5 and setting up a canvas to their suggested sizes I see my AR4.5 is using 1.35GB of real system memory from the outset. I'm wondering how much memory dose your system have? And how much was possibly in use before AR wanted some of it?

You also say you are doing a lot of copying and pasting, is that within the same instance of AR or from a second instance of AR? Or perhaps another graphics app? If so, those too will all be wanting their fair share of RAM to play with.

[MattRage]

Copy and paste will take a while on large images because of the amount of data being moved around. Most paint/draw packages just handle colour information but if you're pasting in data from an ArtRage painting you're also pasting paint volume, wetness, and other data values in to the layer. This means that there's anywhere up to five times as much data for your computer to move around (and duplicate) when you do the paste.

If you're pasting in flat images there shouldn't be an issue. I just created a 15k x 15k image and pasted a 3k x 3k copied flat image in to it and the paste took under a second.

You don't mention how much RAM your computer has, that could be the limiting factor here. If the image is larger than the RAM can handle then Windows will be using virtual memory and that can get very slow.