Saving in photoshop

1

Hi

Just invested on a new XPS 400 Dual Core Pentium D from Dell with 2GB RAM and 250GB HardDrive

I am creating a mural which is 8feet x 10feet.
I have just set the work area and guides and no images yet, but, i am unable to save the file at this stage itself. It says “could not save because the document is bigger than 2GB”.

Can somebody help me with this ASAP. I have a deadline.

Thanks
Sharada

2

Are you painting the mural on the wall or are sending it to a printer?

3

Under photoshop preferences I believe you can increase the file size limit and what not?

4

i will be sending it to a printer.
sharada

5

i have also tried allocating more memory and increasing the cache under edit preferences. but, no good. i am sure there is something else that needs to be done. as 2 gb ram is more than sufficient to work on the mural. i have worked on murals before with my pc having only 512 mb. can someone pls help me here!
thanks for all your replies
sharada

6

I think it actually has to do with the file system, several Window disk formats choke on any files above 2 GB. I’m not sure what the solution would be off hand.

EDIT:
Hmmm, couldn’t find any direct info to support that yet, I did find this article, though it says it’s a 4GB limit in CS2.
http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/320005.html

EDIT AGAIN:
Looks like I may be off on the filesystem thing, since I couldn’t find anything that confirmed it, the only reference to a 2GB limit I could find was on this page, referencing a limit to JPG size saving, hope some of this helps.
http://www.alishams.ws/blogwp/index.php/archives/category/photoshop-news/photoshop-issues/

7

Hi!

You can try to create a new doc , using resolution 72 and then through image size, assign 300.

Also, Under edit==> preferences, try to fiddle with your scratch disk.

I’m at work in a PC worse than yours and had no probs creating it…

Cheers!

Brisa

8

What DPI are you aiming for? Print work is ideally 300DPI, but you can obviously sacrifice quality at your discresion

Could you not do the work in a vector program such as Illustrator? As obviously vector stuff scales up infinitely.

9

I suppose you are using the adobe large file format (.psb or something) ?

10

i am aiming for 300 resolution. a year back i had done a same sized mural and my pc had only 512mb of ram and only 14 gb of hard drive space. it was terribly slow but, i somehow manage to get it done. so i am really surprised at this problem now, when i have 2gb of ram and 250 gb of hard drive space.

do you think using an external hard drive to save would be the solultion. but, my mind still does’nt accept as i have enough space in c drive.

the printer wants a min of 100 dpi in photoshop tiff format.

sharada

11

I just launched PS CS2 and created a new document at 8 x 10 feet.

At 250ppi it is over 2gb, so I lowered it to 100ppi and it dropped down to 329mb, and 150 was 746mb.

Try lowering the resolution before saving.

Also, where is your scratch disk allocated to? I know PS likes it to be on a different partion then your OS.

So you can either create another partion or do like me and add another hard drive. I have a 300gb drive that I use for my scratch disk.

Hope that helps.

12

for me too it saves in 100dpi. i did’nt try it out in 200. but a year earlier i had created a mural at 300dpi for the same company so we want to stick to that as the company logo is in 300dpi. i am not sure whether i should compromise on the quality by going lower. also will it give me the same problem later when i start working on the images?

do i assign the scratch disk in edit pref. can you write to me in detail.

are you referring to an external hard drive?

thanks for you advice.

sharada

13

Just so we are on the same page; Computer graphics really deal in ppi (pixels per inch), and Printers usually deal with dpi (dots per inch).

You might want to clarify with your printer because dpi x 2 = ppi

I am thinking that when he says minimum 100 dpi that translates into 200 ppi for you in Photoshop. Because 100 ppi is pretty low res for printing.

As far as your scratch disk goes, I have an external (firewire) hard drive for portablility purposes. But if you don’t need to move it then an internal drive is quicker. (especially if you get one of the 10k rpm drives :drool: .

Go to edit -> preferences -> (for CS2 go to Plugins Scratch disk) -> then just assign the primary and secondary.

Plus, when working on big files I disconnect from the internet and shut down all processes that are not needed. If you use the new “bridge” it eats up process power so I would not use it to open this big of a file.

14

My advice - I design a ton of large format pieces (much larger than 8x10 sometimes) and you definitely don’t need to send the file at 300dpi. Even banners I send out are at 150dpi and that is acceptable. Alot of times when the file size gets to large you need to set the art up at either half size or even quarter size and let the printer scale it up at there end. Depending on how high off the ground this mural will be seen at you should be fine at sending the file at 100-150dpi. I’v sent billboards out at 60dpi andthey’ve looked great - mind you there 4-8 stories off the ground. Another thing you can do to speed things up and keep the file size down is while your working in photoshop and dealing with all your layers is to design the mural in RGB and when your finished flatten and convert to CMYK. Your colors will shift a bit but that is something you will be able to adjust afterwards.

15

yes i realize the dpi ppi point. the printer only mentioned that a minimum of 100 dp is required. but, i remember doing the last years mural by setting it to 300 in photoshop which would have translated to 150dpi. but, i also remember the printer bringing down the res to 200 which is equal to 100dpi. the printed mural was really clear and crisp. but, i wonder if it was because of very high res images from istockphoto.com.

i am in a fix. do you think installing a hard drive would be the best option?

has it got anything to do with virutual memory of the computer?

thanks for your prompt reply.

16

You are worrying to much. 150 dpi is fine - I promise. Will your computer let you work at 150dpi??

17

hi.
thanks for your reply. i actually set it to 300 in photoshop and i guess it’s 300ppi. but do you think this 2gb ram and 250gb hard drive is not enough to save this empty workspace? i do’nt have an additional internal hard drive or external ones. this xps has a dual core chip which is supposed to be two brains in one pc and i wonder if i did the right thing by investing on it. my previous mural was brought down from 300ppi to 200ppi in photoshop. and i was happy with the final print.
for the current project the printer mentioned a minimum of 100dpi at full size cmyk.

can you pls reply.
sharada

18

this brand new computer is not letting me save this file at 300ppi. like i mentioned earlier i have only set up the workspace. i have not even added images. what do you think could the problem be?

sharada

19

To design a 8x10 mural at 300ppi is insane - no offence. It’s overkill. You have to understand that a lot of these large format printers are somewhat limited in what resolution thay can print at depending on the printer. If you set your resolution to 150 in photoshop you will be fine. Try it and look at the images at full size - they will be very clear. I don’t know what else to tell you - I’ve done a ton of this stuff and this is how I would set it up.

20

I understand your computer is new and “powerful” but people usually don’t set large format files up the way your going about it. This piece is only 8x10 - imagine a boillboard that is 100’x50’ - then what?? If you set up the file at full size - 150ppi - you will be fine.