PLEASE NOTE: If you have technical questions and problems with Corel Painter or want to submit requests and suggestions for enhancements to Corel Painter, the best place to do that is at The PainterFactory, Corel's Painter community forum site. The Corel Painter development team will read your posts and when they have the time, may also respond to your posts:
The PainterFactory
Click
Painter Discussion at the top of the page, then:
- Post technical questions and problem reports in the Got a Question/Technical Issue/Bug Report for the Painter Team? forum.
- Post requests and suggestions for enhancments in the Suggestion Box forum.
There's lots more to enjoy at The PainterFactory, so do yourself a favor and take time to explore the site.
[*]Post topics related to general understanding and use of your Painter version in the appropriate forum, either
Corel Painter 11,
Corel Painter X - Last Version, or
Painter Past - Earlier Versions
Thanks!
Jinny
Keeping Painter 6 through Painter X.1 Running Smoothly, Updated February 6, 2008
Hi folks,
Since the subject comes up so often and my fingers are screaming at me that they've typed these words so many times before, here are some things that should help you keep Painter 6 through Painter X.1 running more smoothly. They won't answer every possible problem, but they're basic and worth doing in any case.
Painter 6 through Painter X.1, with more complex brush variants and multiple Layer types, are particularly processor intensive and use a lot of memory. There are some things you can do to help make Painter run more smoothly, though.
1. In all versions that include this option, go to Preferences > General and uncheck the Draw zoomed out views using area-averaging box.
2. In Painter X and Painter X.1, to speed up performance, go to Preferences > General and uncheck the Enhanced Brush Ghost box.
3. Lower the number of days Painter auto-saves scripts (the maximum allowed is 10 days):
Edit > Preferences > General
In the Auto Save Scripts for [ ] Days box, type 2 days.
4. Lower the number of Undo's if you have it set to the maximum of 32, to the lowest number you can live with:
Edit > Preferences > Undo
4. in Painter 6 and Painter 7, make sure the Maximum Memory for Painter box is checked:
In Painter 6 and 7: Edit > Preferences > Windows (not sure what this Preferenced tab named is for Macs)
In Painter 8: Edit > Preferences > Operating System
In Painter IX through Painter 11: Preferences > Memory & Scratch (read the dialog box and decide if you want to increase memory for Painter higher than the default 80%).
In Painter IX through Painter X.1, if you have an external hard drive use it for your scratch disk. Type the external drive letter in the Scratch Disk field
5. Use a smaller Scripts Library:
If you've recorded any scripts you want to save, in the Painter 6 and Painter 7 Objects palette's Scripts section menu, or in the Painter 7 through Painter X.1 Scripts palette menu, choose Script Mover and create a new Scripts Library (click the New button in the bottom right corner of the dialog box and give your new Scripts Library a unique and descriptive name). Then drag those script icons from the currently loaded Scripts Library on the left panel into your new Scripts Library on the right panel.
Then, when Painter 6 through Painter 8.1 are closed, go to the main Painter application/program folder and delete the default Painter Scripts Library file. In Windows it's the Painter.ssd file. On Mac's, it's the Painter Script Data file.
When Painter IX, IX 9.1 or IX.5 is closed, go to your Painter IX User folder and delete the Painter.ssd file (Windows) or the Painter Script Data file (Mac).
When Painter X or X.1 are closed, go to your Painter X User folder's Workspace folder and delete the Painter Scripts.scripts file.
When Painter is launched again, depending on the version, either a new empty scripts file is regenerated or the default Scripts library is restored and whatever you do in that Painter session is recorded as a new script, then saved for whatever number of days you specified.
6. Close other programs while working in Painter.
7. Each time you close Painter, go to the appropriate folder for your Painter version and check the size of the Pre-built Brush File. If it's large, delete it. Do this even if you're not ready to stop working in Painter any time you notice Painter's beginning to "misbehave". You'll find this file in the following folders:
Painter 6 main application folder
Painter 7 > Brushes folder
Painter 8 > Brushes folder
Painter IX User folder > Brushes folder (in Painter IX, IX 9.1 and IX.5, the Pre-built Brush File is automatically reset to a smaller file size when it reaches the maximum file size, 200 MB)
I delete this file if it's over 1 MB, though your system may be able to handle letting it get larger than that. Testing the Impasto variants one day, the "PBF" grew from its base file size of 113 kb to over 60 MB in less than 20 minutes, so if you're using complex brushes like Impasto, Water Colors, and Liquid Ink (and some other more complex brush variants in more recent Painter versions), you may need to check it more frequently. This is also true for some custom brush variant collections available to download from various sites. Chris Cimonetti's Fine Art 2 brush library is a good example. You'll find Chris Cimonetti's Fine Art 2 brush library on the Painter 6, Painter 7, and Painter 8 Custom Brushes page on my PixelAlley site.
It doesn't hurt anything to delete the Pre-built Brush File as it's used to store brush information to make brush building (by Painter) faster. It's regenerated the next time Painter 6, Painter 7, Painter 8, and Painter IX are opened.
Good news: The Pre-built Brush File no longer exists in Painter X and X.1
We still need to close down Painter every hour or so to let Painter catch its breath so to speak, wait a few minutes, then relaunch and continue.
8. Always save your work frequently and no matter what you're doing in Painter, after working for an hour or so, save your file as a Painter RIFF, shut down Painter 6 through Painter IX.5, and check the Pre-built Brush File size.
If Painter begins to behave strangely, save your file in Painter RIFF format, close the program, and wait a few minutes before launching it again. If it still behaves strangely, a reboot may help.
Whether or not Painter begins to behave strangely, give it a rest now and then. You may be able to work longer than an hour or so, but too many hours without a break is asking for trouble.
9. Use File > Save As and save your RIFF files in a numbered series. For instance:
waterfall_01.rif
waterfall_02.rif
waterfall-03.rif
If your Painter version includes the File > Iterative Save command, use File > Save As for the first save, then File > Iterative Save for followng saves and a number will be added automatically at the end of the file name for a numbered series of files.
10. If you experience corrupted RIFF files, save your files Uncompressed. The default is compressed, so you'll need to check the Uncompressed box when saving.
NOTE Even if these brush controls are both available at the same time in your Painter version, never use Impasto settings with Water Color variants or Watercolor settings with Impasto variants. This can cause immediate and permanent corruption of your image, and right before your eyes, to boot! (This is not a problem in more recent versions as the "opposite" brush control settings won't be available for you to make that mistake.)
11. Do regular system maintenance tasks.
In Windows, at least, and I am not a Mac user so can't say what system maintenance would be needed, run ScanDisk and Defrag at least once a week. I usually run both a couple of times a week.
Regularly clear out browser cache and temp files, even several times a day depending on how much you're on the Internet, whether you've downloaded files, etc.
12. When you've done all of the above and Painter becomes sluggish, use Save As or File > Iterative Save if you're already saving in a numbered series of files, to save your file as a Painter RIFF, close Painter 6 through Painter IX.5, delete the Pre-built Brush File if necessary, and reboot.
(As soon as I have time, I'll update this post to include more about Painter 11. In the meantime, you'll find loads of information at The PainterFactory )
Jinny
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Originally Posted by lzw95071
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