redhogbill Loc: antelope, calif

I reposting this with a new title,

i have had topaz for about 9 to 12 months, had played with it a bunch of times with photos out of my D 3200 and have not had any problems, it worked fine., I finally am starting to use my D800 and process photos other than PS 2014, I take my "raw" photo open in "ACR" tweak it, then "open image" to PS 2014, will then do more processing or save, when i am done i save image to my {lets just say "my pictures"}, a JPEG or a TIFF, i close out PS, open topaz then find my photo, it will open in topazFXlabs, but when i try to open with a plug-in/filter my computer either 1)- box comes up saying window has encountered a problem and need to shut down and computer locks up, and i need to do
"Ctrl/Alt/delete" to FINALLY get my laptop working again!! or the program will just up and disappear!!
i took my photo and reduced the size from 75mb's to 35 mb's and now topaz seems to be working just fine with the smaller file!!
i have 114gb free space on a 250gb hard drive!!
any one else run across this problem?
i have been conversing with topaz support , but they don't seem to know!! you know the same ol' thing, remove it and reinstall ,which i did, same problem!!

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

This is a copy of my response just posted in the main discussion area and the discussion had entered the realms of available memory.

Try again with the large file, this time when your computer freezes, go to the task manager, (Control + Shift + Escape) and open the tab "performance"

You should see a graphic representation of the ram being used.

If you have the full 4 GB installed, you can probably only use 3.8 GB, of which a lot is used for the OP system alone. You probably need about 2GB free ram for Topaz to run and operate efficiently on average size files.

Look at the Available Ram and the Free ram figures. Can Topaz be set up with a scratch disc? (I don't have Topaz so I do not know the answer)

By the way, there are many Topez users on the site, and I am trying to rope them in to this section so that any/all problems are kept together. Another thread in the past two or three days highlighted exactly the same problem, but it also was in the main section and I cannot find it, so I am unaware if it was resolved or not.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

I might have missed something, but what is PS 2014? Photoshop or something else?

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

Photoshop from the cloud latest version

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Upping the memory on a lap top is easy; just remove a panel on the bottom, unsnap the present memory chip and plug in the new one. Going to sites of name brand memory companies you will find charts telling you which chips will work.

While I have FXLab I rarely use it,rather using PSP X6. X6 will allow designation of scratch disk... it is in Preferences under the file category.

If you are using PS, PSE, LtRoom then FXLab can by accessed thru that program. In the base program there is a preference where you can set the scratch. That may be key.
http://www.topazlabs.com/setup/photofxlab.html

I doubt that laptops allow a second disk to be added, my desk top allows me to add an small SSD (SATA) as a scratch disk which is much faster than mechanical HDs. You may need to set aside a small partition on you HD as a scratch rather than allowing the HD to mix the scratch with other data.

I have even seen articles that say that you can use USB Stick memory for augmenting the memory.

What I have written above is wet finger in the air information... so read up on the subject before investing.

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

The thread in the Main Discussion makes it clear the computer is 32 bit. Maximum memory is 4 GB,

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Yes, understood, those of us who migrated from XP, having W7 Home Premium (any thing but) are stuck with 4 gig. You are right, but my laptop, also W7 does recognize 8 gig. But the addition of a Scratch HD or set aside partition takes over when the 4 gig is maxed out. Scratch is normally set but it is possibly too low.
http://lifehacker.com/5536640/use-an-extra-drive-as-a-scratch-disk-for-increased-speed-and-space

The suggestion of extra scratch, Searcher, is a workaround and not deviating from the OPs problem with maxing out on RAM memory that is freezing is computer.

There is another possibility for the problem. Some graphics cards or in-MOBO graphics do not support shading. Shading I believe is necessary for FXLab.

"photoFXlab ONLY - Video Card should support OpenGL 2.1 technology and later ."
http://www.toolfarm.com/product/topaz_labs_photofxlab/system_requirements

aaaaha, Searcher, found the first post
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-240913-1.html

FXLab says nothing about scratch, I have written Topaz Support regarding scratch in the standalone.

redhogbill Loc: antelope, calif

will look into it! thank you
I did post this in the photography section and one of the regulars got all bent out of shape, so I move my post to this section!!I did not know there were that many sections to post in!!, because they are not all in the drop down window for "create new topic", but now am aware,

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

His heart is in the right place :D

redhogbill Loc: antelope, calif

:thumbup:

redhogbill Loc: antelope, calif

it is! it is just the delivery!

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Searcher, do you mean (Control + Shift + Del)??? I tried (Control + Shift + Escape) on my Windows 7 PC and it does nothing. Maybe a new Windows 8 command? I don't know.

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

Control + Shift + Escape has been a Windows keyboard shortcut since XP. It brings the Task Manager up as a panel on top whatever is on the screen. Control + Shift has to be held down just before the Escape key is pressed.

Control + Alt + Del (as you know) has a different behaviour.

List of Windows Shortcuts - Task Manager open is in the General Keyboard-Only commands

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449

redhogbill Loc: antelope, calif

after all this time , and conversing with topazlabs, to no avail!!

so I started messing with topaz again after a short vacation from it!! I shoot raw and jpeg from my D800, and was having problems with the raws, so I started using the jpegs, and would have problems,
so what I found was if my files were more than 60mb's I would get a "C++ error" if I reduced the files size it would work!! {change image size} go figure!!
just a heads up!!

thanks for all the input

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

I had the same problems with my Desk Top and doubled my RAM to 18GB. I can nopw run everything at once, no hang-ups.
Craig