Unsupported Format Variant???

[jock]

I am in the middle of processing a bunch of D2X NEF files with PM v 4.5.2 and Photoshop CS3. After making a select in PM I then open the file in ACR and then save the processed file as a 16 bit PSD (photoshop document).

The problem I am having with PM is that when I view the contact sheet of my processed 16 bit PSD files - some of the files have a black square where the thumbnail image should be and the red text "Unsupported Format Variant" is displayed in the black thumbnail. And I can not view the preview of these images either or view them in a slide show.

My first thought is that I had made an inadvertent mistake when I saved these these files such as including an alpha channel or I had not flattened a layered image etc... but I went back and checked all of the problem files and all of them where no different than the other PSD files that are displaying normally in PM.
I have tried opening and re saving these files as PSD's but they still do not display correctly in PM. But if I save them as a TIFF - then they display properly - which I thought was strange.

Any idea what may be causing PM to choke on these few 16-bit PSD files?

Thanks!

JF

[Kirk Baker]

Jock,

I am in the middle of processing a bunch of D2X NEF files with PM v 4.5.2 and Photoshop CS3. After making a select in PM I then open the file in ACR and then save the processed file as a 16 bit PSD (photoshop document).

The problem I am having with PM is that when I view the contact sheet of my processed 16 bit PSD files - some of the files have a black square where the thumbnail image should be and the red text "Unsupported Format Variant" is displayed in the black thumbnail. And I can not view the preview of these images either or view them in a slide show.

My first thought is that I had made an inadvertent mistake when I saved these these files such as including an alpha channel or I had not flattened a layered image etc... but I went back and checked all of the problem files and all of them where no different than the other PSD files that are displaying normally in PM.
I have tried opening and re saving these files as PSD's but they still do not display correctly in PM. But if I save them as a TIFF - then they display properly - which I thought was strange.

Any idea what may be causing PM to choke on these few 16-bit PSD files?

It is QuickTime that is unable to load your PSD files.  16-bit PSD file exacerbate the problem, but even large 8-bit PSD files have the same issue.  QuickTime is just completely unable (meaning that it crashes Photo Mechanic) to load large PSD files.  Because of this problem we added code to determine if the image is too large for QuickTime to load.  If it is too large then we generate the black thumbnail with the red text instead of passing the image off to QuickTime for loading.

If we were to let QuickTime process the images anyway then the result would be that Photo Mechanic would crash and you wouldn't be able to browse that folder at all.

So while it isn't an ideal solution, it does keep the application from failing.

I am looking into a solution for this in Photo Mechanic 4.6 that I think will solve this issue once and for all and won't require the use of QuickTime either.  If all goes well then QuickTime will only be needed to preview movie formats.

-Kirk

[jock]

Thanks Kirk! Just curious...I saved the same file as an uncompressed TIF and PM was able to display the image properly. Why does this quicktime problem occur with PSD files and not with TIF files - is it that PM does not need to rely on quicktime to read a TIF?

[Kirk Baker]

Jock,

Thanks Kirk! Just curious...I saved the same file as an uncompressed TIF and PM was able to display the image properly. Why does this quicktime problem occur with PSD files and not with TIF files - is it that PM does not need to rely on quicktime to read a TIF?

That's correct.  We have a different set of code that loads TIFF files, JPEG files, etc.

-Kirk

[ddegab]

I just had this happen to me and interestingly enough, I have several files (16bit, psd, 6144 x 4096 px) in vertical format that show up fine. But the one that is 4096 x 6144 px (same but in horizontal format) doesn't. When I rotate the file it shows up. Perhaps the QuickTime code is seeing the width as too wide and not taking into consideration the height?

[Kirk Baker]

I just had this happen to me and interestingly enough, I have several files (16bit, psd, 6144 x 4096 px) in vertical format that show up fine. But the one that is 4096 x 6144 px (same but in horizontal format) doesn't. When I rotate the file it shows up. Perhaps the QuickTime code is seeing the width as too wide and not taking into consideration the height?

Yes, with QuickTime the main issue is the maximum row width.

-Kirk