Setting up new Macbook

[JT701]

Hi Guys,

I have been using PM for years, and it was always set up for me by my agency.   But I am getting a new macbook Pro this week, and want to set up PM properly on it. E.g. Memory Caches, Disk Cache Size etc.

I only use it for Ingesting, selecting, then ope and edit in PS, close down and the caption. after that I FTP.

If there is any other tips or trucks for setting it up, I would really appreciate it.

Cheers

[Kirk Baker]

I have been using PM for years, and it was always set up for me by my agency.   But I am getting a new macbook Pro this week, and want to set up PM properly on it. E.g. Memory Caches, Disk Cache Size etc.

I only use it for Ingesting, selecting, then ope and edit in PS, close down and the caption. after that I FTP.

If there is any other tips or trucks for setting it up, I would really appreciate it.

How much RAM and disk space does it have?

-Kirk

[JT701]

8Gb RAM 2.7GHz and 500g

[Kirk Baker]

8Gb RAM 2.7GHz and 500g

Memory Cache: 512 to 768, but if you're working with really high-megapixel images like a Nikon D800, go for the lower figure.
Disk Cache: you can make it as large as you like, but 2048 is more than good enough for most usage cases.  Make sure to reserve at least 100MB so your disk can't get full from caching.

-Kirk

[Hayo Baan]

Memory Cache: 512 to 768, but if you're working with really high-megapixel images like a Nikon D800, go for the lower figure.

Hi Kirk, can you explain why this is? It feels counterintuitive to me, to lower the cache size with high pixel images…

[Kirk Baker]

Hayo,

Memory Cache: 512 to 768, but if you're working with really high-megapixel images like a Nikon D800, go for the lower figure.

Hi Kirk, can you explain why this is? It feels counterintuitive to me, to lower the cache size with high pixel images…

Sure.  Photo Mechanic is a 32-bit application and as such only has access to 4 GB of address space.  D800 images are 138 MB in size when decompressed.  With application code/data/libraries loaded, PM is lucky to have 3.2 GB available free memory on application startup.  Having a large memory cache will make it harder for PM to allocate the memory it needs to process large images.  So yes, you could make the Memory Cache larger, but while it would help keep more images in memory, there will be a point where PM needs to load the entire 100% image in memory (for image processing like during Save As or Uploading) and PM won't be able to allocate the memory.  The Memory cache will now be a detriment rather than a help.

Someday PM will be a 64-bit application and will have the ability to have more memory at its disposal, but it won't be a panacea.  If an application addresses more memory than is physically available then virtual memory paging will occur and processing speed will decrease dramatically.

-Kirk
 

[Hayo Baan]

Memory Cache: 512 to 768, but if you're working with really high-megapixel images like a Nikon D800, go for the lower figure.

Hi Kirk, can you explain why this is? It feels counterintuitive to me, to lower the cache size with high pixel images…

Sure.  Photo Mechanic is a 32-bit application and as such only has access to 4 GB of address space.  D800 images are 138 MB in size when decompressed.  With application code/data/libraries loaded, PM is lucky to have 3.2 GB available free memory on application startup.  Having a large memory cache will make it harder for PM to allocate the memory it needs to process large images.  So yes, you could make the Memory Cache larger, but while it would help keep more images in memory, there will be a point where PM needs to load the entire 100% image in memory (for image processing like during Save As or Uploading) and PM won't be able to allocate the memory.  The Memory cache will now be a detriment rather than a help.

Ah, totally makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.

Someday PM will be a 64-bit application and will have the ability to have more memory at its disposal, but it won't be a panacea.  If an application addresses more memory than is physically available then virtual memory paging will occur and processing speed will decrease dramatically.

The sooner PM is 64-bit the better, for me at least With today's high pixel images and computers with 8Gb or more installed, this would really be a boon.

First focus on the catalogue though, but perhaps after that, this would form a nice next “project”