Blinking Macbook retina screen

[Chantus]

I recently bought a Macbook 15" with retina display.  As in my old 17 macbook, I'm using Mavericks and latest PM version.
Sometimes I get a weird blinking screen issue when working with PM. Like when you disconnect  a macbook from AC wall adapter and get a slighty darker screen. Usually restarting PM is enough to recover the normal behaviour.
I noticed also that when I open a picture in PS from PM, I get one of these "pulses" while PS is launching.

[Kirk Baker]

I recently bought a Macbook 15" with retina display.  As in my old 17 macbook, I'm using Mavericks and latest PM version.
Sometimes I get a weird blinking screen issue when working with PM. Like when you disconnect  a macbook from AC wall adapter and get a slighty darker screen. Usually restarting PM is enough to recover the normal behaviour.
I noticed also that when I open a picture in PS from PM, I get one of these "pulses" while PS is launching.

That sounds like a hardware issue to me.  Have you had Apple take a look at it?

-Kirk

[Chantus]

I hope is not! In fact I bought this new macbook because my early 2011 one got a graphic card problem that Apple is not recognizing, while the affected computers are counted by thousands.
It is strange because it only seems to happen with PM, and I intensively use other graphic software (PS, LR, PTGui, Panotour Pro, Final Cut Pro, Photomatix, etc).
Unfortunately Apple support in Latin America is really bad, so I will have to google on this.

Thanks!

Pablo

[Kirk Baker]

Pablo,

I hope is not! In fact I bought this new macbook because my early 2011 one got a graphic card problem that Apple is not recognizing, while the affected computers are counted by thousands.
It is strange because it only seems to happen with PM, and I intensively use other graphic software (PS, LR, PTGui, Panotour Pro, Final Cut Pro, Photomatix, etc).
Unfortunately Apple support in Latin America is really bad, so I will have to google on this.

I can tell you for certain that PM does not have any code in it that would ever dim or brighten your display on purpose.  I don't even know what API calls would achieve such an effect.  They probably exist, but since I don't know what they are called, I know I'm not calling them. 

-Kirk

[Kevin M. Cox]

Kirk,

I occasionally see what might be the same behavior. It isn't the whole screen that is chaining color, but the PM toolbar that seems to flash light/dark. Basically the difference between when the contract sheet has focus and when it doesn't. In fact, I wonder if this is actually what is happening, focus rapidly switching back and forth.

It happens so rarely that I don't really think about it and it doesn't seem to effect anything. I'll try to pay more attention the next time it happens, but I think it could only be during one of the following based on my workflow: Applying IPTC Stationary, Batch Renaming, Opening in Photoshop.

[SamFrost]

I've also noticed the toolbar flickering from time to time, but haven't been able to recall the steps to repeat it. It happens fairly often though so I'll try to keep track of what I've done to provoke it.

[Kirk Baker]

I've also noticed the toolbar flickering from time to time, but haven't been able to recall the steps to repeat it. It happens fairly often though so I'll try to keep track of what I've done to provoke it.

Anytime focus changes from the Contact Sheet window to the Preview window (or to any other window like an IPTC dialog) the title bar and toolbar will change slightly in brightness/shade to let you know that the window is no longer active.  This is done by the OS and is intentional.

Now if you're talking about some sort of rapid flickering or some other visual aberration, then I have never seen that behavior in Photo Mechanic.

-Kirk

[Kevin M. Cox]

Now if you're talking about some sort of rapid flickering or some other visual aberration, then I have never seen that behavior in Photo Mechanic.

Yes, when I see it, it is a very rapid flickering.

[Kirk Baker]

Kevin,

Now if you're talking about some sort of rapid flickering or some other visual aberration, then I have never seen that behavior in Photo Mechanic.

Yes, when I see it, it is a very rapid flickering.

When it happens, what is going on in Photo Mechanic?  Can you reproduce it at will?

-Kirk

[SamFrost]

Yes I get it as a very rapid flickering too. It's of the main window's title bar I think when I open the stationery pad sometimes. It doesn't do it every time, but I'll try to be more aware of when it does it.

FYI PM 5.0, build 15451 (86b6bbe), Mac OS 10.8.5

[SamFrost]

Right, I've just had it happen again, and I can reproduce it at will.

I have a contact sheet open with no images selected (I have tried contact sheets with everything from a dozen to jpgs to over 700 cr2s and it makes no difference) . I use command-A to select all, and then command-I to bring up the IPTC pad. If I do this slowly there is no problem, but if I do it quickly, without releasing the command key, the tab bar flickers rapidly for a couple of seconds. When the flickering stops the tab bar is often missing or improperly drawn, but redraws normally after exiting the IPTC pad.

My image folders are stored on a separate internal drive on my 2008 Mac Pro, but I've tried with a desktop folder and that exhibits the same problem. It doesn't affect the operation of PM at all so doesn't strike me as a critical bug, but

I have recorded a video of the effect - let me know where to upload it if you want to see it.

[Kirk Baker]

Sam,

Now that you've explained it, I can get it to happen as well.  It looks like it is the animation of the tab expanding slightly to show the selection count changing.  Apparently it doesn't work correctly when a modal loop is starting up.  (Almost all of the dialogs in PM are modal dialogs.)

But: I don't think this is the behavior that the original poster was describing.

-Kirk