X5 Photopaint has crashed for me and the error seems to be repeatable. In the past I was able to use the techniques in Ctein's book on digital restoration to fix old photos with silver tarnish and wanted to refresh my memory on this technique. I was editing one of his samples, a 28.7 Mb 48 bit .tif file. I was making various adjustments with the tone curves, desaturation, when Photopaint crashed. The following info was in the debug message.
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: CorelPP.exe
Application Version: 15.0.0.486
Application Timestamp: 4b5e702e
Fault Module Name: ntdll.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Fault Module Timestamp: 4a5bdb3b
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0002e29b
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 462f
Additional Information 2: 462f57ec7ef6584ad05b37264e37f769
Additional Information 3: f0d6
Additional Information 4: f0d68275a997e7dbc801694b781bcb40
Even more problematic was the fact that after restarting X5 I could not work with ANY images. Each time I tried, I would get the following pop-up message. "This action cannot be completed because the other program is busy. Choose Switch To to activate the busy program and correct the problem." with options provided to "Switch to" or "Retry". Neither was effective, and the only way I could recover was to use the Windows task manager to kill Photopaint. After rebooting, I could restart Photopaint but editing the same sample image in a similar manner the failure(s) occurred again.
I also have had several occurances of another error attempting to edit images produced by Vuescan (compressed .tif images). After selecting the image, the message "Out of Memory" pops up and the image is never brought up. That is not as repeatable so I am not sure what more to say in that case. For both types of these images (the Vuescan and the Ctein sample) I have not had the same problem when I repeat the action with X4.
I am running Windows 7 on an Intel quad processor.
NOTE: The problem with image slicing of large images seems to have been fixed in X5. In the past I had to revert back to Photopaint release 12 to do this but now I am on a new system and am glad not to have to go back and install release 12 for that work!
Restart Windows or check the task manager to see if PP or CD is running when it should not be.
Yes, I did re-boot Windows. But as I noted, the problem occurred again. I am reporting the problem here in hope that there might be a better solution. I would rather not have to switch back and forth between X4 and X5 depending on the photo and/or adjustments I will be doing.
Good clue, thanks! I used X4 to convert the sample image to 24 bit and then edited it in X5 Photopaint. I worked on the image for some time, with no problems. I will also convert the other sample images to 24 bit and avoid 48 bit when using X5. I normally do not have 48 bit images but the samples provided were 48 bit.
I have found that Windows 7 is much more stable than my previous XP system (both as far as the system itself and applications). I have had a few problems, mostly with finding 64 bit drivers for some things such as my Epson 1640SU scanner. Oddly enough, Vuescan works with this scanner, but neither X4 nor X5 Photopaint can connect with it.
By the way, you mentioned problems with clip masks in 24 bit - what other option do you then use?
Just for an experiment I'd try opening the file in X4 save it at 48bit then see if it's stable in X5.
It appears there are some quirky ways to write a TIF file which previously were managed OK but with the updated filter cause issues. That's been 'put on the list'. TIF files aren't the clean things they once were there is all kinds of data added that is carried from digital cameras. Not reason to believe VueScan doesn't write in some of that kind of guff too.
Thanks - that may be a contributing factor as well. I tried that idea with some success - opening the image with X4 and saving it, still at 48 bits. I then edited it OK, then went on to another image and worked on that for a while. I was about ready to call it quits last night when X5 crashed again. I was able to start X5 and open several images without the hang problem I had seen before. So now there are two gremlins I will avoid if possible in X5 - 48 bit and tif images. .
I don't think 48bit per-say is an issue
Have you changed any PP defaults? There is some mention that increasing undo and cache levels causes issues in some instances. (I think cache levels)
There is definitely an issue with some tif files connected to maybe internal meta data. Nikon files are one in that group.
Although the max image is 30,000 X 30,000 px that is THE MAX and it seems some functions like motion blur will add to the image/memory and pop PP
What you really want to do is make sure Corel have information ASAP that is meaningful to developer so issues can be resolved. That is the bottom line. Therefore we all benefit from you sticking with X5.
To do that you need to write reports/posts with certain information.
When using XXXXX OS with XXXX graphic card and XXXX processor
When I open a XXXXX file of XXXX size in XXXX mode and use XXXXX tool, a crash occurred.
I had been working on the file for XXX minutes.
I went back and tried the same thing and it did or didn't occur.
It's the specific tool that I'd be keeping an eye out for.
I am finding that the crashes are not very repeatable, though the first few were when I was doing almost the same thing (editing a 48 bit tif: zoom to fit, tone curve adjustments, desaturate, contrast adjustments). So far, I have had 12 X5 Photopaint crashes, some after working for only a short time, sometimes just minutes.
I have also seen many application error events recorded in the system log (mutex error) which seem to be directly related to Photopaint AND Draw. I have added a reply with more details to another post on the X5 Suite forum. I am wondering if those errors may be related to the crashes I am seeing.
I am running Windows 7 (64 bit) on an Intel quad processor (i7-860) which has the ability to run 8 threads concurrently. System has 4 gb memory, 1 tb disk space spread across 2 hard files. Graphics processor is a NVIDIA Quadro FX 380 with 2 gb graphics memory.
It's not secret that Corel don't do a public release candidate before printing disks. 15 versions hasn't changed that. The only change is that software is now massively more complex. They choose that policy knowing what the result is. It's not all negative, it means software gets in users hands sooner. With X4 the software was very close to perfect on release day. With X5 there have been a lot of changes.
Nothing wrong with this software for the first public release. Users just need to fill in the blanks, X5 Initial Release. Then feedback as much detail as possible to ensure any issues are listed for resolution.
Since the policy seems to be entrenched there isn't much users can do but adjust the label within your experience and perception. It doesn't mean Corel write buggy software, they just make software available to users as early as possible. Why don't they do this differently? Piracy!
As you guys know if you were reading the forum, even with a closed beta of invited guests, Beta 3 was leaked and copies made available on the internet. A release candidate gives pirates a 3 month head start.
Piracy is running at 80% averaged world wide. Everything becomes a strategy to minimise that, early releases, PITA copy protection etc. The policy is so entrenched that as users there is no point in even talking about it. If you are paying to use what should be labelled a release candidate and you were going to pay to use the software anyway it all a bit so what really. It's up to Corel management to manage perceptions. If they want to live in cuckoo land and use optimistic labelling it's their choice.
The rest of us have to live in the real world and deal with live as it is. That mean any initial release needs to be used with caution and you keep the previous version in play. Frankly I haven't used anything but X5 for sometime and just deal with it. Draw seems really stable here, PP I think is a tad more unstable than everyone would like. But you just know they are busting the boiler to resolve that as fast as possible.
Have faith, it's always sorted fast.
I wish I had your optimism, but my experiences have dimmed mine. I reported the Photopaint slicing problem and waited for a fix through the lifetimes of X3 and X4 but nothing was forthcoming.
I needed the ability to use the slicing feature and found that this problem was finally fixed. So I purchased the X5 suite, lured by the shipping discount for ordering the product in February. (The CPU and system with Release 12 is now gone.) So that is why I am more than a little exasperated that exercising the other simple and routine functions of the program would render it essentially not usable.
What frightens me is the economics of fixing software defects. The costs of fixing defects after a product is shipped are often 100 times what they are during development and testing.. As a result some business models dictate that problems that occur after release are not worth fixing! Sound familiar?
Not everyone carries the same weight as you and a number of likewise knowledgeable and respected others do in the world of Corel users. I am hoping that gathering enough voices will convince the developers that there are others here that want Corel to discover that our product problems are worth fixing.
Some issue never surface until many users get involved.
Finally Fix... that applies to heaps of issue that have hung about for too long. Most issues now are related to new code. Those issues are way easier to fix because the developers working on them have been working on that code for a good 12 months. They haven't left the building 4 years ago, it's code that is most modern... etc
Seems a few people panicking. I'm not one.
Actually everyone has the same weight here. It's very democratic. Nothing is said by a user here that isn't picked up by Corel on one side and the beta group on the user side. Users get dual representation.
If you have been around for a bit you just except any CGS products labelled as XX.0 per a service pack as being the first public release and make your own call at when to update.
The more you guys are specific and exacting when you have a bug the easier it is to put into the system and the more likely it is for an early fix. The only thing that carries weight is the quality of the reports.
If this is the thread for Photo-Paint X5 bugs, here's my list (Windows Vista):
- The Photo-Paint image straightening tool crashes the app nearly 100% of the time. Only once did it not do it, but I don't know why.
- The Nikon RAW image loader seems to add an undesired texture to the image compared to a normal JPG. I set my camera to create both a shoot time and loaded both into PP: the RAW isn't right.
- It's crashed on other times also; the latest was 2 days ago where I was pasting one image from one page into another. I lost a substantial amt of work on that one :(
Hopefully there's some service packs out on these soon. So far I haven't seen a single service pack in the month I've owned it.
And I agree - many of the other bugs and limitations have been around for many versions. Corel is very slow to fix them.