Lightroom (all versions) - issues with Virtual copy and catlogue size

[kevshed]

Hi all,

Just discovered this forum, after finally getting into LR and encountering some issues.... having scanned the forums, i am really suprised at the issues people are having, im suprised at adobe...

Anyway - i've just spend a couple of weeks on and off, importing my images, tagging and adding metadata - and this week, i started experimenting with the develop module, aiming to get some creative work from my catalogue.

I was using 2.1..... had no problems
Went to 2.2... here is issues started.

Here is my workflow, can someone please point out if im dong something to cause my problems...

1 - I create a Virtual copy of the image i want to work on
2- I crop, desaturate, and tweak the exposure on the image
3 - I then use the adjustment brush, to slowly bring back saturation in certain areas of the image.... this started fine, then got slow... then got slooooooow then crashed. Looking at this more, i noticed it was a memory leak, well documented, and fixed in 2.3RC.... So, i move to 2.3RC

After the move, the mem leak seems to have stopped, but performance was shocking slow still - very disapointing...

After further investigation, i notice that my catalog has grown from 22MB to 367MB.... I optomise the cataloge etc - but its still massive, i think this is one of the reasons for the slow down. When i delete the virtual copy, catalog size goes back to 22MB.

I've currently downgraded back to 2.1 - but will likely go back to 2.3 today.

So - couple of questions.

1) So virtual copies, even with a lot of brush strokes, make my cataloge so big
2) Is this likely to be impacting my performance?
3) Current thinking is that i'm going to have to export to DNG, delete the VC, then carry on work on the DNG.... but clearly this looses the non-destructive benefit of using LR.

anyone else seen this, I wonder if i started again, in 2.3RC from scratch, if i'd see the same issue...

Would really appreciate the feedback on this before i do any more work - i was excited after importing all my photos, and am now disappointed

FYI, im using Vista 64 Bit, on a Intel X58 based Nehalem platform with 6GB of ram (3 channel) - so system performance is not the issue.

Thanks,
Kev

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Hi Kev, welcome to the forum!

As you've seen from the forums, there are still some problems. It's pretty complex software, and it's only version 2, so problems are still likely at this stage. That said, the forums don't obviously show up all the happy customers who don't have problems!

So tell us a little more about where you're seeing the issues, and we'll help you fill in the gaps.

For a start, 2.3RC is a really good bet, and restart after installing.

When you mention the catalog size, are you referring to the *.lrcat file, or the folder that also contains the previews. Large previews files are to be expected, but generally improve the performance. How many photos in this catalog?

That said, there's something very weird going on, if removing a single virtual copy can make that big a difference.

Things to try:
Definitely upgrade to 2.3RC again.
And then try some of the troubleshooting steps explained here: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/showthread.php?t=1645 Specifically I'm thinking of deleting the preferences file (or just moving it aside temporarily) and trying a clean catalog just to exclude any catalog issues. Also, what graphics card are you using?

 

[kevshed]

thanks for the reply Victoria - i agree, forums do empahise the negatives... what did we do before the internet !!

... i will try a fresh 2.3RC install and start again - something else that just crossed my mind, is that i have been making my edits, with the catalogue on an external USB disk - this wont have helped, so i'll move it local - this prob will help the performance issues.

To answer your question - yes, i am referering to the lcat file - not the preview folder - this remains a consistant size. I'll take a look at the troubleshooting link you provided too - thanks. In terms of gfx card - its an nvidia 98''.... i did notice some other posts recommending somes setting changes if on a single display so will try that later.

Key issue that i really need to resolve, is the catalogue size... i think i'll start again in 2.3 and see what happens...

Thanks,
Kev

 

[kevshed]

Interesting.. So, i removed the preferences file, and moved my library local - this did speed things up a bit - However, my virtual copies dont appear in the catalogue... If i optomise it, it now goes back to 22MB, but im assuming thats because its just quashed the VC data.. hmm - guess this doesnt matter if i start a fresh design in 2.3 though, im going to try again and see.

Thanks for the advice.
Kev

 

[dj_paige]

Based on what you describe, I don't see a reason why you make a virtual copy before editing. I use virtual copies when I know I want two or more edits of a single photo, but I don't see you doing that here.