After an initial explosion of posts when this Save option first appeared, we don’t talk about it much. There was the initial concern about increased file size; there was the issue of "backward compatibility" (which some of our most esteemed here thought was a pseudo issue); and there was a little confusion about the relationship between this option and the "Generating composite" message when saving more complex files.
So what’s the current practice? As a general rule are you maximizing compatibility or deselecting this option? And how come?
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But why, Ramón? To place these images in applications that don’t support PS layers? That would make sense. Because of the "threat" that new blend modes and such will somehow, some way be easier to retrieve or reproduce if you have a composite version?
Saving with Max on also means large multi-layered files show up very quickly in the File Browser. Without the Max checked, either a file will not preview (if too big) or it will take a LONG TIME.
A couple of reasons, maybe three. (1) I never know what my needs might be in the future, for instance, I may need to work on the file on someone else’s computer. It hasn’t happened yet, but I just know the need would arise just as soon as I don’t have a file with maximized compatibility. Things like that happen to me all the time. Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me type of thing. I figure if Adobe programmers put that feature in there, I’d better not get caught calling tech support and having to tell them i did not save my file with that option checked.
(2) What Jeff says in post # 3. I discovered that by accident, when I was fooling around with a test image.
(3) Other than the storage space issue, I can’t think of a good reason not to.
generating full res composite still occurs without maximising though, so can anyone enlighten me as to what the differences are between maxed and not with that in mind?
Progress, the inimitable C. Cox once explained that that Generating Full Resolution Composite message refers to the file’s PREVIEW, not a composite version of the layered file. That might explain why we see the message with very large or very complex files and not with smaller, simpler ones….
Meanwhile, so far I haven’t ONCE saved an image with Maximize Compatibility ON! Maybe I ought to rethink this? Have you all found a SIGNIFICANT increase in file size with this option on? (Yes, I know hard drive space is no longer an issue these days, but for e-transport as well as the happiness of my prepress boys, I still try to keep file size to a minimum).
If the composite refers to a preview image only, wouldn’t that preview be low res? Why is it called full resolution then? It seems to very clearly describe that it is saving a flattened version of the file with the PSD, and the increase in file size seems to show that (as well as the increase in time it takes to "flatten" the composite and save it). It shouldn’t increase the file size nearly as much as it does if it’s only a low-res preview image.
But, Peter, I’ve seen that message on this machine several times AFTER having turned Maximize Compatibility OFF for a large, complex file. Perhaps I’m wrong about the Preview business (it’s been a while since C. Cox posted). But I’m not sure I’m wrong about its independence from the Max. Comp. option.
I too do not use Maximize Compatibility. It is not an open and shut case otherwise the Photoshop team wouldn’t have given us the option: it would be fixed on if it were that important. There is nothing in the Photoshop manual that scares me regarding this option: using Maximize Compatibility increases file size (and time) but means that opening the .psd in another application is guaranteed to render properly. Turning it off means that file size (and time) isn’t increased but may require opening in Photoshop to render correctly.
Although Chris warned us a while back that future versions of Photoshop may render layers with blending modes differently from the current version (I suppose future versions may be considered to be "other" applications) I still can’t believe that there won’t be a means of importing "old" Photoshop documents correctly into a newer version.
well at least now we have an actual relevant current reason for turning it on and can wiegh up the pros and cons…before i just couldnt see any pros at all, despite what may or may not happen in the future.
there is another thread that talks about not being able to place .psd files in ID that have not been saved with max compatability. This would be the biggest reason to use it. Since I always have it turned on I don’t know for sure. I’ll have to test.
I always believed that what Maximize Comp. did was save a flattened version of your file with the psd. That is why it imports properly into some apps, because they can pick up the flattened version within the file, even if the app can’t make sense of the psd with all it’s layers, adjustment layers, effects, etc. I don’t think that the "generating full res. composite" is only for previews, because when you turn Max. Comp. off, the resulting smaller file size of the psd is equal to the psd minus the size of a flattened file. So, in the case of many people and shops who use the workflow of saving a working, layered file, and saving out separate flattened tiffs or eps from that layered file, Max. Comp. off would make sense, would it not?
