ACR 4.6 Making Photoshop CS3 Unusable to get my work done…

GB
Posted By
g_ballard
Nov 5, 2008
Views
388
Replies
18
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Closed
In my CS3 Photoshop crash saga, ACR 4.6 has made the problem worse, this makes about the 17th Crash report I sent Adobe:

www.gballard.net/PScrashNov5.zip
This crashed without building a layered master file.

www.gballard.net/PScrashNov2.zip
This crashed 4 layers into building a layered master file.

Pardon my not being able to decode a crash report (or wanting to spend another day Erasing my Apple logo hard drive and reinstalling and retesting — what Apple recommended even though they said the crash data I sent they said confirmed my OS and hardware were not to blame),

But I can’t understand why 17 crash reports that end in the same couple lines don’t offer a clue…grr.
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NK
Neil_Keller
Nov 5, 2008
Gary,

Is there anything in particular you do or a particular file or file type on your system that seems to reliably crash your system? Was there anything you can think of that happened to or was changed on your computer just before the crashing episodes began? Is there anything you can do that temporarily stops the crashing? Can you quickly run through your system specs with us? Maintenance done? What happens if you log in as a new user?

Thanks.

Neil
OO
Omke_Oudeman
Nov 5, 2008
Have you already tried to downgrade to ACR 4.5 and see if the problem has gone?
B
Buko
Nov 5, 2008
You could go back to 4.5

or check to see if you have problems in a new user.
GB
g_ballard
Nov 5, 2008
Thanks, I appreciate your help, but (excuse that) I’ve about had it with this.

I saw the problem on a new 2007 4-core Mac Pro when I Erased and put 10.5.0 on it (I moved it back to 10.4x and started waiting for the patches to catch up).

I then Erased my new 2008 8-core Mac Pro and installed the OEM 10.5x and CS3 from scratch (I saw it here too).

This is WHY I am not very convinced I have bad hardware or a bad install (but yes I have swapped out the ram and tried a New User and I can duplicate problem consistently. I outlined the workflow in other threads and in emails to Apple and Adobe).

In addition, Apple has told me to contact Adobe BECAUSE Apple said my OS and Hardware is not the problem — I tend to agree with them.

How can I hold Apple to that when I am using Photoshop, Adobe Camera Raw, Bridge, Nikon NEF — you would think it should work by now since CS4 is out — so I guess I am doing something different than the thousands of users running without this problem.

I guess my point is HOW is it Adobe and Apple crash logs are so useless here — Apple points to Adobe, Adobe doesn’t have a clue (or it can’t or won’t say).
B
Buko
Nov 5, 2008
But did it work with 4.5?

what’s the difference a couple of new cameras added? does it work with 4.5?

does it work in a new user?
GB
g_ballard
Nov 6, 2008
It always crashed with ACR 4.5 or earlier (all the crash reports end with the same last lines).

The latest 4.6 ACR update appears to have made the problem worse.

The ACR Beta 4.6 almost seemed to fix the problem (I got 50 layers deep before it crashed).

Problem does NOT clear in New User with OEM Apple ram or 3rd-party ram.
CC
Chris_Cox
Nov 6, 2008
Please report the crashes to Adobe, and make sure you put a note in the ACR forum about the crashes (where the ACR engineers are more likely to see them).
GB
g_ballard
Nov 6, 2008
Thank, Chris.

I updated my previous post in the ACR forum as recommended.
GB
g_ballard
Jan 13, 2009
How to I get some more help on this?

My Adobe Ps QA person apparently got laid off because he has not responded to my last two emails.

UPDATE:

I duplicated the problem in a special ACR build for an ACR engineer and he identified and fixed the crash in ACR 5.2 release, but said a secondary crash was happening in Ps proper.

I duplicated the secondary problem several more times for the Ps team here, and then duplicated the problem on my first attempt using an Adobe OSX machine (via remote operation) in 10 layers using their machine and programming build.

This is a nasty problem I’ve had since CS3/10.5, and I can duplicate it consistently — as I did in 15 minutes using Adobe’s own machine….
EC
Eric_Chan
Jan 14, 2009
It is still being investigated internally.
GB
g_ballard
Jan 15, 2009
Thanks, Eric.

A couple weeks after I crashed Adobe’s machine in 15 minutes, I asked Steve for an update.

He said he was (still) having trouble duplicating the crashes and something about layoffs.

I just want to stay on top this because it is a production stopper here and a good opportunity for Adobe to ID the problem(s) since I can reproduce them at will.
AW
Allen_Wicks
Jan 15, 2009
Thanks for the heads-up. Since I was about to install ACR 4.6 for use with CS3 (even though I mostly use Aperture rather than inferior ACR for NEF conversions anyway) this thread is potentially a BIG HELP. I will simply stick with ACR 4.5 until it is resolved.
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
Jan 15, 2009
Allen:

Try ACR 4.6 anyway because no-one else has reported having the problem that Gary is having — and he had the same problems with ACR 4.5.

(I certainly had no crashes with ACR 4.6 but have since moved on to 5.2 anyway — which you would love if you are using a Nikon.)
GB
g_ballard
Jan 15, 2009
Ann) no-one else has reported having the problem that Gary is having

I do not want to argue with you, Ann, but how could you possibly know that?
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
Jan 15, 2009
Well, they haven’t been reporting problems like yours with ACR, either here or in the ACR Forum, so if any other people are having difficulties with ACR 4.6, it doesn’t seem to be very wide-spread.
R
Ram
Jan 15, 2009
If GB was able to reproduce the problem at will in another machine, it seems to me that the issue is potentially there in all machines—if we push them as hard as he does. 😉
GB
g_ballard
Jan 15, 2009
Neil) anything in particular you do or a particular file or file type
on your system that seems to reliably crash your system

The problem seems to be most susceptible to using PREVIOUS CONVERSION opening .nef files in ACR, 16-bit aRGB, working on the files in Ps, and building a sized/layered Master .psd file by dragging the opened, worked on .nef files into the layered Master .psd and scaling then to the frame.

For example, I can get a lot farther in this workflow without the crash until I start using PREVIOUS CONVERSION which seems to choke something about the way ACR and Ps interact.

Previous Conversion may or may not be a red herring here, but I got onto the theory when building a portrait series where all the .nef files had the same exposure and I was using Previous Conversion in ACR and crashing after about every 4-10 files.

+++++++

Setting Ps memory to 100% seems to make the problem happen a lot quicker.

I don’t need a discussion about setting a 100 percent memory in Ps, since Chris Cox and Jeff Schewe have stated repeatedly Ps tends to run better at around 75% on machines with even 8gb or more Ram installed — I have 10gb and 14gb on my two Mac Pros.
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
Jan 16, 2009
Would you still run into the problem if you Saved your NEFs out of ACR as PSDs and used the PSDs in your layered files?

Alternatively, if you had ACR 5.2, you could open your NEFs as Smart Objects in Photoshop which might also solve the problem..

How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

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