WARNING – mini rant ahead!
So that’s three different machines, three different video cards and three different drivers – all having this same issue. Combine that with the wrath of other people having visual glitches that seem to be video related – on a wide variety of machines – and I simply can’t accept this "bad video driver" excuse. On the Windows side, with the dozens if not hundreds of possible machine configurations, I can see it – but there just aren’t THAT many current Mac systems available.
As Adobe said in its caveats for using certain new functions in Photoshop Extended CS4, not all cards are compliant with the tough standards that Photoshop now requires. If the card is not specifically on Adobe’s list, it either hasn’t yet been tested, or it was tested and failed.
Sorry, Neil but that’s a copout. First of all, everyone in this thread reporting this issue are using current Macs that are fully capable of utilizing the advanced OpenGL features. (They’re on Adobe’s list of supported machines!) With the exception of the Macbook, you’d have to go back to machines introduced in 2007 to find the (relatively few), Macs with video cards which don’t officially support CS4’s OpenGL features.
However, even if the card doesn’t support the OpenGL features, that should NOT cause these glitches and warrant a "you’re card isn’t supported" excuse. The features should either work, or not work. Call me crazy but "glitch free" is not a feature.
Here’s Adobe’s list of tested cards for CS4 for Macintosh: ( <
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb 405711&sliceId=2> )
MACTEL iMac 8800 GS 512 MB
MACTEL 8800 GT 512 MB
MACTEL Radeon x1900 512MB
MACTEL nVidia Quadrofx 4500 512MB
MACTEL nVidia 8600M 256MB
PPC nVidia 7800 256MB
MACTEL ATI HD 2600 MAC 256MB
17" MACTEL iMac x1600 128MB
Macbook Air intel GMA X3100
Scratch what I said about Macbooks – it has the same (integrated) video as the Macbook Air and it’s listed so even that’s supported.
Here’s a list recalled from memory with people having "GUI-esk" related issues.
Mac Pro nVidia 8800 GT – on list
Mac Pro ATI X1900 – on list
Mac Pro ATI 3870 – not on list, fully OGL compliant with CS4 requirements Mac Pro ATI 2600 – on list
Prev gen Macbook Pro vNidia 8600M – on list
Current Macbook Pro nVidia 8600M/9600M – not on list, fully OGL compliant
Not everyone with these machines are having problems of course, but enough people are that clearly something is going on. And if one person with a Mac Pro / nVidia 8800GT machine is having problems, but another with the same machine isn’t, how can the problem be the video card driver? They’re using the SAME driver! That leads me to believe another issue is at play.
Personally, I think the OpenGL features/requirements are overshadowing another distinct possibility in CS4 – the new Flash-based GUI. Adobe adopts a new method to display the interface and GUI problems show up. Coincidence?
However, the most troubling thing to me is Adobe’s lack or responsibility and passing of the buck in this matter. "Not our problem" is extremely aggravating. The Mac platform is roughly half of Adobe’s business and yet the most common suggestion, for these issues is to "check with the video card manufacturer". Since when can Mac users obtain updated drivers from video card manufacturers? You would think Adobe realizes this.
Even if this issue is someone else’s "fault", it’s the Adobe product having problems – it’s ADOBE’s responsibility to ensure their product works well on the platform it’s designed for. I believe the application should support the platform – NOT the other way around. If a current ATI driver is the culprit (I’m not convinced of this), then Adobe should be working with them (or whomever), to get it resolved and not simply telling customers, "check with them".
Rant over … 🙂
-phil
