Hi, I have a Quad core 6600 running Vista 64 bit with 4 meg Ram and a geforce 8400 GS 64 bit graphics card .
I find Coreldraw X4 runs very well until I use LENS effects and in particular, interactive tranparency on a bitmap. It then slows to a point that drives me nutzzzzz.
It doesnt matter how patheticly small the bitmap. As soon as I apply interactive transparency it goes into a slow mode. I cant even draw a simple outline quickly. If the offending bitmap is out of view the speed comes back but if I zoom out to incude the image it slows again.
I have reduced the rendering resolution to 72 dpi to no effect. Reduce the bitmap res to no effect.
I have removed the graphics card and used the onboard graphics. No effect same thing.
I can use other software seemlessly while corel is running horribly.
If I convert the offending bitmap with transparency to plain ole bitmap the speed comes back.
If I operate in wireframe the speed comes back.
Other effects with LENS like large drop shadows, other transparency effects etc can make Corel run slow but if I can slove for the above issue I think I will solve for all.
Cheers
Dave
DavidonCorel: If I convert the offending bitmap with transparency to plain ole bitmap the speed comes back.
Can I assume that 'ole' is a colloquialism for 'old' and OLE 'object linking and embedding'?
I am not seeing that behavior here. I did a half page ad yesterday with a transparent bitmap overlapping a transparent bitmap that was imbeddedin a powerclip and I saw no degradation in performance. I opened the file again today and converted both to standard bitmaps and they I couldn't tell the difference.
I hate to ask but have you tried resetting your workspace by holding down F8 and launching the program and overwriting when prompted?
If that doesn't fix it, I am going to suggest you look at video drivers next.
Good Luck.
Rikk Flohr Fleeting Glimpse Images Photography Blog
Thanks Rikk, tried the workspace reset with no luck.
You state you used 'transparent bitpmap' as in UNIFORM? I am hoping that this is different from my case in that I use 'interactive transparency'. As in LINEAR or RADIAL etc that can be adjusted directly on the image.
I can apply UNIFORM transpareny to multiple bitmaps with little effect to performance. Change it to RADIAL etc and it hits wall.
On the weekend I installed X4 on 2 different PCs, both running XP Pro and it does the same thing. As soon as I use an interactive transparency LENS effect it dies.
As a trial I removed the Graphics card and ran with the on board Graphics. Absolutely no diff.
This is why I am convinced its X4 but if Im the only one then I have no idea whats going on.
Thanks
Is there any chance that you could post an example of your .CDR here so that we can try it on our systems?
Andy Carolan Illustration and Design
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I tried attaching a cdr but at 256 K I would have to send soemthing rediculously inappropriate for what I am doing.
I have found a correlation between file size and performance - perhaps i will look at a better graphics card.
The image inquestion is the base image to a 2 x 1.2 m pull up banner
At 6 meg, 614 x 337 mm and 72 dpi with a linear trans applied it takes my screenor system approx 1 sec to do the next action. Next action could be anything from drawing a simple rectangle,to zooming out etc.
I need it to be the full width of the banner ie 1200mm wide.
At 72 dpi this is only a 24meg image but takes a fraction over 2 sec to do the next action.
As an experiment I removed the interactive trans. Convertedthe now 1200mm wide x 72 dpi bitmap to 300 dpi, its now awhopping 400Meg. No performance issues at all. Zoom in, out add stuff, all instant. AddedUNIFORM trans and a slight delay in refresh but only slight, maybe 1/2 second.Changed it to LINEAR and had to wait about 10mins for refreshon every action thereafter.
I am creating much larger images all the time, thankfully most of the time without interactive trans but its a great tool and when I need it Im stuffed.
CHeers
If possible, avoid using the transparency from the lens docker. Instead use the interactive transparency tool, it doesn't suffer from this problem, and in general has better results.
[ Edit ] you mention changing it to linear, so perhaps you aren't using the docker, but if 1 of your other objects has a lens from the docker, you may experience an issue. If that's not the cause, perhaps you can send me a sample via yousendit.
Regards,Hendrik
Hi dave,
i guess both of us are having the same problem. but it is not restricted to X4 - i have the same problem in X3, both on machines running XP and Vista. the solution i currently use is to convert the graphic to bitmap (with transparent background) and then continue to work.
sam
Thanks for the suggestion Sam. Thats what I do also but its only useful for me at the end of the design process. Otherwise its irreversible. Its a strange one. It seems there isnt much we can do about it either. OS, Ram, graphics card etc all have little to no impact, discernable to me anyway. Its being looked into by Hendrick so thats great news.