Software Photoshop and memory...

Hi Guys
Now I know it is a known fact that photoshop eats memory like I eat sweets at a LAN party (can you say faster than a speeding bullet?) .

Anyway after a nice photoshop sessions I noticed that it was using something like 400-500mb (which is not that bad) however what puzzled me was the fact that after I closed down all the images within photoshop it still used the same amount of memory. Logic (i think) would dictate that when the program no longer has the pictures open it no longer requires the memory it did when they were open. Why does photoshop not "release" the memory? I really does not bother me much, I'm just bored and was wondering if anyone knew why this is.

 

keeps the images cached in memory for erm.. good reason? or just poor maloc free() usage.

 

Photoshop has a setting in the options called somethign like "How much memory should photoshop reserve for it's own personal use"

Basically it stops other programs taking the memory from PS so it can use it if required.

 

It sets aside a certain amount of your system memory regardless of images loaded. This can be set in teh preferences section. Never set it to 100% though, as that will starve windows and you'll be on a swap file pretty damned quick. I'd use 60 to 70%. If an image needs more, PS will page to the HD and still keep RAM free for system.

Basically tho... just get oodles of RAM if you are serious about PS.

 

Used 3 1/2 gig loading a few images into PS a couple of weeks ago -- not gonna do that again in a hurry -- heh (first time the 4 gig has nearly all been used)

 

Big scratch disks are your friend too.

 

I've seen this happening to a lot of people, and many of them would close and relaunch photoshop, because they would notice improved response time. Well actually Adobe Photoshop has an option built in. Under Edit>Purge you have options to purge the history information (won't be able to undo), clipboard (Printscreen and Copy instances), or you can Purge everything.

So you can Purge everything to reduce memory usage.

 

Cool ok, well that might prove useful