Problems with ContrastMaster

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MauriceFH
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Problems with ContrastMaster

Post by MauriceFH »

An interesting product to say the least!

However mine is now not working. The display has moved the controls over to the right so cannot be accessed. I have failed to find a way to restore it so I can use it. Advice please!

HaraldHeim
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Post by HaraldHeim »

We heard about this problem from someone else, but we were not able to reproduce the problem here on different computers.

Does it occur when you run ContrastMaster for the first time after running Photoshop? What Windows version do you use? 32-bit or 64-bit Windows? What version of Photoshop do you use?

Any detail about the problem may help.

MauriceFH
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Post by MauriceFH »

I use XP Pro. I use Photoshop CS4 32bit.

The problem is a bit weird. The contrastmaster screen opens OK with the image but the display rectangel is wider than normal (not stretched, everything is properly shaped). The controls on the right are hidden but a little show, not enough to use. If I try to widen the display to show them they move with my attempt.

MauriceFH
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Contrast master failure

Post by MauriceFH »

I have blundered into a solution.

I installed a screen saver - it shows the earth from a satalite. The image displayed is updated automatically from time to time. When I re-set my display resolution to test some software I was writing for the display of images via a digital projector, the "earth" display seemed to be corrupted and my PC was locked. This made me suspicious so I deleted the application - ContrastMaster now works!

I do not understand why this happens, but clearly do not care much now!

HaraldHeim
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Post by HaraldHeim »

Good to hear that the problem vanished. I also got confirmation from the other person who had the same problem that it works now for him. Seems this problems goes away by itself when running ContrastMaster again after restarting the computer.

We will rework the window resizing code in a future update, to make sure that this problem does not occur anymore, even if it is only in rare cases.
Last edited by HaraldHeim on Tue Dec 29, 2009 2:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

MauriceFH
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Post by MauriceFH »

I have issued another post in respect of this query but it might be useful if I add a bit to this one.

You would get the impression that the screen saver was the culprit but more recently I have found it seems to be a memory problem. The memory allocated to a plugin seems to be what is left when that allocated to CS4 is claimed - change the settings (they can be restored later) so CS4 has less so there is more for a plugin will often fix problems.

I will wait for the experts to fix this - or fix it so a "insufficient memory" note is displayed.

I have 8GB of memory fitted (PC XP pro) and I am reluctant to go 64bit. It is surprising though that a good ram disk allocated to CS4 will provide for an excellent improvement in performance, of course you need to point CS4 to the ramdisk - I wonder if ambitious plugins could use such an aid?

HaraldHeim
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Post by HaraldHeim »

Well, insufficient memory causes some kind of delays that may influence the window display. But I am not sure if that really has anything to do with the resizing problem.

Old versions of our plugins used the memory that was not occupied by Photoshop. But the latest versions request memory from Photoshop, so they also profit from a ram disk that Photoshop is using.

However, there are a few plugins that do not request memory from Photoshop. If you use them with very large images, it may help to lower the memory usage of Photoshop. That again may decrease the performance of other plugins.

MauriceFH
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Post by MauriceFH »

Thanks for the info!

I will keep my eye open for more reliable clues and report back if I find anything. In the meantime I seem to be able to overcome the problem so minimum impact.

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