Adobe Lightroom problems...

[RichC]

Nikon has killed its pro raw converter - my weapon of choice - so I'm checking out Lightroom as a replacement. I've a couple of questions for users of Lightroom that I can't find answers to…

(My set-up: Lightroom CC on a new Windows 10 desktop PC - fast CPU, 16GB Ram, fast Adobe-approved graphics card.)

1. The mask tools, esp. the brush, are horribly slow and laggy, and get worse the more adjustments points I add. Lightroom always seems a few steps behind my mouse clicks, taking several seconds to catch up, causing me to make mistakes! (Masks are instant in Photoshop so it's not my PC.)

2. I can't get the Auto Mask to work properly. When selected I get hard edges with clumps of very visible pixels around objects. It seems the tool isn't creating a soft feathered edge. The only way I can create masks is to painstakingly draw/erase around objects with a tiny brush! Other programs like Photoshop or Capture One don't have this problem so what am I doing wrong?


Thanks folks!

 

[Godfrey]

For comparison basis, I have LR6.5.1 running on a 2012 Mac mini i7-2.6Ghz Quad core with 16G RAM and a 950G SSD, latest OS X version.

1- I'm not seeing that kind of lagginess with the brush or other selective area tools. I have heard of this kind of issue with various Windows systems based on the graphics adapter being used, but have no other guidance to offer.

2- In general, it's probably best not to think of the adjustment brush as a mask so much as an overlay.

Auto Mask took me a little while to figure out. It puts a mask or overlay on the surrounding pixels based on the pixel values under the center of the brush size indicated by the crosshairs. You have Size, Feather, and Flow to work with. If you want to mask a large area with sharp blend edges, set size large, feather small, and flow high. If you want to soften the blend, set feather larger and flow lower. The selected range also seems to auto adjust as you move the brush around.

A tip: with the Adjustment Brush enabled and Auto Mask checked, press "O" on the keyboard. It will illuminate the mask area so you can see what the adjustments will affect. "Shift-O" will allow you to change the color of the mask highlight (Red, Green, White, Gray is the cycle). This lets you 'paint' an area and get precisely the mask that you want.

On my system using a trackpad, two-finger scrubbing up and down adjusts the Size parameter, shift combined with two finger scrubbing adjusts the Feather parameter. Erasing the mask can done dynamically by holding the option*(alt) key down, and the adjustments for the erase region work the same as for apply with the option key held down in addition.

I usually create masks with Auto Mask by setting Flow to 100%, Feather to 50%, and adjusting size to cover what I want masked. I create the mask not by brushing but by clicking once on the like color/intensity I want the mask to cover, then I can tailor it with the erase option and adjust the strength with the Flow control. I do all this with the overlay made visible, and then switch back to see the effects of the other parameters on the adjustment.

hope that helps!

 

[35photo]

I'm on a 2013 iMac with 20 gigs of RAM with LR 6.5 no lag using any tools.. Here is a thought is your Graphics Acceleration turned on? Could try turning it on see if that if helps..

 

[RichC]

Thanks Godfrey - will investigate further this evening. I did try turning graphics acceleration off (and on again) but there was no diifference in performance. I chose the graphics card for Adobe apps, and Photoshop flies on my system…

Perhaps the lag is a Windows thing. Godfrey and Photomoof are both Mac users - any comments from Windows users of Lightroom CC?

 

[Ronald M]

Bloatware from manufacturer on computer, Sony & Dell. Wipe and reinstall. Crappy anti virus which is almost all of them.

HD too full.

I gave up on Microsoft a decade ago. Win 10 will work if you clean the machine off and disconnect from the internet which is where all the garbage comes from.

 

[Timmyjoe]

. . . disconnect from the internet which is where all the garbage comes from.

Can you use Adobe CC software with the computer disconnected from the internet? I thought that was the whole point of their Creative Cloud, you had to be connected to the internet.

 

[brbo]

Can you use Adobe CC software with the computer disconnected from the internet? I thought that was the whole point of their Creative Cloud, you had to be connected to the internet.

A couple of seconds per month of internet connection will do...

 

[Tati]

Can you use Adobe CC software with the computer disconnected from the internet? I thought that was the whole point of their Creative Cloud, you had to be connected to the internet.

you don't need to be connected to use the programs, lr/photoshop...only once every three months on the plan i have,...yearly at 11.99 euros a month...it syncs to make sure you're paying i guess...

only thing you need to be connected for is to sign up for the cc programs initially and then once every 30 days or 90 days depending on your plan...the programs themselves, the software, and your files are all on your hard drive at home, you download them after you sign up for whatever software you want to 'rent'...

 

[RichC]

No bloatware - clean install of Windows 10 onto an SSD (also, separate SSD installed for scratch disk). PC was custom built by Quiet PC to my specs especially for Photoshop, and flies (Lightroom excepted) - boots from off in less than 10 seconds, and Photoshop and InDesign fly!

Just Lightroom that's laggy... 🙁

 

[willie_901]

How large is your LR Catalog? Could it be fragmented? (probably not if the machine is new) Is it on an external drive?

Laggy response is usually a memory/HD issue.

On OS X (almost identical hardware to Godfrey's BTW) I often do LR post-processing for hours. As time goes on lag during mask-tool usage increases. I close LR and restart it. The lag goes away. I assume the issue is related to disk swapping becoming less and less efficient.

I have read that if one performs masking operations at the end of the workflow, LR has less lag. All the masking changes do not have to be re-computed when other rendering changes are made.

 

[fireblade]

Thanks Godfrey - will investigate further this evening. I did try turning graphics acceleration off (and on again) but there was no diifference in performance. I chose the graphics card for Adobe apps, and Photoshop flies on my system…

Perhaps the lag is a Windows thing. Godfrey and Photomoof are both Mac users - any comments from Windows users of Lightroom CC?

I have LR CC on one of my windows laptops, 8RAM, 500SSD, i5....no lag or issues.
I did have issues with windows 10, so I'm running this on windows 7, haven't had a problem since.

 

[Scapevision]

Increase the LR cache size to more than 40Gb. Try not using the Graphics Adapter setting and see the difference.