Painter 9 unexplained shutdown

[Devvv]

Hi everyone.

I have been using Painter 9 for the last couple of months and absolutely love it. Anyways, I have a problem. Whenever I try to use the eraser tool in Painter 9, the program shuts down without any warning. I was wondering if someone can help me. I don't think it's because of insufficient memory or anything. I have a P4 - 2.8 ghz and 1.5 GB or RAM. Thanks in advance.

[Jin]

Hi Devvv,

First, so we can communicate clearly, there's only one tool in Painter related to pixel based drawing and painting:

Brush Tool

Once the Brush tool is activated, we can choose any brush category and work with any of it's brush variants.

There is no single "eraser tool" or single eraser variant used for erasing.

There are Eraser variants in several Painter IX brush categories. In the default Painter IX Painter Brushes library there are roughly 26 individual Eraser variants in 6 different brush categories. Each of these Eraser variants works in its own way, specific to the brush category it belongs to.


When you say "eraser tool", that could be any of a number of things including one of the above mentioned Eraser variants used with the nib end of your stylus or you might be erasing with the top end of your stylus. If so, which Eraser variant is tied to the eraser end of your stylus?

Or are you using a mouse?

Exactly what are you attempting to use to erase (of the above listed options) when Painter IX crashes or vanishes?

What are the dimensions and Resolution (PPI number) of your image?

What does your image contain (i.e. Layers, Layer types, Shapes, Text etc. and how many)?

How long do you work before saving your file and closing Painter?

How many other programs are running while you work in Painter?

Have you read the Sticky thread at the top of this forum named: "Keeping Painter 6, Painter 7, and Painter 8 Running Smoothly", and if so, have you followed all of those suggestions on a regular basis?

Anything else you can tell us so we can try to figure out what's going on?


Jinny

[Devvv]

Hey Jin!

Thanks once again for helping me. :)

Ok, I'll try to be more specific and answer all of your questions.

First of all, this problem began really recently. Like 2 days ago.

Lol. Sorry, I should of been more clear. It's the "eraser brush" I'm trying to use. When I click on the drop down menu in Painter where it displays all the different brushes (e.g. Acrylics, Airbrush, etc) and hoover down to click on the eraser brush, Painter shuts down.

I also use a Graphire 3 6 x 8 and whenever I turn my pen around to use the eraser function, Painter shuts down. At first I thought I must of somehow customize the pen to close a program whenever I use the pen's eraser function but I don't think that's possible. Just to be sure, I tested it on another program (Photoshop 7) and nothing happens.

My image is approx 3000 x 3000 pixel and the resolution is 300 dpi. I have about 5 layers in the file.

I usually save every 15 minutes and don't have any program in the background running.

Yes, I did read the the thread that you pointed out. :) I even tried to search to if there was already a thread like this before I made this one.. So you see, this is my last resort. ^_^

[Jin]

Hi Devvv,

I'm laughing at myself after reading through my earlier post. I sure was giving you the third degree, wasn't I?

Didn't mean to sound so harsh. It's just that these questions come up so often and usually with not enough specifics to even begin answering the problem.

OK... sounds like your image is reasonably large, if not huge so you'll need to take every precaution you can think of to avoid problems.

One thing we haven't talked about here (except in the Sticky thread) is closing down Painter every hour or so (maybe even more often) to give the old girl a breather.

Often, taking the next step and rebooting can help, too, so don't rule that out. It's worth the bother if it allows you to work in peace.

Something's really odd about the Eraser variant appearing to be the center of the problem. It's almost as if it's a broken brush variant or a broken brush category. I don't seriously think that's it, but who knows for sure?

Since Painter IX only writes to the User folder and all files in the Application/Program folders remain untouched by Painter IX, let's try deleting your Eraser brush category from the User folder altogether and replacing it with a clean copy from the Application/Program folder.

Before you begin, close Painter IX, make a backup folder somewhere outside of the User folders and copy any important user setting files, user preference files, and custom brush variants from the User folders into that backup folder for safe keeping in case anything goes wrong.

You'll find the User folder Erasers brush category here:

C:/Documents and Settings/[User Name]/Application Data/Corel/Corel Painter IX/Brushes/Painter Brushes/Erasers (brush category folder)

Delete that Erasers brush category folder and the associated .JPG brush category icon image file that has the same name as the brush category folder. It'll be a 30 x 30 pixel .JPG so you can double check that to be sure you're deleting the right file. It will also be located in the same brush library folder where the Erasers brush category folder is located.

Now go to the Application/Program folder:

C:/Program Files/Corel/Corel Painter IX/ Brushes/Painter Brushes/Erasers (brush category folder)

Copy that Erasers brush category folder and the associated .JPG brush category icon image file that has the same name as the brush category folder. Again, check to be sure it's a 30 x 30 pixel .JPG so you copy the right file.

Again, go back to:

C:/Documents and Settings/[User Name]/Application Data/Corel/Corel Painter IX/Brushes/Painter Brushes (default Painter IX brush library folder)

Now paste the copied Erasers brush category folder and the associated .JPG brush category icon image file into the default Painter Brushes brush library folder.

While you're doing all this cleaning up, see what other system maintenance things you can do, then reboot and launch Painter IX.

Try to learn, if you haven't already, to be sensitive to how Painter IX is behaving. At the first sign of flakiness, save your file, close Painter IX, and check to see if there's anything you need to do like closing other programs, running ScanDisk and Defrag, and rebooting.

Also, though we're told we don't need to delete the Painter IX Pre-built Brush File as it has a maximum file size of 200 MB, at which point it automatically downsizes itself, if Painter IX is giving you problems, it may not be such a bad idea to delete the Pre-built Brush File after all, each time you close Painter IX.

At least you could do it for a couple of weeks to see if it makes any difference in Painter IX's stability and speed.

Another thing I don't think is mentioned in the Sticky thread is that it can help to disable Brush Ghosting as that seems to hog memory too.

Something you might try, too, is to create a Custom Palette, select the Eraser variant you use most often, and drag the icon onto your Custom Palette. I suggest this on the off chance that you can click that icon whenever you need to use the Eraser variant and bypass Painter IX's tendency to get upset when you select the Eraser variant from the Brush Selector or use the top end of your stylus. If you do that just after opening Painter IX, you'll avoid any problems that might occur while dragging the Eraser variant icon onto your Custom Palette. At least if Painter IX crashes, you won't be in the middle of working on something.

If I can think of anything else to add, I will, but for now that's all I can suggest.

Some of this sounds whacky but we do get creative when dealing with Painter's misbehaviors and often it works!

Good luck, and please let me know how it goes. Anything you can learn may help others too.



Jinny

[Devvv]

Sorry for the late reply. I had tons of projects due today so I had quite a busy weekend and couldn't go on the computer.

Anywas, LOL. It's ok, Jin. I didn't mind answering all those questions. I'm just glad I got any response. :)

Anyways, the weirdest thing happened. I was visiting CGtalk and was browsing their Painter section to see if there were any threads similar to this. (This was before you posted your last reply) Unfortunately, I didn't find a thread about this but did came across a thread with some customized brushes someone made and offered to share.

I downloaded the brushes and loaded into Painter. I played around with it for a while then closed down Painter. I opened Painter again and wanted to try out the eraser tool.

Guess what happened next? Painter did not shut down! I don't know what I did to fix it but I think it might of corrected itself when I loaded the customized brushes.

Anyways, I read your last reply and thank you for it. Although there's no point in trying the tips you posted because the problem's already solved, I will copy this into a text file just in case Painter decides to pull this again. Thanks for all your help, Jin!

[Jin]

Devvv,

I'm happy to hear the problem is solved, no matter what solved it!

How about telling us which brushes solved the problem, and giving us the thread URL on the chance it might help someone else in the future?

Thanks in advance,


Jinny