Large file sizes when saving in Painter

[negativespace]

Why are the file sizes so huge when you save as a PSD file in Painter as compared to Photoshop? The file size in Painter is 147MB compared to Photoshop's 31MB. Is it better to just keep saving as a riff file until you are finished?

[Jin]

Hi,

If you're working in Painter, since Painter's native format if RIFF, I think it makes sense to save your file as a RIFF.

If it's going to be a large file and/or take a long tme to complete, it's probably best to (safest to) save your painting in a series of numbered files and save frequently:

castle_painting01.rif
castle_painting02.rif
castle_painting03.rif

Then, if you want to take it into Photoshop, first save in RIFF, then save again in PSD so if anything goes wrong, you have the last RIFF version to go back to.
You can also reopen the Painter RIFF file and continue working using Painter-specific Layers, Shapes, and other features not found in Photoshop.

Working on large files, it's especially important to save your file, close Painter, and check the Pre-built Brush File size (found in Painter 7 > Brushes) and delete it is it's begun to get large. It's regenerated the next Painter is opened.

[negativespace]

Thanks for the info!

[MGH]

Thought you might like to hear of an experience I had with RIFF files a while back.
I was working on a finished illustration as a RIFF, in Painter 7, to keep the file size down. On Fri. night I left it half done and shut everything down. On Sun. morning I returned to it and found that the file had been corrupted. Needless to say I was a little miffed and was on the horn to Mother Corel bright and early Mon. morning.
Turns out Painter 7 sometimes has 'issues' with large Riff files. They suggested saving as a PSD and that's what I've been doing ever since.
Incidents like this really get my goat. I love working with Painter and consider silly little glitches like this that make a potentially great program on the back burner of respectability. I think a question we have to ask ourselves is why Painter is constantly plagued with these silly little issues while Photoshop steams ahead at full speed.
To further this arguement I refer you to my friend Dan's post in the 'Trialing Painter 8' thread.

[sandman]

Originally posted by MGH
Thought you might like to hear of an experience I had with RIFF files a while back.
I was working on a finished illustration as a RIFF, in Painter 7, to keep the file size down. On Fri. night I left it half done and shut everything down. On Sun. morning I returned to it and found that the file had been corrupted. Needless to say I was a little miffed and was on the horn to Mother Corel bright and early Mon. morning.
Turns out Painter 7 sometimes has 'issues' with large Riff files. They suggested saving as a PSD and that's what I've been doing ever since.
Incidents like this really get my goat. I love working with Painter and consider silly little glitches like this that make a potentially great program on the back burner of respectability. I think a question we have to ask ourselves is why Painter is constantly plagued with these silly little issues while Photoshop steams ahead at full speed.
To further this arguement I refer you to my friend Dan's post in the 'Trialing Painter 8' thread.

Painter 7 saves Riff files in a compressed format by default. Some believe that larger or more complex (multi layers etc) Riff files can become corrupted in the compression process. It is a good idea therefore to check the 'uncompressed' box in the save as dialogue window when saving as a Riff.

David

[negativespace]

I saved as a uncompressed riff, but it seems to only trim about 10 megs off the file size. I think I will just keep saving as a PSD file. Thanks guys for the info.

[Jin]

Originally posted by negativespace
I saved as a uncompressed riff, but it seems to only trim about 10 megs off the file size. I think I will just keep saving as a PSD file. Thanks guys for the info.

Saving a Painter RIFF file Uncompressed doesn't trim the file size at all. Because the file is *not* compressed, it's a larger file.

As sandman said, the point in saving a Painter RIFF file Uncompressed (check the Uncompressed box when saving), is to help prevent the file from becoming corrupted.

Another thing that some Painter users have said helps prevent corrupted RIFFs is to keep the Scripts file small. To do this:

Use the Scripts Mover (Scripts section menu) to create a custom scripts library and move any special scripts from the default scripts library into the custom scripts library. When you want to use those special scripts, just load the custom scripts library.

If you don't have any special scripts you want to keep, when Painter's closed, go to the main Painter folder and delete the default Painter.ssd (Windows) or Painter Scripts Data (Mac) file. When Painter's opened again, a new empty scripts library is regenerated and records your work for each Painter session.

In Edit > Preferences > General, lower the "Auto save scripts for [ ] days" number to 1 day.

If you want to record something you can always record a script (Scripts section menu > Record Script), then move that script into your custom scripts library to continue keeping the default scripts library small.

Saving in PSD format is fine as long as none of your work depends on Painter specific Layers or other features. If it does, then you'll lose that information when saving in PSD.