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A
Anonymous
May 30, 2012
Question

Export script is slow

  • May 30, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 812 views

So we've written this export script which takes a specific set of layers (~10) and goes through the following steps:

1. makes correct layers visible,

2. Select all, copy merged.

3. Create new document.

4. Paste and futz with alpha/layers.

5. Save new document.

I can elaborate if need be.

This takes around 40 seconds for 10 layers, which is a bit ridiculous.  How should I speed things up?  Is there a way to do such selective copy merged behavior much faster in a C++ exporter?  Can I turn off the UI so it doesn't have to refresh?

Thanks,

Adrian

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1 reply

A
Anonymous
May 30, 2012

Oh I should note that we're still using CS5 with Javascript for the export script.

D
dgolberg
Inspiring
May 31, 2012

It's kind of hard to say without knowing the exact process and/or script that's running.  One thing you might want to at least try, though, is; rather than creating a new document, simply have the script create a history state, do all the work you need to do, save, then restore the history state and do the next set.  Moving things between documents can sometimes take an extra second or 2 depending on the machine and the content being moved, where "temp" deleting extras and then going back in history isn't quite as slow.  Beyond that, we'd have to see the process/script to see if there are any inefficiencies that can be removed/worked around.  If nothing's found there, all that's left to look at are the specs of the computer the script is running on.  If the images are extra high resolution, it's likely to slow any machine down; especially during anything such as a transform or save/load process, but a faster processor and more ram generally helps with most things, while a solid state drive will help a lot with saves and loads.

Anyway, hope this at least helps you narrow it down and determine if it's something that even can be sped up (if the files are super high resolution, it might not be possible).

A
Anonymous
May 31, 2012

Here's the fullish pseudocode:

hide all top level layers

for each layer which matches our naming convention:

  show layer

  if layer is not itself layered (named *_LAYERS):

    show rgb channels

    select all

    copy merged

    create new file, clear layers

    paste and flatten

    save file

    read file and merge into binary output file

  else:

    hide all sub layers

    for each sub layer group:

      turn on sub layer group

      hide levels layer at the top of each group (and keep name)

      show rgb channels

      select all

      copy merged

      create new file

      paste

      delete background layer

      crack alpha into layer mask

      select layer mask

      make new channel (Alpha 1) from selection mask

      delete layer mask

      save file

      read file and merge into binary output file

      hide sub layer

    show all sub layers

    restore visibility of sublayers

restore visibility of top level layers

paste out binary output

I can actually see the operations happening in photoshop (including changing layer visibility).  I would expect most of these to be too fast to see.  There are obvious pauses when new file and save occur, which make sense, but is still unfortunate.  I can try temporarily deleting parts of the file instead, though I'm a bit nervous about screwing up our source data.

Is there a way to directly get access to the color data of a layer?  I only really need to get binary for color/alpha from a copy merged layer.

Thanks,

Adrian

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